Jill Knouse Yoga

About Jill

We exert, and we rest.We expand and contract.We ebb and flow. Pose and counterpose.We inhale and exhale.

This is the nature of being.
Always in movement.

Teacher. Traveler. Writer. Recovering finance person who traded the 28th floor for a mat on the floor. Addie and Dug’s favorite human. Tied with Michael.

I’ve been sharing yoga for over twenty years, in Portland and around the globe, after fifteen years in financial services. In my early years of teaching I also worked as a bodyworker. I teach what I call the Embodied Vinyasa Method. We seek to understand alignment, then adapt it to the body in front of us. Your body already knows more than you think it does, and my job is helping you trust it. I lead Roam to Om adventure retreats, close to a hundred now across most of the continents. Since 2012 I’ve trained and mentored teachers through Elevate Yoga Trainings, first as a mentorship and later through 200- and 300-hour programs. I’ve taught on festival stages, on ships, in a shark tunnel and to a thousand people for a Guinness World Record in Pioneer Courthouse Square. Making movement fun in memorable places is my favorite part of the work, and some of my students have been with me all twenty years. They’re family now.

Jill, Michael, Addie and Dug in a deliberately retro family portrait, complete with a castle in the clouds
The family portrait, circa 1986
Come practice with me
Jill smiling against a warm terracotta wall

20+

years teaching

~100

retreats, and counting

5

continents

18

years of retreats

2

dogs, Addie and Dug

1

awesome husband, Michael

From the 28th floor to a mat on the floor.

I left corporate in 2005, bringing that experience and those chapters mindfully into this new impassioned, embodied life. Living my yoga.

  1. SF

    Fifteen years in financial services. A desk on the 28th floor of 4 Embarcadero.

  2. 2005

    Portland. Yoga begins. So does 600 hours of massage school.

  3. 2008

    The first retreat happens by accident. A friend wants yoga for her bachelorette at the coast, so I bring my massage table and another therapist and make a weekend of it.

  4. 2010

    First public retreat, co-led with another teacher. Villa Pedregal, Mexico. Found online, booked sight unseen.

  5. 2012

    The first planning sessions for Elevate Teacher Training.

  6. On stage

    Wanderlust Lake Tahoe. Five years teaching at NW Yoga Conference. Ten summers with World Domination Summit (WDS), Portland’s gathering of remarkable people for community, adventure and service. Teaching at the Superwoman Summit, an annual multi-day transformational event in Portland founded and hosted by speaker, coach and CEO Jessica Williams.

  7. 2027

    Elevate YTT on the books! Morocco under a total solar eclipse. Sicily will blow your mind. And a trip across the US for some slow travel on the East Coast.

I’m here. I’m here now. I am.

Jill setting a bolster for a student, smiling
Half moon silhouette at sunrise on the dock
Jill at her altar before class, open-air shala
Jill assisting a student in half moon above the sea in Lefkada
Jill in a wide-legged triangle on the dock in Bacalar
A full shala of guests resting in child’s pose, Lefkada

The Embodied Vinyasa Method

We create safety, earn trust and cultivate belonging, then challenge by invitation, step by step and side by side, so people open and come to trust themselves.

“Each yoga session is designed around a theme, and every pose has a connection to that theme, as well as a deeper meaning for each of us in our lives.”
Meegan B, Bacalar, Mexico, 2026

Teaching since 2005

Tens of thousands of hours teaching, training, practicing, retreating, workshopping, festival-ing, and celebrating this life through the lenses of yoga.

600 hours, Oregon School of Massage. Reiki Master, levels one and two. Wayfinder coach training with Martha Beck, and coaching with New Ventures West.

Off the mat

Michael. Addie and Dug. Walks, Pilates, the gym. Writing, every day.

And giving back wherever we go: schools in Tanzania, orphanages in Rwanda and the DRC, We Are Limitless in Rwanda, CEPIA in Costa Rica and World Central Kitchen.

And training with Tria Collective, a global training group based in the Yucatán, with JuanPa, his training coach Astrid and the TEAM!

The people beside me

None of this happens alone.

Tracey, Jill and JuanPa arm in arm in an open-air shala
Tracey, me and JuanPa

I was so lucky to be JuanPa’s first yoga teacher. Years later, as head of employee experience at Airbnb, he hired me to teach there. Trace used to come to my classes and end up with tears in her ears in savasana. She told me if I ever had a teacher training, she’d do it. In 2015 she did, right alongside JuanPa. These two are trusted friends and colleagues. After decades of orbiting each other, we just know how to make great things happen together. So we keep doing it. It takes a village, and having community around me is the greatest gift of my life.

