WSPT Staff Spotlight: Jessica Goldberg!
Posted by
Jeni P. on Mon, Jan 23, 2012 @ 01:55 PM
Jess has been working at WSPT as a yoga instructor for many years; she would make the early 5:30 trip from Manhattan just so WSPT's founder, Danny, could get his morning fix of yoga. Since then, Jess has grown a loyal following of "yogis". As I was interviewing her, one of her classes' attendees was patiently waiting to give Jess a ride to the train - not because she asked, but because Jess teaches the kind of class that inspires you to give something back and pay a nice favor forward.
I was immediately attracted to Jess's enthusiasm. I caught her right after her 10:30 class, and she was explaining to me the art of putting her normal clothes over her yoga clothes, and how hard she had been working to master this task.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Jess’s hobbies as a kid were reading books and swimming. Jess was never really into sports, and she proudly states she dropped out of Nerf soccer in kindergarten. Her adventures off the playing field were vast; she spent two semesters abroad, one at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and another semester at University of Glasgow in Scotland. She graduated Dartmouth Collegewith a duel Bachelors in English and Creative Writing. She received her Masters in English from the University of Chicago.
Jess joined the Peace Corps and served in Bulgaria, teaching English and helping draft grant programs with the local government. Jess thought she might want to return to the states and become and English professor. However, she found herself at a corporate job that had become suffocating. While in college, Jess had dabbled in yoga for the first time. Shortly after, she found a yoga studio she loved, and yoga quickly became a huge part of her life. Feeling unfulfilled at her office job, Jess decided to abandon the cubicle for the studio, and she has been teaching yoga fulltime ever since.
Her first job was at WSPT, and she has developed a fierce loyalty to the facility as well as the faithful class attendance. Jess is an expert in modification; everyone “brings a different body to their mat,” she says. Yoga is meant to be a healthy practice; an instructor needs to make sure it is comfortable and safe for every member, that way it remains a beneficial and fun practice.
When Jess isn’t teaching Yoga, she is busy working with MCC Theatre, writing grants for the office in Manhattan. Check out their latest production, Carrie.
Come take Jess's Class Thursday mornings from 10:30-11:30!
