About YogaForce

From the beginning, YogaForce has been a labor of love. When Anne E. Appleby first became addicted to yoga, in the late 80s, she was frustrated by the lack of hip, fun, comfortable clothing in which to practice it.

By 1995, it seemed the only solution would be to found her own Company. This entailed contacting clothing manufacturers and dye houses, and handling sales, packing and shipping, entirely out of her condo in LA. A bit much for one person, perhaps, but from these modest beginnings, YogaForce has developed a legion of fans. In addition to yoga studios, health clubs and spas, Annie's clothing and her patented A-Line Mat have been carried by more than 350 retailers, including Macy's; Bloomingdale's; Nordstrom; The Sharper Image;  Paragon Sports; The Cleveland Clinic; Sports Club/LA; Equinox; The InterContinental Hotels; Oshman's Japan; Fitness Town Canada; Kitson and Fred Segal.

Moreover, her brand has been featured in more than 50 top television shows, major movies and celebrity closets. After surviving a few bad car accidents in LA, Annie introduced a revolutionary Patented YogaForce A-Line Mat. The patented alignment system on the YogaForce Mat aides in physical therapy, yoga, pilates, and all floor exercises as it helps guide your body in proper positioning to maximize performance. The Mat was recently endorsed by The College of Sports Medicine and Dr. Andrew Weil and is available at such premier locations as The Cleveland Clinic, Sporting Goods Stores, Yoga Studios, Gyms, Catalogs, Hotels, Medical Supply Stores, Rehab Clinics, Hospitals and Spas.  The YogaForce A-Line has been profiled by leading publications such as The Wall Street Journal; The New York Times; TIME Magazine; The Yoga Journal; The San Francisco Chronicle and The Los Angeles Times.  Annie was told by several orthopedic surgeons that she would never run again. Since then, Annie has run a few marathons and has absolutely no signs of any injury after aligning her body with the YogaForce A-Line Mat.  "The Mat has put me in the best shape of my life. I stay in condition the easy way; I am mindful about healthy eating and keeping my body in alignment. It is so simple."

Annie graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in Sociology and went on to intern for ABC News in Washington, DC. Later, while working at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood, California, she continued her education at UCLA and began taking lunch time yoga classes on the lot. After founding YogaForce, Annie presented seminars on marketing and product placement to the MBA programs at USC and UCLA and to the fashion department at Stephens College (www.stephens.edu).

Annie has been teaching yoga privately since 1997 and  teaches in the San Francisco Bay Area at Oracle, EQUINOX, San Francisco SUNDAY STREETS and at The Y. She also travels to teach and consult. The YogaForce F2 Collection launched at the POOL Trade Show in August, 2006. The YogaForce Clothing Line was tremendously successful. In fact, the line blew out of Nordstrom in less than 2 hours with orders for several more stores! Unfortunately, the clothing Licensee was the wrong fit. YogaForce hopes to find more capable License partners in the future.

Annie is a skin cancer survivor and advocate and is featured in the 2008 MELONOMA SURVIVOR CALENDAR. She is also mentioned in the book DR. YOGA by Nirmala Heriza, the Hatha yoga cardiac therapist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. In October, 2009 YogaForce became an LLC with Phil Schlein, the former President and CEO of Macy's California and one of the first investors of APPLE, as the Chairman. Annie, the Chief Creative of YogaForce LLC, is also active with the San Francisco Sunday Streets Program, The Y, American Bone Health, Stand Up 2 Cancer and The Huntington's Disease Society of America.