Janet Green Garrison

Janet Green Garrison passed away peacefully July 11 in the company of family and close friends after a short battle with cancer. Janet was born to Phyllis and Samuel Green on Fathers' Day, June 19, 1949 and grew up in Sewickley. She graduated from Sewickley Academy in 1967. Janet is survived by her husband Frank Garrison, her daughter Erin Green Kelly and her husband Harvey Maki, her stepdaughters Eliza Garrison and her husband Torsten Reimann and Julia Garrison and her partner Andre Beaulieu her grandchild Ezra Maki, three brothers - Jon, Eric, and Matthew -- and their wives, thirteen nieces and nephews, and innumerable devoted friends from her rich and diverse life.

In her twenties, in Western Pennsylvania, Janet was among the earliest westerners to embrace yoga as the way to live a healthy and meaningful life. For the balance of her life - more than fifty years - she practiced and taught yoga. Janet founded Yoga for Health after moving to Cape Ann, Massachusetts in 1983, where she had fallen in love with the rocky quarries and breathtaking shoreline and her husband Frank, a long-time member of the community.

Dedicated to yoga's philosophy of "mind, body, spirit," Janet traveled to study with yoga masters domestically and abroad. She shared her knowledge, skill, enthusiasm and special inner light with novices and experienced practitioners alike. Janet changed lives and maintained relationships with her students over many years. Along the way, Janet earned a Masters Degree from the University of Pittsburgh and worked as a substance abuse counselor at Gateway Rehab in Pennsylvania. It was then that she had what she described as an epiphany, seeing how the practice of yoga could be merged with twelve-step addiction programs to treat alcohol, drug, and other addictive behaviors. Janet devoted herself to this work for many years while continuing to teach and practice yoga with her devoted following.

If wealth is measured by the number and depth of friendships, Janet was one of the richest people on earth. Her family and network of friends from yoga, book clubs, knitting group, writing workshops, and the Cape Ann community were with her every step of the way along her final journey and will hold her dear in their hearts forever.

Services were held on July 17 in Gloucester. "Remembering Janet" with in-person and virtual yoga will take place Sunday, July 20 at 1:30 pm at Magma, 11 Pleasant Street, Gloucester, MA. All are welcome.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Kaplan Family Hospice House (https://www.caredimensions.org ), Wellspring House of Gloucester (https://www.wellspringhouse.org ), or Stop Stigma Now (https://www.stopstigmanow.org).