JOANN & TED BURNHAM
Joann began her yoga journey when she was 19 years old, living in New York City while attending college at NYU. Stress from both college and city living led her to the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center, that was more than 30 years ago, and she has been practicing Yoga ever since.
Ted’s practice has been a long and winding road. It began with an Asana practice at age 19 and advanced meditation techniques years later. From his early teacher he studied the Vedas, including the Yoga Sutras, the Bhagavad-Gita, the Ramayana, the Rigveda and the Upanishads. Through study and practice he developed a greater understanding of creative consciousness and the field of all possibilities. In 1990 Ted completed the Maharishi Advanced TM Siddhi program in Washington DC.
Joann and Ted received their original 200+ hour teaching certification under the guidance of Dharma Mittra at the Dharma Yoga Center in New York City. They hold certificates in Integrative Yoga for Seniors from the Duke University School of Integrative Medicine. They are certified Relax and Renew® teachers and certified Integrated Yoga Tune Up® and Roll Model® Method instructors. Joann is also certified as a Raw Chef.
Joann and Ted have been a yoga, health, and wellness advocates on Nantucket since 2010. In 2010, they opened Dharma Yoga Nantucket offering yoga and healthy eating classes in the loft at Bartlett’s Farm. In 2012, they created The Nantucket Yoga Festival, bringing wellness experts and healthy living guides to the island for one inspiring weekend. When the Nantucket Yoga Festival launched in 2012, its greatest supporter was Holly Finigan and the Nantucket blACKbook. For the past two years, the three of them have been conceptualizing the evolution and next chapter of The Nantucket Yoga Festival, and in 2025, they combined their visions to create Happy Place: A Wellness Symposium.
HOLLY RUTH FINIGAN
For the past 41 years, Holly Ruth Finigan has been a student of life. Her college background is seeded in integrity, which began as an English Journalism major at the University of New Hampshire. An early adapter to social media, Holly’s used her super powers in connecting to create online communities built on trust. In 2012, she created the first Nantucket digital platform sharing advocacy over advertising with the Nantucket blACKbook, the island’s ultimate social guide for where to sip, shop and stay.
She then furthered her entrepreneurial work and created Happy Place. It began as a clothing brand and evolved into a concept shop. Holly launched Happy Place at the 2015 Nantucket Yoga Festival, which was always her favorite weekend on the island. Holly received open heart surgery on January 8th, 2018, and it shifted the entirety of her consciousness and physical being.
This came in the form of a spiritual awakening, which had her travel to Bali to study under Punnu Singh Wasu while taking Oneness Awakening Courses, mindfulness workshops, a grand master reiki training and meditation teacher training.
Holly put the blACKbook to rest in 2020, and then integrated her wisdom and gifts around the heart by leading workshops, retreats, and mediations, both online and offline. She published her first book Wholeheartedly: The One You Want To Find Is You in January of 2023 and celebrated the launch at Dharma Yoga Nantucket and she is currently finishing her second book in the Wholeheartedly series entitled The Queen Of Golden Hearts.
hollyruthfinigan@gmail.com @hollyruthfinigan 978.201.2579
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