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About Us

Travel Well Yoga Retreats is the culmination of one woman’s passion for an authentic travel vacation centered on wellness. Launched into a personal self re-make after a bout with breast cancer in 2009, Amy Annis decided that once the scars began to heal it was time to take her own advice and lead with her heart.

Amy created Madeline Island Yoga Retreats and subsequently has led hundreds of women on adventures and wellness journeys in her favorite place. As Madeline Island Yoga Retreats continued to grow via word of mouth, Amy began to understand how a yogic holiday was a soothing balm for the stressed and overworked women. Her retreat mission became centered on taming the type A tendencies with a kick-start into a life of wellness. The business grew and she began to develop retreats in other sacred spaces. Travel Well Yoga Retreats is an offshoot of a tried and tested yoga retreat adventure branching out into the world.  She partners with other creators and wellness warriors to offer a unique travel journey.

Amy’s love of travel and writing also led her to her career as a contributing writer and Family Travel Advisor for Ciao Bambino, a luxury family-travel website and Virtuoso travel agency.  Her understanding of the world of travel and first hand knowledge of the best properties in each destination means that she can coach yogis through the travel process and encourages them to build travel on to their retreat with her support.  She has mentored countless female solo travelers and now plans trips for families all over the world.

Amy Annis

As a registered yoga teacher (E-RYT), Amy has experience working with both new and experienced practitioners. Her love for Madeline Island and the corresponding outdoor activities has led her to develop specific yoga trainings geared towards the performance athlete and outdoor enthusiast. As a survivor Amy has also developed a gentle teaching style to encourage other women with health battles to re-claim their bodies and their own inner strength.  For this reason, all levels of yoginis are welcomed with a lifted heart to embark on these yoga adventures.

Jen Theisen

Jen is a loving mother of five, wife, sister, friend, volunteer, and active member of the Chippewa Valley community and an active runner.  Personally she has mentored runners for over 20 years as well as coaching high school cross country for the past 2.  Recognizing the need for connection and encouragement for busy ladies, Jen Theisen founded 5ive for Women—a women’s magazine designed to empower and uplift today’s extraordinary woman. In all of this, she makes time to log many miles as an avid runner having completed over a dozen marathons. Jen is determined to spread the message “If you believe you can, you will.”

Christy Wandrei

Christy has been hooked on yoga since 1995. She stumbled upon it while backpacking through Africa and it provided her with a sense of arriving home in her own body and soul – a new place she found she could access no matter where she was in her own personal journey. To her, yoga is an awe inspiring personal journey that deepens and transforms one’s relationship to their unique inner truths.  As a teacher, she strives to keep her classes fun, upbeat, and always evolving. Her passion is to combine strength and movement with gentle guidance linking the breath to each and every movement. In 2010 she created Yoga on The Rock offering daily classes on Madeline Island.  She believes that yoga should be accessible to everyone, regardless of age or physical limitations – if you can breath you can do yoga.

Hannah Stonehouse Hudson

Recognized for her animal photography and her photos gone viral this self proclaimed goofy and caffeinated photographer has an energy that is infectious.  She is a storyteller through her photos and her work has been featured all over the world media including  Success Magazine, Huffington Post, Good Morning America, Fox News, CNN, The London Daily News, Lake Superior Magazine, Washington Post,  St Paul Pioneer Press, and the Today Show just to name a few.

Hannah brings an energy to several of our retreats with her beautiful style of teaching.  Our retreaters get tips on seeing the world from a completely different vantage with lessons on creating art with even the most basic of cameras.  When not teaching photography or spending time with her own beloved fur children Stewie and  Scout, you can find Hannah in her favorite Bayfield mobile office Big Water Roasters writing about her life adventures.

Eliza Porter

Born in Poland, growing up in Algeria followed by Canada and settling in Eau Claire 12 years ago, Eliza’s love of travel was inevitable. Having visited over 27 countries and living on 3 continents she found Croatia to be her favorite place in the world so far. A beautiful mix of the Mediterranean landscape and a blend of European culture surrounded by the turquoise waters of the Adriatic. Olive trees, grape vines and lavender fields separated by centuries old rock walls dappled with red poppies. Croatia is a gem.

Mary Dougherty

AFTER A SAILING TRIP to Lake Superior and the Apostle Islands, Mary Dougherty transplanted her family of seven plus four dogs from the suburbs of Minneapolis to Bayfield (population 487). She opened and co-ran Good Thyme Restaurant, recognized as one of the top dining experiences in northern Wisconsin, for four years. She went on to create the Cookery Maven blog and Words for Water, a photography project giving voice to people about the importance of freshwater. Founder of the nonprofit Farms Not Factories, she now works as a community organizer for the Socially Responsible Agricultural Project. You can find her most mornings at the beach with her dogs and most nights in her kitchen cooking for family and friends. She is, as Edible Magazine reported in 2012, “the quintessential perfect host.”