Dialing in Your Practice with Sara Intonato
/Sara Intonato (E-RYT 500, Authorized Level 2 Ashtanga Yoga) is an Ashtanga yoga instructor with 15 years of teaching experience. She is the director of the Mysore style Ashtanga Yoga program at Absolute Yoga in Woodbury, New York, which is the only traditional Ashtanga program in Nassau county, and she teaches private one on one lessons. She also hosts multiple retreats per year, at local and international venues, and teaches an online yoga philosophy course. Teaching yoga is her gift, and she has made a business out of creating every opportunity she can to share the healing capabilities of yoga. A perpetual student herself, Sara continues to make annual trips to India and study at KPJAYI in Mysore. She lives in Long Island, New York with her husband and two children.
Here are some of the big topics we talked about...
Practices like yoga, meditation, journalling, and good sleep let you be more fully you!
The choice is ours to pause and take three deep breaths at any point in the day
Taking the pressure off of the idea of meditating makes it more approachable
It doesn’t matter how it goes after you start meditating, just that you started
What’s under the surface can be beautiful, intense, or provoke change
Calm your nervous system with yoga in order to connect with your own steadiness
Ancient practices of yoga and meditation provide equanimity; they’re not fads
Connecting to the life that you want is achieved through asking for help
Intention is so helpful when failure tends to stop your practice.
One way to deepen your practice is to go to a retreat or get a teacher.
In Sara’s Voice
“Practice can look so different from person to person.”
“Writing is very real. When I put something down on paper, a strong intention has been set.”
“I find that when I don’t have practices in my day that help me check in amongst all the chatter and distractions then I’m not successful.”
“My practices are meant to put me in a state so that I’m available to check in with myself.”
“For an overachiever like me who can get caught up in trying to meditate ‘right’, I have found it really freeing to think, ‘I just have to sit down.’”
“When you are doing any spiritual practice that requires your attention, there’s no escape. You’re going to feel your feelings. You’re going to see what’s beneath the surface.”
“Yoga and meditation give me a sense of quiet. Journalling gives me a great space to access visions, goals, and what I need to release.”
“Any practice is better than none!”
“Life is too short to spend a long time being stuck.”