Bikram Yoga El Paseo

I’m Ann Marie and I’m a Registered Dental Hygienist. Years of bending over patients culminated in a back injury in the form of a bulging disc. My move from Chicago to Palm Springs in 2003 only exacerbated my injury. My dental hygiene patient, Denise Abraham came in to have her teeth cleaned and noticed that I was in pain. I had limited mobility as well as lower back and sciatica pain. Denise encouraged me to try Bikram Yoga. So in mid 2004 I went to my first Bikram Yoga class!

Everybody remembers their first Bikram Yoga class!  I brought a coworker with me who I had dinner with the night before. We had a big Italian meal and the red wine was flowing. We were very dehydrated the next morning when we went to class, yet feeling up for the challenge we signed up for the week special. Within the first 10 minutes of the 90 minute class, my friend shouted to me, “Are you trying to kill me???”.  I thought we were both going to die! Somehow we made it through the class, and as we dragged our sweaty exhausted bodies out of there, I remember mumbling that this first class would be my last! They could keep their unused portion of the week pass I purchased. The class felt oppressively HOT and GRUELING. As the day progressed I felt very energized. I felt like every cell in my body was firing at the same time. I have been an avid exercise enthusiast all my life and NEVER felt like this, and after ONE class?  Hm, I figured that there must be something to this. I decided to go back the next day,  AND the next,  AND the next. I ended up going every day that week and by the end of the week I was hooked. That was  8 1/2 years ago and I’ve been consistently practicing ever since. The health benefits are amazing. I went initially to help solve my lower back/sciatica issues and ended up solving a whole host of additional problems.  My teacher/mentor Denise Abraham has owned and operated Bikram Yoga Palm Desert for the past 10 years. She trained directly under Bikram when class sizes were only about 45-50 people. She is an amazing skilled teacher who nurtured and cultivated us yogis with a tough class and a smile.

My love and passion for the yoga continued to grow, and as I found myself  “selling”  more yoga than Dentistry to my Hygiene patients, much to the dismay of my dentist, I took my passion to the next level and last year went to Bikram Yoga College of India in LA to study Teacher Training for 9 weeks. Today I’m embarking on a new venture of operating my home studio. The prospect is bittersweet as my Teacher, Friend, Mentor Denise Abraham and her Family embark on their own new journey with a move to Philly. Husband Damon who’s skill at teaching would also rival any certified Bikram Yoga teacher was also instrumental in my yoga practice and yoga journey.  This is an emotional, scary, exciting time in my life as I move into unchartered waters. But I know that I won’t have to do it alone.