St. Michael Yogi Launches Business for Destination Meditation

We’re reaching that time of year when the winter “blahs” set in hard. Temperatures don’t climb above freezing, the sun won’t shine very often and spring is still several weeks away, if we’re lucky.

For many, meditation and yoga, particularly in the last several years, have become a way to escape the monotony of a Minnesota winter.

But what if you could take that to another level?

That’s what Jennifer Derham is hoping to do with her new business, Blue Lotus Yoga. It takes yoga to a whole new place, quite literally.

“Destination yoga has really become this thing where you can go, enjoy a new place and some warm surroundings, and then kind of support it with a couple of daily yoga sessions that really allow you to relax,” Derham, a NETA-certified instructor who is working on her 200-hour certification, said.

Food, she added, will be a central piece of the deal. Nourishing the body is as important as feeding the body and soul through yoga.

An instructor at InFit in Albertville, Derham is a school psychologist over at Anoka-Hennepin School Distrct, where she works with students. But her work with moms and dads after school and on the weekends opened her to this new venture.

“First, it’s kind of hard, sometimes, to get started with yoga because there is that intimidation factor. You don’t know all of the poses and you’re not going to be as advanced as someone who is doing it a while. Then, when you hear about these retreat centers that are popping up, you think it sounds like a great idea, but you face that kind of fear all over again, because it’s not going to be with an instructor you know down in Mexico or Arizona or somewhere like that.”

This, Derham said, combines the best of both worlds – take your yoga instructor on the go.

Derham and a friend tested the waters recently, heading to the Sedona area of Arizona for a retreat over a three-day weekend. The results were very positive. They escaped the cold of Minnesota, hiked and explored he desert, and took in yoga sessions each day.

She now has her first, long-range trip ready to go with Blue Lotus. In 2015, thanks to help from Erica Gindele at Inspiration Travel, Derham will be setting up a yoga retreat at Playa Fiesta in Peurto Vallarta. The resort is one of the top-rated retreats in Mexico, and will be host to only a group from Blue Lotus.

“It’s a really great opportunity and I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s going to get a lot of people hooked. That’s the hope, anyway,” Derham said.

She’ll also plan some 2014 trips to the Southwest, which are already in the works (including a recently announced October trip to Sedona). But she also wants to hear from people where they want to go, or have been, as she gets this new venture off the ground.

And, if there are businesses around the Twin Cities looking to feed their staff with yoga, Derham is available to help there, as well. 

Blue Lotus Yoga Retreats will be showcased at the Minneapolis Yoga Conference later this spring, as well. That event is set for April 25 to April 27. 

You can find more information about Blue Lotus on their Facebook site, or on the recently launched website.

If you’re interested in staying closer to home but testing out some of Derham’s local yoga classes, visit Infittraining.com.