Hi, I'm Andrea(she/her/hers). I am a fat, white, queer, ciswoman. In 2015 an accident began a slow transition into the way I saw my own body and others in marginalized bodies. In 2017 I started Ample Movement as a local hiking group for people who didn't see themselves in other hiking groups. I have expanded that into other forms of movement as well as getting my yoga teacher certification so that I can offer yoga to these same marginalized communities. Yoga played a big part in my personal body acceptance journey and I wanted to share it with others. I consider myself an adventure seeker and a social justice activist looking to learn and end all forms of oppression and to work towards liberation for all.
In March 2019 I hiked Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa with the Curvy Kili Crew (CKC) and WHOA Travel. The CKC is a group of 20 plus size people who attempted to summit Mount Kilimanjaro on International Women's Day. Doing that trek really changed my life and I recognized even more the need for community and the representation of fat folx doing adventure travel. Because of this trip, WHOA Travel decided to start WHOA+ and I was hired to be a GAL (group adventure leader) for these plus sized trips. I went to Peru to hike the Salkantay Trail with WHOA+ in July of 2019 and I will be returning to Peru in July of 2022 to lead another group of plus size women along the incredibly beautiful Salkantay trail and then in September of 2022 I'll lead a group in Iceland. (Go check out www.whoatravel.com/whoa-plus for info on those trips).
YOGA
I am a yoga instructor with my 200 hour level teacher training through The Himalayan Institute of Buffalo (2019) and am currently enrolled in my 300 hour teacher training, The Path to Yoga, Justice and Equity with Dianne Bondy. I am also a Yoga For All certified instructor and an Accessible Yoga teacher.
I believe that equitable yoga is accessible to all. I truly welcome all levels and all bodies. If you can't stand or aren't very flexible, these classes are for you. If you're very flexible and fat, these classes are for you. If you are breathing...these classes are for you. If a pose doesn't work for you, we will work together to find a variation that does, or an alternative pose that is similar. The pose should fit the body, not the other way around.
Long version:
Andrea DiMaio (she/her) has been practicing yoga in studios since around 2007 with a break here and there but if you count “Lilias! Yoga and You” on PBS, it’s really been since the early 1980’s. In 2015 she was in a bike accident and it was through her healing journey that her yoga practice was strengthened. During that time, Andrea attended many wonderful classes but noticed that in her plus size body, not all poses would work for her the way they were traditionally taught. Over time, between exploring on her own and finding plus size teachers online, she learned how to make yoga work for her body in a way which did not require her to change or twist into shapes that didn't fit her body. Andrea counts the self study she explored through her yoga practice on and off the mat as a big influence in changing her relationship with her body. She began to accept and then befriend it as it was. Andrea found herself occasionally demonstrating yoga asana options to other folks in larger bodies as a student. Because she knew how liberating it felt to have a teacher that looked like her, she figured she wasn’t alone and in late 2018 she started her own journey to become a yoga teacher.
Andrea completed her 200 hour teacher training through the Himalayan Institute in 2019. That same year she also completed continuing education and became a Yoga For All(™) certified teacher as well as completing her 30 hours of Accessible Yoga(™) training. She is currently finishing up her 300 hour teacher training in The Path to Yoga, Justice and Equity offered by Dianne Bondy Yoga, slated to finish in April of 2022. Andrea began her teaching career at Samsara Yoga Center in Jamestown NY and taught there from early 2019 until the studio closed because of the pandemic. Andrea has continued to teach several weekly online classes since March of 2020 along with some outdoor, in person classes when the weather allows.
Andrea does her best to make her classes welcome to all and is thoughtful of the way she teaches. She uses gender neutral and trauma sensitive language and she works to make the classes inviting as well as a brave space for folks to explore the expanse of their practice. She always gives several versions of each asana so that folks can find the pose that works best for them. She knows that each person is their own best teacher and sets them up to build their own practice by providing a space of true acceptance. Andrea believes that the only thing a person needs to do the movement part of yoga is their breath. She teaches that yoga is for everybody, and that you don’t need a flexible body, an able body, or a thin body to do yoga.
