Annika Malik

Annika was born and raised in the Bay Area. At the age of sixteen an automobile accident left her with several spinal fractures and unable to live a normal teenage life. During her recovery a friend invited her to attend a yoga class, and she began to experience the self transformative properties of yoga and meditation. Over the past ten years Annika has conducted classes with youth in various settings and piloted programs including co-developing a peer leadership program. Annika coordinates the Niroga Institute programs with incarcerated youth in Alameda and San Mateo Counties. She provides support to Niroga instructors and coordinates the research work being done to assess the impact of this work on the young people. She credits her diverse student pool as her greatest teachers and hopes that her curriculum development work furthers the mission of making these practises widely accessible. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband and two children.