Hi, I’m Andrea Russell.

I’m an Āyurvedic health practitioner, yoga therapist, and meditation teacher. If I could convince you of only one thing, it’s this: that there’s a path to transform suffering—of feeling unwell, anxious, or like you’re spread too thin. There are tools that can help you heal, get back to yourself, and remember what is meaningful, and live in alignment.

The momentum of life can pull us off center. We don’t always get what we want, people we love die, and at times, the world can be a hard place to live. We need practices that bring us back home to ourselves so we may stay true to what’s in our hearts. We need ways to cultivate strength, resiliency, and compassion. Ancient practices offer timeless tools that can help. I’ve experienced firsthand how they can be used to know the truth of who we are, heal our bodies, and wake us up to a more meaningful life.

My Story

My work began with trying to figure out how to alleviate my own suffering and transform my life for the better. In 1995, I was searching to find the truth of me and my place in the world. I dropped out of college and moved to a cabin with no plumbing or electricity in a redwood forest. I became passionate about holistic health and wellbeing. My love of nature deepened and I was introduced to yoga, meditation, and cooking with whole foods. After a profound six months, I returned home to attend massage therapy school and apprentice with a local ashtanga yoga teacher. Among other things, I discovered a love of anatomy and the workings of the body.

I spent decades studying with remarkable teachers in the U.S. and India while pouring my heart into my passions—from taking trainings to leading trainings and filling my days with work I enjoyed. Then, all that dreaming, striving, and attaining came to a halt when I hit a wall of chronic fatigue and peripheral neuropathy.

It was hard to accept although I realized that the pace of life I’d been leading wasn’t sustainable. So began the task of figuring out how to create a sustainable, fulfilling life that I loved, and that would hopefully be of some service to others.

It began with another pilgrimage to India and delving deeper into Āyurveda. A process of continual reflection and refinement followed that took time, a few injuries and the unexpected death of my beloved father to make big shifts. Finally, I learned how to weed out what wasn’t truly important and meaningful to me, and to pour my heart into the rest.

Slowly I learned how to work smarter, not harder, how to reduce my hours to a more manageable rhythm (continually refining this one), how to make more time for what matters most and how to have healthier boundaries with my commitments, social life, and my screens.

Living the healing principles of classical Āyurveda along with a daily yoga and meditation practice of my own has made me even better at my work. When I’m working I’m fully present and my mission is really clear: to give people tools to live healthier, happier, more fulfilling lives so that the world is a better, kinder, and more compassionate place.

How I help

I offer four different kinds of services—Āyurvedic health consultations and cleanses, yoga instruction, and transformational retreats. In common between these things is their ability to foster self-understanding, insight, and wisdom so that you can reconnect with yourself, heal, thrive, and go back to doing the work you are inspired to do in the world.

I believe that all of these practices are best done in tune with the season of the year, which gives us a way to ground to the time and place in which we are living, as well as a way to be in tune with the season of our life so that we can enjoy the life we have and age more gracefully.

If you think that learning ways to help you move more easily, to transform your relationship with food, to develop sustainable self-care routines, and to down regulate your nervous system can help you achieve optimal health, I’d love to work with you.

Please visit my work with me, courses, and retreat pages. If you’d like to receive my seasonal self-care guide filled with tips, recipes, and movement practices, sign up below. If you’d like to go straight to booking a session, you can do so here.

Credentials

Here’s the official stuff that makes me qualified to do what I do:

  • Current student of Āyurvedic Doctorate Program, Boston School of Āyurveda with Dr. Anusha Sehgal
  • Certified Āyurvedic Practitioner, Boston School of Āyurveda with Dr. Anusha Sehgal
  • Certified Āyurvedic Health Counselor, Kripalu School of Āyurveda
  • Clinical Program of Āyurveda, VIOA in Pune, India with Dr. Vasant Lad
  • Pulse Reading for Clinical Skills, Āyurveda Institute with Dr. Vasant Lad
  • Pulse Reading Course, Life Spa with Dr. John Douillard
  • Marma Point Therapy, Āyurveda Institute with Dr. Vasant Lad
  • Āyurveda’s Approach to Healing the Gut with Dr. Anusha Sehgal
  • Balancing the Nervous System through Āyurveda with Dr. Anusha Sehgal
  • Integrating Yoga & Āyurveda, Kripalu School of Āyurveda
  • Healthier Hormones course with Dr. Claudia Welch
  • Āyurveda Mentorship program with Dr. Claudia Welch
  • Foundations of Āyurveda, with Dr. Robert Svoboda & Dr. Claudia Welch
  • Certified Yoga Therapist 1000-hours, International Association of Yoga Therapists
  • Yoga Alliance Registered Teacher 500 E-RYT
  • Pelvic Floor Yoga Teacher Training with Leslie Howard
  • Alignment Yoga 200 & 300-hour Teacher Training with Scott Anderson
  • Ashtanga Yoga Teacher Training with Tim Miller
  • Anatomy Trains for Movement Therapists with Thomas Meyers
  • Neurovascular/Craniosacral Therapist, Neurovascular Therapy Institute with Dr. Cathy Holway
  • Wisconsin Licensed Massage Therapist & Bodyworker
  • Dharma and meditation teaching mentorship for seven years with Michael Stone
  • Co-facilitated and lead-instructor for Yoga Alliance accredited 200 & 500-hour teacher training programs for 13 years

“I arrived to the retreat center drained emotionally, spiritually and physically. I left one week later strong, refueled and lifted up. Andrea orchestrated the week with a perfect balance of meditation, incredible teaching and a focused yoga practice along with plenty of time for relaxation and excursions. Thanks for a magical week Andrea.”

-Deb