Stretch your vacation: A yoga retreat offers a body-and-soul getaway

Nestled amid the natural beauty of Whidbey Island, The Yoga Lodge is truly an escape from the chaos called life.

Perhaps it's the simple meals with fresh ingredients grown in the organic gardens. Or the solitude with only the croaking frogs and chirping birds for company. Or maybe it's the warmth and wisdom of proprietress and yogini Gail Malizia.

Whatever the element, or combination of elements, that makes a stay at the yoga retreat a wealth of tranquility, the final outcome is much like the definition of yoga itself — the quieting of the mind's commotion.

"It's a real gift when you go there," said Pat Braus, 49, of Seattle, who has visited The Yoga Lodge three times. "The simplicity is very calming and it all feels like a real gift."

Braus, who hand-makes books, says the rejuvenating effects of the retreat last longer than from other vacations.

"Sometimes you go places and the minute you walk off the premises or you get on the plane, that's it. It's, 'Bam, slam.' And you're back in your life. But there, it stays with me longer, I think," she said. "There's just something magical about it."

An enveloping calm

Malizia opened the retreat in 1994 as a place where visitors could find stillness through Hatha yoga, or the physical practice of yoga. Malizia, 62, has taught yoga for about 30 years and practices the Iyengar method, which utilizes belts, blocks, blankets, chairs and other props to help with body alignment and the holding of positions for sometimes as long as a minute.

But while yoga is the central theme of the retreat, the five-acre setting near Greenbank provides an enveloping calm that is rare in the modern world of ringing phones, droning televisions and bleeping computers.

The calm seeps in as you drive up the private dirt road through groves of alder and fir trees and past a solitary pond. It settles deeper when you walk up the stepping stones to the bright cedar lodge. And it reaches your very core while unwinding in a wood-fired sauna set in the woods with only an oil lamp to light your way.

Malizia, who grew up in Illinois, dropped out of the University of Washington just before completing her dissertation in Spanish and began roaming the world in search of a purpose.

In Colombia, she contracted Hepatitis A. Jaundiced, feverish and weak, Malizia found herself in a cabin on the Olympic Peninsula surviving on food stamps and reading every book about health she could get from the library.

After reading B.K.S. Iyengar's book "Light on Yoga," Malizia felt as though she discovered the meaning she had been searching for.

"It was like someone hit me over the head with a two-by-four," she recalled. "It just made sense. So yoga found me."

Malizia began practicing yoga based on the descriptions in the book. And she returned to Seattle, enrolled at Antioch University and designed a personal program to become a yoga instructor. She traveled to India four times to study with Iyengar.

About a decade ago, Malizia found the growing noise and increasing traffic in Seattle unsettling. The idea of a yoga bed-and-breakfast grew into a dream, and Malizia stumbled upon the plot of land on Whidbey with a single decrepit building permitted as a barn. But the woman who had never had a credit card and always lived on a shoestring budget had no clue how to get enough money for a down payment. Many of her yoga students stepped in with interest-free loans and gifts. Friends donated labor and materials. And others traded work for yoga instruction.

"Courage has to do with leading one's life in accordance with the beliefs and principles you think are important," said Malizia. "When given a chance, people are very generous and kind."

Things seem to work out

Gardens were planted, a sauna was constructed and the building was remodeled to house a yoga studio, three bedrooms where 11 can sleep, a guest bathroom and an apartment where Malizia resides.

Seven classes each week — mainly attended by island residents — pay for most of Malizia's modest expenses. Overnight visitors, private lessons and yoga workshops with guest instructors are a bonus.

"I don't want to create an empire of yoga students," said Malizia, in her usual reflective manner. "It's the teaching and the practicing that's important and not running a business."

She offers classes and lodging to people in exchange for work. And she often invites people into her apartment for soups with leeks and potatoes from the garden or breakfasts including locally-grown berries. "One of my guiding principles is if your motivation is untainted and if your motivation is coming from sincerity and non-greed, then I really believe things will work out," she said.

So far for Malizia, it has.

Deer to the heart

Visitors have included everyone from attorneys and therapists to housewives and artists because as Malizia enjoys saying, "Yoga attracts a wide variety of people, from fruits to nuts."

On one visit, Merilyn Britt, 59, of San Diego, saw young deer feeding on a plum tree just outside one of the guest rooms.

"I always think of this plum tree when I'm not here," said the dye artist.

Britt, who has practiced various types of yoga for 25 years, sees The Yoga Lodge's primary appeal in its founder and her dedication.

"Yes, it's beautiful, but it's the integrity here that draws me back," she said. "You could have the same lodge, the same place and different people running it, and it'd be a totally different place."

And while Malizia encourages simple living (she gives visitors $5 off their stay if they bring bedding and towels) and conservation (she hand-washes dishes and composts even tea bags), she refrains from expecting too much of her guests' experiences.

"I hope people enjoy themselves in some way," she said. "People say, 'It's very lovely here,' even if they come on a cloudy day. And that's all I want. Anything else is a bonus for me and for them."

Gina Kim: 206-464-2761 or gkim@seattletimes.com