I am so excited to live in and practice yoga, and run the beautiful views of the Hollywood Hills. I am teaching private yoga throughout the Los Angeles area, primarily the Hollywood Hills, Studio City, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica areas and soon to be finishing graduate school for my Masters in Clinical Psychology. I am available for both virtual and in-home private and therapeutic sessions

Class Description

A beautifully centering and challenging class experience, this Vinyasa-based practice balances both strengthening and physically empowering alignment, with spiritual awakening & connection to the Self.  Annika embraces the Yoga practice as a moving meditation guiding you to your inner being & opening you to the highest expression of you in body, mind, heart and spirit.  

Annika offers a physically opening, proprioception increasing, strengthening, centering, meditative, self-loving and inwardly connective and harmonizing practice for whole-being health and physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellness.

Rich with healing alignment, strengthening & invigorating asanas, calming, centering, & self-regulating breath-work, pranayama, & and inspiring teachings to connect you to the light of wisdom and consciousness within, citananda, Annika's classes encompass the power of yoga to awaken, heal, strengthen, nourish, empower us to our potential, restore and renew us, and support us on our highest paths.  Annika teaches us to develop strong, ever-expanding physical freedom and an ever-progressing and deepening yoga practice.  Her classses inspire Self-awareness and healing on all levels.  

Infused with echoes of her dance background, Annika’s creatively sequenced classes ignite the heart with the bliss of movement, and the freedom & joy of being connected to your body.  Her eloquent alignment instructions & knowledge of therapeutics, kinetics, & bio-mechanics emboldens students to safely develop their practices and mind-body experiences to a new ecstatic level of agility, coordination, flexibility & strength. 

Annika works for a leading physical therapy clinic helping clients to rehabilitate from injuries and chronic pain, and has found that the same alignment that heals and sustains us, also gives us the wings to fly freely in our bodies to experience advanced postures with ease and dexterity.   With over 500-hours, and two Yoga Alliance certifications and apprenticeships in Vinyasa, Anusara, Dynamic Hatha, Iyengar, Ashtanga, & Therapeutics, Annika’s elegant teaching style weaves transformative asana with pranayama, philosophy, music, mantra, mudra, meditation, and centering practices.  

YOGAWORKS

www.yogaworks.com/location/Palo Alto/

Guided by a mission of embracing every student's quest for personal growth, the team at YogaWorks offers programs for all ages and walks of life. Harnessing a minimum of 500 hours of Yoga Alliance training, expert instructors build lean muscles with traditional Ashtanga, Iyengar, and Vinyasa flow classes enhanced by inspiring music, ambient candlelight, meditation, and props. Their fitness classes further the body-shaping results of yoga, strengthening core muscles with Pilates, increasing endurance and lean muscles with TRX classes, and building stamina with resistance-based SculptWorks.

Instructors also host exotic yoga retreats, which marry the excitement of travel to far-away locales with the benefits of yoga to bestow students with the confident grace required to approach a foreign yoga mat without startling it. Those in search of further training can access online videos by subscribing to myyogaworks.com, which offers a free, 14-day trial for new users. Students can search for videos by workout duration, skill level, and the targeted area of the body.

Detox Flow (example of a previous workshop in the Bay Area)

with Annika Williams

A Spring-Cleanse Workshop for the Body, Mind, Heart & Spirit at YogaWorks Palo Alto on March 25th, 2:30-4:30pm. 

Patanjali's Yoga Sutra 2.16, "hey duhkham anagatam” shares the wisdom that in our lives we can pro-actively support our health and wellness and empower our bodies, minds, hearts and spirits in the highest way through detoxification, meditation, the 8-limbs of Astanga Yoga and a consistent yoga practice.  

This spring, I'm excited to share with you a Spring-Cleanse Workshop, "Detox Flow" at YogaWorks Palo Alto on March 25th, 2:30-4:30pm. 

 In this workshop, we will align with the natural rhythm of the Earth and the annual cycle of renewal and rebirth.  Harmoniously each year the world cleanses and sheds itself to support an abundance of healthy new buds to burst forth in the spring.  We can support our minds, hearts, bodies,  immune systems, optimal circulation, oxygenation and cellular renewal in the same way to create greater happiness, self-actualization, increased energy, empowerment, healthy strength, balance, wellness and a radiant glow of vibrancy and Prana in our lives through the yoga practice and the practice of detoxification.  

