Meet Jenny Wigham

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jenny Wigham a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jenny , we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

I believe everyone’s purpose in this life is to experience love in all its forms. Giving love to others, receiving love from others, giving love to ourselves, and receiving love from ourselves. I think love is at the root of every experience we have. Our personal journey is to see how love expresses, manifests and creates in our individual experiences.

Through my own journey of healing from an emotionally and mentally abusive relationship and spiritual oppression I have learned to love myself. Through my education, experiences and wisdom I have found my voice as a teacher and space holder. Through my experiences with romantic, platonic, familial and community love, I have discovered how I want that love to be shared.

I love to help people by sharing all that I have learned. If I can help someone find a little bit of peace in their day, I’ve done my job. If I can help someone cultivate more love for themselves and in turn offer more love to others, I’ve served my purpose.
Coming from a place of love is a daily choice. We will all experience hatred, fear, despair and negativity, that is part of this human existence. The choice is what we do with the things we find when our shadow or dark side come up. And make peace with the darkness. It’s as much a part of us and our light.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I was at a point in my life where everything had imploded. My career as a Technical Outerwear Designer, my relationship, my living situation and my identity were all falling apart. I felt lost and broken. I had practiced yoga for about 9 years so I decided to go to yoga teacher training to come back to my center and find some direction in my life.

I never intended to become a teacher. But through my training, I discovered that I actually enjoyed teaching. I also saw, what I perceived, as some inaccessibility and exclusion issues in a lot of yoga spaces. So I decided I wanted to share the practice and philosophy to anyone who was interested but maybe hadn’t felt welcome or included in certain spaces.

Now, 8 years later, I am a full time Yoga Instructor, Meditation Guide, Sound Bath Practitioner and Breathwork Facilitator. And I can not imagine doing anything else with my life.

My goal in all my offerings is to ensure everyone feels seen. That their own unique way of learning is addressed and that they feel included. I want all of these healing modalities to feel accessible to everyone, regardless of age, gender, body type, beliefs, or other defining characteristics. I have heard stories and had experiences myself in healing spaces where I felt excluded or like if I didn’t look or act a certain way, I wasn’t welcome. I want to create that welcoming space for everyone to show up as they are and embrace their authenticity. So I created the name Owning Our Otherness in hopes to convey that message.
I host local events in Salt Lake City and teach a handful of public classes around town. I am available for booking for private and corporate events. I am also growing my private client business. I offer private sessions both in-person and online.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

*Trust- Trusting in myself, my vision, my abilities and my creativity. As well as trusting in the process, that everything will work out the way it is supposed to. Trusting that I will be taken care of. Trust that what I put out in the world, I will receive as much.

*Intention- Knowing my “why?” Why am I doing this offering or this training? Why am I posting this video? Why am I doing what I am doing? What is my intention?

*Non-attachment: Trying to not be too fixated or rigid on a specific outcome. Releasing control over those things I don’t have control over.

My best advice is to practice.

With trust, It’s mankind sure you have put in the work and then surrendered to the outcome. I’ve had many experiences where I didn’t know how things would work out, but I trusted that they would…and they did. Those experiences strengthened my trust.

With intention, it takes self-study to get to the root of who you are and what you want to do. Getting into the practice of asking yourself in every situation, “why”? If the first “why” doesn’t bring clarity, I will ask “why” to my answer for “why” multiple times until I really get down to the full reason and intention. Also realizing intentions without action as just nice thoughts. You have to put in the work.

With non-attachment, my yoga and meditation practices have been the most beneficial in cultivating non-attachment. Along with non-attachment, we need to practice grace and empathy. It is a lifelong practice to learn to let go, trust in yourself and follow your path.

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?

I would not be as successful as I am without the love and support of my parents. The most impactful thing they have done is love me through all my phases. They have never tried to change me or try to force me into a role they wanted for me. Even when they didn’t understand why I would leave good relationships or good jobs, they trusted that I knew what was best for me. They respect that I can’t settle for just good. They have stood by me emotionally, mentally and at times, financially. Their love , support and trust has helped me reconnect to my most authentic self in order to share that with those in my orbit.

Contact Info:

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Resilience
Where do you get your resilience from?

Resilience is often the x-factor that differentiates between mild and wild success. The stories of

Productivity
Beating Burnout

Often the key to having massive impact is the ability to keep going when others

Leadership Development
Finding Your Why

Not knowing why you are going wherever it is that you are going sounds silly,