Anne was first introduced to yoga in 1978 while attending college in San Francisco. Over the years she re-engaged with yoga primarily as a practice to maintain balance of stress levels. Anne spent her early years working in community mental health in therapeutic prevention education for children and families at risk.
Anne always maintained a focus on holistic health and living as demonstrated in her early efforts to introduce ecologically based curriculum for a parent run preschool in 1990, instituting recycling for the first time, using funds generated from recycling to create an organic garden, teaching composting principles to parents and children and guiding the school to transition from toxic cleaners (bleach) to non-toxic.
After 15 years living in SF Bay Area, Anne relocated to MA with her husband Dan and two young sons. It was at this point, 1993, that Yoga became a devotional daily practice including meditation as an anchor to support the transition to a new life situation. It was in this period of change and subsequent 10 year period of practice that Anne clarified her calling to teach Yoga and pursued certification. A major shift came in 2000 when her 45 yr. old brother Michael suffered a devastating brain stem stroke leaving him disabled. The witnessing of this tragedy and realization that all the medical ‘experts’ could find no pre-existing risk factor for the stroke concluded it was stress. It became crystal clear to Anne that unmanaged stress can kill and for millions of people impact the quality of their daily life in serious dimensions. It was this experience that inspired Anne to dedicate her energy to create Opening Lotus Yoga as a healing space for all to find greater peace within and greater ease with life.
Anne received her certification in Raja Yoga in 2003 from Frog Pond Yoga in Princeton,MA. She continued to add to her professional training with an additional 100 hours of advanced training in Chakra Philosophy.
Anne opened Opening Lotus Yoga in Holden in Oct. 2003 where the small studio’s student base steadily grew. She opened the new Eco-Green Yoga studio at 456 Main St. in Holden, Sept. 15, 2008.
Anne’s teachings are deeply informed by the contemplative practices of Buddhism including Tibetan Mahayana tradition, South East Asian Theravada teachings and Advaita traditions of India. Anne has been blessed with direct teachings from Dzogchen teacher Lama Surya Das, Advaita teacher Adyashanti, Tibetan Buddhist teachings from HH 14th Dalai Lama as well as many contemporary Yoga masters.
Anne is passionate about sharing the 8 limbs of ancient yoga teachings and Buddhist meditation practices that confirm our Divine true nature of health, harmony and connectedness to all beings and offer an explicit and accessible path to liberating oneself from limiting self-identification and subsequent suffering and embracing and living in alignment with one’s inherent truth.
Anne is deeply dedicated to nurturing the activation of compassionate hearts within the yoga community and inspiring students to extend their inner peace towards the outer world. Anne feels truly blessed and honored and humbled to extend these sacred teachings to all that are interested.
Anne lives in Jefferson with her husband Dan and sons Michael, Ethan and Adrian.