Anna Christina has been interested in the natural healing properties of alternative medicinals since she was a very young child. This was due, in large part, to a variety of childhood ailments. Anna was not a happy camper due to an abundance of physical challenges, and, through a keen eye for observation, the problems of others. In addition to needing help for herself, she always wanted to help other people.

In early school Anna spent a lot of time in the nurse's office with a stomach ache from what she came to recognize as stress, primarily from not wanting to be in school. While with the school nurse she would see other students visit seeking help with everything from minor bumps and bruises to splinters to more serious concerns. She wanted to do something that would make them feel better.

As an adolescent, Anna suffered with allergies to practically everything. Trees, grass, dust, mold, animals, milk — you name it. As luck might have it, she stumbled onto Bromelain (derived from pineapple) which helped. When she took the capsules she found that her symptoms decreased, which really caught her attention and began an interest in natural healing. Her mother also had a few tricks up her sleeve regarding home remedies that were helpful.

Throughout her school years Anna played sports, pretty aggressively, resulting in, by the age of 16, multiple injuries. She began to address her painful aches through massage and stretching, which led her to deeper interest in the healing arts as a way to help others with similar issues. Thus began her journey. On to Oregon to work and study. Then back east to Providence, Rhode Island, where she worked as a landscape stonemason and restaurant worker saving money to attend massage school in Sante Fe.

The Sante Fe Academy of Healing Arts changed her life. There she learned about massage, shiatsu, cranial sacral, ortho-bionomy and reflexology. The school was a perfect fit for Anna as she was able to study and learn freely piecing together her own approach to healing and help.

She came back to Providence and started her own practice ultimately moving to Block Island where she had visited as a child with her family. During her 10-year stay on the island she expanded her practice and delved more deeply into growing medicinal herbs. Also at that time she interned with Mary Blue of Farmacy Herbs, earning her certification. Then she moved to Maine.

Here she worked to establish a massage practice and further developed her personal remedies like teas, tonics, tinctures and topicals, mostly from plants she grows in her own gardens at home on West Street in Boothbay Harbor. Additionally she offers remedies for pain, inflammation, arthritis, stress, sleep issues, skin ailments and much more, including a skin care treatment for the Browntail moth rash.

Anna can be contacted through her website at www.annamana.com, or on Thursdays at the Farmer's Market on Boothbay Common. Believe me, she will try to help. It's what she likes to do.