Today we’d like to introduce you to Jess Runge.
Hi Jess, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
There are seasons in life when simply getting through the day feels like an accomplishment. I know that feeling firsthand.
Yoga became my place to breathe through grief, uncertainty, and profound change—and eventually, to find my way back to my own heart. My experience of life—messy, beautiful, painful, and transformative—is at the heart of Jess Yoga: a welcoming, unpretentious space where you can show up exactly as you are, without judgment, pressure, or the expectation that you have everything figured out.
For me, yoga has never been about perfect poses, expensive leggings, or being the most flexible person in the room. It has always been about showing up.
I grew up in the Chicagoland area and first discovered yoga in the 1990s through my work in theater. I was immediately drawn to the sense of calm it brought into my busy, creative life. Over time, yoga became much more than movement. It became a place I could return to whenever life felt complicated, uncertain, or heavy.
That connection deepened when my father was diagnosed with dementia. Around the same time, I enrolled in my 200-hour yoga teacher training. What began as teacher training soon became an important part of my own journey through self-discovery, healing, and forgiveness.
Then, in 2022, my life changed dramatically.
My father passed away, and within weeks of losing him, I found myself going through a difficult divorce. I was grieving my father while also grieving the end of a marriage and the only life I knew.
There wasn’t a neat or easy way through it.
Yoga didn’t make the grief disappear or fix what was happening around me. It gave me somewhere to return to. My mat became a place where I could breathe when everything felt overwhelming, be still when life felt chaotic and release the tears without fear of judgement.
During that season of rebuilding, I also made the difficult, deeply personal decision to give up alcohol. For a long time, I had used it as a crutch—a way to cope, numb myself, or get through painful moments. I used alcohol as a way to celebrate and party too, but I accepted that I could no longer control it. My desire to quit drinking led me to a place years later that I have zero regrets with. Letting it go required me to meet myself honestly and learn to sit with my emotions without trying to escape them.
I began to understand something I had needed to hear for a very long time:
I don’t need a crutch to be whole. I don’t need anything outside myself to make me worthy, lovable, or enough.
I am enough.
I always have been.
That realization didn’t happen all at once. It became part of the ongoing practice of choosing presence over avoidance, honesty over hiding, and compassion over judgment. And yoga was there for me every ugly and beautiful step of the way.
As I continued rebuilding my life, I was fortunate to find a man who became my rock. He gives me grace, meets me with patience, and reminds me that I don’t have to carry everything alone. He is my safe porch light—the steady, welcoming light that lets me know I can always find my way home.
Together, along with our families, as I was rebuilding my life, we built this studio with our own hands in 2023. I’m sincere when I say our blood, sweat, and tears are embedded in what is now Jess Yoga.
His love has shown me that safety can be quiet, consistent, and unconditional. It has given me space to continue healing, growing, and becoming more fully who I have always been, with a clearer understanding of my gifts and how I’m meant to share them.
Today, I call Virginia Beach home. I’m also a mom to a gaggle of kids, including foster, adoptive, and bonus children, as well as my other half’s daughter, who feels like she’s always been part of my life. My kids are steadfast and amazing. My family continues to teach me about balance, unconditional love, resilience, and finding joy in everyday
That’s why creating a genuinely welcoming space matters so much to me and our community.
Yoga helped me understand that healing is not about becoming someone else. It is about returning to the truth of who you are beneath the fear, grief, expectations, and stories you have carried.
As I deepened my understanding of yoga and its history, I also began embracing the spiritual roots of its philosophy. That season taught me something I now carry into every class I teach: we never really know what the person on the mat beside us is carrying.
Someone may walk into a yoga studio grieving, starting over, or struggling with their confidence, body, relationships, or family. Sometimes, it may simply be a rough Monday, and getting cut off in traffic has left them in a complete tizzy.
Whatever the reason, walking through the door can take courage.
