Jill Ainsworth is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. She was raised on gumbo, jazz and Mardi Gras parades. Introduced to yoga while living in Los Angeles , she first studied Kundalini yoga with Yogi Bhajan and Gurmukh. After returning home to New Orleans, Jill delved deeply in to the Sivananda Yoga System visiting and training in ashrams in New York, the Bahamas & South India. She completed her advanced Sivananda training in Canada in 2002.
In 2000, Jill first traveled to India and met her Guruji Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois. She began her Ashtanga practice as a beginner in Mysore. Devoted to the system as taught by Jois, Jill has returned several times to study in Mysore & was authorized to teach by Pattabhi Jois & Sharath Rangaswamy in Feb. 2006.
Teaching since 2001, Jill has apprenticed and studied with several senior Ashtanga teachers including extensively with Richard Freeman completing his Teacher Training in 2004 and his advanced teacher intensive in Nov. of this year. In New Orleans, Jill heads a project called YOGACARES which seeks to bring yoga to shelters, public schools and victims of Katrina.
