Welcome to Drop Anchor
Yoga, Meditation, Mindfulness, and Retreats supporting Stillness, Strength, and Self-Discovery.
*Drop Anchor is an HCAI-registered and FSRA-authorized service provider*
Come as you are.
Drop Anchor.
Begin again.
About
A studio born from practice, purpose & peace
Drop Anchor Yoga & Meditation is more than a name, it is a gentle reminder to pause, breathe, and return to what is steady within.
Hello! I’m Carey Carty. I’m so glad you have found your way here.
I founded Drop Anchor in 2017 with one clear goal: to make yoga, mindfulness, and meditation accessible, welcoming, and deeply meaningful for everyone. My approach blends traditional yoga asanas and philosophy with real-life practicality. No fancy poses are required, and no experience is needed.
I hold degrees in Psychology and Biology with Highest Honours and am a 350-hour Registered Yoga Teacher through the Canadian Yoga Alliance. I have completed specialized training in Yoga for Traumatic Brain Injury through the LoveYourBrain Foundation, as well as in Hatha, Yin, Ashtanga and Yoga for Chronic Back Pain. I bring over a decade of experience in public health, and years of experience in education administration. I am also a devoted student of A Course in Miracles, which continues to shape my work and my life in meaningful ways.
At Drop Anchor, you will find programs designed for every body and ability, from small-group yoga and mindfulness workshops to offerings dedicated to those living with Acquired Brain Injury. Each class is an opportunity to move, breathe, and reconnect with yourself. No prerequisites. No pressure. Just the courage to show up exactly as you are.
Drop Anchor is proud to be an authorized health care facility under the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) and Health Claims for Auto Insurance (HCAI). We offer direct billing for motor vehicle accident claims to make healing simpler and more accessible for those who need it most.
Whether you are here to build strength, find calm, or just carve out a little space for yourself in the midst of life, welcome. You have officially dropped anchor.
A little yoga studio with a big heart
Drop Anchor’s boutique yoga studio offers a calm, welcoming space designed with care and accessibility. Located in the heart of Carleton Place, this cozy gem of a studio accommodates small group classes and private sessions.
Whole Self Wellness
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1:1 Private Yoga Sessions
Personalized yoga sessions are designed to meet you exactly where you are (both online and in-person).
Each session is tailored to your body and goals, with the intention of supporting your overall health, balance, and well-being.
As a certified CYA E-RYT 350 yoga teacher, I bring extensive experience across multiple yoga styles, including Yin, Ashtanga, Hatha, Prenatal, and specialized practices for Back Pain and Scoliosis.
I create each session with care, blending my expertise with a heart-centered approach so your practice feels both effective and nurturing.
Private Session Rate: $120/hour + tax
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1:1 Mindfulness Coaching
My private mindfulness coaching sessions offer a deeply supportive space to explore the mind, release patterns of stress, and return to a state of inner peace. Rooted in the teachings of A Course in Miracles, these sessions guide you to work through perceptual upsets in a gentle yet profound way.
Together, we trace each upset back to its root in the mind, uncovering the beliefs that shape how you see yourself and the world. Through mindful awareness, reflection, and guided inquiry, these 1:1 sessions can help you shift from judgment to understanding, from fear to love. Each session is a practice in remembering your natural state of calm, clarity, and presence.
These sessions are ideal for anyone seeking greater emotional balance, spiritual growth, or a more peaceful relationship with themselves and others.
Private Session Rate: $85/hour + tax
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1:1 Support for Acquired Brain Injury
These 1:1 sessions combine movement and stillness practices for people living with brain injury.
Sessions are delivered in person or online and integrate movement, breathwork, meditation, and nervous system support techniques to support a deeper sense of well-being.
My approach is trauma-informed and LoveYourBrain-certified, blending gentle Yoga, Meditation, and Mindfulness to support meaningful recovery from acquired brain injury (ABI). Research shows these practices can foster functional changes in the brain, helping with emotional regulation, memory, pain perception, balance, self-awareness, and overall quality of life (LoveYourBrain Foundation, 2025).
Drop Anchor is an authorized health care facility under the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) and Health Claims for Auto Insurance (HCAI), offering direct billing for motor vehicle accident claims.
Private Session Rate: $120/hour + tax
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The Strength Ritual: Your Mindful Strength Training Yoga Program
Starting this February!
Move with purpose. Breathe with strength. Transform with ritual.
The Strength Ritual isn’t your typical gym workout. It’s a mindful strength training yoga program designed to help you build strength, balance, and confidence in a warm, supportive studio space. You’ll attend two small-group classes each week and commit to one powerful ritual each month that supports real, lasting transformation.
Founding members promo on now!!
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Group Community Yoga Classes (at the Carambeck Gym)
My community yoga classes are held on Tuesday evenings at the Carambeck Community Centre in Carleton Place. Each class combines strength building with gentle, grounding movements to release tension and support your nervous system.
Classes are held on Tuesday evenings | 6:15–7:15 PM | until December 16, 2025.
Drop-in Rate: $20
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Mindfulness Workshops
Mindfulness workshops offer a safe, supportive space for deep experiential healing and personal transformation.
Classes are fully experiential, allowing healing and insight to happen in the session through guided meditation, mindfulness exercises, somatic awareness, and reflective practices.
Curious what it’s like to attend one of my workshops? Check out what past participants have to say on my Testimonials page.
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Day Retreats
Coming Soon!
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Silent Retreats
Drop Anchor’s silent retreats unfold in a breathtaking sanctuary surrounded by forest and embraced by three tranquil shorelines on Big Gull Lake in the heart of North Frontenac.
2025 Retreat Status: FULL
Stay tuned for 2026 dates!
