We were lucky to catch up with Sara Mader recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sara , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Music and theatre has been a part of my life ever since I can remember, piano & vocal lessons all my childhood, theatre schools, camps, you name it, I did it. I was aware of the creative inside of me from a very early age and discovered quickly that I feeding that part of me was where I would truly grow and flourish, So it came as no surprise that later in life I ended up working in a Theatre. Started as a bookings manager and eventually moved up to Executive Director. I liked the job, I got to lean into a leadership role while still keeping my toes wet in the world of performing arts. But not completely tapping into that inner creative.

While still in this world, in my spare time, I really started to develop a deep love for meditation & pilates. This path led me to find conscious connected breathwork, as soon as I experienced it I know I had to get trained to be able to share this practice with other people. It quickly became something I would facilitate on my time off from the Theatre, but I really felt this nudge that there was something more here.

In 2020 the world as we knew it shifted and live performances had taken a massive hit and like so many others, I was left with a lot of time to contemplate what truly lit me up, what truly felt like purpose. I knew I was going to be faced with a decision, to stay in this comfortable career with a comfortable salary that wasn’t really feeding that need to create, to play and express. So without much of a plan in 2021 I left my career with the theatre and dove headfirst into breath, movement and mindfulness. Now in 2024 I’m a successful breathwork facilitator, pilates instructor and have a small skincare line made with grass fed, grass finished tallow. I’ve found a new and beautiful creative outlet, not only for myself but to help others find their way to breath, body and balance. I had no real plan, only trust in that following little spark of creativity would lead me somewhere powerful. I took the first step and the path just seemed to lay out in front of me piece by piece.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a Breathwork Facilitator, Pilates Instructor and creator of a small skincare line, I have a profound dedication to utilizing creativity, mindfulness, and breath as transformative tools to guide individuals on their journey back to the essence of their bodies.

We live in a world that’s constantly functioning at high speed all of the time, we just want to get to the goal or the finish line and lose sight of the notion that the most important part isn’t the end, but the journey that gets us there. The world of fitness is filled with so many people who offer quick fixes, high intensity classes to go with our fast paced life. I require the complete opposite. I noticed the more I worked with others, and in my own practice too that if you aren’t connected to your body, you can’t really reap the full benefits of a movement practice. My first goal when I’m instructing pilates or an individual or a class is to use breath to bring them back home (in)to their body, it’s our anchor. From then I guide folks through mindful movement, feeling the execution of each movement, thinking only about your body and how it’s moving in this moment. The movement then becomes your meditation, you are full present and only in that moment.

It isn’t just a breathwork session or just a pilates class, it’s about how you live your life. Simply, we’ve over complicated everything from the food we have access to, to the products we use on our bodies and in our homes to the ways we move our bodies. I want to show people that we can be even more productive by slowing down. That we can cultivate a relationship with our bodies we can tap into a wisdom deeper than we could ever imagine

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

To stop trying to be something or someone I was not.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the game of comparison, especially when so many of us use social media for our businesses. I know it isn’t new advice and it took me honestly quite some time to let it truly sink in, but when I started to show up completely authentically everything started to change. When I started to embody my brand and truly live my life with the same ideology I was providing others, it felt like less, work. There is and only ever will be one of you. Only you have to offer to the world what only you have to offer. We might offer similar products or services, but it’s just as much you the client is drawn to as the product or service.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

I think that all the paths we take lead us to exactly where we are supposed to go. I wouldn’t change any of the careers I had before or wish I had done anything in a different order because all of that, the fails, the wins, all of it. Led me to this very moment.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.saraannemader.com
• Instagram: @sara.anne.mader
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samlightwork/about
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-anne-mader-7479657b

Image Credits

Image 5 – Paighton Arseneault