When we are in this place of balance and wellness, this provides greater peace of mind and a cleansing of that which in the mind gets in our way of clarity and clear connection to inner wisdom and the state of sweetness, contentment and Pure-being consciousness.  

Yoga is such a wonderful way to regularly detoxify, cleanse and encourage optimal circulation and oxygenation, and in this workshop, we will learn and explore the specific asanas that encourage and support overall detoxification in body, mind and heart.   

We will practice sequences to fortify and cleanse our internal organs and increase oxygenation, optimal circulation and cellular renewal to give you the gift of self-renewal, strength, inner-spring-cleaning and a glow of wellness that shines from the inside out, while we also explore the detoxification of the mind through the yamas and niyamas to learn how a regular practice of the 8-limbs of yoga creates greater peace of mind and unfolds into the Highest expression of our being.  

Flow into wellness, strength, clarity and harmony this spring with Detox Flow with Annika Williams and unfold into the radiant bloom of your potential in body, mind, heart, & spirit.

Annika Williams, 500-RYT ॐ

Contact Annika Williams, 500-RYT for Private Lessons, Wellness Coaching, Therapeutic or Performance Agility Sessions at (650) 218-2972 or annikaautumn@yahoo.com

Annika Williams, 500-RYT offers Private Yoga Lessons, Therapeutic & Rehabilitative Sessions, Sports Therapy & Athletic Agility Training, Over-all Conditioning, Strengthening, Movement Pattern Optimization, Meditation, Centering, & Emotional, Mental and Whole-Being Wellness Coaching. 

Receive a truly transformative & personalized experience.  

With over 500-hours of Yoga Alliance Certified training in Therapeutics, Anusara, Iyengar, Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Restorative, Meditation, Pranayama, and Dynamic Hatha Yoga, and 8-years at Pacific TheRx Physical Therapy working with patients, Annika's knowledgable hands, and training in anatomy, physiology, kinesiology, bio-mechanics, philosophy, mindfulness, psychology, nutrition, calming and centering practices, will support you in cultivating wellness, self-love, physical and mental strength, agility, achievement of your physical goals and a lifestyle that sustains them, and optimal movement patterns for a healthy, free, strong, and vibrant body and being inside and out, and a life in the highest expression of you, physically, mentally, emotionally, & spiritually.  

Strengthen, therapeutically heal, attune & center, and discover a new level of strength, physical & athletic agility, energy, self-regulation, centeredness and mental & emotional freedom and balance.  

Annika's eloquent instructions & knowledge of therapeutics, kinetics, & bio-mechanics, emboldens students to safely transform their bodies, establish optimal movement patterns and increasing agility, flexibility & core strength, to take their practices & physical experiences to a new ecstatic level of freedom, coordination, strength, wellness and harmony.  

Deepen & refine your yoga practice while finding both significant strength, increased balance & coordination, optimal posture & movement patterns, along with increased confidence & contentment, whole-being wellness, stress, anxiety and depression management and a more joyful & centered connection to Self with a glow of wellness that shines from within.

Bhakti Pura Vida (example of a previous yoga retreat. IU look forward to sharing more retreats with you!

~ Deepen Your Practice ॐ
Nourish Your Spirit ~
An Oceanfront Yoga Retreat to Costa Rica with Annika Williams
February 5 - 12, 2017
http://truenatureyogawellness.com/event/yoga-retreat-annika-williams-costa-rica-2017/

A little video clip of our retreat:

https://youtu.be/3omck8UHwik

https://instagram.com/p/BMFlFe1Bdj0/

One of my greatest passions in life is leading yoga retreats to beautiful, soul-inspiring places around the world, & having the blessing of meeting amazing people, and getting to connect with you, and study the practice of yoga together, and observe the transformative benefits of yoga in the lives of my students.  

I'm so excited to share my next yoga retreat with you this February 5-12, 2017 in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica.  Nourish your being with the self-loving gift of a heart-igniting, centering, & practice-deepening journey rich with joy, physical transformation, education, spiritual expansion, & rejuvenation.
 
