Today we’d like to introduce you to Margaret Burns Vap.
Hi Margaret , thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a yoga entrepreneur in Bozeman, Montana. I’m also a former city-girl fashionista transformed by yoga and motherhood into an outdoorsy Montana cowgirl who still loves a latte. I’m the founder of Big Sky Yoga Retreats and creator of Cowgirl Yoga™.
Long long ago in a galaxy far far away (well, New York City), I had a corporate job and needed to slow my life down. Yoga was a much needed wake-up call. It helped me put things in perspective…and eventually became my life’s work. After 9-11, we moved from NYC to Washington DC, where I opened a yoga studio. I adored my yoga community and the shift in lifestyle I had made.
My husband, who is from Montana, told me for years that I should do yoga retreats there. In 2007 my family decided to move to the Treasure State, and I jumped right into my second venture as a yoga entrepreneur and started Big Sky Yoga Retreats. I wanted to share the healing power and potential of yoga, horses, and nature with people, all of which was inspired by my family’s move to Montana from Washington, DC.
These days, Big Sky Yoga Retreats has evolved over 15+ years of teaching, getting outside, and hosting hundreds of wellness-seeking women – plus navigating one pandemic! – to offer yoga retreats in stunning natural settings worldwide: Montana (our hOMe base), Argentina, Costa Rica, the French Alps, and Italy. Our retreaters are women – any and all women – Because what woman doesn’t need self-care, nature, and camaraderie with like-minded souls? Our most popular retreat is called Cowgirl Yoga – Yoga & Horseback Riding Retreats, for all levels of yoginis and equestriennes.The retreat experience and my vision for the trips is constantly evolving and changing. I’m always working to find as many ways as possible to incorporate the connection to yoga and horses, and yoga and nature. Most recently, I’ve pursued training in equine coaching to guide women on an even deeper journey into the mind-body-horse connection. And just for fun, I offer an occasional retreat or two combining yoga and wine in Italy; we recently returned from our Yoga & Vineyard retreat in Sicily. #namasteandcheers
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
One of my favorite ongoing comments about what I do, from multiple sources: “Your job is so easy, all you have to do is yoga!”
While I’m glad that I’ve made it look easy, the reality is that Big Sky Yoga Retreats has faced all of the same struggles as other businesses. And I think that entrepreneurs should receive some sort of special medal for taking it ALL on. There have many times when I very much wish my job was “just a yoga teacher”.
Besides having to be involved in every part of the business, from the fun stuff (teaching yoga, finding creative ways to market things) to the not-so-fun stuff (um, accounting), key challenges have also included: Things Not Going As Planned (which is pretty much always), Clients Who Hate You, Horses Who Get Injured, and Staying Motivated When You’re not Living Proof of What You Offer (because you’re human). Oh, and might I mention a certain Pandemic that took small businesses for the ride of their life, bucking bronco style?
So no, it hasn’t been a smooth road. But, like so many other wonderful things in life, I wouldn’t trade the bumps along the way for anything (ok, maybe just a few.) And sticking with it has been the ultimate reward; the bumps are in the rear view mirror, and they’ve all been part of landing us where we’re at now – 15 years and counting, down the road. Reinvention, adaptation, letting go of what’s not working – these are all integral to the journey towards success.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Big Sky Yoga Retreats ?
Big Sky Yoga Retreats has been offering high quality yoga retreats in Montana and around the world since way before every yoga teacher started doing it, so it’s not our first rodeo. You can trust us with your wellness wanderlust, because we’ve been in the game since 2008. Our retreats began as a way to blend yoga with the benefits of spending time outdoors in nature and with animals. We’ve witnessed firsthand how healing the resulting alchemy can be, after 15+ years of hosting hundreds of women on retreats. Our motto is “Add a little Yeehaw to your Namaste”.
We are best known for Cowgirl Yoga, which cultivates the horse-human connection and highlights how yoga deepens it. You can go somewhere that offers both riding and yoga; but how many places truly connect them, so you can experience how much they compliment each other? That is the essence of what we do. Each day on a Cowgirl Yoga retreat is unique, but the themes are recurring: nurturing the horse-human connection, and connecting what we do on the yoga mat to our time with the horses. Every day has yoga as well as horse time, and each practice feeds the other. On the yoga mat, we spend time not only preparing our bodies for the physical aspects of riding, but also preparing our hearts and minds to be open and receptive to the horse’s energy. We bring back the emotions and sensations from our horse interaction to our mats, for processing in new ways. It’s a cycle with a beautiful rhythm, that encourages unexpected personal discoveries.
One of our main themes is authentic experiences. We’ve carefully chosen retreat locations that aren’t typical. On our retreat in Argentina, we meditate and practice yoga, and on the same day ride horses with gauchos. On our French Alps retreat, it’s yoga followed by a helicopter ride around the iconic Mont Blanc, that brings up so much emotion you’re in tears. In Montana, we host our retreat at a working Dude Ranch that breeds Appaloosa horses, a horse whose history is directly linked to that of the land. Those kinds of combinations give our yoga a depth that doesn’t happen when you just roll your mat out in an exotic locale, without doing something to participate in the place you are part of for a bit. Yoga enhances the impact of these once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
We’ve gotten plenty of good press over the years, but the most recent feather in our cap is being voted one of the top 10 Best Yoga Retreats in USA Today’s Readers’ Choice Awards, for 2023 and 2024.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Practicing what I preach.
My mantra for many years has been that self-care is non negotiable. It sounds so simple – yet can be so, so difficult. Somehow our culture has shaped us to believe that the last person we should take care of is ourselves. And women in particular have a lot of guilt about self-care – it’s too expensive, I can’t take that time off work, I have family obligations. Sometimes we have to choose ourselves, and not feel selfish about doing so. I aim to practice what I preach.
However, it can be a hard line to draw since my work IS teaching work-life balance. I do know that when I’m depleted, I can’t do that. So taking care of myself and knowing when I need a break is integral to what I do. I also recognize that I can’t teach yoga or horses without my own non-work, non-teaching experiences to draw from, so making sure I practice yoga regularly and cultivate my passion for horses away from my retreats is my “continuing education”, that fuels my own life balance.
One of my most cherished values: Authenticity.
Personal passion cannot become business if you’re not authentic. Boy, is that a lesson I’ve learned. My job definitely does not include the option to merely “go through the motions”; I need to lead from an authentic place in order to offer what I do. So many jobs require people to be someone they are not; I’m very fortunate that I don’t need to fake anything. Yoga and horses have given me the gift of a business that truly comes from the heart.
Horses give humans wisdom beyond words. They reconnect us with a deep inner knowing that we’ve lost touch with over millennia of becoming more “civilized”. They are authentic and live in the moment. Horses don’t accept emotional incongruity – think pretending you’re not afraid of them, when you might be just a little afraid. For prey animals, a human hiding what she’s feeling is perceived as a threat – it doesn’t smell right and they will tell you so. They create an invaluable opportunity for us to be authentic and emotionally honest. I credit horses with finding my True Authentic North as a human and an entrepreneur.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bigskyyogaretreats.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cowgirlyoga/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bigskyyogaretreats
Image Credit:
Larry Stanley Photography