Over 10 years ago, while driving past the same yoga studio as she had done on the daily on her way to classes at Boston College Law School, Marblehead resident Anusia Gillespie decided that she needed an outlet to help manage the stresses of her studies. So, she signed up for a class, unaware at the time, of the world that simple decision would reveal for her.
Shortly after obtaining her law degree, now a certified yoga instructor, Gillespie had an epiphany of sorts, while in a meditative pose on a yoga mat when working as a commercial real estate finance associate in Boston. That life-changing moment inspired Gillespie to author a new book reflecting her newfound personal discovery.
“I had become a yoga instructor in 2015 and decided I would offer lunchtime yoga sessions partnering with the property management companies I was working with,” she said. “I had 100 participants in those classes! It was during one of those sessions that I had an awakening.”
Gillespie said that she had grown up believing success was about achievements and collecting badges. But on that mat, enveloped in introspection, everything changed for her.
“The self-realization was that all of this was external validation dressed up as identity, and no rung on that ladder was ever going to make me feel good inside. When I stripped that away, I had to confront big questions: without the badges, who am I? And what does success mean to me?” she said.
This inspired Gillespie to write a novel, “Soul Toll,” which somewhat parallels her own life’s trajectory. She regards her book as a self-help, fiction-fantasy novel that sets itself apart from some of the drier, non-fiction sort.
Gillespie is bringing that book to life through a five-part yoga series, “Soul Flow,” offered at The Yoga Loft Marblehead through May.
In the book, protagonist Ember is an attorney and yoga instructor — sound familiar?— whose meditation on her mother’s old yoga mat cracks her open to a fantasy world called “Resonance” where she strives to restore personal light, while antagonist NP Dunn works to prevent that from happening. His mission is keeping people’s noses to the grindstone with only one thing in mind — productivity.
As Gillespie describes, “Resonance is a hidden world that exists alongside the ordinary one, accessed through meditation, yoga and other mindful pathways, and is filled with travelers, mystical guides, enchanted mountain landscapes and dynamic experiences where inner journeys take physical form as they learn to fight for their light.”
Gillespie is collaborating with Yoga Loft instructor, Kristan Marden, in the series of 90-minute classes incorporating selected passages from the book. Participants will be encouraged to envision their own stories while engaging in 45 minutes of yoga with Marden, as Gillespie weaves in selected narrations from her book to motivate yogis to envision what their own personal stories may be and what will help them achieve true fulfillment. All ages and levels are welcome and participants can enroll in as many classes as they like.
The pair held a pilot session this summer and it was sold out, said Julie Helmes, The Yoga Loft owner. It was the first such collaboration at the studio, curating a book-inspired yoga class and feedback was positive, she said.
Helmes and Gillespie overlapped time at Marblehead High School, and reconnected when Gillespie began attending classes at The Yoga Loft a few years ago, when she and her husband had moved back to town following several years attending school and work abroad. Helmes decided to purchase “Soul Toll” as a holiday gift for her staff after reading it herself first.
Local shops, Saltwater Bookstore, Eat Well Kitchen, along with The Yoga Loft, are offering the book for sale and it’s also available on Amazon.com.
The dynamic Gillespie currently works as a legal AI executive tech expert guiding attorneys and others in the legal domain on how to unlock AI and safely use the evolving technology in their work. She said that she was inspired to go to law school while attending undergraduate school at Tulane University in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina devastated the region in 2005.
“To witness post Katrina, I realized that there weren’t any laws in effect to address what was happening,” said Gillespie. “That’s when I decided that I wanted to explore law.”
She obtained her law degree and MBA from Boston College and practiced law for a time before deciding to pursue work as a consultant in the tech field; something for which she has an aptitude.
Following an impressive string of personal and professional achievements, Gillespie currently works for a major legal tech firm vLex, which was recently acquired by another legal tech stronghold, Clio, for $1 billion.
Gillespie, who lives in town with her husband, son and dog, said that she hopes that her book inspires her readers to pave their own path to find freedom.
The book’s preface opens with the Michael Singer quote: “In the deepest sense, you free yourself by finding yourself.”
For more information on Soul Flow, visit theyogaloftmarblehead.com.