This week together is an opportunity to both deepen your yoga practice within, as well as strengthen & transform your body.   
Gain strength and a new level of physical wellness, lean muscle, and a new depth of body-awareness, coordination, agility, strength, & flexibility.  Deepen your understanding of alignment that sets our yoga practices & physical experience free.  By the end of the retreat, you will have the knowledge of how your body moves with strength, grace, agility, and a new effortless power that will fortify and expand your physical experience for a lifetime. 
Open to the highest expression of your being & the unlimited potential within you through the exploration of meditation, the Yoga Teachings, daily yoga practices morning & evening, and through the powerful experience of a week living present-in-moment, inspired by the beauty of nature all around you.  

  On our retreat, we'll enjoy so many elating adventures and excursions together (all optional) like surfing, stand-up paddle boarding, a boat trip to beautiful Turtle Island, a waterfall hike, and so much replenishing free time to relax on the beach and swim in the warm ocean, and have massages, body scrubs, facials, and treatments at the spa.  

This is a beautiful opportunity to make lifelong connections & new friendships, and an amazing week to share together with a group of your close friends, or family, or with your partner.
 
Find relaxing rejuvenation, & a new awakening in heart & spirit.  Empower yourself with a deeper self-love & alignment with the Universe, and carry this with you into your life.  
Establish new healthy patterns to last a lifetime.  

I have traveled the world, and practiced yoga across the world, and this magical place, Santa Teresa, is one of my favorite and most cherished places.  There are few things I've known more beautiful, centering, & inspiring than practicing yoga looking out onto the sun-sparkled turquoise ocean & white sand beaches of Santa Teresa, & practicing in the peaceful open-air yoga shala of Tropico Latino, where we will practice each morning and evening on our retreat.

Here is a little glance into a day on retreat... 
Each morning we'll enjoy the freshest breakfast together followed by an hour to relax before a 90 minute invigorating yoga practice.  

We'll enjoy a fresh, beautifully presented lunch together at 12pm together as we look out upon the sparkling ocean and white beach. 

After lunch is free time from 1 - 5:30pm to enjoy a day by the pool, or at the spa, sun bathing at the beach, napping in a hammock, taking a horse back ride on the beach from our oceanfront hotel & spa, shopping all the amazing boutiques in the lovely town of Santa Teresa just a short walk down the driveway from our resort, or you can attend optional group excursions together like a waterfall hike, surfing lessons, stand-up paddle boarding, stand-up paddle board yoga, snorkeling, boat trips, group horseback riding on the beach.

We'll meet again for a sunset yoga practice each evening at 5:30pm for 90 minutes, focusing on specific asanas such as headstands, handstands, arm balances, backbends, and mini workshop intensives.  We will finish with a deeply relaxing restorative practice, hip openers, yin yoga, guided mediations, and pranayama.  We'll close each evening with mantra by candlelight, gazing out upon the pinks, oranges, and reds of the most beautiful sunsets reflected on the water.  

We'll meet for dinner after our evening practice and then the evening is your's to enjoy, relax, spend time with friends, have a romantic evening with your partner, or explore the night-life of Santa Teresa.  There is also a Salsa Dancing class at our hotel that you can attend! 

One day mid-week, we will take a boat trip to the beautiful turquoise waters of Turtle Island, snorkel, swim, standup paddle board, and have a practice and prepared lunch on the island.

Here is the resort & spa (their passion & dedication on yoga & wellness) where we will practice, dine, spa, swim, relax in hammocks, and restore for our week in Santa Teresa.  http://www.hoteltropicolatino.com

Tuition: Enjoy my Early-bird Discount through November 1st of $200 off of your tuition!

Early-bird Discount Rates: Shared Room for $1695

Shared Room after the Early-bird Discount: $1895

Single Room: $2495

This retreat is a perfect for bringing together a group of friends for a week of wellness & fun, inspiration & nourishment for the soul, mind, body, & heart.  Cultivate new depths in your yoga practice together and enjoy amazing group activities, returning home together strong, refreshed, centered, and so rejuvenated.  Last year it was so wonderful to have mother/daughter groups with us on our retreat, as well as an aunt & nice,  groups of best friends, and couples attending the retreat together.  
It touches my heart knowing that almost everyone keeps in touch with each other over a year later. This retreat is such a lovely opportunity to connect with new people and make lasting new friendships, as well as a sweet connective opportunity to spend time with loved ones and our best friends.  I'm so excited to share this beautiful week together with you this year!!

