Maitri Jones

Maitri is a calm, high-energy person who approaches her many programs with enthusiasm and talent. Her name means “Friend” in Sanskrit and well describes her extraordinarily kind and supportive nature.

Maitri is an experienced yoga practitioner, yoga teacher and yoga therapist as well as  registered nurse with experience in hospitals, home health, hospice, and ambulatory care. As a certified Meditation Teacher and a Level 2 Yoga Teacher, she has a special interest in using yoga as therapy for body, mind, and spirit. She has shared yoga postures and philosophy through many classes at The Expanding Light, the local community college, private yoga sessions, and on Ananda's Internet Radio. She has helped pioneer our Ananda Yoga Therapy Trainingand is one of the primary instructors in that program. Maitri brings great depth of wisdom and experience to her many programs.

She directs our Ananda Yoga Teacher Training Assistantship program, where she trains YTT grads to take their teaching to the next level, with in-depth training in adjusting poses for all bodies as well as deeper training in subtleties of proper alignment and how to help others achieve this.

Maitri was drawn to yoga postures and the yogic lifestyle in her teens and has been actively working on her own meditation and spiritual life for decades. She lives at Ananda with her husband, and has two grown daughters and a granddaughter.

With another nurse, Maitri created and pioneered the very successful MS Study at The Expanding Light, for which she created a video of Energization Exercises and yoga postures for Multiple Sclerosis. She also teaches in Ananda's Yoga Teacher Training, as well as offering private sessions in yoga therapy.

From students:

“My experience with Maitri in the therapeutic yoga seminar was both wonderful and powerful. I went to Ananda with little to moderate experience in both yoga and meditation. Working closely with Maitri, I was able to lay a foundation for a physical/mental/spiritual transformation that I couldn't find anywhere else.
Maitri offered me her decades of knowledge and experience with Ananda Yoga while being humble, patient, and very attentive. In a word, my time spent with her was an incredible, life-changing experience. I left The Expanding Light feeling a level of consciousness, well-being, and optimism that I had never felt before. Slowly but surely, yoga and meditation have become a functional part of my everyday life that is extremely beneficial to my health, happiness, and success."— Todd, Ann Arbor, MI

“What I appreciate most about Maitri’s teaching style, is her ability to take complex subject matter and deliver it in a concise, easily understandable, and logical manner. Additionally, her training as a Registered Nurse is very helpful in bringing textbook knowledge to life in the classroom through her firsthand experience with patient care. Maitri’s deep calmness, patience, and nurturing temperament create a supportive learning environment in which every student feels successful. The Ananda Yoga Therapy Training program has been a life-changing experience for me, and I am deeply grateful to Maitri for her wisdom and guidance throughout the years.” . — Kyle M., RI

"I have had Maitri as an instructor at Ananda for my yoga teacher training as well as some of my Yoga Therapy courses. She is very knowledgeable and thorough in her teaching style, and her nursing background gives her an excellent foundation. She was compassionate in helping me to adapt my practice to my spinal needs. Maitri is good at feedback but also very responsive to questions. She is a tremendous asset to the Ananda teaching team."— Susan K., Laguna Niguel

The yoga therapy components of Maitri's teaching are based on her status as a Registered Nurse and Ananda Yoga Therapist, not derived from her status as an E-RYT with Yoga Alliance Registry.

Maitri's YouTube Videos:

Watch this video 'Gentle Chair Yoga' with Maitri Jones

Click here for more videos from Maitri and the Ananda School of Yoga & Meditation YouTube Channel and more also on The Expanding Light YouTube Channel..