Inner Peace Pairs Well with Whatever Jake Ferree is Wearing

In a world where downward dog doubles as a photo op, Ferree strips yoga back to what it actually demands: stillness, presence, and the nerve to stop performing.

For most people, yoga is little more than a cool thing to do -- another line item in the weekly calendar between green juice and a podcast on mindfulness. It’s the kind of practice that gets performed for the mirror, or worse, for Instagram. Breath is shallow, poses are sharp, and the ego quietly congratulates itself for touching its toes. The irony, of course, is that a ritual designed to strip away performance often becomes just another stage.

Jake Ferree isn’t interested in the stage. His practice isn’t about showing flexibility or chasing the next advanced posture—it’s about dismantling the illusion that worth must be earned through doing.

Where others measure progress in perfect handstands, Ferree leans into the subtler work: stillness, presence, the unglamorous truth of simply being. His philosophy flips the usual script -- yoga not as self-promotion, but as self-acceptance. It’s the difference between performing strength and living it.

Jake Ferree doesn’t just teach yoga, he embodies it—equal parts discipline and abandon. His flow is less about perfecting the pose and more about holding the gaze.

Off the mat, he carries the same energy: grounded but kinetic, serene yet unignorable. Call it mountain pose with attitude, call it savasana with a smirk—either way, Ferree proves balance isn’t something you find. It’s something you project.

10 Questions I asked Jake about himself -- and his yoga practice:

1. You talk about the ego twisting things like achievement and performance—how does yoga help someone step out of that cycle?

The beautiful thing about yoga is that it teaches us to accept ourselves exactly as we are in the moment. It continually brings us back to presence, back to the breath and the body, so we can let go of performing or trying to get everything perfect. On the mat, the practice becomes: 

Can I accept where I am right now, whether I’m falling out of a pose or holding it with ease, without attaching my identity to the outcome?

That shift changes everything. We stop making mistakes or achievements mean something about who we are. Instead, we learn to simply be with what is. Over time, that practice trickles into daily life. We become less reactive, less defined by circumstances, and more able to respond from presence rather than ego.

2. What can someone expect walking into one of your rooftop sessions if they’ve never practiced yoga before?

They can expect openness, friendliness, and an invitation to feel into their body exactly as it is. My goal is to create a space where people feel safe to show up as they are, without pressure to perform or keep up. I encourage students to honor themselves, whether that means modifying a pose, skipping one altogether, or even doing something completely different from the rest of the class. That’s the deeper lesson: yoga isn’t about following perfectly, it’s about building a relationship with yourself.

3. You often say yoga isn’t just about movement—how would you explain that to someone brand new who only sees yoga as exercise?

Yoga absolutely can build strength, flexibility, and stability but that’s only the doorway. The real practice goes much deeper. It’s about what happens inside: awareness, breath, and connection.

On the mat, balance isn’t just staying in a pose, it’s how you respond when you fall out of one.

Do you judge yourself, or can you breathe and step back in? That same awareness begins to show up off the mat, helping us find balance and presence in life. Yoga becomes less about exercise and more about how we live, respond, and connect to ourselves and the world around us.

4. For a beginner, how can stillness be just as powerful as a pose?

Stillness can actually be one of the hardest practices. When the body stops moving, we notice how busy the mind can be. In that sense, the mind itself becomes the pose we’re learning to work with. Yoga talks about calming the fluctuations of the mind and that’s what stillness offers.

It’s not about shutting the mind off, but learning to meet it, breathe with it, and soften into presence. From there, clarity, truth, and a deeper sense of peace arise. Sometimes that’s more powerful than any physical posture.

5. Your Vinyasa & Violin classes sound unique—what does live music add to the yoga experience that a playlist can’t?

The beauty of live music is that it’s created in presence. I work with an incredible violinist, Volkan. I’ll send him the playlist I’ve curated for class, but when he plays, he doesn’t just follow it—he feels into the room, the energy, the breath of the practice, and creates from that. It becomes a living conversation: the movement, the breath, and the violin weaving together in real time. That adds a dimension of depth and connection you just can’t get from a fixed playlist. People feel the energy of that presence, it transforms the experience.

6. You also bring humor into your teaching—like “Down Dogs then Donuts.” How important is it to keep yoga lighthearted?

For me, humor and playfulness are essential. Yoga is profound, but it doesn’t have to be heavy. When we laugh, we open. When we fall out of a pose and smile, we learn not to take ourselves so seriously. I bring in my own childlike energy, sometimes silly, sometimes light and it helps people relax. That playfulness keeps yoga inviting and reminds us that growth doesn’t have to come through strain. It can come through joy.

7. If someone only has 10 minutes a day, what’s the one thing you’d encourage them to practice to feel more grounded?

I’d suggest meditation through the breath. Just sit, breathe slowly and consciously, and notice what you feel. Allow the inhale to lengthen, the exhale to release fully. Notice how the breath moves through your body, and what sensations arise. When we shift from thinking about the breath to feeling it, something changes. The nervous system calms, clarity comes in, and we feel more grounded and present. Even 10 minutes of that a day can transform how you move through the rest of your life.

8. You’ve spoken on entrepreneurship and mental health—how does your philosophy on yoga overlap with those areas of life?

So much of entrepreneurship is taught as hustle, force, and push. I used to believe that too, that success had to come from struggle. But yoga and spirituality have taught me something different:

... when we connect to something bigger than ourselves, when we trust and open, things start to flow. In that space, work becomes service, not just striving. We stop forcing and start aligning.

The right opportunities and people arrive because we’re moving from a place of presence and love, not fear or lack. That mindset shift—changing our beliefs and patterns—transforms not just business, but mental health too.

9. What does “I am enough” actually mean in practice, especially for people who feel like they’re not flexible or advanced enough for yoga?

“I am enough” is the invitation to accept yourself as you are, right now, without attaching worth to the outcome. You don’t need to touch your toes to belong in yoga. You don’t need advanced poses to be worthy. Ironically, the moment we stop striving to prove ourselves, the body softens, the nervous system regulates, and we actually open more. Flexibility and strength follow naturally when we relax into presence. “I am enough” means your practice, whatever it looks like today, is enough. You are enough.

10. What makes you happy?

Curiosity makes me happy, following sparks of inspiration, asking deep questions, and exploring parts of myself I once kept hidden. Growth, learning, and expansion light me up.

Connection makes me happy, holding space for others, having deep conversations, seeing someone experience an “aha” moment, and sharing those moments together. Movement makes me happy—being outside, dancing, breathing, being in my body.

Gratitude makes me happy, pausing to notice the simple, beautiful things. Ultimately, what makes me happiest is presence. When I’m here, fully, with myself or with others, that’s when I feel the most alive.

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