Yoga for nurses is starting to be more popular as the pandemic continues to rage on, and although people are getting vaccinated there is still a lot of work to do. Everyone needs a place to land and nurture wellbeing, especially nurses. Over the past six years, My Vinyasa Practice has been providing quality yoga teacher training both online and in person. One of the tenets of our training is accessibility, and it’s a value we try to impart to our graduates. In this article we’re going to check in with one of our recent graduates, Jill Reyna, to see how she transformed her inspiration to content after completing our 300-hour online yoga teacher training.
The nursing profession is one of the most overworked professions in the world. Couple the nature of nursing with a global pandemic and you have a recipe for adrenal overload. Although the profession as a whole is taxing, it’s also one of the most fulfilling and rewarding. Nurses are resilient and resiliency breeds resourcefulness. Jill Reyna recognized this, and she saw how impactful her yoga and meditation practice was on her health and well-being. Ultimately, she wanted to share that knowledge with other nurses looking to destress and nurture themselves.
Jill created a subscription-based online platform called Nurture the Nurse that provides nurses with practices, tutorials, lectures, and journaling activities to help them integrate mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and meditation into the day-to-day routine. Jill believes that these tools have helped her to find balance during these uncertain times, and wanted a way to make these resources accessible to all.
I sat down with Jill to talk about her course and to find out more about her intention to bring an online course about yoga and mindfulness to nurses.
Q: Why did you create this course?
A: When I started working as a nurse I thought I had to know everything. I would go in with anxiety about what would happen during the day. Add to this the flip-flopping from days to nights with a young family at home, working weekends and holidays, and the exhaustion of getting used to 12-hour shifts. It was a lot! I loved being a nurse but it took me several years and a bulging disc to finally start addressing my needs. When I started to practice yoga regularly, I felt myself changing from the outside in. I improved my posture and my strength and flexibility. Even more importantly, I found myself being able to “center.” This pure moment of honesty where I would arrive as I was and connect to my breath brought me some peace. This is why I created this program. I want other nurses to take the time in their busy and full lives to experience what self-nurture feels like.
Q: Who is Nurture the Nurse for?
A: Nurture the Nurse is not only perfect for new nurses, but any nurse who has been wanting to bring more mindfulness, meditation, and yoga into their life. With the heavy burden on health care professionals in the last year or so, all of our nurses have been asked to be adaptable and resilient. I am so hopeful that nurses will use this as an opportunity to unwind, rejuvenate, and re-focus.
Q: What can you expect when you sign up?
A: Each month you will have access to yoga classes, guided meditations, and self-development opportunities in the form of talks, worksheets, journaling, and more. Nurture the Nurse is designed as a monthly subscription intentionally. It is an investment by you, for you. Understanding that “finding time” is one of the biggest barriers to engaging in a regular practice, most of the yoga classes are 30 minutes or less, and the meditations 15 minutes or less. Additionally, there are themes for each month like focusing on the heart, living in purpose, and taking care of the back.
Jill’s approach to the professional and personal development of nursing is to provide them with an accessible format that will ultimately help them to destress, balance their lives, and feel more connected to vitality and wellbeing. The beauty of this online course is that students receive new content each month and have an opportunity to connect in community with other nurses from all walks of life.
The past year has been an experience that rivals many experiences we’ve had in our lifetime, yet there have been some positive adaptations that have come out of it overall. One of the positive shifts is the increasing amount of digital content designed to support mental and physical health. If you’re interested in learning more about Nurture the Nurse, a comprehensive course to help nurses find peace and wellbeing, we highly recommend Jill’s offering. To learn more about Jill and her courses you can hop over to Unbound Yoga to mingle and connect.