Fanny Barry teaches yoga and is a writer and artist. She lives and teaches in Tulum, Mexico where she moved in 2006 after surviving breast cancer. She built her home in the tropical jungle because she “felt good there, better than in a long time”.
Her published works are three illustrated books that she wrote for cancer survivors. They are entitled: I Wish I Knew; I Wish I Knew How to Help, and I Wish I Knew Who I Have Become. These books represent Fanny’s personal observations on how her life and the lives of those closest to her changed due to cancer. They are personal reflections. However, in many respects they are universal in that they share insights gained from confronting the human mortal condition. The series is in care centers across the U.S., Mexico and Europe and has held the hands of many patients in treatment. One patient told her they were like “having a hand to hold through all this”. The three gentle booklets are now available in English and Spanish on free downloadable pdf formats on this web site.
Fanny completed her zen hideaway in the tropical jungle in 2009 and has hosted survivors there to recuperate as well as people who are looking to re-energize their life. She is currently hosting and facilitating yoga retreats at her house and at other beachfront locations in Tulum, Mexico. You can contact her through this site about her retreats, to rent her house, to find out more about her books or to simply chat.
Fanny is passionate about helping people dream their dreams and thrive, not just survive. She has diverse communications and management skills from her work as a program and project manager with the Army Corps of Engineers Wetlands Division. She has an MS from Boston University School of Communications, a BS in General Engineering as well as post-graduate work in Plant and Soil Science.
Leaving her day job and now living the environmental engineering work she managed from a desk for 15 years in her off the grid lifestyle, Fanny has unwittingly lived the dream of many people. Writing has become her life and she is working on a memoir of her adventures in Tulum, Mexico. She will publish chapters on this site. Look for them under That Memoir.
She is also working on as a graphic novel about the saving the world from pollution. Fanny blogs from this site under “stories from paradise”.