Jennalynn Vignogna practices outside PC Yoga Collective, bringing her signature blend of strength, ease and grounded presence to the Park City community. Photo: Jennalynn Vignogna

PARK CITY, Utah — For Jennalynn Vignogna, yoga has never been about achievement. It’s been about coming home to herself. Vignogna, a longtime practitioner and instructor at PC Yoga Collective, first stepped onto a mat in 2008 after years of competitive sports. The shift was immediate.

“I felt like I found my place,” she said. “It was a shift for me because I had been used to doing competitive sports and constantly pushing to my max. The yoga instructor was telling me that I could listen to my body and that every day didn’t have to be 100%. That was new to me!”

The lesson of effort balanced with ease would follow her through the next decade of practice, injury, and eventual transformation.

A Path Shaped by Ashtanga

After moving to South Florida in 2012, Vignogna explored every style of yoga she could find, including Bikram, Yin, Vinyasa, and hot yoga. She was checking out different studios and teachers, trying to absorb as much as she could. A teacher she’d been practicing vinyasa with eventually urged her to try Ashtanga, a discipline built on a consistent, structured sequence.

“It took me a little bit to really catch onto it,” she said. “But I started to realize that doing the same sequence daily was a really cool way to map my progress in the practice, and I was hooked.”

For the next few years, she immersed herself in Ashtanga, learning as much as she could about the discipline. It became so central to her life that it influenced her move to Utah, where she could study with certified teachers in Salt Lake City.

“Part of my decision to move to Utah was because I knew there were certified Ashtanga teachers in Salt Lake that I could practice with,” she said. For years, she drove the canyon each morning to attend Mysore-style sessions.

Injury and a Return to Gentleness

Then a series of knee surgeries, ankle sprains, and eventually a mountain bike-related ACL tear in 2018 forced a hard reset. “I had started to push myself into yoga poses that were causing me more pain in my body and injury than were actually helping me,” she said.

The ACL and meniscus injury required surgery, and recovery was longer than she’d hoped. Being non-weight-bearing “felt like forever,” and she struggled with not being able to stay active. Restorative yoga became her bridge back to movement.

“Being stuck on a couch was really hard, and just having some small restorative things to do made such a difference for me physically and emotionally,” she said. “I really had to find a way to become gentler with my body and be OK with doing less.”

Learning to Listen

Balancing intensity with rest on the mat and in daily life remains a constant practice. These days, she adjusts her activities to accommodate what her body needs. “Some days I like to go for a tough, long mountain bike ride. Other days, I go for gentle restorative yoga, or I’ll ride my spin bike at home,” she said. “I try to change up my activities so that I’m not doing the same thing every day, and that seems to work for me and feel the best in my body right now.”

On lower-energy days, she tries to honor that instead of forcing herself. “It can be a challenge, and I still am often tempted to push, but it’s a constant reminder to kind of slow things down and really listen to what’s going on just to try to avoid injury and burnout.”

She brings the same philosophy to her students during her Restore Yoga Class at PC Yoga Collective on Sunday evenings at 6 p.m., helping them tune into their own signals instead of forcing a shape just because it’s being cued. “I remind them to use the breath as a guide. If it’s smooth, maybe take it a little deeper. Is the breath getting ragged? Maybe it’s time to pause or back off a bit,” she said. “I always like to offer options so they can choose what feels right that day and remind them that it might be different each day. I want them to build trust in their own experience.”

When people leave her class at PC Yoga Collective, she hopes they feel a deep sense of relaxation and calm — more connected to themselves. “I would like to make someone taking my class feel more supported and grounded, like they have the space to show up exactly as they are.”

A Home at PC Yoga Collective

For Vignogna, PC Yoga Collective is a natural fit — a place where authenticity outweighs aesthetics. “PC Yoga Collective just has this really genuine, supportive vibe,” she said. “People actually show up for each other, and it makes the whole space feel easy and welcoming. There’s no pressure to be perfect or fit a certain mold — you can just be who you are.”

That culture shapes her teaching. “It lets me be more real and teach in a way that feels natural instead of rehearsed,” she said.

The studio’s grounded, community-driven spirit keeps her coming back. “The culture isn’t about perfection — it’s about presence, community, and real connection,” she said. “Showing up to teach at PC Yoga Collective feels easy because it genuinely feels like home.”