Today we’d like to introduce you to Annie Moves.
Hi Annie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Anabella Landa, known as Annie Moves. I am originally from Venezuela, I came to the United States to pursue my college career and have been living here since. I began practicing yoga some time ago, about 11 years now. Back when I lived with my parents in Venezuela, we had a private yoga instructor who would come twice a week to our home and we would practice with her. It used to be such an enjoyable family practice, I have so many memories of my dad and I just laughing and competing of who could hold headstands longer, as well as deep and long savasanas holding hands with my mother.
As time passed and I moved here for college, I would practice every now and then. As an active soul at heart, movement has always been part of my routine, Through the years, I traveled from Spain to Italy to New York City for different summer internships while still in college, and I would always go scouting around new cities for yoga studios because it still was an activity that I somehow unconsciously craved.
Upon my college graduation, I moved to Miami and finally settled. Working in the advertising industry, my schedule was very self-manageable, and I would practice around studios in Miami until I found one that stuck with my heart. Nena Knafo, my teacher, my mentor, one of my best friends now – owner of that studio, ARA Yoga Shala. My home studio, where I learned most of the things I know, practice, and share with my students and community. When the pandemic hit was when I did my online yoga teacher training, 200 hours of yoga in the most transformative and magical two months of my entire life. This training changed my perspective of yoga as a practice, to it becoming my lifestyle.
Ever since obtaining my certification, I have been sharing my practice. Started via zoom with close friends of mine, created my Instagram account @annie.moves – got involved with an amazing organization called Sunrise Beach Yoga where I was able to grow my community and meet so many incredible souls who have touched my heart in the most beautiful ways. I would get up every Tuesday at 5:30am in the morning to drive 3ominutes all the way to Sunny Isles Beach where I would teach sunrise beach yoga classes at 6:30am too large groups of people in front of the ocean, flowing to the sun as it would rise – one of the most beautiful and most rewarding things I have ever done. As part of this organization, all of our classes were free – we would only take donations and donate the funds to different organizations which we worked alongside monthly.
Time passed, I began doing private training and monthly yoga events. Started with partnering with local and new brands, giving them a platform to showcase their products with my Miami community. Now, I work with pretty large brands like Alo Yoga, Free People Movement and Barrys Bootcamp.
Instagram has been a great platform for me, as I was able to combine what I went to school for, Advertising and PR with yoga, wellness and an active lifestyle and be able to share it all in the most organic way.
As a private trainer, I have worked with celebrities, both Latin, while in Miami and international as well. I love change, I can say I am addicted to evolution and movement, it is certainly not for everyone because change can very much be overwhelming and scary. I’d say I learn as I go, every single day provides me with a new lesson, and I am so thankful for it all.
Through my yoga practice, I am able to find that peace that I kept on seeking outside, very deep inside of myself.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Change can very much be an obstacle and a challenge as much as it can be an opportunity and a gateway for evolution. I must say it is scary, I am currently on tour with one of my clients and it was scary to take the decision of pausing everything I was working on in Miami for such an opportunity. But I felt it in my gut, it felt right, and so I took the chance to throw myself into unknown territory and to strive to learn from everything that I experience every single day.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I am a private trainer. I host yoga events with brands.
I am a yoga teacher.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Risks. Change. Opportunities. Failures. Getting back up on your feet. These all go hand on hand, they are sort of a chain or a cycle. There is no change without risk taking, there is no evolution without surpassing challenges and learning your way around something scary or something unknown.
I think I have learned, in the way of taking risks, to trust myself more. To go in deeper and listen to what my heart and my soul are saying – I am certain that my practice has had a lot to do with all of this. And it has also been magical to experience things that I have desired or manifested for a really long time, to now see them come to life after a lot of hard work and dedication. Working with Alo Yoga for example, a brand that I have followed closely for years is something that I have manifested for a long time. While on tour I was in LA for a few days, and I took a risk of exploring the chance of going into their HQ to teach a class, and so I did. From there, more beautiful things have blossomed – so I would say I have my risk-taking personality to thank for.
Contact Info:
- Email: Contact.anniemoves@gmail.com
- Website: Anniemovesyoga.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annie.moves/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnZBdywxF0EyXrVYTbRsLnw
Image Credits
Pictures taken by Valeria Dangond IG @vqdangond
