Sarah Lindsay, Sala Yoga.
Can you tell us a bit about what you do?
I teach yoga, I run SALA and I take care of baby O.
What inspired you to set up your own studio? How long have you run Sala?
I opened SALA in November 2018, less than a year after moving from London to Auckland. Community is my love language and after spending a year feeling a little lost and lonely in a new city I decided to build a space that embodied my core values, in hope my community would find me. They did.
Congratulations on the new studio! What’s your favourite new addition to Sala?
The reformer Pilates studio. I forgot how much I love moving my body that way! I’ve been practising three times a week since it opened and I’m already seeing changes in my body. I don’t have the time or energy to devote to exercise as I did pre baby, but reformer is just such a fun way to lose yourself, but also feel physical results really quickly.
Where did the name Sala come from?
Anagramesque, its SArah LindsAy. Not very profound unfortunately.
What’s your favourite morning ritual?
I’m incredibly ritualistic as a person. Since having Ophelia I have less time to devote to them, which is why shower meditations have become so important to me. This is the practice of using water as a mechanism to wash away the stress, tension and anxiety within your body. You just turn on the shower, and listen. Hear the sound the water makes. Feel the air around you start to change and warm. Attune yourself to all of the sensations happening around you. When you breathe in, feel the air expand in your lungs and notice the steam hit your skin. Not only is shower meditation incredibly relaxing and grounding but it also takes no additional time to your day.
If you could only do one workout for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Yoga. The ongoing bridge between the sacred and mundane, the physical and spiritual, the body and mind.
What song motivates you get moving each day?
Flowers by Moby.
If you had to pick, what would you say is the best part of what you do?
Facilitating stability for people through the changing seasons of their life. I’ve been with so many people since their first class, their first baby, injuries, weddings, career changes. I feel very blessed to watch people unfold into their most authentic and happy selves.
Anew means to do something in a new or different and typically more positive way. How are you planning to live more anew in 2023?
I don’t know if I’m planning to do anything new (I’m over indexed on new after moving across the globe, getting married, opening a studio, having a baby, mentally managing a pandemic in less than four years). I would like to just participate with the everyday in a more joyous and refreshed way. To let go of the debris of covid's metal aftermath and get back into the aliveness of daily life unfolding.
You’ve created such an amazing community at Sala, is community something important to you and your creative decisions for the studio?
Community is the core of everything I do, not only in Sala but in how I mother, where I decide to live and how I plan for the future. Community is my love language.
How do you like to take time for yourself and maintain balance when life gets busy?
In all honesty, I do not. Sala requires a lot of resources and I would like to work through ways to make it all more sustainable for myself and my family in 2023.
What are you most looking forward to this year?
Spending more time with my family, Joshua and baby O. X