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Jennifer Caputo

 

 Jennifer Behre Caputo is a highly respected professional in Breathwork, Clinical EFT, and Yoga. With a passion for education and wellness, she serves as an Educational Wellness Coach, graduate course designer, instructor, and professional developer. After 25 years as a public school teacher, earning honors like Sussex County Teacher of the Year and New Jersey State Teacher of the Year finalist, Jennifer retired to pursue her passion for guiding others to face challenges & trauma with courage & resilience in a way that is simple & sustainable. She specializes in working with students 10 years + and their parents, helping them manage the stress and overwhelm from the school day. She’s also the creator of Calm & Cool School and the host of The Shift for Wellness Podcast

 

A Conversation with Jennifer: 

 

Q: Please share with us what you do and a bit about all of the purposeful work you are excited to offer.

I enjoy working one-on-one with kids, teens, parents, and teachers, and facilitating groups to help reduce anxiety, stress, and overwhelm from the day from morning to night with breathwork and EFT, The Emotional Freedom Technique.

My approach blends energy practices into daily routines, empowering students to take control of their learning and teaching families to ground, reset, wind down, and regain control of their days with simple shifts.

Students, parents, and teachers experience improved focus, reduced stress and anxiety, better impulse control, enhanced self-awareness, empathy, and conflict-resolution skills. I teach tools that promote healthier, more balanced lives—at school, at home, and beyond.

 

Q:What inspired your passion for this work, and how did it evolve over time?

After overcoming a cancer diagnosis, I was inspired to explore wellness more deeply and share what came naturally to me paired with what I was learning to all who’d listen! I was very much motivated by a desire to help others who were also bed-bound and needed the skills to lift their spirits.  

People continually met me asking how I could maintain such a positive attitude during such a challenging time. Many had recently received a diagnosis of cancer or another life-threatening disease. Some were people who had been left by their spouses and found themselves devastated and discouraged. 

I found myself telling the same story over and over and knew my message needed to reach more people, so I decided to write a blog with the hopes of helping others help themselves. I wanted for them what I was somehow able to give myself at my lowest of low points, to get through each moment with acceptance, honesty & humor, intention, faith, and thankfulness. These principles got me through my diagnosis and became the acronym for my wellness coaching business: Shift for Wellness.

From these principles, I created a 5-Part Wellness Workshop Series that I offered for free in yoga studios, Prana so graciously being one of them. I’ve since turned the series into a free downloadable workbook which is accessible to all from my website. This book offers practical steps to build resilience and navigate life's challenges with strength and courage. The success of the Wellness Series evolved into the creation of The Shift for Wellness blog and podcast, which grew into workshops and further education in the wellness field. 

It only made sense to me that sharing these strategies with the students in school would help them tremendously as they navigated stressful days, learning struggles, and the social mess that middle and high school can bring. I loved watching them take control and shift their way to a more calm and clear space and better manage their instructional time. 

 My favorite part was listening to their stories from the weekend and how they maintained composure in the ER, during a no-hitter when it was bottom of the 9th with a 3-2 count, or teaching their mom how to tap when she was having her meltdown writing her dissertation! 

 

Q: What core values would you say guide your work and decisions?

  • Accepting where you are and how you got there is the first step to wellness. 
  • Becoming honest with your situation and staying connected to your sense of humor is what puts one foot in front of the other moment after moment and keeps you moving in the right direction.
  • Choosing a life of wellness intentionally by understanding every choice you make has a consequence. Is that consequence working for or against your well-being?
  • Believing in yourself and having faith that the path you’re walking to wellness will get you where you want to go.
  • Being grateful for every little thing from the air you breathe to the hairs in your nose that filter out all the debris in the air, allowing your lungs to breathe it all in and keep you alive for even just one more day!

 

The 5 core values that guide my work are the 5 principles of Shift for Wellness which are: Self-acceptance, Honesty & Humor, Intention, Faith, & Thankfulness  

 

Q: What challenges do you see your audience facing, and how can you help them overcome those challenges?

 

Families are busy. Schedules are full. There’s not enough time in the day. At least, that’s the narrative parents tell themselves. Schedules are only as full as you allow them to be, and there is plenty of time in the day, you just have to make it. The question is: What are you prioritizing? 

