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Even as a small girl, Sara Avant Stover (also known as Shiromani) was a dreamer and an explorer of inner and outer realms. Today she has traveled much of the world and remains committed to living with an open heart and open mind.
From the age of three, Sara began studying dance. Beginning with ballet and later branching out to modern and African dance, Sara's passion for this expressive movement continued through college. Also from an early age, due to a tumultuous family environment and suffering from much illness during childhood, Sara formed a deep connection with the Divine through prayer and surrendered refuge. This remains the guiding light in her life to this day.
Out of this love for graceful embodiment and devotion, Sara took her first yoga class at the age of 18 while living for the summer in Vail, Colorado. This was one of the most challenging and exhilarating things she had ever done and knew right then and there that she would one day become a yoga teacher.
For the rest of her college years Sara's love for yoga deepened, as she found it to be the best coping mechanism for handling the stress of a demanding school and work schedule, living in New York City, and weathering the divorce of her parents.
After graduating with honors of Phi Beta Kappa and Summa cum Laude from Columbia University's Barnard College in New York City, Sara followed her itch to go overseas and moved to Chiang Mai, Thailand where she lived from 1999-2008.
Also diagnosed with early stages of Cervical Cancer at this time, once in Asia Sara delved more deeply into self-inquiry and self-healing. She began to study and practice Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Thai Yoga Bodywork, Detoxification and Nutrition, and Insight meditation extensively, both in Asia and in the United States. She participated in several silent meditation retreats in Thai monestaries, each ranging from 10-40 days. Also initiated as a Reiki Master, Sara successfully healed herself and then became inspired to empower others to do the same.
Since the yoga community in Thailand and Southeast Asia was in its nascent stages when she arrived in 1999, Sara served as one of the pioneering leaders in the yoga community there. She advanced the knowledge and awareness of many, both through teaching classes and workhops and also through training teachers in Northern Thailand's first 200-Hour Yoga Alliance Certified School.
By the age of 30 she had taught around the world: Thailand, Malaysia, India, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Greece, France, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Iceland, and the USA.
Now an Anusara-Inspired yoga teacher™ and E-RYT 500, Sara has undertaken teacher trainings with Richard Freeman, Kripalu, Gurmukh, Shiva Rea, and others. She has studied yoga therapeutics with both John Friend and Gary Kraftsow. Her ongoing studies with master yogini, Sofia Diaz, continue to inspire her dedication to the spiritual upliftment of women and the ecstatically balanced dance of the masculine and feminine.
Sara has also been certified by Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa to teach Pregnancy Yoga and now teachers Pregnancy Yoga Teacher Trainings around the world. She has completed studies in Ayurvedic nutrition and lifestyle practices with Maya Tiwari, founder of the Wise Earth School of Ayurveda and is undergoing certification with Dr. David Frawley to be a licensed Ayurvedic Life-Style Counselor.
Sara has also served as guest faculty at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York and spent extensive time working at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, Mass. where she assisted some of the today's leading yoga teachers, including Richard Freeman, Shiva Rea, Sarah Powers, David Swenson, and Desirée Rumbaugh.
A Birth Doula (Birth Assistant) with DONA (Certification in Progress), Sara is passionate about supporting women during their journeys into motherhood and in learning to trust the innate wisdom in their own bodies and hearts, especially during the birth experience.
In addition, Sara is co-founder of Expedition Insight, a company dedicated to offering transformational journeys around the world.
Also a freelance writer, she has published her work in Yoga Journal, Yogi Times, Yogi Times Business, Fit Yoga and Pilates Style. She is the recipient of a 2008 Maggie Award for "Best Regularly Featured Web Colulmn" with Yoga Journal. She also writes a weekly blog post and video, "Everyday Yoga," for the Huffington Post.
In May of 2008 Sara traded the mountains of northern Thailand for those of Boulder, Colorado. Here she teaches weekly classes and continues to teach internationally.
Sara offers heartfelt gratitude to her spiritual teacher, ShantiMayi, and to those hatha yoga teachers who most inspire her practice, teaching and life: Richard Freeman, Sofia Diaz, John Friend, Sianna Sherman, Jill Satterfield, Gary Kraftsow and Susanna Nicholson.
Students praise Sara for her poetic language and imagery, unwavering devotion, peaceful presence and ability to inspire and guide students to a still and vibrant place within their own bodies, minds and hearts.
Sara's teachings move across the full spectrum: sometimes dynamic, sometimes contemplative and always soulful. She rejoices in the beauty and vigor of movement, while also appreciating the profound importance of meditation, stillness, and quietude. Only by going within can one step out into life with authentic and persevering wisdom and warm-hearted-ness. When this happens, Yoga returns to its essence—as something that we are, rather something that we do.
Sara endeavors to share the abundant grace, strength and joy that bless us when we learn to both trust and live from our own beautiful hearts.
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