About us
Find yourself, with us.
Our goal at Ashrama Ananda is to create safe, meaningful journeys for our yogis
and students. We are here for the whole person and aim to create an experience
that honors each souls individuality within our community of like minded seekers.
For us, it's not just the yoga, we seek to provide an EXPERIENCE!
Free yourself from distraction
Treat yourself to a breath of fresh air.
At Ashrama Ananda we understand distractions, it's human nature!
However, we believe in YOU and know
the big things you can do when you're focused. Let's find your way through
to you, a little bit faster, so you get the most out of your experience!
Our retreats are alcohol free and all yogis
will be encouraged to seek freedom from their daily dependence on tech.
PS. We know how much fun it can be to look back at retreat photos and remember
our new friends/big moments - no worries - we will try make sure you don't miss out!
And of course, all professional photos from events are available to purchase afterwards.
Our team
Karen Leaming
Co-host | Instructor
Karen Leaming is a 500 Hour E-RYT YACEP certified through Yoga Alliance with over 13 years of teaching experience. Trained in the Vinyasa style with an emphasis on safety, accessibility and a focus on therapeutic application, she loves teaching all levels flow, beginners, gentle, restorative, and one-on-one private classes. Karen’s yoga journey began in college over 24 years ago when she was drawn to take a class, by some force beyond her understanding at the time, and soon realized that it was her true dharma to share and help as many people as possible through yoga. Despite her shy nature and her lack of a business education, Karen began taking trainings, teaching and eventually opened her own studio, Ananda Yoga + Wellness in 2016. She is truly passionate about creating an environment where yoga is accessible to everyone and strives to create a safe, non-judgmental and inspiring space where you can truly let go, be yourself, and connect to your body, mind and spirit. Karen believes strongly in continuing to learn and grow in her own practice and education so that she can continue to share her knowledge and experience with her students. When she is not doing or teaching yoga, Karen loves to travel, hike, snowboard, exercise, try new things and spend time with her two adult sons. She basically never stops and believes that life should be lived to its fullest every day!
Janet Waterhouse
Co-host | Instructor
Janet Waterhouse is a E-RYT YACEP certified through Yoga Alliance with over 2000 hrs of teaching experience. Trained in the lineage of Krishnamacharya and Desikachar
she teaches everything from vinyasa to meditation. Janet is a mom to three energetic boys and an award winning creative Director, so she thoroughly enjoys sprinkling a bit of innovation and a lot of learning into all things. Likewise, her work as a meditation coach, mindfulness speaker, and light worker find equal influence in every thing she does. Janet believes all of life is an education and any time present on the mat makes for a better scholar off the mat —> at the school of life. Known for her creative flows, transitions and off the cuff inspirational speeches - Janet prefers to let the energy of each class dictate the flow. No singular class is ever the same. She also believes that yoga is for everyone and that with a little ingenuity, almost any movement and posture can be made accessible. Janet herself suffers from mitochondrial disease, chronic pain, and myriad other rare health challenges - which is why she simply refuses to accept the word "can't." She firmly believes if she can do something, you can do it better.
Melissa Maly
Chef | Curator
Mel Maly is a self taught vegan chef who fell into that passion two decades ago when she was a stay at home mama crafting healthy meals for her family. She shared that newly created passion with many folks along the way who nudged her into trying to hustle that skill on a professional level and she has since took many leaps of faith to pursue life in the chef world. She once dreamt of opening her own cafe and was fortunate to have had the opportunity to make that happen in 2010, and holds tightly to the hope that there will be an opportunity to create her own thing once again. Traversing the themes of single motherhood and finding her way in this life, she's woven a path through various vegan food establishments as a chef and at times chose to sit out of the culinary world while focusing on a more heart centered role to support other families as both a nanny and post-partum doula. The biggest things that drive her passion are giving others a chance to be loved and nurtured, to feel supported and seen. This plays into the culinary side in that cliche but ever-so-true Made With Love feel that a handcrafted meal can give to someone. Food is Love, and that's what she hopes to share with those she has an honor to feed. In her free time, she enjoys loudly baby talking to her large herd of cats, singing loudly in the car, always looking to share laughter and real talks, and tuning out as much modern day b.s. that she can.
