Monica Fernandi’s Many Twists on the Practice of Yoga

Monica Fernandi’s Many Twists on the Practice of Yoga

By Pat Reilly

If you can breathe, you can do yoga

Photo by Vicky Moon

Chasing 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.”

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

the swimmer, Mike King, discovered they had a lot in common. In 2018, they won a municipal contest to tie the knot in front of the “Love” sign in Warrenton, where King is a popular postal carrier.

The following year, Fernandi was attending an area workshop on publishing when the guest speaker, Marianne Clyde, invited her to join a fundraiser for clean water that involved climbing to the south base camp of Mount Everest, 17,598 feet up. Intrigued, she took the idea home to her new husband, who told her it had long been on his “to do” list.

The book went on hold and they trained and researched for the climb later in 2019. She became viscerally aware of the lives of people in a very different part of the world. After 30 years of preaching the importance of drinking enough water, she met people for whom clean water is a luxury.

Then came the experience that changed lives everywhere.

“March 12, Marianne Clyde and I gave a presentation about our trek five months earlier, and the next day the world was different,” Fernandi recalled. “2020--lockdown--the gift we all received if we look closely. The gift of time.”

Fernandi had time to appreciate her new home in Rappahannock and to work on the book. As her online practice grew, she launched another brand Awakened Soulmate, a life coaching program.

“I help women open their eyes to the radiant being that they are, especially after heartache,” she said, “so that they may feel more confident and maybe even find their next soulmate!”

“Once we all awaken, a deep healing can happen, collectively and individually,” she said. “Yoga is an ancient practice, but it’s never been more relevant. We’re all looking at life from a different angle. And this remedy requires no special criteria.”

On June 15, a Wine and Yoga event from 4-6:30 p.m. at the Welbourne farm in Upperville will feature Monica Fernandi https://www.facebook.com/welbourneinn