Breathe, Move, Return

In Jackson Hole, balance can be found everywhere and nowhere at once. It’s in the sure-footed descent of a skier threading down the Grand Teton, the calm that settles on the valley floor at dusk and in the packed schedules of locals toggling between work, play and community. In a place of extremes, the pursuit of balance becomes less a luxury and more a much-needed lifeline.

For some, that pursuit isn’t fully realized in the mountains but rather in town, inside studios where breath slows, movement steadies and stillness is welcomed. Louise Sanseau, Francine Bartlett and Brittany Belisle are three women who have each created sanctuaries where locals can seek their own versions of balance, whether that be in a physical, emotional or spiritual way.

For Louise Sanseau, it all starts with gratitude. “That’s what balance is for me: being able to lean into resilience, to let go of control and to stay grounded even when things shift,” she said. “I have such deep gratitude for the community that keeps showing up.”

As owner of Inversion Yoga, Pilates, and Cafe, Louise has experienced the unpredictability of running a studio, from the sudden closure and reinvention required during COVID to the constant need to adjust to the valley’s evolving rhythms. Her days are filled with the same balancing act her students seek: family, work, health and the unexpected. She has learned that balance isn’t something cultivated alone; it relies on connection.

Her studio, she explained, is not only about teaching postures but about creating a container where people can move through life’s challenges together. The mats lined up side by side, the collective breath in the room, the shared laughter after class… all of it matters. “Balance is not solitary,” she reflected. “It’s sustained when you’re surrounded by people who remind you you’re not alone.”

Community itself is a stabilizing force for Louise. It keeps her grounded, reminds her to release control, and helps her model balance as an imperfect but deeply rewarding practice.

Francine Bartlett sees balance in a healing environment as an integrated system of offerings creating one holistic care plan that is much larger than any single person or practice. “True balance is equality between health & wellness that includes all four facets of well-being, using the Medicine Wheel,” she explained. “West represents spiritual health, north for mental health, east for emotional health, and south for physical. Each direction represents specific qualities for healing, directed from the inside out. If one piece is missing, then the wheel doesn’t turn smoothly.”

At Sacred Athlete, her new facility that opened in November, 2024, she blends Indigenous teachings with modern medicine to create this balance and bring these qualities to athlete training and physical therapy recovery. According to Francine, the Wheel offers the guidance that healing and advancing performance is cyclical, not linear. Just as the seasons change, people must allow their own cycles of healing, training, growth, and rest.

“COVID taught us a lot about uncertainty,” she reflected. “Balance is finding comfort in that uncertainty, being willing to pause, to listen and to trust that we’re still whole even when life feels fragmented.”

Her words resonate in a town where speed, endurance and ambition are often prized above all else. Jackson is a place that rewards high output and constant motion. Francine suggested that real strength and optimal health come from finding your inner calm and becoming energetically centered. “Not in a selfish-way, just centered as in balanced and in a state of harmony and peace. From there, everything else flows.” Her studio reflects that philosophy, offering everything from physical therapy and bodywork to mindfulness and emotional support. 

Similarly for Brittany Belisle, balance is about cultivating steadiness in a world that rarely slows down. “It’s mental clarity, emotional stability, and the reminder that you are enough,” she said.
At Home Yoga, she encourages students to shift away from constantly striving and instead towards presence. “The world is constantly asking us to do more, to be more,” she explained. “Balance is saying, ‘I’m okay as I am.’”

Her classes are designed as a reset. Music is soft, the space is welcoming and the emphasis is less on doing and more on being. In a culture that thrives on competition, Home Yoga offers permission to arrive and participate just as you are.

“Balance is not something you master once,” she said. “It’s a continual practice, a homecoming.”

This homecoming is about returning to yourself with compassion when you feel pulled in a dozen directions. Her reminder is simple but radical in a town built on pushing limits: balance is not about more. It’s about enough.

Together, Louise, Francine and Brittany show that balance isn’t about achieving perfection. It’s about resilience, wholeness, steadiness and the practice of returning to all three.

Yoga instructor Dani Perry, who teaches throughout town, frames it as a matter of consistency. “Balance is the discipline to do it, the discipline to carve out time,” she said. “Yoga teaches you to return to your breath and to come back to yourself. It’s resilience training.”

Finding balance in Jackson is rarely just about stillness. Instead, it is about practice: the act of returning again and again, to breath, to body, to community and to self.

Brittany put it simply: “Balance is the reminder that you are enough.”