The teacher
Anna Vance.
Eight years of teaching,
quietly.
Biography
Anna started practicing yoga in 2011, in a small studio above a bakery in Minneapolis, after a year of chronic back pain that nothing else had helped.
She trained for her first 200-hour certification in 2016 and never planned to teach. The teacher who had taught her was retiring, and asked Anna to take over a Saturday class. Anna said yes because she didn't know how to say no, and then she fell in love with it. Eight years later she is still teaching that same Saturday slot, only now it's at her own studio.
Brightwater opened in 2021 in a converted dance studio on Ford Parkway. The room holds twelve mats and Anna kept it small on purpose. The classes she remembers most clearly as a student were the ones where the teacher knew her name and could see, from across the room, when her shoulders were creeping up toward her ears. She wanted that to be true for her own students.
Anna's teaching is shaped by her training in yoga therapy for back care (Y4HC) and prenatal yoga (Bo Forbes), but more than that by eight years of paying attention. She believes most adults have been told to push through too many things, and that a careful yoga practice is, among other things, a form of permission to stop.
Outside the studio, Anna lives in Highland Park with her partner and two dogs. She rides bikes badly and gardens worse, but is a competent baker of bread.
Training
Credentials.
- RYT-500 Yoga Alliance · 500-hour registered teacher 2018
- Prenatal Yoga Certification Bo Forbes Yoga · 85-hour intensive 2019
- Yoga Therapy for Back Care Y4HC (Yoga for Healthy Care) certification 2022
- Trauma-Informed Yoga The Trauma Center, Justice Resource Institute · continuing ed 2023
- Practicing since
- 2017
- Studio opened
- 2021
- Class size
- 12 max
- Google reviews
- 4.9 / 187
What's different here
A few things to know.
-
01
The room is small on purpose.
Twelve mats. Anna can see what every student is doing, and adjust. No back row to hide in.
-
02
No power yoga, no heat.
The room is kept around 70°F. Classes are slow flow or restorative. If you want a hot, fast practice, this is not the place.
-
03
Modifications are not afterthoughts.
Every posture is taught with at least one alternative. Pregnant, post-surgical, beginner, stiff: there is a version of the pose for you.
-
04
Anna teaches every class.
No rotating roster of subs. If you book a class, you'll get Anna. On the rare week she has to be away, the studio closes.
From clients
What people say about practicing with Anna.
-
I came to Anna after a herniated disc, terrified to move. Six months later I'm back on my bike. She listens like a physical therapist and teaches like someone who has been doing this her whole life.
Margaret H. Client since 2022 -
Anna is the first yoga teacher who actually adjusted my practice for my pregnancy week by week. I felt seen, not handled.
Lila R. Prenatal client, 2023 -
I tried four yoga teachers in Highland Park. Anna is the one who finally made me feel like a beginner was welcome instead of tolerated.
Priya S. Client since 2024
Come practice.
The next class starts soon.