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Monica Fernandi’s Many Twists on the Practice of
Yoga
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hasing another dream—to sing in theater—Monica Fernandi woke up to a practice that would change her dreams. Her teacher in New York City, Broadway legend Betty Buckley, asked students to begin each voice session with a half hour of seated meditation. Fernandi found the meditation as compelling as the singing. Twenty years later, the vibrant mother of three is a popular yoga teacher and life coach in the Virginia Piedmont area. A little touch of Broadway enlivens her teaching, but her passion about self-direction leads her students to find their own paths. “Strength begins with a decision to want to be stronger in many areas of your life,” she explained. “The beauty of yoga is that it teaches us to be flexible in body, but also in mind. It’s a yoking of the body and the mind.”
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By Pat Reilly
When her husband’s work brought the family to Virginia in 2008, Fernandi became certified to teach yoga, the most popular of her several certifications. She adopted the “have-equipment-will-travel” model, finding clients in four Northern Virginia counties. From Mommy and Me to Flow Yoga at the WARF (Warrenton Aquatic Recreation Facility), chair yoga for octogenarians and personal classes in clients’ homes, wineries, gardens and pools, she was building the business that would become Monicafernandi.com with the slogan “Grow Strength Within.” Meanwhile, her marriage ended. Her flexibility was put to the test in March, 2020 when many of the sites where she taught suddenly shut down because of Covid-19. She had to take some classes online and soon was teaching clients in other parts of the country. Some families found group yoga sessions a way to bring generations and far-away family members together in the Zoom room during the pandemic. She thrived. One of her oldest classes, yoga at the Salamander Resort in Middleburg, was something she had pitched in a hard hat when the popular destination was being built. She also teaches a Water Yoga class. As she developed a form of exercise that draws on many eastern practices, she imagined writing a book that would explain it based on the ancient and sacred number 108. Her own curiosity about why 108 sun salutations are done across the globe at the start of a new season or new year caused her to research the depth and meaning of this ritual. She realized just how helpful this could be to bring more love and peace to the world. Coincidentally or not, love came her way while teaching water classes at the WARF. She noticed a tri-athlete swimming in a neighboring lane. Fernandi and
Go Green Middleburg | Summer2021
