About Us
About the Owners
Deborah Bernstein is a yoga instructor and the founder of Roslindale Yoga Studio, in Boston, MA. She now runs the St. John villa business and leads yoga and adventure retreats with Scott. Deborah is the author of What is Yoga? and Yoga in America. After 15 years of working as a management consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers and later running an international corporate finance department for Iron Mountain, she left the corporate world to teach yoga. Deborah has long been involved with community service - while obtaining her MBA from Boston College, she ran a tutor mentor program for high risk teens from Boston's inner city and later while working at PwC, Deborah began teaching yoga to middle school students from the Boston Public Schools. Deborah's commitment to supporting the community continues with her work at the villa, providing free vacation time at the villa to wounded veterans and families of fallen firefighters. Throughout the year, Deborah leads yoga retreats at the villa; her yoga teaching style is an eclectic mix of vinyasa and mindfulness practice, inspired by viniyoga and Kundalini. Vist Deborah's blog, Florian Yoga Companion
Scott Wahlen is a Captain in the Boston Fire Department and a former US Marine. Scott spent many years traveling the most untraveled parts of the world during his time in the Service and later on his own. He hiked Mt. Kenya and Mt. Kilimanjaro, scuba dived at the Great Barrier Reef, Sharem el Sheikh and Dahab, toured the Great Wall of China and visited some of the most sacred parts of India, Israel and Egypt. Scott has also explored the caves of Cappadocia and gone trekking in Timbuktu, Mali and Sudan. 
Scott is no stranger to remote islands either, having visited Zanzibar, Mombasa, Gomee de Ios and Okinawa - but of course, his favorite island is St. John. Scott's sense of adventure extends to his many athletic accomplishments, including running numerous marathons around the world. Scott is deeply committed to community service, in particular supporting wounded troops and veterans and working with children who have cancer. In 2004, Scott lead an initiative to support the wounded troops at Walter Reed Medical Center - he collected hundreds of t-shirts and gifts from the Boston Fire Department, Boston Red Sox and NE Patriots and he and Deborah hand delivered the gifts and visited every soldier and marine in the Walter Reed Medical Center.
Florian Villa Service Mission
Scott and Deborah purchased Florian Villa in 2007 to provide a haven and vacation spot for wounded veterans and families of fallen firefighters. During their first year of operation, they donated more than 4-weeks of time at the villa. In 2008/2009 they raised enough money to fly 6 wounded troops from Wounded Warriors to St. John, to host a 6-night all-inclusive dive certification trip. You can support this work too, by renting the villa for your next vacation, participating in a Florian yoga retreat, or making a donation. The next phase of their work in St. John is to make the villa handicapped accessible and to create a tax-exempt organization to help with fund raising efforts.
Why the name Florian?
If you're wondering about the name "Florian": Saint Florian is the patron saint who protects firefighters and their families. So we thought it fitting to name the villa after something dear to us...namely, health and safety.
We look forward to vacationing with you soon at Florian Villa!
Namaste,
Scott and Deb
Namaste means the "light that burns in me honors the light that burns in you" This is a traditional Sanskrit saying, often used in yoga classes throughout the world.
Recent Press about Florian Villa
Florian Villa is proud to support Wounded Warriors, an organization that supports wounded Soldiers and Marines.
The owners of Florian Villa donated the villa and transportation for the March 2009 Wounded Warriors trip to St. John.
Please help us pay for future trips by making a donation to Florian's Cause. 100% of your donation will be used to pay for families of fallen firefighters and wounded troops to stay at the villa. We are not yet a tax deductible organization, but we're working on it. Thank you in advance for your support.
- Contact Us
deborah@florianvilla.com scott@florianvilla.com Phone: 617-429-6182
