Ana Otero

Ana Otero is a mystic, author, dancer, yogi and teacher, and the founder of The Desert Rose Mystery School, a school of embodied mysticism rooted in the wisdom of Mary Magdalene and Yeshua. She is based in Mijas, Málaga, in southern Spain. For more than two decades she has devoted herself to studying and embodying the world's great mystical traditions.

Her teaching weaves together the Magdalene–Christos Tradition, Christian mysticism, Aramaic, Hebrew mysticism and Sufi spirituality. At its centre is The Magdalene Rosette, a contemplative framework of six pathways that guides students toward what she calls the Magdalene–Christos Heart. Her approach is that spirituality should be lived as well as contemplated, so creativity becomes prayer, movement becomes meditation and the voice becomes a sacred instrument. Her practices include contemplative prayer, Aramaic chanting, guided meditation, sacred dance, Daf and frame drumming, ritual, and sound and voice activation.

Movement is where her path began. In her words, "Dance was my first true prayer," and yoga followed as a natural continuation of it. She trained in dance as a child and has described yoga as part of her life from the age of 11. She lived for many years in Egypt, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, travelling often to India to deepen her yogic studies and to practise Bharatanatyam. After a Master's degree in Creative Expression, she spent time in Granada immersed in Flamenco with the gypsy communities of the Sacromonte, and later worked in a Jewish school in Madrid, where Hebrew chant and prayer deepened her inner life.

Her website lists her as a dance movement therapist, an accredited yoga teacher, a drummer and singer, and a student of Aramaic at The Biblical University in Israel. She is also the founder of Ahava DanceMeditation® and Sufi Yoga, a Hay House author, and a creator of oracle decks and books. According to her Insight Timer teacher page, she had her first apparition of Mary Magdalene in 2011 in the desert of Oman, and founded The Desert Rose Mystery School in 2014.

In 2022 she created the Desert Rose Foundation, which sponsors children in India with food, clothing and education and supports projects that help mothers become self-sufficient. She also founded La Rosa Boutique, a line of sustainable clothing and holistic wellness products. She shares her teachings in many forms, including a YouTube channel on Magdalene womb yoga, sacred dance, Aramaic chanting and sacred sound.