Christy Lynn Anana

Christy(she/her), NBCT, RYT, M.Ed., is the Mindfulness Director at Quil Ceda Tulalip Elementary located on the land of The Tulalip Tribes in Washington State, north of Seattle. She is a doctoral candidate at the University of Washington's Educational Leadership L4L Program. She has been a yoga teacher for over 14 years while leading mindfulness with students as a school counselor. She became passionate about body-centered contemplative practices as a pathway to increase her own wellbeing as well as building educator resiliency. Mirroring Thich Nhat Hanh's words, she believes that, "Happy Teachers Change the World," Lifting up educators delivers positive outcomes for students. This work is relevant, rigorous, anti-racist and culturally responsive to transform and shift systems toward equitable learning and wellbeing. She has published some books: one book is on tapping or EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) using knowledge from Traditional Chinese Medicine to unblock stuck emotions so children, adolescents, and adults feel better; and another book is A Safe Place. This book guides children on how to process their feelings and then walks alongside them as they create a safe place in their brain to feel better. This resource became available as many students are dysregulated because of painful things happening in our world. Mrs. Anana was named Washington State School Counselor of the Year in 2016. She is a proud mom of two adult talented, multi-racial daughters, and partner to Mr. Anana.