Her head is in the stars and spirits

Newport Beach resident Anne McKnight has taught yoga since well

before the discipline became as much a part of the southern

California landscape as the seaside and hamburger stands. She studied

yoga under the world-famous Indra Devi and now teaches at the Lido

Island Clubhouse.

McKnight, 78, hails from the Chicago area and has always

considered creativity a core part of her life. She has worked in the

modeling, radio and television industries and enjoys painting and

taking classes at the Oasis Senior Center in Corona del Mar. The yoga

teacher is also a devotee of astrology -- she met well-known

astrologer Jeanne Dixon -- and has led discussions on the practice

aboard cruise ships.

McKnight may be one of the few seniors to wear clothing fashioned

by Roxy, a company popular with teenage girls, but her fashion sense

is inspired by her son, Robert McKnight Jr., who founded Quicksilver,

Roxy’s parent company. Her daughter, Kathy Armstrong is an attorney

and her late husband, Robert, worked in international business after

serving as a pilot to Navy Secretary James Forrestal in World War II.

McKnight took time out of her afternoon to hang out with Andrew

Edwards of the Daily Pilot to talk about yoga, creativity and

California living.

How did your modeling career work out?

I modeled all through high school and then during my college

years, I represented my school at Marshall Fields in Chicago.

And then I did modeling at Marshall Fields and then after college,

I was with an agency, the Patricia Stevens Agency, and then I started

teaching there. And I was also connected, I did modeling and I was

teaching.

I’m curious about the radio and TV shows that you were on, what

were they like?

It was so long ago, it was just kind of like a two- or three-year

period that I was doing this, and I was just having fun. I was young,

and I would meet all these producers and directors, Otto Preminger,

all these old-timers.

These shows wouldn’t last long. It was maybe a three-year period

when I went from show to show. Script girl was my title, and it was

just a fun, fun job.

What did you do on the show?

I interviewed them, the contestants, and sort of got the good ones

for presentation. And then I also was with an agency called

Atkins-Gilbert, and we also did a show at the Pantages Theater where

we would interview, but, you know, shows kind of come and go.

That was my first TV show, when TV was just starting and the cable

was here, and we would have all these people come on stage. It was

kind of old-time beginning TV.

How did you become interested in art?

I was an art major in college, and then I also studied at the Art

Institute in Chicago. And I paint now, I try to, one day a week. I

have a little studio room. I have like a studio, and I’ve got my

easel up. And I’ve done paintings for all my grandchildren.

Any favorite subject matter?

Impressionistic. My style has definitely changed. I’ve kind of

been doing everything, sort of like a Matisse, I like that look.

Decorative art.

How did you get started in yoga?

I had been back to Michigan, this is when my children were very

young, and I just heard of this wonderful teacher who was teaching in

San Marino from some other friends of mine, and I just was intrigued

by it. And then I just fell in love with it because it’s kind of

body, mind, spirit, all integrated.

I do a half hour every morning, I’m very faithful with my yoga,

and it’s the hatha yoga, there’s seven different kinds of yoga and

what I’m trained in is the hatha yoga.

How is hatha yoga different from other styles?

It’s physical exercise, you have to learn all the physical

postures before you go on to any of the other yogas.

How were you introduced to astrology?

In Tecate, Mexico, where Indra Devi had an ashram, they have these

all over now. And that’s how I met Jeanne Dixon ... she was there

giving a lecture and that got me excited, you know how you get

something that you’re interested in, that got me interested in

astrology. And then I really went into it. I went to a school, Temple

of Astrology. I took family courses at USC, they had recreational

[classes] at USC, and then I had all these charts done.

What have your teaching experiences been like?

Very rewarding, I would say, fulfilling. In high school, my

daughter was in the National Charity League, which is a

mother-daughter thing, my granddaughter is in now. But anyway, I was

in charge of the whole yoga program for the mothers and the

daughters. Several times a year, we would get together and I would do

a mother-daughter yoga session for girls. They would have one session

on makeup and all that stuff, hair, modeling and clothes. And I would

always do the yoga, so that was wonderful for young girls.

It seems like for you, creativity has been important your entire

life.

I’m definitely a creative person. I function creatively.