My name is Sarah Vardaro and I would like to create a place in Mammoth Lakes for the community to have somewhere to go to where a sense of peace, compassion, and belonging is unavoidable.

Yoga and Buddhism have been an integral part of my life for a long time. I came to yoga and Buddhism in 2009 because I felt broken both physically and spiritually and I was looking for ways to fix myself. I borrowed a book from the library and began to do yoga poses. My first class was a year later in the town of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Not long after I would teach my first class there, and then I would teach a class in Spanish - a language I barely knew how to speak.

In between working as a groundskeeper and custodian at a campground, a river guide, and a rafting company owner, I was also a yoga teacher for ten years in a small town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. I saw first hand how an intentional yoga space can foster a greater sense of community, connection, and belonging. I want that for Mammoth Lakes.

All these years later, I have realised that Yoga and Buddhism are not practices that could have ever fixed me, rather their practices and teachings taught me how to listen, taught me courage, resilience, equanimity, and compassion for myself and others.

But all of these things are imperfect. It’s a struggle for all of us. I hear people say that they are not good at yoga because they are not flexible or they can’t meditate because they are always thinking. I want Mammoth Yoga to be a place where we throw these ideas out of the window.

There is no such thing as being good at yoga and meditation. There is only the practice and the listening.

I became certified as a yoga instructor at Kripalu, Massachusetts many years after I taught my first yoga class. Kripalu is not a style of yoga but an approach. An approach that intends to make yoga accessible and inclusive.

Mammoth Yoga is a place where yoga and meditation is de-mystified, incorporating the wisdom of these ancient practices in a way that is relatable and helpful to it’s students. Whatever the state of your physical body, your age, or how you identify, politically, religiously, or sexually, Mammoth Yoga is a place that can benefit you. A place that you can come home to.

At Mammoth Yoga we leave all the labels and the sleek image of modern yoga behind and bring it down to the roots. Yoga and meditation are not a performance. Roll out of bed and get to class with messed up hair and sweatpants — that is what’s true and real. That’s what Mammoth Yoga is about.

Life is so full of joys, sorrows, and struggles and it’s always better to be in it together. In Buddhism this is called the Sangha - a community of those dedicated to the practice.

Welcome to your Sangha