Jenny Finn is a licensed social worker (LSW), embodiment educator, Ph.D. candidate in Sustainability Education and director of Soma- where body meets soul, a school offering opportunities to face yourself with body, breath and creativity. Soma teaches the discipline of facing yourself, particularly the inner darkness, where we can then create space for grace to fill us and spill out onto this planet. In addition to her graduate education in social work, Jenny pursued several opportunities to integrate creativity into her practice, including a foundational year course with SomaSource where she experienced the healing impact of dance, song, ritual, theater and art process. Jenny has also studied the theory and practice of embodied psychotherapy and heart centered meditation, both allowing her to explore her own inner life in new ways and create space for others to do the same. At Wisdom University, Jenny studied for two years in the area of arts and healing exploring rites of passage work and the use of expressive arts therapy in health care settings.

Jenny has worked in the area of creativity and healing for nearly fifteen years. Jenny created the school Soma-where body meets soul in May of 2006 at her heart's calling and has felt challenged, vulnerable and alive in this work ever since. She is passionate about unearthing the heart and soul of the individual as well as our institutions, and has offered workshops outside of the school at hospitals, churches, in the public school system and non-profit organizations.

Prior to her work with Soma, Jenny provided services in both the spiritual care and social work departments at Penrose Hospital, Memorial Hospital and Pikes Peak Hospice. She worked as a chaplain in the trauma department and in hospice, where she was honored to be with many people and their families, as they crossed the threshold of life into death. Jenny has worked for years in early childhood education, and learns a great deal about trust and compassion when playing with young children. She has worked extensively in community organizing around issues of social justice, as well as building community in creative and innovative ways. She directed two non-profit organizations in Colorado Springs, building bridges in a politically and religiously divided community. She worked in the area of prisoner's rights for years, serving as president on the board of a books for prisoner's program, as well as facilitating support groups inside of the prison. She coordinated the first chapter of Coloradans Against the Death Penalty in Colorado Springs, as well as served on a committee for Restorative Justice. In the summer of 2005, she organized the first Movement Ministry of the Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Church of Christ. This ministry, now named Shekhinah, offers opportunities to experience scripture through movement and dance and to deepen into an embodied, mystical relationship with God. She has also danced with the Oikos Ensemble, interpreting scripture through movement, improvisational jazz and story telling. She is a member of the Sacred Dance Guild, the National Association of Social Workers, the Associated Body Work and Massage Professionals and the Jungian Society of Colorado Springs. To view Jenny's Curriculum Vitae please click, CV2010.

Jenny has developed curriculum for a variety of people and settings, including a class for a year-long women's circle, a workshop for children and parents, a series for those living with cancer, and a workshop for committed adult partners. With creative expression as the vehicle, she developed a year-long curriculum for elementary school children that builds relationship with self and community, adapted from the Integrated Thematic Instruction curriculum. She offers classes for people who are struggling with and challenged by their bodies, and tailors her classes to meet those needs. Jenny has brought her work to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia; Asheville, North Carolina; Worcester, Massachusetts, San Rafael, California and Toronto, Ontario. In the Spring of 2010, Jenny traveled around the world with Semester at Sea, a unique study abroad program, where she taught undergraduate students the value and practice of self inquiry through creative expression. It was on this trip that Jenny felt an immense connection to the students of this particular age group and has become a passionate advocate for these young people. With attendance at her classes numbering over one hundred students, it became very clear to Jenny that undergraduate students want and need creative opportunities for self development in their educational process. She is pursuing her PhD in Sustainability Education at Prescott College to explore the issue of sustainability through the lens of internal development, creative expression and bodily connection.

To fuel her inner life and guide her passion, Jenny loves to be outdoors, where you will find her hiking along a stream in Colorado, or swimming laps in the pool. She loves to sing and play piano, write, practice yoga and knit. She loves to travel and has circumnavigated the globe twice with her family. Jenny lives on an urban farm with her family in downtown Colorado Springs, where they take care of bees, chickens and organic vegetables. She mothers two young children, is married to Andy and continues to deepen into her body and soul with practice and discipline. She is grateful for this incredible gift of life and continues to be awed by the beauty that it offers.

Jenny's work is deeply guided and inspired by her own heart and those who have taught her. She is grateful to the teachers in her life that have led her back to her breathing body. They include: Nakeesha Haelen and her guidance along a pathway of recovery from addiction; Tom Stella and John Zay who affirmed her doubt and uncertainty as part of a faithful life; Gabrielle Roth and the 5 Rhythms®; Melissa Michaels and SomaSource®; Ellie Corriell and Mary White and their teachings on Heart Centered Meditation; Susan Aposhyan and her Body Mind Psychotherapy work; Jane Hilberry and Kim Rosen who exposed her to the power of poetry; Diane Henn and her teachings on movement and dance; John O'Donohue who from afar reminded her that to love what surrounds her she first must love herself; and Mike and Charlotte Matsumura and Pranava Yoga Center, where through the eight limbs of yoga, she remembered how to breathe. Her greatest teacher on the planet is her mother, who in her absence and presence, taught Jenny how to truly love.