Your Teacher

Marcy Jespersen is a dedicated teacher and reiki master.  Her skills and insights, along with her gentle style, allow students to explore their own personal journey through body and mind.  Marcy’s primary focus is the health, fitness and well-being of each student.

Marcy was an avid student herself before deciding to pursue her Hatha Yoga Teacher Training certificate, which she completed in 2000 at the Yoga Centre of Calgary.  She is currently certified with the Yoga Association of Alberta, which requires its teachers to recertify every 3 years.   She also has her current Standard First Aid and CPR certification.

In 2006, Marcy obtained her certificate for Training in the Vertebral Column and Asana from Judith Lasater.  In 2008, she earned her Yoga Therapeutics certificate (Therapeutic Applications of Yoga), also from Judith Lasater.

Marcy became a reiki master under the guidance of her own reiki master, Phyllis Fisher, in 1997.  She also completed the first level of reflexology with Kathy Sherwood in 2003.  Marcy has been practicing and training in Qigong for many years and frequently incorporates it into her yoga classes.

Marcy is currently training for Yoga Nidra with Barbara Eastham.

Marcy’s Story – My Journey

Why Yoga?

I started my Yoga journey because I was tired of not feeling balanced.  I also had experienced considerable low back pain and sore shoulders from working in the food industry for many years.  Frustration and bitterness were a big part of my life in those days because nothing seemed to be going my way.  My counselor suggested that I try Yoga class to help get rid of all my stuck emotions … and it definitely did.  The very first Yoga class I went to, I felt so excited and I thought – “I can do this; I can become a Yoga teacher!”

For the first 2 years of my Yoga journey, I was in serious physical, spiritual and emotional discomfort, but something kept making me go back to Yoga class every week. On some level I knew it was helping me; and it did! More than just relieving my pain and soreness, my appreciation for life and my physical discomfort started to shift. Yoga has helped me understand myself better and build my self-esteem; it has helped me become physically and emotionally stronger; and I am definitely a lot happier.  Yoga balances the spiritual, physical and the nervous systems.  Today, Yoga is in everything I do.

When I started hosting workshops in Banff, I was terrified at first, but each person that came helped me grow and it still happens every year.  I know I have special gifts to be able to lead a Yoga workshop which I use to follow the flow of energy with the students. As a Yoga teacher, I feel very honoured to have students who keep returning to my classes.  I love to see them change and grow before me.  I’ve had some of my students go on to take teacher training themselves.

Beyond Yoga: 

After my very first Reiki treatment from my dear friend, Phyllis Fisher, I knew I wanted to learn that special healing art of energy and, again, to be able to help and teach people.

Reiki and Yoga help me become more aware of my energy and to be more comfortable with my gifts of seeing the energy.  I have always been blessed but I’ve never understood that or accepted it until I became certified as a Reiki Master.

Being very passionate about living and helping people has led me to pursue self-development in many ways like when I took my chef training, Yoga and Reiki, and of course,  Qigong.  Being open to new ideas about living has enabled me to develop and share my gifts more and more each day.  I am now taking another step by studying the Yoga Nidra. The timing for this step seems to be perfect. This study has made me better understand many things that I have probably been doing in my Yoga practice for many years.

The Future:

Each person has their own journey in life, and each step of this journey presents itself to us, as long as we are open to listening and receiving it. Many of us spend years ignoring the messages and not listening to ourselves.  I believe that once we stop resisting and start listening things begin to flow.   I don’t know what my next step will be in life, but it will be what I need to grow in helping others in my journey of life.