Meet Sarah. Sarah is one of the many amazing friends we gained this year. She works with our member Shavon in the same school in Maryland. She first joined us on our Mexico Retreat back in Summer 2022. She fell in love with it so much that she quickly joined our virtual community. She became a familiar face and her commitment grew ever since.Right now she is a student in the 108 Day Challenge Program with Alex, and we hope she goes on to do her Yoga Teacher Training - she would be an amazing teacher! You can often catch her on Live Zoom Classes throughout the week and weekend with her pets Miley and Cyrus. She will also be joining us in 2023 in Mexico (want to come? There's a few spots left in our June Retreat!) She was nice enough to answer our community interview questions, here’s our first interview on the Sober Girls Yoga Magazine. We hope you enjoy it…
Tell us a little bit about yourself! Who is Sarah?
I am a high school Spanish teacher in Maryland in the United States. I have also taught education, linguistics and language-learning courses as an adjunct university instructor and a professional development facilitator, and I have been the Professional Development Schools Site Liaison at my school.
In my free time, I LOVE practicing yoga, walking in nature and spending time with my pets, Miley and Cyrus (yes, those are their names, lol). I also love to travel. So far, my international trips have been to Spain, Canada, Costa Rica (three times) and Mexico (twice).
How did you meet Alex?
I met Alex when a friend invited me to join Alex’s yoga retreat in Mexico this past summer. Although I did go to a couple of virtual classes prior to the retreat just to meet Alex , I really felt like I got to know her and other MLPC members when I was in Mexico.
Have you ever had any experience with yoga before joining the MLPC?
I first started practicing yoga sometime around 2014 when I joined a hot yoga studio in my community. I was an active member at that studio up until the pandemic, and I also went on two yoga retreats in Costa Rica in 2018 and 2019 with teachers from that studio. During the pandemic, I continued to practice yoga with one of the instructors from that yoga studio via both Zoom and outdoor classes. And then, of course, I met Alex and joined the MLPC.
What’s your connection to the MLPC?
I joined the MLPC as a member after going on the MLPC yoga retreat in Mexico.
How did you end up being so committed to yoga?
Honestly, I just love the way that yoga makes me feel both mentally and physically. Yoga has enriched my life in so many ways, and I also feel very fortunate to have met a lot of awesome people as a result of my yoga practice.
"Honestly, I just love the way that yoga makes me feel both mentally and physically. Yoga has enriched my life in so many ways, and I also feel very fortunate to have met a lot of awesome people as a result of my yoga practice."
What are the biggest benefits you’ve reaped from your yoga practice?
I feel that I am more mentally, emotionally and physically healthy as a result of my yoga practice. Plus, yoga is one of my favorite ways to spend my free time!
What’s your favorite posture?
I really enjoy tree pose and half-moon pose. Balancing poses are fun (for me, lol)!
"I feel that I am more mentally, emotionally and physically healthy as a result of my yoga practice. Plus, yoga is one of my favorite ways to spend my free time!".
What’s your most difficult posture?
There are still a lot of poses that I can’t do although I am hoping that maybe I will learn how to do them in the future. Out of the poses that I can do, I currently find side plank to be difficult, because I haven’t seemed to figure out proper shoulder alignment. So, for right now, I have just been doing modified side planks.
What is your favorite type(s) of yoga? And why?
I really love vinyasa classes, because I love classes with a lot of movement. However, I also have been enjoying the “Yoga Flow and Let Go” class too. I like that the class starts with some movement, and then I can transition into snuggling with my cat while holding various Yin poses.
Any words of wisdom to those just starting out?
It is completely fine if you can’t do all of the poses (or even if you can’t do most of the poses). Yoga is different for everyone, and you can always skip poses, modify poses, or even just lie in savasana for the entire class if you want :).”
This article was originally published in the January Issue of the Sober Girls Yoga Magazine. Click here to read the full magazine.