Training and Experience

Anna began her study of yoga in the Iyengar tradition in 1994 with Rebecca Lerner and Dean Lerner at the Center for Well Being in Lemont, Pennsylvania. After moving to Hyattsville, Maryland in 1997, she continued to practice on her own, eventually taking classes at Unity Woods with Jill Cahn and Carolyn Bluemle, the latter with whom she still studies. Her deepening exploration of asana (poses) led to physical change: she observed how her muscles supported her skeleton more effectively, leading to better alignment and posture. Daily commitment to asana also led to spiritual insights: the physical practice nurtured not only a sense of well-being and more stable health, but also the ability to center and ground her mental activity. It soon became clear that to Anna that her college and graduate training as a teacher must be extended to include teaching of yoga.

After three years of teaching and study, Anna passed the first level of Iyengar assessment in 2003, the Teacher In Training; and in 2005, she passed the second level of assessment, Introductory, now making her a certified Iyengar instructor. These achievements, while exemplary, are only the outward manifestations of an inward journey just begun. She intends to continue to train with Dean and Rebecca for further levels of Iyengar assessment, hoping to continue to translate ever more clearly and effectively the eight-limbed path of yoga to her students.

Anna lives in Hyattsville with her husband, a professor of Geography at the George Washington University, and four children. She and her family are active members of Adelphi Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). She balances the individual path of growth in yoga with the joy and delight of music and movement: She sings with the a cappella chamber choir Polyhymnia; plays recorder for English Country Dance in the area; and dances with local contra, English Country, and Scottish Country groups. She also loves to call contra dances (a skill that has improved with her Iyengar training!).