This is my love story with a unique and intuitive way of using body and breath.
I don't remember the exact moment when I started practising Vanda Scaravelli-inspired yoga. This intuitive and effortless approach just appeared in my life, challenging my more dogmatic Ashtanga and Vinyasa daily practice.
I remember hearing about Vanda's approach during my teacher training years ago. I was intrigued but had little information to go on. There were hardly any books illustrating her method, and no schools advertised that they taught her style. Later I understood that she didn't want her practice being taught in trainings and schools. She preferred to pass on the knowledge traditionally, from teacher to student. She invited a select few to share her discoveries, expertise and wisdom privately in her home in Italy, with no yoga studio and no fuss.
My teacher Sandra Sabatini, one of her rare direct students, told me that Vanda was reluctant to teach anyone her yoga initially. Through decades in Italy, she taught only a handful of keen, lucky students who followed and worked with her for many years. Later, those students quietly spread her unconventional ways of teaching to the world and to a new generation of teachers.
I continued searching for more Vanda-inspired practice. Hard as it was in London, I eventually found John Stirk, who changed my practice and offered me a taste of Vanda's work. I fell in love with this way of exploring the body, the breath and the mind, liberated from the traditional yoga rules and demands. It was like being reborn and finding something that genuinely resonated in my bones.
Over the years, I've continued to explore Vanda's philosophy by studying privately with Su Sareen and Sandra Sabatini, who gave me different tastes of her legacy. Sandra is still my mentor today.
Coming home to the practice
After one of my classes dedicated to Vanda's yoga, a student sent me a message articulating how they felt in response to her philosophy.
This practice is like coming home. It is beautiful, it really is. It feels so right, it was a long time coming, and I feel so welcomed.
This heartfelt feedback summarises the way Vanda's work questions and makes us rethink our usual yoga practice. We don't need a ton of paraphernalia. We need to return to our roots: simplicity, spontaneity, humility and honesty when we practise.
This can be challenging work because we have been conditioned by yoga methods that do not usually allow freedom and intuitive intelligence in our movements and bodies. Coming into Vanda-inspired practice allowed me to cleanse and simplify my work to the minimum and start again.
Doing less and feeling more
The key to Vanda Scaravelli's style is to learn to do less and to feel more.
Letting go and releasing tension are central to her work, so we can feel and notice a deeply felt sense of freedom and space in the body. This becomes possible using the essential tools of gravity and breath. When used with intelligence and patience, there is a deep sense of groundedness and a strong connection with our feet, inviting an authentic movement in the body and a freedom in the spine that Vanda called the wave.
This way of practising can relax us on a cellular level and teaches us how to soften our bodily and mental tension without fighting it. What makes this approach distinctive is that we can immerse ourselves in our sensory experiences, pay attention and discover something new each time we step into our practice. The excitement is genuine every time, and small insights arrive regularly.
Why this practice matters now
Vanda Scaravelli-inspired yoga is becoming increasingly popular because of the universal need to slow down, counter the effects of stress and become more resilient. It is a soft, gentle, yet unmistakably challenging practice, which asks us to develop a particular type of concentration that becomes more accessible with time and dedication.
It is well suited to anyone with health issues who is setting out to support their recovery. Because of the slow pace and the gentle physical exercises, the body and the mind have the time to absorb and understand the practice and invite changes.
This is yoga accessible to all.
When the abandonment to gravity comes into action, resistance ceases, fear vanishes, the order is regained, nature starts again to function in its natural rhythm, and the body is able to blossom fully, allowing the river of life to flow freely through all its parts. — Vanda Scaravelli
If you would like to read more about Vanda Scaravelli, she is on Wikipedia.
Thank you, Vanda, for giving us this gift. I would also like to thank my teachers, John, Sandra and Sue, for showing me the marvellous way to embrace yoga. I am ever so grateful.
Vanda's work runs through all of my weekly classes and events. View Classes and Pricing →