Sarah Hillenbrand

Horses first brought me to yoga eleven years ago. I owned my own business training horses and teaching riders the art of dressage, a systematic approach to returning horse and rider to a state of harmonious union. Yoga was a way to help riders feel more comfortable in their bodies. Yoga also transformed my experience of pregnancy and giving birth. Those gifts: rediscovering intuition, unconditional love and determining the boundaries of a balanced life, took me even deeper on the yogic journey of self-discovery. Today I find myself exactly where I belong: daily on the mat, devoted to sharing what I have learned.

That decade opened me to several important influences. Anusara showed me it was okay to have fun and laugh in a yoga class! It challenged me to boldly explore my potential. Forrest Yoga disciplined my breath, gave me permission to feel deeply and to express whatever messiness came up. Iyengar style alignment gave me the safe physical foundation from which to heal long-term injuries and the opportunity to discipline my mind through sustained concentration. I continue to study with Megan Dunne and apprentice weekly with Gabriel Halpern of Yoga Circle in Chicago. In his Therapeutics program I specialize in breaking new ground in yoga’s approach to scoliosis.

Each month my classes focus on transformation by exploring a group of poses that engender a certain energetic effect or by gradually building towards a pose that embodies growth and expansion beyond perceived capabilities. My belief is that with consistent practice of solid alignment principles and actions you can experience change. Injuries are regarded as messengers; they herald the exact path you need to take next to expand the foundation of your entire practice.  You are invited to use the classroom as a laboratory for experimenting with new configurations in how you react to the state of your life. The physical poses are donned like costumes and then embodied through the breath and power of your imagination so that you may be the Warrior, the Child, the Bridge or the Tree.

In my classes you can expect consistent, progressive alignment cues that build to a logical apex. To that end I use demonstration, partner work, anatomical explanations and story-telling. Each class is symbolically, physically and spiritually cohesive.

Please visit my website: www.redbirdyoga.net