Dayton Docket

Samantha Jo Jeffries ’12 always valued the flexibility her degree from the University of Dayton School of Law provided.

But as she sat cross-legged on the floor, preparing to teach a yoga class, she was about to find out just how far it would stretch.

“It was so wild,” Jeffries says.

It wasn’t the yoga that had Jeffries nervous. She’d done yoga for years with her children and regularly teaches a yoga class for kids. The issue was the thousands of people suddenly watching.

“I didn’t expect it to take off like it did,” Jeffries says.

Jeffries got the large audience after deciding to offer a yoga class free online to help the many children forced to stay home because of the Coronavirus outbreak.

“A lot of parents were asking if I’d do an online class,” Jeffries says. “I think there’s such a need for kids to have an activity to relieve stress.”

It was Jeffries interest in helping families that first led her to the School of Law.

“I originally wanted to do family law and adoption,” Jeffries says.

While in law school Jeffries discovered a different career path, deciding to go into higher education administration.

“What I took away is you don’t have to have a traditional career to use your legal education to impact your community,” Jeffries says. “There are so many things you can do with your education and degree.”

Jeffries worked at the University of Buffalo before deciding to spend more time with her three children. Yoga became part of their routine.

“It helps in calming them and giving them a safe space to learn and grow,” Jeffries says.

Soon Jeffries found success teaching a class for children at Awaken Yoga in Mentor, Ohio.

“I like children’s yoga because it’s so different from traditional yoga,” Jeffries says. “They get to learn things like mindfulness and breathing to calm themselves.”

Jeffries says even when it comes to teaching yoga, what she learned at UDSL has been helpful, especially with the new found attention on her class since moving it online in the midst of the Coronavirus outbreak.

“Things like navigating your way through client relations, contracts, marketing, speaking and teaching,” Jeffries says are the skills she uses.

Jeffries has fond memories of her years at Dayton Law, which is where she met her husband, Bo, who is also a 2012 UDSL alum.

“We loved our time,” Jeffries says. “We enjoyed the education. Everything about it.”

Jeffries hopes to get back into the higher education field once her kids get older, but for now, she is making the most of her opportunity to show children and their parents the benefits of yoga during a stressful time for everyone.

Adds Jeffries, “A lot of parents have told me they’ve noticed a positive difference in their kids because of yoga.”