When Andrea isn’t teaching yoga, you can find this retired dog trainer doing exactly what the teenage version of herself dreamed of doing. She leads body positive, inclusive, “no one left behind” hikes and other outdoor adventures locally with her group, Ample Movement. She also works for Whoa Travel, an international outdoor adventure travel company, as a group leader for plus size group trips. Andrea also is a fat liberation and social justice activist when she isn’t spending a pandemic at home with her partner, elder husky and cat.
In March 2019 I hiked Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa with the Curvy Kili Crew (CKC) and WHOA Travel. The CKC is a group of 20 plus size people who attempted to summit Mount Kilimanjaro on International Women's Day. Doing that trek really changed my life and I recognized even more the need for community and the representation of fat folx doing adventure travel. Because of this trip, WHOA Travel decided to start WHOA+ and I was hired to be a GAL (group adventure leader) for these plus sized trips. I went to Peru to hike the Salkantay Trail with WHOA+ in July of 2019 and I will be returning to Peru in July of 2022 to lead another group of plus size women along the incredibly beautiful Salkantay trail and then in September of 2022 I'll lead a group in Iceland. (Go check out www.whoatravel.com/whoa-plus for info on those trips).
YOGA
I am a yoga instructor with my 200 hour level teacher training through The Himalayan Institute of Buffalo (2019) and am currently enrolled in my 300 hour teacher training, The Path to Yoga, Justice and Equity with Dianne Bondy. I am also a Yoga For All certified instructor and an Accessible Yoga teacher.
I believe that equitable yoga is accessible to all. I truly welcome all levels and all bodies. If you can't stand or aren't very flexible, these classes are for you. If you're very flexible and fat, these classes are for you. If you are breathing...these classes are for you. If a pose doesn't work for you, we will work together to find a variation that does, or an alternative pose that is similar. The pose should fit the body, not the other way around.
Long version:
Andrea DiMaio (she/her) has been practicing yoga in studios since around 2007 with a break here and there but if you count “Lilias! Yoga and You” on PBS, it’s really been since the early 1980’s. In 2015 she was in a bike accident and it was through her healing journey that her yoga practice was strengthened. During that time, Andrea attended many wonderful classes but noticed that in her plus size body, not all poses would work for her the way they were traditionally taught. Over time, between exploring on her own and finding plus size teachers online, she learned how to make yoga work for her body in a way which did not require her to change or twist into shapes that didn't fit her body. Andrea counts the self study she explored through her yoga practice on and off the mat as a big influence in changing her relationship with her body. She began to accept and then befriend it as it was. Andrea found herself occasionally demonstrating yoga asana options to other folks in larger bodies as a student. Because she knew how liberating it felt to have a teacher that looked like her, she figured she wasn’t alone and in late 2018 she started her own journey to become a yoga teacher.
Andrea completed her 200 hour teacher training through the Himalayan Institute in 2019. That same year she also completed continuing education and became a Yoga For All(™) certified teacher as well as completing her 30 hours of Accessible Yoga(™) training. She is currently finishing up her 300 hour teacher training in The Path to Yoga, Justice and Equity offered by Dianne Bondy Yoga, slated to finish in April of 2022. Andrea began her teaching career at Samsara Yoga Center in Jamestown NY and taught there from early 2019 until the studio closed because of the pandemic. Andrea has continued to teach several weekly online classes since March of 2020 along with some outdoor, in person classes when the weather allows.
Andrea does her best to make her classes welcome to all and is thoughtful of the way she teaches. She uses gender neutral and trauma sensitive language and she works to make the classes inviting as well as a brave space for folks to explore the expanse of their practice. She always gives several versions of each asana so that folks can find the pose that works best for them. She knows that each person is their own best teacher and sets them up to build their own practice by providing a space of true acceptance. Andrea believes that the only thing a person needs to do the movement part of yoga is their breath. She teaches that yoga is for everybody, and that you don’t need a flexible body, an able body, or a thin body to do yoga.
When Andrea isn’t teaching yoga, you can find this retired dog trainer doing exactly what the teenage version of herself dreamed of doing. She leads body positive, inclusive, “no one left behind” hikes and other outdoor adventures locally with her group, Ample Movement. She also works for Whoa Travel, an international outdoor adventure travel company, as a group leader for plus size group trips. Andrea also is a fat liberation and social justice activist when she isn’t spending a pandemic at home with her partner, elder husky and cat.