 Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is come back into your body. Meet Jill Covert, LMSW and Yoga Therapist, founder of Closed Lotus Yoga Therapy! Jill spent years as a home health care social worker, watching people get stuck in a cycle of physical and mental health challenges with no clear way forward. That experience planted a seed - and when she discovered yoga therapy, she knew she had found something worth building a career around. She launched Closed Lotus Yoga Therapy in 2023 after completing her training through the Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy program. What makes Closed Lotus different? Jill's approach is fully body focused for the entire session - not just a portion of it. Grounded in the body-mind connection, yoga therapy helps people become aware of what is actually happening in their bodies rather than getting caught in the mental stories our brains spin about the past and the future. When people are more connected to their bodies, they make better decisions and take more intentional action. Jill works with individuals one on one, and her background as a Licensed Master Social Worker means she brings clinical depth to every session. Her work is especially meaningful for people navigating perimenopause, chronic stress, anxiety, and anyone who feels like talk therapy alone is not quite enough. Kara's takeaway: Jill's work is a beautiful complement to therapy - helping clients get out of their heads and into their bodies so they can get more out of every aspect of their healing. If you have ever felt like your mind just will not slow down, Jill and Closed Lotus Yoga Therapy offer something truly grounding. We loved this conversation and are so glad she is part of our community. Read the full conversation below! When was your business founded and what inspired its development? I started my business in 2023 and that was about when I was graduating from my yoga therapy program. I decided to do yoga therapy because I'd been working in home health care social work for many years, and I was just noticing that people weren't getting better - they were just getting stuck in this physical and mental health cycle of not being healthy and not knowing how to move forward… just being stuck in the mud. I left my home care role and was transitioning to a care management position, and had the opportunity to experience the role of yoga therapy in caring for people. I decided I wanted to be trained so I could offer this service, and build a business around it. After laying the foundation of Closed Lotus Yoga Therapy and being part time at my job, the program I was working for closed, and the timing was great to commit full time to my new business. How does your business support mental health and wellness in our local community? The work that I do brings people into their bodies to be aware of what's really happening. Our brains are just spinning these webs of stories of things that have happened in the past or might happen. When people experience yoga therapy, they tend to be more aware of what's happening in their bodies, and because of that, can make better decisions about what they want to do, the actions they want to take, because they're more informed. What makes your business different from others that may offer similar service? There are a lot of yoga teachers who are trauma informed - many of them who do one on one sessions with people, and they work with them in their bodies. The yoga therapy that I'm trained in, through Phoenix Rising, is based on a body-mind connection. I think what makes my work unique is that the whole yoga therapy session is body focused, whereas with somatic work or other body approaches, it may only be for part of the session. It's more body intensive than a regular talk therapy session, for sure. How does your own journey or life experience shape how you show up in your work? When I started this work, I really was doing it to provide it to others, but somehow along the way - because the trainings are always very experience focused - I'd say my own life has gotten a lot better from doing this work. Also as I moved into perimenopause, practicing yoga and yoga therapy has really helped me to come to terms with some of the changes that I can't control. It's also helped me be a much better parent and partner, because I'm a lot more aware of how I'm showing up with people. Business ownership can be stressful - how do you take care of your own mental health and wellness? It’s not always easy - a lot of times it's just shutting the computer and walking away, maybe just going out and taking a walk instead. I've noticed a real link between being on my computer in the evening and my hot flashes - if I'm working at my computer in the evening, I will almost always start to feel like a pressure in my head and eyes, and I'll start to get warm. It’s like my body's telling me I'm done, and then I just walk away from what I’m doing. Sometimes I just close my eyes, lay down, stretch out, and try to move a little bit to try to get out of that headspace. I also started exercising for even 15 minutes every morning and an informal yoga practice with some yoga postures and breathing. If people were to take away a feeling or message after experiencing your business, what would you want that to be? I would hope that they would feel like I was able to hold the space for them, that I was present and engaged with them. and really doing what they needed at the time. I hope they would leave feeling maybe a little more regulated and relaxed, and less anxious and stressed. www.closedlotusyt.com Social media: @closedlotusyoga  Comments are closed.
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