Dreams of Being

Not coming from an exercise background, if you are a yoga teacher, or yoga addict, when you first meet me you may wonder what in the world I have to teach you that you do not already know.  Having always been chubby in my youth, and always a large woman, you may initially look at me and conclude yoga has not worked for me.
But if you are willing to spend more time with me, if you are willing to not run away from my style of teaching, you just may discover “a softer side of yoga” that is changing the lives of hundreds of yoga students each year.
When I was introduced to yoga, there were very few teachers modifying it for the needs of the, larger, older, or less physically able students.  When I was introduced to the slow, relaxing floor style of yoga we now call MIMSY - Meditation in Movement Style Yoga, I knew that my first teacher, Naomi Judith, had discovered something very special:
That when you relax before you begin to stretch, balance, twist and sweat, our bodies do not resent being moved.  Movement becomes joyful, dancelike, welcome, and healing.
At first I thought that this MIMSY would only attract larger women like myself, but soon they began bringing their more fit friends, and husbands, and those who were used to traditional active poses soon realized that this slower, softer side of yoga was a great missing link to a fully balanced yoga practice.
Sixteen years later, and thousands of classes later, the effects of MIMSY just keep getting better. As we lie on the floor, relaxing the body, and then slowly moving every different way, there seems to be a channeling that moves through me, leading each class into many similar poses, but still customized for those who attend.
After each class, someone will just sit there, not wanting to get up and say:  “how did you know that was exactly what I needed today?”  And that is how we know it is yoga.  Union with ourselves.  Poses that are steady, comfortable, and healing.

Here is what a few of our students have to say:
"BEST THING I EVER DID FOR MYSELF! I spent a week in July 2011 at Feathered Pipe Ranch with Lanita Varshell for a yoga retreat and Plus Size Teacher Training. It was such an amazing, peaceful, healing time. The heaven on earth beauty of the ranch, the great staff, the incredible food, yoga every day and the wonderful people you meet makes for such an incredible break from our busy lives. This is the most perfect place to experience Lanita's unique, gentle yoga and meditation. She creates such a healing, safe, non-judgmental environment for everyone to practice her style of yoga, which will relax and rejuvenate you from head to toe.
It may be the hardest yoga you've done because you have to completely let your body go and allow yourself to relax and release. (A hard thing to do for those of us so wound up with tension, busy, demanding lives and the monkey mind that never stops.) You will feel as if you had a massage after taking her classes. I highly recommend you do this for yourself - it will truly renew your heart and soul. I hope to come back every year, it's the best gift I can give my mind, body and spirit.

My first introduction to Lanita Varshell as a teacher was at a retreat last summer at Feathered Pipe Ranch. It was nothing less than a trans-formative experience for me. More than twenty years ago I had been a practitioner and teacher of Himalayan/Iyengar yoga.  Since then I had gained a lot of weight and only in the last two years started to practice yoga again on a regular basis, but felt too intimidated to take yoga classes at the studios where I live.
I found an ad in the Yoga International listing Lanita Varshell as a gentle yoga teacher who also taught a certification in plus size yoga.  I felt something inside of me say, "Yes!" I was very excited and afraid of going at the same time, afraid of being judged for my more than plus sized body.
Lanita had a way of immediately making me feel not only safe, but at home in the body that I have.  There were no judgments, only an awakening of the beautiful spirit that was so lovingly and gently coaxed out in my time with her as my teacher.  Lanita has an intuitive style of teaching that just allows everyone to simply be in there body and let go of layer upon layer of feelings that are stored in our bodies to be integrated with our minds and our spirits.  It helped me find a balance and a deep sense of peace with which I have since been able to take care of others and my students that I now teach, thanks to Lanita's encouragement. I would recommend this retreat to everyone, whether you are new to yoga, or an experienced teacher.

Lanita doesn’t “teach yoga” in the traditional sense. Meditation in Movement is less a yoga class than a deep experience. You cease fighting gravity as you lie on your back. You release tension from parts of your body you had no idea you were clenching. You open yourself to waves of relaxation and invite the body’s innate healing wisdom to do its work.
Now you can move. Now you can move muscles that were too tight to move with ease or pleasure when you came in the door. Now you can stretch those muscles and enjoy the stretch. You’re moving slowly, mindfully, and with the breath, so your movement feels natural. You go to your first place of tightness and then ease back instead of pushing an edge. On the physical level, this gives tight muscles a chance to loosen gradually. On the mental level, this calms fear and resistance because you know you will not go too far and injure yourself.
Meditation in Movement is not about how much you can do but about how much you can let go of. As the body releases tension, the mind gives up its need for control.  As breath and movement work to shift energy in the body, the spirit lifts.
When I first began taking these classes with Lanita over ten years ago, I thought we weren’t doing enough. I wondered where the Warrior poses were. Then I came to see that the impact of Meditation in Movement style yoga was a profound change in the way I inhabited my body. I reconnected with it on a deep level and I felt more integrated, body, mind, and spirit. This yoga will change your life. It changed mine.
~Carolyn Wheat, ERYT-500

