Logo
EVENTS & CLASSESPACKAGES - PRICINGSCHEDULE
Actress Amy Johnson and A Gentle Way Owner Lanita Varshell

About Our Founder


Lanita Varshell - E-RYT500, YACEP, C-IAYT - is a Certified Yoga Instructor, Trainer, Therapist, Writer, and Motivational Speaker with leading-edge yoga experience since 1996.

She has pioneered healing, life-changing yoga philosophy, and soft, gentle, joyful movement to people of all sizes, ages, and abilities.

Lanita is known for her expertise in working with the bigger-to-biggest bodies, trauma survivors, and those with hidden or death-threatening diseases.

Her specialties lie in helping people create a balanced, peaceful life despite what is happening in their lives.

Whether you find it hard to sit still or have a bigger, slower, or older body, Lanita can guide you toward health, hope, and joy.

Photo: Right: Lanita Varshell - Owner of A Gentle Way
Left: Amy S. Johnson - Actress & Certified AGW Yoga Teacher
LEARN MORE
Custom-SeparatorIcon0

Live ZOOM Class Schedule


SAT

Today


SUN

Dec 22


MON

Dec 23

Saturday, December 21, 2024

No events on this day

VIEW FULL SCHEDULE
Custom-SeparatorIcon0

Do you need help making your physical and emotional health a priority? Are you ready to find JOY through movement and profound peace through deep rest and breath?

Are you looking for a fun, loving support group?

You are not supposed to be on this journey alone.

We are here to help!

We are a small, supportive team that loves to work with individual students and small groups to help customize a joyful, effective life practice for you.

Yoga is not just about asana. It’s about helping you with your thinking, habits, goals, and dreams. We specialize in helping those who are new to yoga, aging, those with larger or inflexible bodies, trauma survivors, and those with chronic or life-threatening diseases.

Senior Teachers Lanita & Diane mentor yoga teachers who need to learn how to slow down, or need help building a new business. We have over 29 years of experience starting, building, managing and successfully owning and managing small yoga studios.


Photo: Instructors: Lanita, Diane, Kathy, Sean

LEARN MORE
Custom-SeparatorIcon10

Are you brand new to AGW? Buy your first month of unlimited LIVE ZOOM classes for $50!

BUY NOW

Lanita Varshell, A Gentle Way Yoga, yoga classes, workshops, San Diego yoga events
In-Person Workshops

2025 Workshops in San Diego & San Marcos, Ca coming soon!

LEARN MORE
Retreat With Us!
Retreat With Us!

Helena, Montana
Feathered Pipe Ranch

June 2025
A mindfulness-yoga retreat that is truly for every age, size, gender and ability.

LEARN MORE
Yoga and life coaching for bigger, fat, plus size bodies. Yoga for beginners and seniors
Private Mentoring

Need loving motivation?
Customized asana?
Accountability?
Teacher Training and Private Coaching for students, teachers, and Yoga Studio owners.
email Lanita at: agentlewayyoga@gmail.com to set up a free 15-minute consulatation.

LEARN MORE
Custom-SeparatorIcon0

Testimonials


"Words cannot express the depth of my gratitude to A Gentle Way for providing me with a place for such gentle healing. I came from L.A. to visit your Studio, entering with a tremendous amount of pain, both physically and emotionally. After 35 classes with the gentlest and most nurturing teachers, I am leaving on a path of healing, hope, and profound amazement that life indeed unfolds and provides exactly what we need. Thank you all so much! "

-Susan ~ Actress

"You opened a door for me that I didn’t even know was out there. Who would have ever dreamed that I would get on my mat everyday, and become a teacher, let alone even practice yoga? Anyone who gets to study with you and Diane is so very blessed! My life is so rich now - thanks to yoga. "

-Deborah ~ Student & Teacher

"What you do is so yoga, yet so different than the way I have been taught to teach it. You start the class in a very relaxed way, almost playfully, releasing tension out of our body, and then we just seem to go deeper and deeper, with poses held longer and longer. It feels as though it is music, and you are this powerful conductor. We get swept away by the inner music, the slow healing rhythm we are discovering in our very own body. "

-Judy ~ Yoga Teacher

Custom-SeparatorIcon0

Frequently asked questions

Yes! We have many students like you who just wanted a safe place to learn yoga. After just a few months of working with Lanita & Diane you will be able to practice in many others studios, knowing how to customize the poses for your body, if needed. Yet, we have others who have stayed with us for 10, 20+ years just because they like our slower, safer approach to hatha yoga.

Yes! Both Lanita and Diane do Zoom and in-person San Diego private sessions as their schedule allows.

Yes! We turn away sincere yoga seekers.  Since this is our livelihood, we want to ensure we are helping out the right students, not those just looking for bargains. If you need a reduced rate, please do not hesitate to email Lanita directly with your circumstances and what you can pay for a class or workshop.

No, our sweet studio (A Gentle Way Yoga in La Mesa) closed its' doors in 2020 (after 20+ years!) due to Covid-19, but we now teach weekly live on-line ZOOM classes, monthly workshops and teacher trainings in San Diego, and yearly retreats.