With simple, sustainable shifts, days can be calm. Heads can be clear.  Kids can walk into their classes with confidence. The question is: As a parent, what tools have you given your child to strengthen their voice, regulate their emotions, and advocate for their needs when you’re not there during the school day? 

Many school districts fail to prioritize the well-being of their teachers, which has led to a concerning trend: 1 in 4 new teachers leaves the profession within their first 4 years. Even veteran educators are leaving before reaching retirement age because the demands placed on them have become unsustainable. Nearly 50% of teachers report feeling burned out "always" or "very often," and around 20% plan to leave the profession due to burnout. (Source: Devlin Peck) It's crucial that districts invest in the support of their teachers' mental health so they can remain in the classroom. I help teachers and administrators learn how to prioritize their well-being efficiently, ensuring they can care for themselves without compromising their ability to teach effectively or taking any time out of instructional time.

 

Q: How does Yoga play a role in your work (whether as an offering itself or as a support)?

 

Yoga is at the very core of everything I do, both personally and professionally. I first discovered yoga in the mid-90s, and from that moment, it became an integral part of my life. However, it wasn't until 2008, when I began my formal in-studio practice with Christy, that I truly understood the depth of what yoga is all about. Christy’s teaching was transformative because she introduced me to the concept of living yoga off the mat, something that shifted my entire perspective.

Through her guidance, I learned that yoga is much more than just a series of physical postures (asana). While asana is an important aspect of the practice, it is just one part of a much larger, holistic system. Christy helped me see that yoga encompasses everything from mindfulness and breathwork to compassion, self-awareness, and how we interact with the world around us. I began to realize that the lessons learned on the mat—patience, focus, acceptance—are meant to be carried into all aspects of life.

This understanding of yoga as a way of living, not just a physical exercise, has shaped how I approach everything I do. It has influenced the way I engage with clients, how I teach, and how I navigate my own personal growth. The idea that yoga is not confined to a practice that happens in a studio but extends into every moment of life is something I carry with me every day. It's a constant reminder that yoga is about connection—connection to oneself, to others, and to the world around us.

In my work, I try to embody this philosophy, showing others that yoga is not just about flexibility or strength, but about finding balance, presence, and peace in every moment. It's about cultivating awareness both on and off the mat and integrating the principles of yoga into our daily lives for lasting transformation.

 

Q:  How have the Aligned Flow® trainings and community supported you on your path? 

 

Above all, I am incredibly grateful for my Aligned Flow training. I’m a dedicated member of the Aligned Flow online yoga studio, and it’s such a gift to have Christy’s guidance available to me anytime. While there is no shortage of talented yoga teachers, each with their own unique styles that I deeply respect, the classical style of Aligned Flow speaks to me most profoundly, both mentally and physically. I appreciate how the sequences are intelligibly crafted, providing plenty of modifications and opportunities to deepen the practice, all in a judgment-free environment. It’s a style that aligns with my values and supports me in both my personal growth and teaching.

I am very grateful and most honored to have been a 500-hour student of Christy’s! Before we were even halfway through our 200-hour yoga teacher training, I was already craving more! I didn’t want the learning to end, and I found myself advocating for the creation of a 300-hour program. I am a passionate supporter of the 300-hour teacher training. Its focus is more philosophical than physical, which kept me intellectually engaged and deeply curious through to the end.

I’ve always utilized yoga in the classroom to boost focus and concentration, reduce stress, and improve emotional regulation. These certifications allowed me to explore the mind-body connection more deeply with students, teachers, administrators, and parents. By combining my understanding of how the brain learns with the physiological effects of yoga poses, I was able to quickly gain buy-in from the community, and the benefits were immediately evident. One of my favorite workshops to teach is the Yoga & Mindfulness Basics for Kids series which I was excited to develop and teach at the studio this past summer. It’s one that I taught to our students after school and was always well-received. 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Healing from Within: A 5-Step Method for Healing, Stress Relief, and Goal Setting

 

Mondays in March

⏰ 7:00 - 8:30 pm / EST

đź“Ť Online

Join Jennifer for her course: Healing From Within