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Mindfulness Sessions for Managing Stress

Samara Anderson is an attorney at AHS as well as a skilled yoga teacher and mindfulness practitioner (see her bio below).  For years she has offered regular yoga classes on Wednesdays at noon at the Waterbury State office complex. In response to the stress and strain of the current times, Samara is kindly offering to lead 2 virtual mindfulness sessions per week which are now available ONLINE via Zoom and one in person yoga class (details below).

Please consider taking a moment for yourself during your workday to restore and reground during this difficult time.

To register for any session, please email Samara Anderson(This will ensure notification of any updates or changes to classes.) 

Virtual Mindful Practices for Coping with Stress, Mondays and Thursdays from 12-12:30 pm

These short sessions will include various practices to reduce your overall stress response during these uncertain and challenging times.  Mindfulness simply means choosing to be in the present moment without judgment.  If you can learn these tools during moments of calm, you will be better equipped to meet any stressful situations that may arise in your life or the world.  These sessions will guide you into using mindfulness tools to anchor you to the present moment, such as breach and body awareness.  All practices can be done from your desk and require no special equipment, outfits or experience.

NOTE: Sign in early as the Zoom sessions are limited to the first 100 participants

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 433 938 263
Password: 588354
Dial in for Audio only: (646) 876-9923, Meeting ID: 433 938 263, Password: 588354

To register for any session, please email Samara Anderson(This will ensure notification of any updates or changes to classes.) 

In Person Destress Yoga | All Levels

Wednesdays from 12-1:00 pm | WSOC Fitness Center

This is a yoga class open to all Levels and will be a combination of Vinyasa (moving with breath), Hatha (holding poses to build strength), Yin (supported longer holds for deeper myofascial release), Kundalini (using breath to move energy through the body), and Restorative (supported poses with blankets, blocks and bolsters to bring deep relaxation and healing).  So, expect some R&R in the middle of the day.  It will be active, but also calming. 

I will have the following yoga props available, so feel free to use what I have available or bring your own, but if you use my props, please wipe them down with antibacterial wipes at the end of each class:

  • 10 yoga mats
  • 20 yoga blocks
  • 10 Mexican thin blankets
  • 10 Svaroopa thick blankets
  • 20 straps
  • 10 bolsters

To register for any session, please email Samara Anderson(This will ensure notification of any updates or changes to classes.) 


Samara Anderson

Samara Anderson is a 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher (becoming a 500 hour Certified Yoga Medicine Instructor), a MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stressed Reduction) Instructor-in-Training, a technical compliance advisor, and an entrepreneur creating a non-profit community farm in Vermont to use farm animals, nature and mindfulness to heal people. She discovered yoga in 2003 when she graduated from Vermont Law School and was in a stressful and busy commercial litigation law firm at Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP. 

Her legal work has evolved from corporate litigation to public service with the State of Vermont, initially as an Assistant Attorney General, an in-house legal and policy advisor for Agency of Human Services (AHS), and currently a technical compliance advisor for Department for Children and Families (DCF).  Her mindfulness practice has deepened over the past eighteen years, culminating in completing her first yoga teacher training in 2013.  Samara has combined her mindfulness practices with the practice of law in her Mindful Practices workshops to reduce stress and increase productivity and happiness.  Attorneys and non-attorneys alike exclaim that they have never felt so relaxed and focused at the same time: two qualities that make for highly effective and happy humans.  Happy Humans Project Site