Jillian Pawlowski
Jillian Pawlowski has been practicing yoga for over 20 years, ever since her mom took her to her first class at 13. She walked into that class crying, but she floated out smiling and hasn't stopped practicing since. Yoga quickly became a lifeline during some of the hardest seasons of her life, and eventually became a path to healing, purpose, spiritual growth, and a deeper relationship with herself and whatever else is bigger than her.
Jillian completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training at Annapolis Yoga Factory and holds an advanced Yin & Restorative Yoga certification from Yandara Yoga Institute. She is the creator of Embodied Expression, a guided movement practice & conscious dance experience born from her lifelong love of music and helping others actually inhabit their body and live their truth. Her teachings weave together yoga, meditation, stillness, breathwork, somatic awareness, intuitive movement, music, coaching, and a healthy dose of play. To help people integrate these practices into their lives off the mat, Jillian is a certified professional coach specializing in identity evolution. So, while she loves learning, growing, and dreaming big, she can often be found helping other people do the same.
Jillian believes we need both Yang and Yin practices to support a healthy balance and flow of energy. In Rise + Receive, she begins with energizing movement and breath to awaken the body, focus the mind, and build energy before gradually slowing into supported Yin shapes. The practice moves from cultivating to receiving, offering students the chance to experience both effort and ease, activation and stillness. In Embodied Flow, that energy becomes more exploratory and expressive, blending yoga with intuitive movement, music, and play. Across both practices, Jillian invites students to move beyond performance and perfection and into a deeper relationship with their bodies, spirits, and inner knowing.
When she is not in the studio, Jillian is probably found in nature having deep conversations, chanting at Kirtan, moving her body at the gym, or planning her next big adventure. When she slows down, you will find her soaking in the sunshine with a journal, sipping tea with loved ones, or catching up on RuPaul's Drag Race.
Her yoga hot take? Yoga is not exercise. Asana is one limb of an eight-limbed ancient technology designed to turn our attention inward, cultivate awareness, and ultimately lead us toward deeper self-realization and unification. The shapes are wonderful and exercise is great, but the rest of the path in the mind, spirit and behavior is where things get really interesting.
Come as you are. Bring your whole weird, wonderful self. There's room for all of it.