With Love,

Annika

https://youtu.be/3omck8UHwik

TESTIMONIALS

Doug C.
I am a late 50's silicon valley based executive with an active outdoor lifestyle that
includes tennis, golf, skiing, cycling, hiking, etc.  Over the past 25-30 years I developed chronic
(but not debilitating) pain in my neck, my mid back and my lower back.  I generally treated this
with increasing amounts of Advil but I started losing a lot of flexibility in my shoulders, neck and back,
which impacted both my tennis and golf.
I have been working with Annika Williams 2-3 times week for about eighteen months now and I
could not be more pleased with the results.  My neck and mid back pain has completely resolved.
The lower back (lumbar) pain is reduced by about 75% and I hope to completely eliminate it soon.
My shoulder, neck and upper back flexibility has improved dramatically and I can swing a golf club at full
speed at the driving range for 100-150 balls.
After spending most of the first year working on the upper back (which was the worst for me) we are
moving to stretching the hamstrings and hips, which has made a big impact on the lumbar pain.
Unlike drugs which provide almost immediate relief, Yoga is a process and you need to stick with it
for a few weeks before you start feeling better.  But the good news is that as you develop more strength and
flexibility the pain goes away and doesn't come back.  Even if you are a little sluggish when you start a
session you always leave feeling about 1-2 inches taller and really stretched out.
I heartily recommend Annika for private lessons.  She is friendly, cheerful and very knowledgeable.  
She is also incredibly fit and strong and can help you with advanced yoga if you are so inclined.  It will
definitely be the best investment you can make in your health and well being.
Doug C
spring 2016

Devan Hammock

Annika is a wonderful, authentic teacher. I love that her inner light shines through in every class she teaches. She doesn't just teach, she lives and breathes the yogi life. I attend many different classes. Some are funny, some are easy, some test my physical limits.. But I always go to Annika's class knowing I will *LEARN*. She takes great effort is explaining each asana and making adjustments so you're correctly aligned. I value her teaching and appreciate her spirit.

 Tiffany Chen
"Annika is an integral part of my journey in deepening my practice, and also in helping me to decide to pursue yoga teacher training. Her teaching is a pure translation of her intention to spread all good things - especially love, compassion, and joy. Her classes are always heart opening as well as physically challenging in that her style naturally encourages students to come out of their comfort zones and play with their edge. She offers a truly unique, spiritually mindful class in the SF Bay Area where classes are typically workout-oriented. I am forever grateful to have been Annika’s student and friend.” 

Annika Autumn Williams, 500-RYT

Introduced to Yoga while studying English Literature and Dance at the University of Oregon, Annika found through Yoga & teaching, a union of her passions and inspirations, her love of movement, her centering & spiritual path, and a way to help others & make a positive difference.  As a child & teenager, Annika competed as a vaulter https://www.americanvaulting.org/ and later became a coach, and loved the rewarding, strengthening, & energizing training and conditioning, and discovered the transformative agility, strength, & coordination that can be developed through consistent practice and alignment.  

Throughout Annika's life, she studied dance, and became very dedicated to dance at age 14 through 23.  In high-school, Annika became the soloist of her dance company, and she went on to study dance, Modern, Jazz, & Ballet, at the University Of Oregon, along with a major in English Literature.  While in college, Annika discovered Hatha Yoga, and resonated beautifully with the inner- practice.  It was in Annika's late 20's, however, that she came to practice regularly & found, when she needed it the most, profound transformation through the yoga practice, in all areas of her life and being. 

Annika was moved to share with others the healing, wellness, vitality, vibrancy, contentment, inner-peace, hope, physical strength & balance she had found through Yoga & a regular practice.  

Annika teaches a bio-mechanically therapeutic method of Vinyasa Yoga which re-patterns, strengthens, re-postures and develops supple and agile muscle throughout the body bringing unparalleled results and healing benefits for sustainable and progressive wellness to her clients and students. 
From her studies of Hatha, Anusara, Vinyasa, Iyengar, Yoga Philosophy, Meditation, Music, Mantra, and Dance, a fun, creatively sequenced, challenging, strengthening, healing and inwardly connective practice unfolds in her teaching.   Annika's classes provide a balance of challenge, vigor, and playful fun, with centering, self-love and the inspiration of Yoga Philosophy.    

