Today, we’d like to introduce you to Kathy Nolan. Kathy was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Margaret Burns Vap.
Kathy, thank you so much for joining us today. We’d love for you to bring our readers up to speed – can you introduce yourself and share your story?
I was raised in the suburban town of Garden City, NY., fortunate to come from a privileged background where I was encouraged to explore my interests and passions from an early age. While still in high school, I began to clarify those things which would eventually define my life:, Horses, Spanish language, travel, culinary arts, and later on, yoga. Like many a young girl, I was obsessed with horses and began riding at age 9 or 10. Riding camps on Long Island and Minnesota were my summer playgrounds where I learned to handle and care for horses. At the age of 16 I began volunteering for an equine therapy organization called ‘The New Riders of the Viking Horses’. It was there that I fell in love with Icelandic horses, the breed that would change my life as an equestrian.
As a teenager, I spent a summer in rural Spain, living with a family in a small pueblo in central Spain called Cuéllar. It was my first international experience and the immersion into Spanish language and culture was nothing short of life-changing for me. For my junior year at Dension University, I returned to Granada, Spain and continued my lifelong love affair with Spanish language and literature and international travel.
After graduating from Denison, I began to explore my interest in culinary arts, I attended the New York Restaurant School in downtown NYC and went on to cook in carering companies and restaurants until the bottom fell out at a renowned NYC restaurant where I worked. That unfortunate set of circumstances led directly to a job as Associate Food Editor in the test kitchen at Good Housekeeping Magazine. Several years there led to several more as a freelance recipe developer and food stylist in NYC. Marriage and children came along, a move to the suburbs, and full-time motherhood to 3 boys for several years.
After a few of those years of being deep in full-time ‘mommy mode’, I discovered yoga. Yet another passion ignited! Finding myself again on the yoga mat, i embarked on my first yoga teacher training with a strong desire to share the teachings and techniques I had learned, to find ease and peace of mind and body through yoga. My yoga teaching continues to this day – but in a different locale.
Several years ago, my husband and I decided to move full time to our part-time home in Healdsburg, CA in northern Sonoma County. Something told me this would be the time of my life, and it certainly has been. I’ve reignited all of the passions of my life since moving here: teaching yoga, owning an Icelandic horse, tons of international travel, combined with the use of my Spanish language again.
When we arrived in California wine country, I took a deep dive into the world of food and wine in our area. Reaching back to my culinary roots and love of good wine, I started an Instagram account, @vinstagrape, and began an exciting adventure in social media, promoting wineries, tasting rooms, restaurants and all things delicious and beautiful in Sonoma County wine country.
Let’s talk about your work and career – what else should we know?
Before moving to California, I was a yoga instructor in my home studio on Long Island, NY. The 10 years I spent teaching daily yoga and aerial yoga classes to my beautiful and amazingly dedicated community of students was such a joyful time for me. I began to wonder whether or not I would ever teach in California when we moved. The idea of establishing myself as an instructor seemed daunting and overwhelming. As luck would have it, one of the first people I met was a barre instructor at a studio in a neighboring town. After my first class there, she asked if I would ever consider teaching barre at the new studio she was about to open in Healdsburg. I told her I was a yoga instructor, but YES I would! I did my barre instructor training and began teaching barre, and soon, yoga, at her studio, The Studio, in Healdsburg. I have developed a new style of class that combines the challenge of an intense barre workout with the stretching and balance of yoga. The combination is a perfect blend of strength, mobility and stretch and has become my signature class at The Studio. I think part of what sets me apart as a barre/yoga instructor is my age. I’m 63 years old and the vast majority of my students are much younger than I am. I think my ability to do the work that I’m asking them to perform is inspiring and motivating. What I love most about my work is teaching my students joyfully, making the hard work feel like fun, seeing my students’ bodies change through barre and their minds become quiet through yoga and mindfulness.
So, as we mentioned to our audience earlier, you were introduced to us by Margaret Burns Vap and Big Sky Yoga Retreats and we really admire them and what they’ve built. For folks who might not be as familiar, can you tell them a bit about your experience with Big Sky Yoga Retreats.
