Anne Cushman

Anne Cushman (born c. 1964 Cushman has also been an editor for Yoga Journal and Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. She directs mentoring programs and multi-year meditation training for yoga teachers at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center, emphasizing the fusion of yoga and Buddhist meditation and highlighting their shared history and philosophy.

Education Cushman obtained her bachelor's degree in comparative religion at Princeton University in 1984. She completed Spirit Rock Meditation Center's 2-year "Community Dharma Leader" and its 4-year "Dharma Retreat Teacher" training courses.

Career Cushman is closely involved with the Mindfulness meditation program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Cushman directs the mentoring element of the Mindfulness meditation teacher certification program at Spirit Rock, where in 2007 she and dharma instructor Phillip Moffitt founded the first multi-year Buddhist meditation training for yoga teachers. She has taught around a hundred yoga and meditation retreats and trainings. and for others including Yoga International.

She has given numerous talks on topics related to meditation, for example on dharma (right living). She has led workshops at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health. She presents "embodied mindfulness" retreats for women. As a writer and a teacher of yoga and Buddhist meditation, she stated in an interview with Integral Yoga magazine that to her, both yoga and writing are full-time "mastery paths".

Personal life

Cushman married a classmate from Princeton in 1999, divorcing in 2002. to visit places associated with the Buddha; the trip provided material for her 2009 novel Enlightenment for Idiots. A character called Mr. Kapoor whom she compares to B. K. S. Iyengar is enthused about by his students: "He'll crucify you over a metal folding chair"; Anna Douglas, on Inquiring Mind, described it as "a winning combination of romance, satire and spiritual adventure. In particular, it speaks to the paradoxical issues that women often face when they immerse themselves in Asian spiritual traditions."

Moving into Meditation

Lisa Francesca, in Yoga Teacher magazine, wrote that Moving into Meditation: A 12-Week Mindfulness Program for Yoga Practitioners, combines Cushman's experience in Mindful Yoga and teachings with practical resources in the form of names of yoga and meditation teachers "and their books", along with "short wisdom stories from contemporary yogis and meditators" and audio and video materials on her website, enabling the reviewer to work through the exercises (combining asana practice, pranayama, and meditation) at her own pace. Francesca recommended the book highly for "gentle self-exploration and expansion."

Other works (1998) From Here to Nirvana (2012) The Mindful Way Through Pregnancy (with Mimi Doe, Judy Leif, Jennifer Brilliant) (2019) The Mama Sutra