Annika's eloquent instructions make postures more accessible to all levels of students.  Her knowledge of anatomy, kinesiology, and optimal movement patterns support students to safely open, strengthen, rehabilitate, and revitalize their bodies, to develop increased agility, athletic ability,  proprioception, coordination, and physical freedom. 
Known for her therapeutic work with clients, Annika works for a leading physical therapy clinic in Portola Valley, providing yoga therapeutic sessions & co-treatments with doctors & physical therapists to help patients rehabilitate from injuries, chronic pain, and after surgery.   

Annika offers patients, clients and students in her classes the healing, re-patterning benefits of hands-on adjustments and manual therapeutics to guide the fascia and increase mind-body understanding of the alignment and movement patterns, for continued recovery, stabilization, & sustained wellness.   

Annika's centering classes celebrate the Universal wisdom with us all, providing space for us to physically open, heal, restore, connect, expand, play, and awaken to our own inner potential, love, peace, freedom, and contentment. 

Annika recieved her 500-RYT, Yoga Alliance Certification, through the Avalon Yoga Teacher Training Program in 2006, where she apprenticed with Senior BKS Iyengar Certified, Ben Thomas, and at with Sianna Sherman, Samantha Shakti Brown, & Kenny Graham at Yoga Tree SF & Shakti Yoga Shala is 2010.  She has mentored with some of the most knowledgeable & luminary instructors in the bay area including Ben Thomas, Anirudh Shastri, Samantha Shakti Brown, Kenny Graham, Stacey Rosenberg, & Sianna Sherman. 
Annika holds two Yoga Alliance Certifications, totaling over 500-hours in Vinyasa, Anusara, Iyengar, and Therapeutics.

Contact Annika for Private Lessons or Therapeutic Sessions, including Athletic Agility, Optimal Movement Re-patterning, & Over-all Wellness & Conditioning (650) 218-2972 

Wellness Coaching & Yoga Therapy with Annika Williams at HELIOS WELLNESS CENTER, downtown Palo Alto, CA

115 Everett Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94301

To schedule a session, Contact Annika Williams at (650) 218-2972, or contact info@helioswellness.co to schedule an appointment online.

One of the greatest gifts of a consistent yoga practice is what happens for us emotionally and mentally and the healing, balance and empowered wellness that we can find on every level of our being.  The practice of Yoga is an effective way to manage and heal depression, anxiety and PTSD.  When I came to yoga, I struggled with PTSD, depression and anxiety due to some traumas I experienced.  Yoga has been the greatest healing and balancing path for my life.  It is beautiful to support my clients to find this healing though yoga that I found.  Through asana, pranayama, guided meditation, somatic grounding, coaching for healthy lifestyles, dietary shifts, therapeutic adjustments and restorative self-loving support, healing, happiness and whole-being wellness is possible and it is your birth-rite.   

There is a glow of wellness that shines from the inside out, a "prana" vibrancy that shines from a content and self-loving wholeness.  

 As we draw our attention into the moment each day and mindfully move with our breath, we become so present and in-tune with ourselves and open to a self-loving relationship with ourselves and a regular alignment with our spiritual connection.  As this regularly occurs, our "dharma," our path and unique inner gifts, become clear and our True Nature, wholeness, happiness, love is realized.   We can discover a peace and contentment, a centered stillness of the mind and a sweet self-loving connection with our true essence and inner-being.  

In the physically transformative asana practice we devote and challenge ourselves to build strength, flexibility, develop our practices and alignment and push past mental limits to reveal our own potential and it is a wonderful feeling of accomplishment, confidence, strength, courage, celebration and self-love to experience ourselves so strong, agile, capable and free and to realize that we can do anything we set our minds to, even things we once believed would not be possible for us.  The practice of yoga is a journey and discipline that will offer all consistent students a more fulfilling, self-aware, self-loving, balanced, well & content life, while unlocking a strong, harmonious, free & agile grace and power in our bodies.  

Namaste ~ I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells.  I honor the place in you which is of love, of truth, of light and of peace.  When you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, We Are One."

"Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured."

"Yoga is not a religion, it is a science, a science of well-being, science of youthfulness, science of integrating body, mind and soul."

"Find the sweetness in your own heart, that you may find the sweetness in every Heart." Rumi

"Yoga is invigoration in relaxation.  Freedom in routine.  Confidence through self control.  Energy within and energy without."

"Yoga has a sly and clever way of short circuiting the mental patterns that cause anxiety"

"To perform every action artfully is yoga."