15 years ago, while flipping through a Yoga Journal Magazine, I came across an add for Jade Yoga mats. The photo in the ad was of a young mother and her 3 year old daughter riding a horse together with a Jade mat tied to the western saddle. The fine print identified the young woman as Margaret Burns Vap, owner of Big Sky Yoga Retreats in Bozeman, Montana. I thought to myself, “I am going to ride with her someday.” Many years went by and I kept that memory locked in my mind… “When the time is right, I’m going to do a retreat with BSYR in Montana.” At the end of 2020, after 6 months of caring for my father as he suffered with cancer, he passed away. The strain and heartache of that time left me feeling depleted and in need of something to bring me back to life. The time had come. I contacted Margaret about attending an upcoming retreat, and I knew right away that she would become an important person in my life. There were so many commonalities in our lives. Margaret shared with me some writing she had done about yoga & grief and the loss of her brother. Her brother and my mom had both passed away at the same time. Margaret and I have the same birthday ~ although 10 years apart. Our common love of horses and yoga and travel were immediately apparent and all of that was clear before we ever met. I planned to attend a retreat in Montana at the end of May, 2021.
At the time of my arrival in Montana I was dealing with some extremely upsetting circumstances revolving around one of sons and his mental health. At the retreat, both on the yoga mat and off, I was frequently in tears and found Margaret and her co-yoga teacher, Caitlin, to be incredibly supportive and compassionate. Margaret encouraged me to feel what I needed to feel and made me feel that the retreat was exactly where I needed to be at that moment in time. It was a very healing time for me, and also a powerful experience for the other attendees.
And then came my experience bonding with the horses on that retreat…. Margaret led us through exercises with the horses that I use to this day… deeply connecting with horses, breathing with our horses, sharing calming energy with them. And the work in the round pen: One-on-one with a horse, learning to move a horse with our own energy and intention, and then experiencing a sense of mutual respect and trust between horse and human as the human releases pressure on the horse and the horse comes to human. Thinking about that experience of joining up with that horse, even now, brings me close to tears. The human/horse connection had never felt so real to me before.
I left that retreat knowing two things for sure: That I needed to bring horses back into my life, and that Margaret and I would ride together again someday.
Upon returning home, I immediately sought out and began volunteering at another equine therapy organization near my home. I began leasing a horse at a stable nearby, started taking riding lessons again at a local barn, found a bunch of Icelandic horses close to home and shortly thereafter, bought my first horse, an Iceland mare named Tulpa, All of this a direct consequence of having attended my first Cowgirl Yoga retreat with Margaret.
And Margaret and I have been riding and practicing yoga together since then. In October of 2023, we travelled to Spain of all places! ~ with a group of women/friends Margaret has collected through retreats over the years. We rode and laughed and connected on a whole different level, as friends.
In March of 2024, I attended the BSYR Patagonia Hiking & Horses retreat as well as the add-on days at a lovely estancia, Los Potreros, truly a bucket list, once in a lifetime experience (I thought!) Margaret and I and the other participants delved deep into our shared experience with the beautiful horses of Argentina and the joy of human horse connection. On this retreat, Margaret invited me to teach yoga to the group on several occasions. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to share my style of teaching with the other attendees. Margaret and I have complementary styles of teaching, and together, I think we offer a blend that works beautifully on a retreat.
Just a few weeks after the Patagonia retreat, I made a last minute decision to join Margaret on her Wine & Yoga retreat in Sicily. If ever a retreat was calling my name, it was this one! Aside from horses, yoga and wine are two passions Margaret and I share and love sharing with others.
Upon returning from the Sicily retreat, Margaret invited me to help run the 2025 Argentina retreat at our favorite destination, Los Potreros outside of Córdova. Yoga, horseback riding, Mindfulness training, food and wine will be at the heart of the retreat. I have led 8 weeklong Mindful Living immersions with my yoga students over the years. I look forward to sharing those practices with the retreat attendees, to continuing to deepen my connection with Margaret and together, inspire adventurous women of all ages to make their way out of their comfort zones, step on their yoga mats, eat & drink the best food and wine, get out outdoors, saddle up, and live their best lives!
Instagram: @vinstagrape
Facebook: Kathy Kaliban Nolan
Image Credits
Photos by Kathy Nolan @vinstagrape
