“ Yoga forms a habit of absorption. If trust is instinctive, faith is intuitional."

-BKS Iyengar

Annie has been practicing and teaching yoga in the Iyengar tradition for over thirty three years. She spent 20 years as a potter, ascribing to what MC Richards called , Centering: in poetry, pottery and the person. So it wasn’t such a leap to immerse in teacher training at Kripalu in 1988, She continued studies with Patricia Walden over these next thirty three years. . She obtained certification in the Iyengar method in 1994 and studied with the Iyengars in India in 1995. As a faculty member at the Boston Iyengar Center from 1990-2004, Annie assisted Patricia Walden and participated in a multitude of workshops with visiting teachers. To this day, and especially through the pandemic, it has been a joy to study with Iyengar teachers from all over the world.

She studied anatomy with Body Mind Centering practitioners who refer to the study as , “experiential anatomy.” Having recovered from double hip replacement surgery in 2009, she turned to subtle forms of inquiry such as Feldenkrais, herbal medicine, physical therapy, poetry, and the yoga sutras. Now she freely integrates the wisdom of these modalities into yoga practice and teaching to create a more fluid medium for the integration of body, mind, soul, and spirit.

"Spirituality is not some external goal that one must seek but a part of the divine core of each of us, which we must reveal."

The physical body is not only the temple for our soul but the means by which we embark on the inward journey to the soul." BKS Iyengar.

As an experienced teacher, Annie brings a heartfelt sense of creativity, safety and challenge to her classes. She uses pair sharing and group ritual to help her students reveal and express their unique inner gifts. She encourages participants to realize their own potential through patient, steady attunement to the nature of the body's elements. This is not a gym class. Attending one of Annie's classes is an experience for the soul. The class becomes a vessel for honoring the sacred space within. What is human embodiment? How can we develop strength and discipline in our practice and in our lives with wisdom, compassion, and joy?.

"So much is unfolding that must complete its gesture. So much is in the bud." . Denise Levertov.

"I want my students to experience a state of absorption, a state of relaxation, and a state of openness to the continual transformation happening to us…an openness to life.” Annie Hoffman.