Carrie Jacobson

I began swimming at the age of five and continued through college. Though I was never the fastest swimmer, I cherished being part of a team. After college, I discovered yoga. My mother had started East Meets West Yoga, but while living in Albany, I took classes from local teachers. In 2003, I returned to Buffalo and began practicing yoga in earnest. I regularly practiced with my mother and other teachers at East Meets West. In 2010, I completed my 200-hour Teacher Training through the Himalayan Institute and Rolf Sovik. For the next few years, I taught and practiced Ashtanga and Vinyasa Yoga. After a decade of practice, in 2013, I began to experience the effects of repetitive movements associated with my style of yoga. I dealt with daily wrist and shoulder pain, low back discomfort, and hip pain. At the time, I didn’t connect these issues with my yoga practice. I had always believed yoga was inherently healing. In 2015, I met Kathryn Bruni-Young, who transformed my approach to yoga. Kathryn founded Mindful Strength to teach yogis and other movers how to get stronger and move better. Through Kathryn, I was introduced to Cecily Milne of Yoga Detour™. In 2018, I completed my second 200-hour Teacher Training with Yoga Detour™ and became a Yoga Detour™ Registered Instructor. These practices revealed the limitations of Vinyasa Yoga and highlighted the importance of movement variety. I began weight training at Prescribed Motion, where my Physical Therapist and Trainer, Amanda Bevilacqua, reinforced the value of progressive loading for healing injuries. In 2023, I completed my 300-hour teacher training with Jules Mitchell. Jules’ training helped me reintegrate yoga into my teaching in an authentic way. I was also introduced to Todd Hargrove, author of Better Movement, and the Feldenkrais method of somatic movement. His teachings have significantly influenced how I structure my classes. In 2024, I earned my Personal Training Certification through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM).