Janet (“J”) Vecchia is a Certified Yoga Teacher and Certified Trauma Aware Yoga practitioner and a 500 hour Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (“E-RYT500”) with the national Yoga Alliance. J began her practice and became a student of yoga in 1999 and began teaching in March 2004. J moved to Massachusetts in April 2009 from southern California. Originally born in MA and raised in CT, J is delighted to be back to her roots and living closer to her family.
From 1999-2004, J practiced at Willow Street Yoga Center (“WSYC”), an Anusara™ studio in Takoma Park, Maryland. She completed a year-long teacher training at WSYC with Anusara™ senior-certified teachers, Suzie Hurley, Moses Brown, Jenny Otto and Joe Miller and received her certificate as an Anusara™-inspired teacher in March 2004. Subsequently, J has also trained extensively with yoga teachers John Friend, Desiree Rambaugh, Rod Stryker and Douglas Keller. J completed all requirements and earned a certificate as an Anusara Certified Teacher in February 2012. With great sadness but compelled to act from truth and integrity, J resigned her license from Anusara yoga on April 29, 2012 as a result of the significant abuses of power and unethical behavior engaged in by John Friend, her senior teacher and founder of Anusara yoga.
J is also a certified Trauma Informed Mind Body (“TIMBo”) Facilitator. She offers private sessions & groups in trauma aware yoga practices which include breath practices, gentle yoga & meditation.
J has also been blessed to study extensively the teachings of Rajanaka Tantra philosophy with world renowned expert, Dr. Douglas Brooks, the Bhakti Sutras with Dr. William K. Mahony, international yoga philosophy expert & scholar and meditation with Sally Kempton, world renowned meditation teacher. As part of her teacher trainings, J has completed several weeks of yoga therapy training with Douglas Keller to assist students with injuries and who suffer with pain. As of 2024, J has completed over 4,000 hours of teacher trainings and workshops with several senior yoga, meditation and philosophy teachers. J is a devoted and committed yoga student and teacher and regularly completes ongoing trainings. She is deeply grateful for the profound skill, competence, heart and wisdom of her senior teachers.
For J, yoga is a sacred practice and precious gift that has blessed and transformed her life in countless ways. Unequivocally, J experiences that the yoga and meditation practice get better, grow sweeter and unfold to a higher level each day! This unfolding and blessing is derived from remembering Spirit and our connection to the Divine and each other. The practice of yoga and meditation tremendously helps J to be the best person she can be, and to be more expansive, thoughtful, sensitive and compassionate to herself, her children and family and others. It also inspires J to expand her capacity to give and be of service to others. Yoga and meditation daily remind J to live from Spirit, stay open to possibilities, keep the heart open and choose to live a life committed to love, spiritual growth, hope and joy. She is deeply honored and grateful to teach yoga. J teaches her students to remember their sacredness, and invites the practice to inspire, challenge and be enjoyable! Her goals are to have her students feel the strength and resiliency of their core and the tenderness and vulnerability of their heart. J is devoted to serve her students so that they leave class feeling better than when they arrived!
J can be contacted at (413) 313-5769 or at jmassagetherapyoga@gmail.com She has also taught at various educational institutions, corporations, YMCA, health facilities & yoga studios throughout the region. In addition J has taught yoga & mediation to vulnerable populations including women incarcerated at the Western MA Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee, MA, to women at various dual diagnosis and addiction treatment facilities in the western MA area and to women veterans.