Teaching at O2 Since: January 2016
Sarah’s Thoughts on Second Series: “It’s great. As a teacher, it’s nice to have a direction to plan my classes for the month versus starting with a blank slate. I also find it helps me get creative.”
Sarah’s Current Teaching Schedule:
SOMERVILLE
7:30pm Wednesdays – Basics
CAMBRIDGE
12pm Mondays – Basics
6:30am Tuesdays – Basics
Like many of us, Sarah came to O2 through the grace of friendship. Her pal and roommate Cemile (a longtime member of 
our workstudy staff who ended up becoming a teacher at O2 the same time as Sarah) won a 10-Class Card in a raffle — and opted to gift it to her friend. “After that I was hooked,” Sarah said. She’d been doing yoga for about two years before discovering O2 in 2014, but quickly became part of the family here at the studio, especially once she made the decision to do Teacher Training in 2015.
In fact, Sarah’s journey into our 200-Hour Teacher Training program is one that we often share with others on the verge of making the same leap. She came to us as a seeker and asked one day about the spiritual component of our training. It turned into a really beautiful conversation about why it is that O2’s motto is “Up Dog, Down Dog, No Dogma” — we don’t enforce a spiritual doctrine on our students but, instead, give them the space to get what they need from the practice by providing them a safe space to move and breathe at the same time. Getting to have that conversation with Sarah-the-Yoga-Student sticks with us now that she’s part of our teaching staff, imparting this same kind of wisdom to her students: the spiritual takeaway of the practice is 100% up to the individual. There’s space for so many levels of experience all within the same sixty, seventy-five, or ninety minute practice — something that we became better at articulating, thanks to our dialogue with Sarah as she made the decision to do her training with us.
Sarah’s yoga journey began during a time when she was coping with a lot of “life stuff,” something familiar to many of us who have adopted yoga wholeheartedly into our lives. “Yoga showed me that it is OK to be where I am, in the moment. It is OK to be opt out of a pose and take child’s pose. I learned to be gentler with myself in yoga and that idea began to trickle off the mat into my day-to-day life,” Sarah said. It was that level of self-awareness that she wanted to bring to students and drove her to do Teacher Training. “I wanted to provide that same experience for others,” she said.
When Sarah isn’t teaching an asana-kicking class at O2, she’s working at Mmmmaven, a music technology school in Central Square that offers classes on DJing & music production as well as putting on related events around the city.
Sarah has sought advice from her yoga mentor, Annie (also an O2 teacher), who has been a great resource, both from “the business of yoga” perspective as well as providing additional training — Sarah took part in Annie’s Trauma-Informed Yoga Teacher Training through her nonprofit, Firefly Yoga International. Beyond that, Sarah has also done Childlight Yoga’s Teacher Training and will be studying Astanga with David Swenson this summer.
Sarah has also teamed up with fellow TT Class of 2015 alum, Paulina, to lea
d a variety of workshops, including Breaking Out of Basics and Intro to O2 Yoga and more! Sarah & Paulina are a dynamic duo whose approach to the practice is as practical as it is adventurous and we’d encourage you to keep an eye out for their next event!
Keep up that inquisitive spirit, Sarah — it’s truly an inspiration to us all and we’re so happy to have you on our teaching staff.
What’s the best lesson you’ve learned from Mimi?
“Wow, so many! ‘Yoga makes people nicer’ — that really resonates with me. Also, Intelligent Sequencing: understanding why we do poses, in what order, and how to counterpose, and tying themes throughout the class.”
What’s your favorite pose to teach?
“The beginning part of class focused on grounding and breathwork. I love hearing students breathe together.”
What’s your favorite pose to do?
“It changes month to month but right now, it’s handstand.”
What’s your “dream pose”?
“Headstand to Astavakrasana to Koundinyasana (a girl can dream!).”
Do you have a mantra?
“This also changes but ‘Slow down and enjoy the little things’ has been around for some time now.”
Do you play music in class?
“Sometimes. More often than not, I like silence, but when I do play music, it’s ambient electronic.”
To learn more about all of our fabulous teachers, click here.
