Sarah Lindemulder has been teaching yoga since 2012 and last year opened her own studio, Joy Collective Yoga, where she focuses on teaching alignment-based yoga. She spoke with Sioux Falls Simplified about yoga, mindfulness, and the summer solstice.
Answers have been edited for length and clarity. Answers are quotes from Lindemulder:
How did you learn about practicing and teaching yoga? What was your background that got you to where you are today?
I was a social worker working in the foster care system with refugees and immigrants and I was feeling seriously depressed, overworked and burned out. I had tried yoga a few times and happened to find a studio in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where I was living at the time.
I moved to Sioux Falls 8 years ago, encouraged by two friends who worked with me at Coffea, and I started offering private lessons, occasionally teaching one-on-one lessons, then group classes, and then teaching at a few studios around town.
We opened Joy Collective on the spring equinox last year.
We’re focusing on simplicity here: Can you explain what yoga practice means to you in 10 words or less?
For me, yoga is about embodying and connecting with our world.
What are some common misconceptions about yoga and how do you correct them?
What irritates me the most is the idea of only love and light and good vibes always seen on the shirts, which in my understanding is a spiritual bypass, a desire to pretend that all the suffering and anguish that actually exists in the world does not exist.
- We can embrace tragedy and simultaneously recognize that there is room for growth and great joy and freedom – all of these things can be true at the same time.
Today is the summer solstice. What does it mean to you from a yoga perspective, and how can people align their movements with the season?
The summer solstice marks the season of sun and light and embracing the light energy within us. Traditionally, people stay up late, build bonfires and focus on connection.
- People often perform sun salutations in yoga to celebrate the summer solstice as a way of greeting the sun, which is a great way to open the body in all directions.
This year in particular, I am excited to learn the Gayatri Mantra (at the Summer Solstice Retreat in the Black Hills). In this translation by Douglas Brooks, it states:
“Eternity, earth, air, heaven/Let us contemplate its glory, the splendor of the sun/Let the sun inspire our hearts.”
What is your favorite yoga pose right now?
I have two.
My favourite pose is rotated Janu Sirsasana, or Head-to-Knee Pose. It’s all about length and extension. It creates a lovely opening on the side of the body and makes breathing easier.
One of my favorite breathing techniques is skull-illumination breathing, which is like an espresso shot and I find it to be a really great brain cleanser – it sends a ton of oxygen to the brain.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to start yoga but hasn’t started yet?
Find a studio and teacher that you relate to. Think of it like dating.
- Don’t be disheartened if your first date isn’t your type or your taste — it doesn’t mean they’re bad or wrong, it just might not be what you need at this stage in your life.
I also encourage you to have multiple teachers and multiple voices in your life.
Is there anything else you want people in Sioux Falls to know about you, Joy Collective and yoga?
Joy Collective exists to continually learn from modern research and science while applying the traditional wisdom of yoga to the best of our ability. This is who we are and what we hope to embody.
Yoga is an embodied and personal space
- What I really want to create is not a space where people can just dwell, but a space where we can compassionately confront all the challenges and beauty of the world we live in.
In addition, we will be holding a big festival at Good Earth Farm next month on July 20th, and we hope you will all come along.
- It will be a wonderful day to connect, dream and celebrate all the differences and things that unite us (more info here).
