Sara Packard

Sara Packard has been a yoga and mindfulness teacher for 15 years.  She has over 500 hours in training and has taught all over the country at various studios, workshops and platforms.  In most recent years, Sara has bridged her experience as a yoga teacher with her training as an eating disorder recovery coach to help bring yoga and mindful movement to those who are in recovery.  Sara believes wholeheartedly in the power of movement, not just as a physical practice, but as a mental and emotional tool for navigating life.  Yoga and meditation in particular were a powerful part of her own recovery and healing relationship with her body and she now aims to support as many people as possible on their own journey towards peace in mind and body.

Fitness and movement have always been a strong part of my life.  As a ballet dancer, I learned that movement can be beautiful and expressive and help us to connect to a part of ourselves that goes beyond our physical body.  Admittedly however, my relationship with movement wasn't always healthy and at times become punitive and part of my eating disorder.  Similarly to how I had to address and heal my relationship to food, I knew I also had to heal my relationship with movement.  I walked into a yoga studio one day and began to learn not just about the asana (poses) of yoga, but also about the tenants of what makes yoga, yoga.  Things like being non-harming to oneself, truthful, compassionate and learning to surrender/accept things as they are began to help me reframe how and why I move my body.  As I studied this practice and eventually began to teach it, I began to apply it to all the other ways I now love to move my body whether it be through weight training or going for nature walks. Fitness and movement is no longer something I use to punish myself or my body with and certainly not used to look a certain way.  I move my body now because I can and in ways that support it in feeling good, strong and nourished in all ways.

Body Positivity means loving our bodies, even when we may not have positive feelings about what we are seeing in the mirror on any particular day.  Like any relationship we have, there will always be all kinds of feelings that come and go, but regardless, we can always treat our bodies with love and respect.  It also means holding the understanding that our bodies do now define who we are and that they are meant to change throughout the course of our lives.  Finding peace with that truth and learning how to navigate it is part of our journey towards body positivity and compassion.