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Tour Overview
Join us for a luxury yoga retreat, the perfect yoga vacation under Montana's Big Sky. Experience the peace that comes from yoga and becoming more connected to nature. Montana boasts some of the most stunning scenery in the US.
Give yourself the space you deserve. Plan to expand your limits and maximize your potential while being pampered with the utmost in creature comforts at the award-winning Big EZ Lodge. Challenge yourself in a safe, comfortable setting nestled in the mountains of Montana. It’s the perfect venue to transform body and mind through yoga and a variety of outdoor activities, depending on the season. We’ve got lots of space out here – space for your body to strengthen and relax, for your mind to free itself of urban mentalities, and for your creativity to blossom. Come discover our natural bounty and make space for your spirit within.
Our philosophy is that yoga helps you do anything better; it complements and improves every aspect of your life. You’ll experience this firsthand by blending yoga practice with our featured outdoor activity, and experience the peace that comes from yoga and becoming more connected to nature. We’ll also offer techniques for how to integrate yoga into your post-retreat life with less effort, not as just another item on your to-do list.
What do yoga and skiing have in common? Balance, flexibility and focus.
Yoga helps cultivate these qualities, so it follows that practicing yoga can help improve ski technique. Let's face it - we love skiing for its adrenaline rush. But the other side of this coin is the potential for injury that can arise from common ski scenarios, like ending up on a black when you meant to stay on a blue, weather changes, crossing paths with an out-of-control skier, etc. Think of yoga as insurance against injury; it prevents injury by addressing your body’s imbalances and fostering both strength and flexibility.
Yoga also encourages a focus on the breath, which is the starting point for managing fear or a tense physical body. By being able to concentrate on your breathing, transitioning your movements with grace, and cultivating an awareness of body balance and alignment, any level of skier will get more out of their time on the mountain and be less injury-prone.
You'll be experiencing some of the best skiing out west here in Montana!
Are you wondering, what kind of gourmet food will I eat at a yoga retreat?? Well, guess again if you think eating healthy means eating sparsely. The food at our Yoga Retreats is Montana-style - plentiful and pure. Local produce and wild game are the house specialties.
The focus of our week will be a daily yoga practice; our philosophy is that yoga helps you do anything better. It complements and improves every aspect of your life. Many of us approach our yoga practice as if it were another task on our to-do list; during this week we will work on techniques for how to integrate yoga into your life with less effort. There will be two daily yoga practices that take advantage of the natural rhythms of the body: a vigorous, energizing morning practice and a restorative, relaxing afternoon practice.
We will discuss your personal goals for yoga practice, in a group setting and individually. We don’t want to simply put you through the motions of asana – we want to evolve and grow your practice to a new level beyond what you previously thought possible. Be prepared to challenge yourself and explore your limits.
Meditation will also be part of each day. We will explore ways to make a meditation practice more accessible, and cultivate the concept of moving meditation in our asana practices.
The Big EZ Lodge is a uniquely beautiful, uniquely private retreat, the ideal setting for adventurous play and peaceful solitude. The inspiring setting of the Big EZ will nurture and support your yoga experience and the transformation your week with us will bring about. Our goal is to take care of your every need so that you are able to focus your energies on your personal growth and development.
Located at 7,500 feet elevation in the Madison mountain range just north of Yellowstone, the Big EZ is a blend of award-winning architectural design and exquisite appointments that bring the majesty of the natural surroundings inside. Native timber, fireplaces crafted of ancient river rock, and original hand-painted murals are part of the warmth crafted from the land that is a hallmark of the Rocky Mountain experience.
The Big EZ is a place where simply gazing from a window at breathtaking vistas can be a remarkably satisfying experience in itself. Feel snug inside any of the 13 luxurious guest rooms named for the various states from which their décor was inspired, fitted with thoughtful amenities and comfy robes. Few places can actually boast of such a relaxing, yet engaging ambiance.
In order to maximize your potential for improving your health and well-being during our week together, we suggest that you limit your intake of caffeinated and alcoholic beverages.
Our unique program is limited to 25 people. Upon enrollment in the program you will receive an orientation packet with required paperwork and recommended reading.
