Selena Garefino: The Evolve Method

By Mindy Cochran | images by Rio Chantel

Each spring, as we celebrate Women’s History month, Montana Woman Magazine honors influential women of the past, present, and future. As a health and fitness columnist for the magazine, I am called to highlight women who are transforming the wellness landscape, both in Montana and beyond. This year, I am excited to turn the spotlight to Selena Garefino. Hailing from Whitefish, Montana, Selena is known locally for her impassioned yoga classes, and she offers her teachings worldwide with immersion trainings in Greece and Tuscany. Selena is the founder of The Evolve Method, which couples a functional mobility practice with ancient teachings for personal development to allow for a deeper practice both on and off the mat. A self-described “student-for-life,” Selena holds a Master’s degree in socio-cultural anthropology and is certified as a Pilates instructor and a Precision Nutrition coach. Selena has been teaching movement for 15 years and has been certifying new yoga teachers for five years. I am honored to share this interview and Selena’s passion with Montana Woman Magazine.

M: Can you tell me about your journey that brought you to yoga?

S: I started practicing yoga when I was 12 years old and doing ballet because I was already having spinal problems and back pain. I would come home from ballet practice and would be lying on the floor, crying. And everyone at the time was saying, “you should do yoga,” so I began a yoga practice to help my back. I think that that’s the doorway where most people enter into a yoga practice; they come in looking for the fitness or physical aspect. But I wish that people wouldn’t go right to [really challenging classes like] core power Vinyasa. I would rather they would find a little simpler space where they focus on connecting movement to breath. You can make a physiological change in under three minutes with breath, but it takes a long time for your body to change from just practicing asanas [yoga poses]. But, like many others, my early yoga journey was definitely trying to get good at the poses, and over time it made my back pain worse because yoga tends to overstretch the back body with no strengthening of the posterior chain. So, I don’t teach in the traditional way because even though the traditional poses may be beautiful shapes, they don’t all make good anatomical sense.

M: Is that why you named your method The Evolve Method?

S: Yes, it’s because [when I started teaching], I would be like, “okay, this is what I teach.” But then when I would learn more, and then I would be like, “I can’t teach that anymore.” So, my answer to giving myself the freedom to learn and grow was to call my teaching method The Evolve Method. Also, my practice evolved beyond just using yoga for its physical benefits in my early twenties when I started grabbing ahold of the philosophical and personal development aspects of yoga. Once you start to get into the philosophy stuff around yoga, then yoga is no longer just trying to achieve a physical pose. It becomes a lot more emotional. You start to learn that yoga is mind science and that it’s the light of self-knowledge. So, The Evolve Method is more than a physical practice. The classes are rooted in functional mobility, yoga, Katonah Yoga, breathwork, and meditation, but it’s also about learning to better navigate every single area of your life.

image by Rio Chantel

M: What would you tell women who want to delve more into self-improvement?

S: I am a personal development coach, and I see a lot of women setting obscene goals for themselves, like “I’m going to start exercising five days a week and I’m not going to eat sugar anymore.” And that’s unrealistic and unsustainable. But if you say, “I’m going to add a vegetable to one of my meals per day” (not what can you take away, but rather what can you add?), that’s much more realistic. I tell my students all the time, “You’re not a problem to be solved and you’re not a project to be completed.” Because we treat ourselves like problems and projects, and then it’s a shame cycle. And then we’re using something that we started for our wellbeing to abuse ourselves and to shame ourselves.

So, I think a good place to start is to commit to unrolling a mat for even five minutes a day and make promises to yourself that you can keep. I think with any wellness practice, it’s important to check your intention and motivation. Your self-work, your yoga, and your wellness have to come from a place of love.

One of my teachers, Elena Brower, said to me once, “you’ll know you’re doing the right practices and techniques when what is bad for you no longer feels good.” Like if you don’t want to go smoke cigarettes because you don’t want it to mess with your run. Bad habits will start to fall away if you just focus on what you can add to your wellness routine.

image by Rio Chantel

M: You are teaching all over the world, but where can Montanans find you if they want to train with you?

S: I have daily classes at Mandala and Straight Blast Gym in Kalispell, but one of the gifts of the pandemic is that it helped me get very proficient at offering my classes online. My international students can come right into the studio with us here in Montana. Before the pandemic, it never would have occurred to me that I could teach my students in Europe and Ireland together with my students in Montana; it’s so cool. So, anyone, anywhere who is interested in practicing with me can find out about my classes through my website selenagarefino.com

MINDY COCHRAN is the founder of Kalispell’s Levitation Nation Aerial Studio, where the catchphrase “fitness is fun” is embodied alongside a culture of movement & women empowerment. Mindy believes that “The Real Levitation Experience” lies within elevating your health & wellness. Mindy loves to share the expertise she has acquired through her certifications as a personal trainer and life coach. For more about Mindy or Levitation Nation, please visit levitationnation.org

SELENA GAREFINO: @selenagarefino | selenagarefino.com

RIO CHANTEL: @riochantel | riochantel.xyz