Namaste under the Big Sky:
The Growth of Yoga in Montana
Summer 2007
Margaret Burns-Vap saw how yoga changed the lives of many people in urban Washington, D.C.
Now that she lives in Big Sky, Mont., Burns-Vap wants to bring yoga to the people in the mountains. She recently opened Big Sky Yoga Retreats, a yoga retreat business based at the Big EZ Lodge in Big Sky. Based in Big Sky, she’ll be able to combine the mental and athletic benefits of yoga with traditional Montana sports like hiking, skiing and horseback riding, to give those sports enthusiasts a better way to enjoy their passions.
“Whether it’s running a marathon or skiing, yoga improves whatever you activities you do,” she said. Her first retreats will take place in fall 2007. Burns-Vap, who has run a D.C. yoga studio for five years, learned to ski later in life, so yoga helped her skills on the slopes, she said.
While her first retreat this fall will combine various outdoor activities with yoga, a retreat she’s working on for winter 2008 will focus particularly on skiing. Participants will enjoy skiing each day, along with specific yoga styles that will benefit their skiing.
Burns-Vap is excited to bring yoga to a mountain setting. Her husband hails from Missoula, so when it came time to make the move to Montana, Big Sky was their choice to raise a family. “It felt like a good place to call home,” she said.
She added that Montana is ready for more yoga offerings like hers. “I see a lot of opportunity here,” Burns-Vap said. “The market is very under-penetrated, but then I’m coming from a place where there’s a yoga studio on almost every block.”