Margaret is mom to Morgane Sienna, who will be three in June 2008 and loves yoga poses named after animals. In early 2007, Margaret, her husband David, Morgane and their two Boston Terriers Lola and Rocco all packed up and moved to Bozeman, Montana. They look forward to an active outdoor lifestyle in their new home. Margaret plans to continue her life’s work of sharing yoga, while watching Morgane grow up learning to ski and horseback ride.
Margaret's relationship with yoga began almost a decade ago, in a bid to combat a hectic New York City lifestyle and a corporate career with cosmetics giant L’Oreal.
A few years and several hundred down dogs later, Margaret knew that the corporate world no longer held her future, so switching her designer suits for comfy pants - and NYC for Washington DC - she combined her business know-how with her passion for yoga and created Georgetown Yoga, one of DC's most popular yoga studios.
Now Margaret brings that same recipe for success to Montana. Margaret combines her fresh approach to teaching with a unique ability to create a nurturing, safe space in which to learn yoga. Her teaching will leave you calm and refreshed after a vigorous flowing practice, putting you in touch with your true potential and transforming your health and well being in the process.
Margaret has studied with many top instructors at the Jivamukti Yoga Center in NYC and Richard Freeman's studio in Boulder, CO; has attended David Swenson's intensive training in the foundation and teaching techniques of the Ashtanga yoga Primary series, and has done intensive practice and study of the Ashtanga Primary and Intermediate series with Dave Oliver from At One Yoga in Phoenix, Arizona.
Most recently, Margaret completed a 200-hour teacher training intensive with Yoga Works; this training was the result of a partnership between her studio Georgetown Yoga in Washington, DC and the renowned CA-NY based Yoga Works. In February 2007, Margaret traveled to Hawaii for Baron Baptiste’s Level 1 teacher training bootcamp. Margaret is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with Yoga Alliance; Margaret's photo "mountain dancer" taken in Big Sky was chosen for the 2008 Yoga Alliance calendar.
Margaret represents companies she believes in: she is sponsored by Athleta, outfitting women athletes since 1997, and is a product ambassador for LUNA bars and Manduka. Margaret has been asked to speak on career transition and, of course, yoga.
Margaret teaches weekly yoga classes at Be The Change yoga studio in Bozeman; she also volunteer teaches at The Wellness Community for cancer support, education and hope.
Margaret holds a BS in Business and Languages from Georgetown University and an MBA from Thunderbird, the American Graduate School of International Management. She speaks fluent French, Spanish, and a little Italian and has lived abroad on numerous occasions.
Press reviews
Outside Bozeman - Winter 2007-08
Blessed are the Yogis - for they shall not be bent out of shape while skiing
Tour Highlights
Our yoga for skiers program will focus on:
- Warming up the muscles for cold weather - Creating proper body alignment - Breathing techniques to calm the mind - Core strength building - Increased flexibility in the hips - Increased flexibility and strength in the knees - Upper body strengthening to balance out the lower-body intensity of skiing
Itinerary
Overview
We offer a full program at our Yoga Retreats, but rest assured that "down time" is factored in to your day to provide you with the space to reflect and process everything you are experiencing.
On some evenings after our relaxing five course dinner, we will meet for group discussions, journaling and reflection, and other activities that will foster our connectivity as a group as well as self-knowledge.
7am - 8am
Yoga class. get warmed-up for the morning on the mountain! our a.m. yoga class will focus on strengthening and stretching in preparation for skiing - we'll build some internal heat too.
8am - 9am
Breakfast
9am - 3pm
SKI. You may return to the Lodge for lunch, or have lunch on the mountain if you plan to ski after you eat. For non-alpine days, there will be other options for activities during this time, including additional yoga sessions, snow-shoeing or cross-country skiing. Additional activities may be scheduled with the help of the Lodge.
4:30pm - 6:30pm
Apres-ski yoga. We'll work out all the kinks from your skiing with a gentle, restorative practice while continuing to explore alignment and balance in asana to help improve ski technique. Or take a dip in the hot tub.
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