Silent Retreats
2025 Fall Silent Retreat
September 29 – October 5, 2025
Clarendon Station, North Frontenac
A Week of Deep Rest, Silence, Yoga & Mindfulness
Drop Anchor’s silent retreats unfold in a breathtaking sanctuary surrounded by forest and embraced by three tranquil shorelines on Big Gull Lake in the heart of North Frontenac.
Each retreat begins with a virtual orientation to help set intentions and gently ease into stillness. From there, the days flow with grounding practices such as mindfulness, yoga, meditation, and quiet time in nature, coupled with cold plunges, sauna sessions, nourishing meals, and daily sharing circles. Optional massage and hot stone therapy are offered for those interested.
Imagine meditating by the water’s edge as loons call across the lake, journaling on a screened-in porch with the scent of pine in the air, or watching the sunrise ripple across the surface as you sip warm tea in silence. These moments become portals to deep reflection and inner clarity.
Our 7-day silent retreat is designed to help you reconnect with yourself through stillness, nature, and meaningful inner work. Held on a private peninsula with 2,000 feet of shoreline and a castle-like lodge, this retreat offers a rare opportunity to step away from daily distractions and return to the heart of what matters.
Retreat Theme: Forgiveness
True forgiveness isn’t about letting others off the hook or forcing ourselves to feel positive. It’s about bringing awareness to the limiting beliefs we carry and gently letting them go. As those beliefs shift, so does our experience of life. This retreat is about exploring that shift (in the mind) and experiencing the expansion of freedom and joy that results! It's powerful to witness how profoundly our experience of life and of ourselves transforms as our perceptions shift.
Why Silence?
Silence allows us to turn inward and listen deeply. With the exception of group sessions and activities, the retreat is held in silence to support self-reflection, self-inquiry, insight, and deep rest.
What’s Included
Six nights of shared accommodation (2 guests per room + ensuite)
All meals and snacks prepared by our in-house chef
Daily yoga, meditation, mindfulness practices & group programming
Access to walking trails, forest, lake, and sauna
One-on-one coaching sessions
Pre-retreat virtual orientation
Retreat Cost
$1,852.50 (no taxes)
Includes accommodations, meals, full programming, coaching, and unlimited sauna access.
Cancellation Policy
If you cancel before July 1, 2025:
A $600 cancellation fee applies. The remaining balance will be refunded.
If you cancel on or after July 1, 2025:
You may transfer your spot to someone else, provided both parties inform us in writing. If no replacement is found, your payment is non-refundable.
If we cancel the retreat:
You will receive a full refund of all payments made.
Testimonials
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"I feel centered and able to experience a more meaningful meditation."
“I was not completely new to the world of meditation when I started taking Carey’s meditation sessions, however, I always struggled whenever I tried to practice (on my own). I feel centered and able to experience a more meaningful meditation (now). Carey has a true gift and I can honestly say that without her offerings and support, I would still feel stuck. I am extremely grateful.”
Erin (on Meditation & Mindfulness Instruction)
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"The 1:1 support for brain injury program offered by Carey has been a highly empowering tool in my recovery."
"I found Drop Anchor Yoga while searching for an effective therapy after a brain injury. The 1:1 support for brain injury program offered by Carey has been a highly empowering tool in my recovery; strengthening my body, improving my balance, and challenging my brain/body connection. I can never thank Carey enough for the compassion and encouragement she has shown me during the difficult rehabilitation process. She has been a light of hope in often dismal days."
Sara (on 1:1 Support for Acquired Brain Injury Programming)
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"This program has been a lifeline in my healing journey: physically, mentally, and emotionally."
"Carey's gentle, mindful approach helped me reconnect with my body and heart and start to feel safe again. I’ve regained confidence, and have discovered a sense of strength within me that I didn’t realize was there. This program has been a lifeline in my healing journey: physically, mentally, and emotionally."
Mara (on 1:1 Support for Acquired Brain Injury Programming)
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"Carey’s retreats are life changing experiences in the very best ways!"
"Carey’s retreats are life changing experiences in the very best ways!
1. The retreat setting is beyond stunning, it relaxes you as soon as you drive up. Swimming in a lake in the Fall… yup, all thumbs up. The sunsets; words can not express how amazing those are. And you haven't even gone inside yet.
2. The people… well, let's just say you will have met your tribe and they will become your people, almost more so after you leave.
3. What you learn about yourself: it is hard work, but you leave a very different person then when you arrived, in so many amazing ways.
4. The quiet and silence: you may think that you can't manage not to talk, but amazingly you don't need to and those times when you "have to" (during an expression session) are transformative and will shift your world.
5. The total package, the setting, the people, the way Carey creates the "program ", the food… it all cumulates into making you the best version of yourself at that moment. There is silence, there is laughter, there are tears, there is swimming and there is love. You will leave forever changed, but in so many amazing ways! Thank you for the experience. I am going for the third time this year and I can't wait. Thank you, Carey, for everything!"
Amanda (on Silent Retreats)
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"I feel very safe when I share at our sessions."
“Carey has been working with me for over 4 years now. I feel very safe when I share at our sessions. She has a way of cleansing any fears I might have. I always leave her studio feeling more mindful, spiritually free and at peace.”
Michael (on 1:1 Mindfulness Coaching Sessions)
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"...(Carey) has assisted me in attuning to the Divine Guidance within myself..."
“Carey has been a true Anam Chara (Soul Friend) for me on my healing journey. Carey has been a safe and loving presence for me, but more than that, she has assisted me in attuning to the Divine Guidance within myself, to find clarity and certitude in my life’s purpose.”
Annemarrie (on Mindfulness Coaching)
Contact
Interested in any of my program offerings? Fill out the contact form below or contact me directly:
Carey Carty
Email: dropanchoryogaottawa@gmail.com
Tel: 613-220-1789