The practice of yoga has brought greater ease to my body and calm to my mind. There was just one area that still brought forth a hot little seed of frustration and disappointment - the fact that most classes were still targeted toward to people who were already perceived as flexible and fit.
The pace was too fast.  Modifications were not offered to people with structural variations or recovering from injury or years of neglect. The risk of injury was high. This yoga was clearly NOT available to Every Body.
Lanita's approach to yoga is completely inclusive. It is the kind of yoga that you hoped to find the first time you gathered the immense courage it takes to step into your first yoga class - worried that you might look foolish or be judged by others. There is no "failure" in Lanita's teaching. Only support, ease, calm and acceptance. What you learn here will not only make you feel comfortable and safe, but it will give you tools to make the practice truly your own. I cannot recommend this workshop highly enough.

Lanita will return to the Feathered Pipe Ranch this summer, Sept. 1 - 7th for the retreat, We are Limitless: A Gentle Way Yoga Retreat. Save $100 & accrue retreat credits for your Studio/Organization...Feathered Pipe's Community Discount Program!!!

Lanita Varshell

Lanita Varshell is the owner of A Gentle Way Yoga & Joyful Movement Center in San Diego (La Mesa) California, and is the founder of “Meditation in Movement Style ® Gentle Yoga. She has been interviewed in several magazines about her plus-size journey through yoga, including Yoga Journal, and Bella Online. She has produced a Gentle Yoga class CD, is working on her first books and DVD’s, and leads yearly Gentle Yoga Retreats in California and throughout the US. She trains students and certified yoga teachers in her Gentle Yoga, Restorative, and Adaptive Yoga methods. To find out more about Lanita and her incredible work visit: www.agentleway.com.

Should you change your yoga practice during the summer months?
As the temperature on the thermometer begins its slow upward shift in mid-June, I’m often asked if it’s important to modify one’s yoga practice during the summer months. Based on Ayurvedic philosophy, the answer is, “Yes.”
Ayurveda is the Sanskrit term meaning science of life. It is the sister science of yoga. Traditional Ayurvedic wisdom states that during the Pitta months, between June and the end of September (OK, mid-October in San Diego), the heat and more concentrated energy of the sun dominates the season and motivates all life on Earth toward increased movement and productivity.
Think about it—with more daylight hours and the intensity of summer’s energy we see new generations of animals covering the landscape, gardens growing prolifically, and we humans are generally motivated to increase our physical activities. We tend to travel more and attempt more projects at this time of the year, as well as spend more time outside with friends and family. And for those of us living in communities near the beach, the summer heat is a driving force toward the cooler breezes of the waterfront. Ahhhh!
Ok, so what does all this have to do with changing our yoga practice? Well, because we’re all susceptible to the rhythms of Nature, as the sun gets higher in the sky, a rise in Pitta energy brings more heat into the body and mind. If we aren’t mindful of these changes, we can experience disagreeable physical and emotional side effects like sunburn, heat rash, aggression, anger and irritability.
It’s important to remain physically active because exercise literally blows off steam, even in the summertime. It is, however, essential either to curtail most overly heating activities, or to balance them out with activities having more calming properties. And we all know that yoga is a perfect activity for this!
<spanThose who typically practice vigorous, heat producing styles of hatha yoga need to balance the dynamic nature of these styles with some of the more restorative practices. Instead of a constant diet of brown and red classes here at A Gentle Way, drop in to a few pink, purple, green and blue classes. And for those with a solid home practice, do fewer standing poses and heat producing postures like headstand and sun salutations— and be sure to add a longer savasana.
For anyone who has never taken a brown or red class, it’s still possible to add more relaxing practices to your day. Try to spend some additional time in meditation, which cools and calms both mind and body. Additionally, you can cool down your body by practicing cooling breathing techniques such as shitali, (cooling breath), or “moon breathing,”- where you simply close off the right nostril and breathe through the left for a minute or so.
No matter what changes you make to your asana practice this summer remember to focus on finding calmness, peacefulness and gentleness within yourself and those around you. And don’t forget – after September you can count on another shift in your practice as you follow the rhythms of Nature!

