JSP ON THE MAT®

Story

Teaching

Practice

MY STORY

I didn’t know it then, but I would always come back.

My relationship with yoga has never been a straight line. I found it, left it, returned to it — and somewhere along the way, the practice became part of how I move through life.

01 / THE BEGINNING

An unlikely beginning

I first discovered yoga through a recommendation from a friend after recovering from a period of illness. My first experience was a private yoga session at home. I remember finding it incredibly difficult to stay still in a pose. I felt uncomfortable, annoyed, even agitated. So, naturally, I stopped. At the time, I didn’t know that yoga would find its way back into my life.

Practice, pause, return.

02 / AMSTERDAM · 2020

Finding my way back

Finding my way back

When I moved to Amsterdam during Covid, I found my way back to yoga — first through YouTube, and eventually through The Breathing Space. It was there that something shifted. I began with Vinyasa, and later discovered Ashtanga Mysore. Somewhere between the repetition, the breath, the early mornings and simply showing up, I found a love and devotion for the practice.

When I moved to Amsterdam during Covid, I found my way back to yoga — first through YouTube, and eventually through The Breathing Space. It was there that something shifted. I began with Vinyasa, and later discovered Ashtanga Mysore. Somewhere between the repetition, the breath, the early mornings and simply showing up, I found a love and devotion for the practice.

Amsterdam, somewhere between lockdowns.

Amsterdam, somewhere between lockdowns.

03 / LEAVING & RETURNING

“I stepped away more than once. Something within me always called me back.”

“I stepped away more than once. Something within me always called me back.”

My practice has never been perfectly consistent. There were periods when I stepped away because yoga began to uncover parts of myself that felt heavy and confronting. But somehow, I always returned. Over time, I started to understand that perhaps this was part of the practice too — not perfection or constant discipline, but learning how to return.

My practice has never been perfectly consistent. There were periods when I stepped away because yoga began to uncover parts of myself that felt heavy and confronting. But somehow, I always returned. Over time, I started to understand that perhaps this was part of the practice too — not perfection or constant discipline, but learning how to return.

04 / 2023 → NOW

From practice to teaching

I completed my Vinyasa yoga teacher training at The Breathing Space in Amsterdam in 2023, although teaching didn’t immediately become my path. For a while, I simply continued being a student. Then, during an Ashtanga retreat in Tenerife in 2026, something changed. I began to feel a quiet desire to share the practice that had given me so much. Not because I had mastered yoga — far from it — but because I wanted to create space for others to experience it in their own way.

I completed my Vinyasa yoga teacher training at The Breathing Space in Amsterdam in 2023, although teaching didn’t immediately become my path. For a while, I simply continued being a student. Then, during an Ashtanga retreat in Tenerife in 2026, something changed. I began to feel a quiet desire to share the practice that had given me so much. Not because I had mastered yoga — far from it — but because I wanted to create space for others to experience it in their own way.

Forever a student.

Now, sharing my practice of yoga.

Now, sharing my practice of yoga.

JSP on the Mat is a place for me to share this continuing journey — through practice, teaching, books, thoughts, rituals, and the little things that happen beyond the mat. I’m still learning. Still practicing. Still returning. And maybe that’s the point.

JSP on the Mat is a place for me to share this continuing journey — through practice, teaching, books, thoughts, rituals, and the little things that happen beyond the mat. I’m still learning. Still practicing. Still returning. And maybe that’s the point.

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