Hiking and Yoga

Join us for an invigorating morning hike and an easy therapeutic yoga class post-hike at the Green Mountain Club’s Visitor Center! We’ll hike the Stowe Pinnacle Trail to the overlook, a moderate 3.2-mile round trip hike with 1600 feet of elevation gain. The trail is rated between moderate and difficult, and will keep a 2ish mph pace. For a link to information about the trail, please click here.  Due to snowy conditions, please bring microspikes, trekking poles, and winter layers. After hiking, we’ll return to the Visitor Center for a 1.5-hour Restorative yoga practice, which is a gentle and contemplative form of yoga that focuses on deep relaxation and rejuvenation. It involves holding passive poses for extended periods of time, 5-10 minutes each, with the aid of blocks, bolsters, blankets, and straps to support the body. This type of healing yoga practice has many therapeutic benefits, which are enhanced by the initial warm-up of the body during the morning hike! The goals are to reduce stress, create resiliency in the body to prevent injuries, and an enhancement of overall wellbeing. Samara's therapy dog, Elia, will also join for the hike and yoga! 

No yoga experience is required and all props will be provided, but if you have your own, please bring them. 

Yoga instructor and hike leader Samara Anderson is a licensed attorney in Vermont and New York since 2003, and has been instructing yoga since 2013. Samara then started teaching mindfulness to stressed humans in 2016 to enable herself and others to lower stress hormone levels and continue practicing law (and being a human) in a more sustainable way. She section hiked the Long Trail from 2021-2023, and became a GMC outings leader in 2024. Samara’s yoga teachings are influenced by several yoga traditions, including: Ayurveda, Anusara, Hatha, Vinyasa, Yin, Restorative, and Kundalini. 

Samara infuses her classes with inspirational themes woven into asana sequences through a solid foundation of alignment cues, challenging postures and creative flows to connect students to their bodies and minds in a conscious way. All of her classes incorporate music, which she feels is a beautiful way to align our internal rhythms with the rhythms of the Universe. Yoga is a mindful practice that allows students to release the stress that is held at the cellular level, so you can have less pain and increase your overall well-being. Samara believes that compassionate self-care is the pathway to creating an abundant life, both personally and professionally. Learn more at www.thehappyhumanprojects.com (currently under construction)