At Jess Yoga, you don’t need expensive yoga clothes, years of experience, or the ability to touch your toes. You don’t have to know the poses or feel comfortable in your body.
And you definitely don’t have to arrive with your life perfectly together.
You just have to arrive and show up for this one hour completely for yourself.
I believe deeply that yoga is for every body. We offer accommodations and encourage students to listen to their own bodies instead of comparing themselves to the person on the next mat. I love seeing someone take their first yoga class beside someone who has practiced for years—and watching both feel equally at home.
That’s the atmosphere at Jess Yoga:
Unpretentious. Welcoming. Real.
There is no competition or expectation to perform. There is room to challenge yourself, rest, be quiet, laugh, cry, and simply breathe.
It’s about connection.
It’s about finding a little more peace than you walked in with and learning to appreciate your body as it is today instead of constantly asking it to be something different.
It’s also about discovering that something can be meaningful without always having to be serious.
We laugh at Jess Yoga. We cry, we wobble, and sometimes lose our balance. Along the way, we surprise ourselves and are supported by talented instructors who bring their own wisdom, gifts, and heart to this community. They have become more than colleagues—they are friends, sisters, and part of the family we are building here. Together, we create a space rooted in connection, encouragement, and genuine belonging.
I don’t believe this journey is about mastering every posture or reaching some ultimate state of enlightenment. My practice continues to evolve with my life—unpretentiously beautiful.
Yoga has taught me that healing isn’t necessarily about returning to who you were before something difficult happened. Sometimes it means learning to be present in life as it is, staying intentional and humble, and having faith.
For me, the practice is about meeting myself with patience, forgiveness, compassion, and love—and remembering that I don’t have to earn my worth. I am enough exactly as I am, while still allowing myself to grow.
When someone walks through our doors, I don’t want them wondering whether they belong.
I want them to know that they do.
So bring your stiff hamstrings, busy mind, imperfect balance, grief, stress, questions, tears, laughter, and whole self.
Wear comfortable clothes. Take the accommodation. Rest when you need to. Laugh when you fall out of a pose. Challenge yourself when you can, but give yourself grace to move calmly and honor where you are.
You don’t have to prove anything here.
You don’t need a crutch to be worthy of love, belonging, or peace.
You are enough.
You always have been.
There’s a place for you at Jess Yoga.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
In 2022, my life changed dramatically.
My father passed away, and within weeks of losing him, I found myself going through a difficult divorce. I was grieving my father while also grieving the end of a marriage and the only life I knew.
There wasn’t a neat or easy way through it.
Yoga didn’t make the grief disappear or fix what was happening around me. It gave me somewhere to return to. My mat became a place where I could breathe when everything felt overwhelming, be still when life felt chaotic and release the tears without fear of judgement.
During that season of rebuilding, I also made the difficult, deeply personal decision to give up alcohol. For a long time, I had used it as a crutch—a way to cope, numb myself, or get through painful moments. I used alcohol as a way to celebrate and party too, but I accepted that I could no longer control it. My desire to quit drinking led me to a place years later that I have zero regrets with. Letting it go required me to meet myself honestly and learn to sit with my emotions without trying to escape them.
I began to understand something I had needed to hear for a very long time:
I don’t need a crutch to be whole. I don’t need anything outside myself to make me worthy, lovable, or enough.
I am enough.
I always have been.
That realization didn’t happen all at once. It became part of the ongoing practice of choosing presence over avoidance, honesty over hiding, and compassion over judgment. And yoga was there for me every ugly and beautiful step of the way.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
At Jess Yoga, you don’t need expensive yoga clothes, years of experience, or the ability to touch your toes. You don’t have to know the poses or feel comfortable in your body.
And you definitely don’t have to arrive with your life perfectly together.
You just have to arrive and show up for this one hour completely for yourself.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jessyoga.studio/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessyoga.studio?stkn=MW13ZTZld2pldmo2NA==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jessyoga.studio?
