Anna Lou
The second life is the real one.
Writer, trauma informed coach and resident nervous system regulation healer at The Hare and the Moon, Twickenham. I live on a houseboat on the Thames.
Your life works on paper. So why doesn't it feel right?
Maybe you can't switch off, even on a good day. Maybe it's technically over, and you're still braced. Maybe you've done the therapy, you understand the pattern, and it still runs your week.
This is the space between therapy and blowing your life up. Nobody here is going to tell you to sell everything and move to Bali. We start with noticing what is actually happening in you.
Welcome. Calm in your body, clarity in your life.
From a market stall to a houseboat
The first life
A market stall on Portobello Road became Anna Lou of London. Over 22 years my jewellery reached Liberty, Selfridges, Harrods, Harvey Nichols and Japan.
The room
Then my marriage ended, and what I had been living in had a name: domestic abuse. From the outside I was coping. Inside, I was braced all the time.
The rebuild
Talking it over again and again didn't help me. I wanted to understand the loops and patterns, my own part in them, and how to handle PTSD. Extensive EMDR and daily trauma release changed things.
Today
A houseboat on Taggs Island with my 3 children and a whippet. Tuesdays at The Hare and the Moon. Creating meditations and music activations, growing the blog and launching Reset Letters.
Anna Lou of London
For over 22 years I've designed jewellery known for its playful colour and gemstones, each piece made to be kept and passed on.
To keep quality and ethics in my own hands, I moved all manufacturing to the UK. Today every piece is made to order in the Anna Lou Design Lab on Taggs Island, supporting local makers and wasting less.
My designs have been sold at Harrods, Selfridges, Liberty and Harvey Nichols, at Isetan and Hankyu in Tokyo, and at Henri Bendel in New York.
I had to rebuild while still living the life
Not on a retreat. Not on a sabbatical. While parenting, while earning, while frightened, and while the school run still happened at 8.15.
I'm an ICF and CPD trained trauma informed coach, very experienced in trauma release and nervous system regulation. I've hosted sessions and retreats for 4 years, on top of 10 years of lived experience, so I understand the people who come to me.
I'd describe myself as an energetic clinician. I help people raise their vibration, in sessions and through the meditations and music activations I create.
I came through domestic abuse myself, and I now support other people recovering from it, alongside people whose lives look successful and still don't feel right from the inside.
I still get frightened. I still overthink. The difference is that I notice sooner.
I am not a talking therapist. I work somatically, to calm the nervous system.
You might recognise yourself here
You're composed and capable all day, and then the front door closes and there's nothing left for the people you love.
Something hard has ended, everybody has stopped asking, and your body still hasn't got the message.
You're recovering after domestic abuse and want to feel safe in your own life again.
You run a business or a team, you're very good at it, and you've quietly lost track of what any of it is for.
Men and women, founders, leaders and parents who are ready to heal, take responsibility and double down on their wellbeing.
Most people arrive here after trying everything else. The therapy. The journalling. The courses. The spiritual work. Getting all the way to the insight, and then hitting the same wall.
This work meets you in the body, where the patterns actually live.
3 things I come back to
The second life is the real one
The life you have now isn't the consolation prize or the reduced version. The first life was the rehearsal.
Which room is this?
When the old pattern starts, you don't need to fix yourself. You notice which room you're in, and that rooms have doors.
Notice. Check in. Choose what's true.
Not the quickest relief, and not the most dramatic option. The choice that answers the real need underneath.
Still creating
The Reset Room
Music activations, meditations and deep relaxations, and a place to connect with other conscious and awakening souls.
Step insideKirra Kirra
An animated children's show (Kirra Kirra means sparkle sparkle in Japanese) about mental health, resilience and empathy.
Words and sound
I'm an author and podcaster, and I create meditations and music activations to help people raise their vibration.
Start wherever feels right
Reset Letters
A Tuesday Letter and a Friday Five, written from the houseboat, straight to your inbox.
Read the lettersThe Returning Circle
A small group at The Hare and the Moon, Twickenham Green. Come as you are and pay what you can.
Book a place1:1 sessions
Private sessions, 60 or 90 minutes, starting with whatever is going on for you that day.
See the sessionsAs seen in and stocked by
Good to know
Where are you based?
On a houseboat on Taggs Island in Hampton, on the Thames. I see people in person on Tuesdays at The Hare and the Moon, Twickenham Green, and online on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
Are you a therapist?
No, I'm not a talking therapist. I'm an ICF and CPD trained trauma informed coach, and I work somatically, through the body, to calm the nervous system. If you need clinical support, I'll always say so and help you find it.
Can you help me after domestic abuse?
Yes. I came through it myself, and I support people rebuilding afterwards. If you are not safe right now, call the National Domestic Abuse Helpline free on 0808 2000 247, open 24 hours. In an emergency, call 999.
Where should I start?
Read the letters for a few weeks, come to a Returning Circle, or book a 1:1 session if you already know you want to.
Press and partnerships
Email anna@annalouoflondon.com or message me on WhatsApp, and I'll come back to you.
You don't have to hold everything
Say hello, ask a question, or book a time.
The second life is the real one. Xx Anna Lou