Jen DeSimone

Jen offers classes in which students are met where they are. She strives to create a safe but playful atmosphere weaving together mantra, myth and laughter.

When Jen left graduate school to start a career in 1998, she became too busy for dancing, singing and telling stories.


In 2001, however, her body rebelled and told her quite clearly that she needed to make some changes. It was at this time that she discovered yoga. In 2008, Jen relocated from NYC to San Francisco. It was then she found the Lotus. Here, Jen reclaimed her love of creative movement through asana; she found her voice through chanting and her fervor for storytelling reignited through the ancient texts of the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana and the Upanishads.


In 2012, Jen signed up for the summer intensive 200 hour teacher training at the Lotus in order to practice on her own while traveling. Midway through the training, however, she realized she wanted to share the practice with others. As a result, she decided to become a teacher. Immediately after completing the 200 hour TT, Jen started teaching community classes at the Lotus. A year later, she started instructing regularly scheduled classes at the Downtown Berkeley YMCA. In 2016, she joined the Lotus teaching team and in 2019, she completed her 300 hour advanced teacher training with the Lotus and became a RYT-500.