Jan Atkins

Jan is the owner and main instructor at the Fish Tree Yoga Retreat Center in Pensacola, Florida. The amazing facility and grounds have been architecturally designed and built in the Japanese Tea House Style, utilizing bamboo as the central focus throughout the interior of the 1,100-square-foot studio. Fish Tree Yoga offers Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga classes, hot yoga, retreats and workshops.

Jan was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas.  She moved to Pensacola in 1977. Twenty years later, she picked up her first yoga mat.  Her long-time friend, Linda Sudevi Kramer, had just started teaching yoga, and so the path began. 

The two attended workshops together, starting in South Beach, FL, with David Life and Sharon Gannon in a Jivamukti Yoga intensive workshop.  Other workshops included: Andrea & Jeffrey Choen, Jivamukti Yoga teachers; Doug Keller, Anusara teacher; Didier Raison, Anusara teacher; and Doug Swenson, Astanga teacher. 

Jan also completed Sequence 2 in traditional Thai-Yoga Body Work, and she began her teaching when Linda opened East Hill Yoga Studio in Pensacola.  After completing a 200-hour Spontaneous Yoga teacher training with Acharya Yogendradev (from the Lakulish Institute of Yoga in the city of Vadodara in Gujarat, India) in November 2007, Jan immediately started teaching her Vinyasa Flow Yoga classes at Breathe Yoga Studio in Pensacola.

Jan’s invigorating vinyasa flow has a broad appeal.  She has taught everyone from college football players at the famed Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze, Florida, to surfers, doctors and people from all walks of life, including children from the Montessori School

While researching yoga for football players, Jan was drawn to the great yoga master Baron Baptiste, who was on the coaching staff of the Philadelphia Eagles for years.

After reading more about the Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga developed by Baron, Jan decided to attend the teacher trainings offered by Baptiste Power Yoga Institute.  Level 1 teacher training was completed in February 2008 in Hawaii, and Level 2 was completed in June 2008 in Helena, Montana.  Jan completed all the requirements for certification, and in January 2009 she was certified as a Baptiste Power Vinyasa Teacher.

Jan is the mother of five and has five grandchildren.  She lives with her husband and a 20-pound cat named Earl.  Besides her passion for yoga, she also plays the piano and paints.  Her artwork is just as colorful and unique as her personality.

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