When Miles Smiles
This week we have a really good story for you. Most folks we talk to on the Finding Harmony Podcast seem hell bent on making an interesting life for themselves. Perhaps anytime you sit down with a friend and carefully examine why they are the way they are, their story and life becomes scintillating, effortlessly so, as they are just quite simply unique when being themselves.
Sarah Miles, a Hypno-Therapist, an Ashtanga yoga teacher, a Celebrant, and Mortician. She was also Russell’s apprentice in Brighton. You might hear it in Russell’s accent (as he can’t help himself) — He’s quite impressionable and their meeting came at a formative time for them both.
They met in Brighton, England, in 2003. Russell had just accepted a job there and unbeknownst to him, Sarah had just started practicing yoga as a therapy to compliment the work she was doing to rehabilitate from drugs and alcohol. Still, Russell saw something in Sarah that was raw and punk and hard. Equally so, she was also vulnerable and loving, and that is exactly the combination that makes for an excellent Ashtanga Yoga teacher.
We discussed Sarah’s harrowing knee story. It takes a rare bit of courage to get knee replacement surgery in India, but Sarah is that bit of courage and more.
We learned how she has a tendency to run directly into the face of what she fears. Finding ways to immerse herself in those activities that scare her most, so she can explore and understand why it makes her feel a certain way. And ultimately, overcome that sense of fear or dread… This is, again, the main reason she is great teacher: She has touched the center of fear that this practice can bring up and is able to compassionately guide others through the darkness.
We talked about her work as a Hypno-Therapist and the value it has in helping folks visualize through their own suffering, to be with themselves on the mat or otherwise.
And of course ultimately, we talked about death.
Mortality frightened Sarah and so in her typical fashion, she explored it by becoming a Mortician. She describes the first time she felt the flood of sensation overwhelm her when washing a dead body, and how it eventually became a spiritual ritual which she embraced. And what an enormous privilege it has become to care for the dead, and to help those who’ve lost their loved ones.
Sarah is also a Celebrant, who not only walks beside those who are experiencing great loss, but also holds hands with those who are celebrating new life and love, officiating weddings, and helping to join lives together.
She is the real salt of the earth - U.K. style - and we think you will find sitting with her to be a delight!
Sarah began her journey with Ashtanga yoga in 1998 and her belief in the system led her to first visit Mysore in 2002. On her return she began to teach and assist at the Brighton Natural Health Centre in the U.K. In 2004, Russell Case set up a comprehensive Mysore programme at the BNHC which he passed on to Sarah a year later in 2005 that she continues to run to this day as Astanga Yoga Brighton. Sarah is currently the only woman in the U.K. to have run a Mysore programme for over a decade. In 2015 she became a Senior Yoga Alliance Teacher and in 2016 she was Authorised by Manju Jois.
Sarah has a good relationship with both Manju and Sharath Jois and continues to visit Sharath at the institute in Mysore on a regular basis. She feels constantly amazed and inspired by this healing practice. Her intention is to create a safe, nurturing and trusting environment that is comfortable and accessible to all.
The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
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Opening and closing music compliments of my dear friend teaching Ashtanga yoga in Eindhoven, Nick Evans, with his band “dawnSong” from the album “for Morgan.” Listen to the entire album on Spotify - Simply Click Here.
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