Longtime Brooklyn resident Anna Haddad is building community, one yoga student at a time, with her successful studio entitled ONEYOGAHOUSE.
Longtime Brooklyn resident Anna Haddad, calculated risk taker, successful entrepreneur, and September 11th survivor parlays the traditions of her ancestors, the success of her family members, and her contemporary vision to support (mostly) women in their well-being journeys. In so doing, Anna has created a loyal following and a community of yogis who cajole each other to peel away their layers of grief, career grime, burnout, and other inner struggles with her euphonious, compassionate, and tender support. Anna’s steadfast leadership eradicates their exhaustion and replaces it with comfort and esteem.
Anna is the proud owner and visionary behind ONEYOGAHOUSE, an extremely successful and breathtakingly gorgeous yoga studio located in Brooklyn, New York. The aesthetics of her studio create the external peace and serenity that many of her yoga students crave and experience in their practice with her. But it is ONEYOGAHOUSE’s week-long retreats in many awe-inspiring locations around the globe where one will grasp the almost palpable magic of Anna’s calling.
I experienced this magic firsthand, as a retreat participant during ONEYOGAHOUSE’s Cabo San Lucas retreat that I attended earlier this spring. I wish I could take credit for researching and unearthing Anna, but the discovery needs to be attributed to my former college roommate, Dr. Debra Sellers. The risk that Debra and I took to dedicate one week of our year to the beginning of our own personal health journey only marginally mimics that of the risk that Anna has taken to build this reverent community.
The seed for Anna to thrive as an entrepreneur was planted on the unlikeliest of days…the day many worlds collapsed during the attacks on The World Trade Center, The Pentagon and the plane crash in Shanksville, Pennsylvania on September 11th, 2001. At that time, Anna was working at Merrill Lynch, in The World Financial Center. She remembers, “After feeling the impact of the second plane going into the towers, we all ran out of the building en masse. When I made it outside, I looked back at the building to see the damage, then witnessed people jumping out of the burning towers. My feet gave out under me as I fainted.” Moments later, Anna remembers being swept up and walking diligently with her coworkers, half tripping over themselves up the West Side Highway as the Twin Towers started to collapse. That day changed everything for her.
Anna’s parents modeled the adage, “Those who take risks, win at life.” She says she loves to challenge herself and lead herself into uncomfortable positions. She states, “Those are the moments that have revealed so many possibilities I otherwise would not have seen, and given me an abundance mindset. History certainly favors risk-takers, so I'm proud that I can focus my energies on building my own dreams for my brand and community and strengthening my intuition. I don’t spend much time judging or comparing myself or my business versus what others are doing.”
Mexico, Morocco, Portugal and Costa Rica are all places one can retreat with Anna and ONEYOGAHOUSE, with possible new destinations in the works to Italy and Africa. Anna also leads an annual spring retreat in Montauk, New York, which will take place in a few days from May 16 through May 19. “Once you find your life’s passion, you have to go for it with all you’ve got and go all the way to the top.” Her proudest accomplishment has nothing to do with fame or fortune, but in giving her community the tools to be at their best.
Anna will also teach a mass yoga and meditation experience in collaboration with Lululemon and the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy to celebrate the International Day of Yoga on June 21, 2024, right in her backyard at the BK Bridge Park. She is a huge supporter of the Conservancy admiring how they work very hard to provide free programming and activities in the park for everyone in a very inclusive way.
“I always thought that success had to do with reaching certain business goals and metrics. But what feels like true success is threefold: identifying your true passions, going back to your roots to recognize what makes you feel whole, and aspiring to be better each and every day. I came from humble beginnings: my family and I immigrated to America when I was very young. Everything was new and foreign – in addition to the physical differences, there was the language, the food, the culture. I craved the feeling of dignity, worthiness, acceptance, that sense of belonging while also preserving my identity and authenticity. I was also a latchkey kid as my parents couldn’t afford childcare and weren’t around much. There was a lot of love, sacrifice, resilience, and empowered thinking. Success to me is building an inclusive community, and showing up for yourself and others, because human connection is healing.”
At the retreat in Mexico, participants experienced daily yoga sessions for two hours each morning and over ninety minutes of Sound Meditations, restorative/yin, and other meditation practices like Yoga Nidra in the late afternoon. We had the chance to explore breath work, lymph work, pilates movements and anatomy-based teachings. As a special treat, Anna somehow lugged her giant Paiste 32-inch travel gong through the airport and security so we could be entranced with it each day. Anna happens to be one of those women who has multi-dimensional talents and beauty, and if she wasn’t so lovely and enchanting, everyone would be glowing green with envy. But instead, you bask in her skills, observe and learn from her every move, and somehow she becomes your compass instead of your frenemy. Once each session was over, all twenty of us meandered to the dining room where delicious vegetarian meals were waiting for us to devour. In between there were excursions to local markets and experiences, or we could just go on the roof top and watch whales breaching in the Pacific Ocean, just steps away from our beach front resort, aptly named Prana del Mar and located near the southern tip of the Baja peninsula.
Jaime Huynh, one of Anna’s associates and a talented photographer captured our journey from behind her lens. A few decades our junior, Jaime embodied an old soul vibe as she singlehandedly obtained video content, set up extraordinary pics and sprinkled in a few downward dogs for herself along the way. Jaime’s own story of her family's immigration to
America is also enlightening, as she described how she grew up in her family’s New Jersey-based nail salon business, meeting all kinds of successful women who personified the grit needed to succeed. She knew early on she wanted to pursue a creative career, but keeps her side hustle options open as she herself is on a clear path to success, freelancing as a graphic designer, photographer, videographer, and a sometimes nail stylist to her Brooklyn buddies.
It's been a few months since I have returned from my trip to Mexico. The desert, the warm sun, the delicious food, the bubbling hot tub, and the camaraderie I experienced with so many smart women, and the connections I made fed me with the recipe I needed to continue positively on my wellness journey. Even though I live a long train ride away from ONEYOGAHOUSE, I can take classes whenever I want online with Anna and her staff of talented instructors and I love getting the newsletter updates on all the studio happenings.
It’s time to go book next year’s retreat before this article goes public, I want to make sure I schedule some magic for 2025. The Cabo San Lucas dates are March 8-15th, 2025.
To visit Anna’s ONEYOGAHOUSE Website: https://oneyogahouse.com/
You can also follow and like Anna on Instagram: @oneyogahouse and @annahaddadyoga
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