After experiencing complex trauma, chronic illness, recurrent miscarriages and the stillbirth of her baby, Anna Pichowskia turned to yoga, somatic movement and nervous system healing. With a life shaped by profound loss, healing and a deep commitment to self-discovery, what began as a personal journey evolved into a calling: to create a compassionate, trauma-informed space where women can reconnect with their bodies, explore their emotions and rediscover inner safety. Earth Circle provides more than yoga or coaching – it offers a sacred return to wholeness, guided by lived experience and deep, embodied wisdom. Here Anna talks to The Natural Parent Magazine about the inspiration behind her business, her biggest breakthrough, the challenges she has overcome, and her hopes and dreams for the future.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
I was inspired to set up Earth Circle to guide women to find connection, clarity and confidence again after riding difficult waves in life – connection to acknowledge all our feelings, clarity to know what our needs are and the confidence to meet those needs in the present moment – through the understanding of our unique nervous system. Mind, body, soul connection.
This work is so important to me as I have experienced recurrent, complex physical and emotional trauma from a young age. I have had serious road accidents, sports injuries, the stillbirth of my baby Elvis, recurrent miscarriages, auto-immune diseases, experiences of addictions and self-neglect.
These experiences led me to a journey of self-learning and healing, shaping the way I now live my life.
I discovered the joy and healing power of hot yoga in my late twenties. Then, during my second pregnancy, I went on to discover the support of transcendental meditation, somatic movement, women’s circles, chiropractic treatment and internal family systems (IFS) therapy, alongside my yoga practice.
“It is through the flow that we may discover a little bit more of who we are. So maybe we’ll let go of that need for the right answers and exact rules and embrace the divine feminine work of intuition, feeling and compassion” ~ Sarah Robinson
I now focus on helping women better and compassionately process trauma through 1-1 sessions and small group online courses and women’s circles. Through mind-movement-breath exercises, we learn to manage the curveballs life throws at us, to heal and grow by finding confidence and safety in our beings again.
The Launch: How Did You Start Out in the Beginning?
I began my yoga teacher training in January 2018 while on maternity leave – but with no baby to hold. My son, Elvis, was stillborn at 37 weeks due to an autoimmune condition called antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). With a broken heart, yoga became the thread I clung to. The discipline of daily practice, the structure of training and the intense focus of hot yoga gave me something to rise for each day – a flicker of meaning in the midst of grief.
In 2019, I gave birth to my daughter, Sky. It was an anxious pregnancy, and I leaned into yin yoga and meditation to support my mental health. Though the journey was filled with fear, I found small moments of joy. When Sky was four months old, she underwent life-saving heart surgery – another emotional shock that left me feeling deeply alone and untethered.
That’s when I reached out for help and began my trauma-informed training with Aneta Idczak. It marked a major turning point. I began to understand that the chronic tension, pain, digestive issues, anxiety and overwhelm I had experienced since my youth were signs of a nervous system stuck in survival mode. My body wasn’t failing me – it was trying to protect me. I could begin to offer it the safety, space and compassion it needed to heal.
Over time, I completed many trainings, each one like a piece of a puzzle guiding me back to wholeness. Though I had long felt disconnected from my body’s wisdom, my intuition was always there at times – quietly nudging me forward. There has always been a fire in me, a longing to give something meaningful back to the world. In my younger years, I didn’t know how. Now, I do.
When I started my yoga teacher training, I felt a pull to work one-to-one with people in a therapeutic way, even if I didn’t yet know what form it would take. I stayed open, letting the path unfold. Today, I support women in reconnecting with their own rhythm and energy after trauma – guiding them back to their bodies and helping them ask:
- What do I feel?
- What do I need?
- What can I do to support myself right now?
It may sound like a wellness cliché, but it’s true – we cannot pour from an empty cup. If we’re disconnected from our own feelings and needs, it’s nearly impossible to offer real compassion to others. Healing begins by turning inward – with love.
The Innovation: What Was the Biggest Breakthrough for You in Business?
Committing fully to somatic movement was a turning point. Somatic movement is a mindful, body-based practice that helps you tune into physical sensations, release tension, and restore a sense of safety and presence within.
Yoga had supported my recovery from injury and helped me explore balance – between effort and ease, movement and stillness. But I still sensed a deeper holding in my body, something unresolved. Yoga taught me awareness, curiosity and kindness toward myself, yet I felt a strong desire to connect with a more intuitive flow of movement.
While I was pregnant with Sky, I found it difficult to attend pregnancy yoga classes – questions like, “Is this your first baby?” felt like emotional landmines. Instead, I discovered a local somatic movement and yin class. The slow, mindful connection to breath brought a softness to my nervous system, and I sensed I was on the right path.
In 2024, I started my Trauma Informed Somatic Movement & Coaching for Women with my teacher Aneta, diving deeper into nervous system education and trauma-informed somatic practices. This course was a pivotal point for me as even after all initial training on trauma, which I had intertwined into my yoga classes and retreats, I was still struggling with cycles of burnout, grief and exhaustion – especially alongside three more miscarriages. This work helped me understand why and move my business forward, as I learnt how to support myself.
Somatic movement invites us to meet ourselves exactly where we are. We explore areas of sensation, tension, or pain in the body with compassion, while also gently engaging with our emotional landscape
Sometimes that means slow, circular movements to release fascia and support joint mobility. Other times, it’s dynamic, breath-led movement to help channel and focus energy. And when we feel depleted, it might simply mean resting and witnessing the breath – honouring the need to just be.
We also weave in values-based coaching, looking at how aligned your daily life is with what truly lights you up. Each session is co-created, designed to meet you exactly as you are that day. And that’s incredibly empowering for women – to have a space where all parts of them are welcome, and every feeling is allowed.
Yin and Yang: How Do You Balance Work and Family?
For me, balance comes from making choices that allow me to be more me. My business has always embodied the dance between yin and yang – movement and stillness, structure and surrender, fire and water. Life is full of opposing energies, and true balance lies in learning to honour them all – especially during the curveballs life inevitably throws our way.
Through somatic work and perhaps the early signs of perimenopause, I’ve realised I need more grounding and less rushing. I’ve recently created a small home studio, a sacred space where I can offer 1:1 sessions both in-person and online, and record practices uniquely tailored to each client. It’s a decision that supports my nervous system, honours my energy and allows me to stay close to my family.
This philosophy flows into the inspiration behind my business and logo. The bonsai tree reminds me that growth doesn’t have to be fast or loud to be meaningful. Like healing, it’s slow, intentional and deeply sacred. The Earth Circle symbol represents a return to simplicity, to nature and to the inner wisdom we often lose touch with. And at the heart of it all is Wu Wei – the Taoist principle of moving with life, not against it. When we stop forcing and start flowing, we find space for true wealth: wholeness, connection and peace.