There is nothing more important for the body and the mind than to make the time to
get away, away from your work for awhile, away from your home, your everyday responsibilities and environment.  Not only to get away, but to go to a place where you are taken care of in a way that you can actually feel stress melting away from your body and your mind.  Somewhere where you are not in charge of holding the world up if just for today.
Making the time to get away and release stress, and manifesting the money to do this, is not a luxury.  It must go to the top of your priority list, for stress that does not release turns into disease. Most of us realize that we are holding stress that can hurt the body and the mind, but many of us don’t even begin to realize how much we are holding until we retreat.
I know that this is much easier said than done, until we begin to create a healthy habit of getting away on a regular basis.  That is why 10 years ago I began to lead weekend Retreats in Julian, California, just an hour East of San Diego, and now I lead 6-night retreats in Montana at Feathered Pipe Ranch each year. Taking a full week to retreat on this beautiful land is an experience you will never forget.  It is a week that will fill your soul.  Below is an article I wrote for the Feathered Pipe website about what to expect at a Retreat with me.  I hope you enjoy it.
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I have led retreats for 10 years now.  They are truly one of my greatest joys. To get people to realize that we are working to live, not living to work is a great accomplishment.  It is something that yoga is teaching me. To get ourselves to carve out the time and re-assign our money to travel to a place where we unpack, relax, do not need to go anywhere, or do anything to feel happy or fulfilled; this is a great joy!  I know for some of us it is not easy to take this time off, or to manifest the funds to do so, but if you are ready ask the universe to guide you and you will be shown the means and the way.
To be asked back to Feathered Pipe  Ranch for a 2nd year is a great honor. It is with deep respect that I follow outstanding Feathered Pipe teachers like Lilias Folan and Judith Hanson Lasater who have made great differences in my life. To spend time with India Supera, founder of Feathered Pipe, is a true treat.  She is a woman without pretense, and a great mystic. To hear her stories of being with her guru Sia Baba, and her adventures in India, and how she was gifted the Ranch is worth the fee all by itself.  Her stories alone expand our mind and awaken our consciousness.
The land of Feathered Pipe is nothing less than magical.  The morning hikes led by Mary Superak, (Meri Canary)  with her magical flute singing right along with the birds is a gift you give yourself that you will never forget.  Feathered Pipe staff is kind and loving. The accommodations are great!  The healing massages and body work treatments offered are some of the best I have ever had.
Feathered Pipe will feed you three wholesome and delicious meals. You will be fully taken care of without dishes to wash! There is nothing you need to do. Everything is optional.  This is a true vacation. You can spend as much time, or as little, with me as you wish.  I am your guide to teaching you different levels of letting go.
All I will ask of you is to practice letting go.  For in letting go we begin to realize the limitations we have put upon ourselves, and only in “letting go” do we begin to see how limitless we really are.  If you are experiencing the “aging process” with me, or if you have a body that does not easily move, this is a very important practice, for our habits and thinking today determines the health of our body tomorrow.
If you choose to attend my two daily workshops, you will be introduced to two different styles of yoga:“Mediation in Movement Style Yoga” (MIMSY) and Aalamba Yoga - Yoga with Support. MIMSY is a unique style of yoga that focuses on floor poses connecting to the energy of Mother Earth beneath us.  It is a unique combination of restorative and gentle yoga, with many subtle, specific movements designed to illicit the relaxation response.
When this is experienced, a deep inner shifting begins within, opening you up to your many different bodies within bodies.  It is yoga for your back, hips, spine, your central nervous system, and much, much more.  This style of yoga needs to be experienced and practiced, not studied.  The more you relax the more your body remembers yoga.  MIMSY is usually the most delightful yoga for students new to yoga who are intimidated by more active practices, and often times the hardest yoga for traditional teachers, but a very important way to get yoga teachers to slow down, and a wonderful way to get all students ready for quiet meditation.
Aalamba Yoga takes the traditional & restorative poses that are being taught in many yoga classes and studios, and breaks them down to make them doable for any body, any size, any age, any ability. Aalamba Yoga helps a yoga teacher learn how to teach rewarding multi-level classes, and teaches yoga students how to enter a yoga studio or class and know how to modify poses for their body and their needs. Aalamba Yoga is all about joyful active movement, and customizing yoga for the needs of your body.
Each workshop ends with deep relaxation (savasana) or quiet meditation.  Each evening is filled with practical yoga philosophy, story, fun, or music.
What seems to be most unique about my retreats, classes, workshops, and teaching styles is my ability to bring together both the true beginner, and most experienced students of yoga, and find not only a common ground, but a melting down of the prejudices we consciously or unconsciously hold against ourselves and each other. In this “melting down” we all discover that we are more alike than we are different.  We all walk away with a bond of trust and understanding.  We stop taking ourselves, our bodies, or each other for granted.  We all leave knowing ourselves, and liking ourselves a whole lot more.  Just as we are today. It would be an honor to have you with us!
Lanita Varshell
Lanita will return to the Feathered Pipe Ranch this summer, Sept. 1 - 7th for the retreat, We are Limitless: A Gentle Way Yoga Retreat. Save $100 & accrue retreat credits for your Studio/Organization...Feathered Pipe's Community Discount Program!!!
Lanita Varshell is the owner of A Gentle Way Yoga & Joyful Movement Center in San Diego (La Mesa) California, and is the founder of “Meditation in Movement Style ® Gentle Yoga. She has been interviewed in several magazines about her plus-size journey through yoga, including Yoga Journal, and Bella Online. She has produced a Gentle Yoga class CD, is working on her first books and DVD’s, and leads yearly Gentle Yoga Retreats in California and throughout the US. She trains students and certified yoga teachers in her Gentle Yoga, Restorative, and Adaptive Yoga methods. To find out more about Lanita and her incredible work visit: www.agentleway.com.