Article by Nan Wishner, Yoga International
I first learned of Vanda Scaravelli when someone showed me a photo of her in Light on Yoga demonstrating Paschimottanasana (seated forward bend) with B. K. S. Iyengar balancing in Mayurasana (peacock pose) on her back. I was surprised to see a woman pictured in an otherwise traditional yoga text, and even more surprised that she was wearing a striped, two-piece bathing suit. Although I did not know then how important Vanda’s teaching would become to me, in retrospect, I see how that image captures her anomalous position in the world of contemporary yoga and her determination to pursue the teachings in her own unconventional way.
It was not until I met one of Vanda’s long-time students that I began to understand that her life and teaching embodied what I had been seeking in yoga.
Sometime later I found my way to Vanda’s book, Awakening the Spine, and was enchanted by its lovely photos – including many of Vanda in her 80s doing challenging asanas with ease – as well as by its depiction of yoga as an effortless dance with breath and gravity. But it was not until I met one of Vanda’s long-time students that I began to understand that her life and teaching embodied what I had been seeking in yoga: a way to inhabit my body so that movement becomes meditation.
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