JuanPa

JuanPa

Director of Operations and Guest Experience

Jill and JuanPa in a vintage convertible

JuanPa trained in one of the first official 200-hour Elevate teacher trainings, when the program rolled out in 2015. These days he’s the right hand on every retreat.

In his words

After spending two decades in the high-tech industry — working with Yahoo and Airbnb in operations, employee experience, and communications — I decided to take a different path. In 2020, I semi-retired and moved to Mexico, a decision that opened new and fulfilling chapters in my life.

One of the most meaningful endeavors I’ve undertaken here is founding El Futuro en Mexico, a mentorship and coaching program for public university students. Through this work, I support students as they practice English, explore opportunities to study or work abroad, and develop essential interpersonal skills. Witnessing their growth and helping them navigate new possibilities is deeply rewarding.

As a practicing Buddhist, my spiritual journey is a significant part of who I am. I am currently pursuing a degree in psychology with a focus on neuroscience at Naropa University, aligning with my long-standing interest in the mind–body connection. Yoga has also been a cornerstone of my life for more than 20 years. Jill Knouse was my first yoga teacher, and over time our teacher–student relationship has evolved into a deeply rewarding collaboration. I was also part of one of Jill’s first cohorts in the Elevate Yoga Teacher Training in 2015.

Meditation and yoga aren’t just practices for me — they’re woven into nearly everything I do day to day, offering a foundation of peace and clarity.

I share my life in Mexico with my partner, Rodrigo, and our four dogs: Diego, PocChuc, Mazapan, and Lupita Jones. When I’m not working or studying, I find joy in travel, time at the beach, reading, listening to music, and occasionally embracing the art of doing nothing. I’ve come to value boredom as an important part of life — a space for creativity and reflection.

Tracey Coleman

Tracey Coleman

Yin teacher extraordinaire · Elevate training faculty

“We’re all just walking each other home.”

Ram Dass, and Tracey’s favorite line about what teaching feels like

Tracey graduated from Elevate in 2015 and has been teaching around Portland ever since, at Yoga Refuge, Dear Yoga and Rising Tide. Yin became her true love, and she went deep: a 100-hour certificate in Yin, Acupressure and Chinese Meridians with Annie Au, study with Paul and Suzee Grilley and Paul Terrell, and trauma-informed training with Sarah Marsh. She’s also an NLP Master Practitioner and a second-degree Reiki practitioner.

Her classes do a lot at once. The anatomy of what each pose is offering. A little neuroscience on how repetition changes the brain. Reiki to move what’s stuck. And a steady reminder of your own worth. On retreat I take the mornings and she takes the evenings. In 2027 she joins the Elevate training faculty, leading yin and supporting the cohort through the year.

“Home is us, the body and mind we reside in. I love the moment people realize that home resides inside.”

Tracey, my dearest sister friend

Word on the street

“Everything about this trip was fantastic, the people, the weather, the accommodations, the food, and of course the yoga!”
C.J. W, Bacalar, Mexico, 2026
“Jill has a unique ability to create fun sequences of poses that feel natural, challenging and invigorating. I always feel like my daily stress just melts away as soon as I walk into her class.”
Maria Milazzo, weekly classes for over a decade
“Jill would never just ‘teach a yoga class.’ She puts her all into everything she does.”
Meegan B, Bacalar, Mexico, 2026

Things we’ve actually done.

Festivals and conferences

Live music with

In unexpected places

Around the world and giving back

Partners

Where we’ve gathered

Rwanda. Tanzania. Zanzibar. Rishikesh. Hampi. Korčula. Lefkada. Nicaragua. Bacalar. Holbox. Isla Mujeres. Todos Santos. San Pancho. Cabo. Belize. Costa Rica. Blackberry Farm, Tennessee. Depoe Bay.

Next: Morocco and Sicily.

See where we’ve been

Come find out.

Travel with meRoam to Om Adventures. Morocco 2027, Sicily 2027, India 2028.Train with meElevate 200-hour Teacher Training. January to August 2027.Practice with meWeekly classes at The Pause Studio, pop-ups and events around Portland.