We recently connected with Sarah Ezrin and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Sarah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?
I’m not sure how many people know this story, but my parents saved my life by “sending me away” to college.
My life had slowly been unraveling throughout high school due to drugs and poor choices. I hadn’t applied to any colleges, as I planned to attend Santa Monica Community College (or grade 13 as we used to call it at SAMO [Santa Monica High School]).
Summer was progressing and I hadn’t done anything by way of preparing. Instead, I was out all night and sleeping all day. One day, my parents sat me down and told me that they had applied to different colleges far away from L.A. (and my poor choices…) and that I had a choice: I could go to college and they’d support me, or I could stay in L.A., but I would have to move out of the house and fend for myself.
In what seemed like just a few weeks, my bags were packed and I was reluctantly being “sent away” to college in North Carolina. As resistant as I was at first, this choice helped me turn my life around. I got clean, started focusing on my schooling, and by the time I graduated I graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa (high honors).
Thanks to their guidance, I ended up on a much healthier, kinder, and supported path. Since high school, my friend group has lost a number of people I used to party with.
I truly believe my parent’s choice to “send me away” saved my life and in many ways created new life, as I’m now the mama to two beautiful boys.
Sarah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My life’s mission is to help people feel seen and heard. Through modeling vulnerability, I hope to create safe spaces for others to accept all side’s of themselves. Yoga is the foundation of everything I offer. Whether I’m teaching meditation, writing an article, or filming a silly video for social media, it is all rooted in yoga.
I love weaving together the worlds of yoga, parenting, and mental health. My recent book The Yoga of Parenting: Ten Yoga-Based Practices to Help You Stay Grounded, Connect with Your Kids, and Be Kind to Yourself (Shambhala Publications ’23) is a loving guide for people to get present and find deeper connection with themselves and their families.
I offer meditation courses and yoga classes specifically for parents, and I also lead more general offerings, like Vinyasa Flow-style classes on YouTube.
My favorite thing is to write. Whether it’s an IG caption or newsletter, writing is how I connect and heal.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Ha, well teaching for fifteen years has helped me get to know a ton of amazing people and to get to ride the waves of change in the wellness industry. I have always valued authenticity above all else. For example, I would teach the yoga classes I found interesting, instead of trying to cater to more mainstream interests. This meant not always having super full classes, but the people who studied with me were always there for the right reasons.
When it comes to my writing, I find it essential to share a personal experience before offering tools or reserach. This grounds whatever I do in heart.
Some would say I’m an oversharer (ahem, my hubs), but I just want to be me in every aspect of my life, and I want to model that for others. It’s so tiring to always have to edit ourselves or pretend to be someone else. Life is hard enough as it is! Let’s learn how to embrace all sides of another, by first learning to do that with ourselves.
If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?
I would 1000% choose to do the work that I’m doing again and again. I’m very lucky to be living my dharma (my life’s purpose). The only change I would consider making is sticking with my MFT (marriage and family therapy masters program) at Pepperdine. I dropped out after a semester because my mom had Stage 4 lung cancer and I wanted to focus on yoga. But if I had completed it, my life would be totally different, so even though I wish I had that degree and knowledge, I’m exactly where I need to be!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sarahezrinyoga.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/sarahezrinyoga/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahezrinyoga
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-ezrin-18970a111
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9UcjY-WVb_TxrPVCBXykVw
- Other: TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@sarahezrin
Image Credits
Emilie Bers https://www.emiliebers.com