ANN NEAL

What’s your favorite way to start your morning before teaching? 

I try to spend some time with my home yoga practice every morning, especially if I am teaching later. My nervous system relies on the calm that mindful movement affords me and I gain inspiration for the upcoming class. It’s a time to which I look forward…quiet time exploring movement, sensation, and breath.

Coffee, tea, or green juice? 

I enjoy a rich cup of French roast, paired with the entire series of New York Times’s daily puzzles. I love puzzles. They challenge my intellect, help me to think outside the box, strengthen my memory, and they’re just fun.

What’s your go-to post-yoga meal or snack?

A fruit salad is a favorite after yoga…with yogurt, cinnamon, walnuts, and maple syrup.

What’s your current song or playlist obsession?

Yoga has introduced me to many different and varied music artists from all over the world. I listen to and select music that supports balance, equanimity, and presence. I want the music in class to enhance the yoga experience.

When you are not teaching yoga, what are you doing?

I have many interests outside yoga. I’m a maker. From watercolor to wool to willow, I explore many artistic mediums. I grow basketry willow and weave it into willow baskets. It is a very long process from planting to harvesting to drying to weaving.

My husband, Aaron, and I are walkers. We have taken several long walks, up to a month long. Walking is very grounding. It affords us a relationship to a place that is richer and deeper than any other mode of travel.

I enjoy gardening and tending the small plot of land on which we live. My favorite days are those spent digging the earth, planting, and tending.

What’s one thing your students might be surprised to learn about you? 

I’ve been in some type of school or training most of my life. In my twenties, I trained and worked as a Registered Nurse for over 20 years. I worked primarily in high intensity units. In mid-life, I returned to school to earn a teaching degree. I taught exclusively in Waldorf Education for over 20 years. I have also completed a four – year training in Eurythmy, a movement art, and Anthroposophy, a path of spiritual development. I completed my Yoga Teacher Training in my early sixties!

Describe yourself in three words.

Creative

Caring

Adventurous

What originally brought you to yoga?

I was originally curious about yoga for its ability to calm and regulate a nervous system completely overrun by the effects of stress, responsibility, and trauma.

How long have you been teaching yoga and what are your certifications? 

I completed my Yoga Teaching Training at WE Yoga in Sandpoint in 2020. I have been teaching at WE since graduation. I have completed additional trainings in Trauma-Informed Yoga and Nervous System and Restorative Yoga through Yoga Medicine.

What’s your favorite pose right now and your “love-to-hate” pose?

I’ve really come to love Malasana. So many of the world’s people sit in this deep pose to work or eat. It is grounding and open and I feel deeply connected and somewhat primal when in Malasana. I welcome the challenge of the balancing poses. They bring the focus to a fine point.

How do you want your students to feel when they leave your classes?

I want the clients who come to my classes to leave with a feeling of wholeness…that through the movement, the breath, and the collective goodwill, they have been able to gather themselves unto themselves. Life scatters us. We leave bits of ourselves behind in every interaction whether effortless or challenging. Yoga offers us an opportunity to remember ourselves in body, soul, and spirit. I feel the goal of the asanas is to achieve this place of wholeness, fully prepared to meet life with balance and presence.

What’s the biggest lesson yoga has taught you off the mat?

The greatest lesson that yoga has afforded me “off the mat” is how to move through challenging times, events, and interactions with grace. To breathe. To be curious. To ask questions. To be tolerant, forgiving, and empathetic…especially to myself.