From a Lawyer to a Yoga Studio Owner

Sara Vandergoot

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Sara VanderGoot, CMT, e-RYT 200, e-RYT 500, RPYT co-founded Mind the Mat Pilates and Yoga. She studied Interdisciplinary Yoga with Don and Amba Stapleton in Nosara, Costa Rica and at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Sara completed her Prenatal Yoga Training at Blooma in Minneapolis. Sara is registered through internationally recognized Yoga Alliance as a e-RYT 200, e-RYT 500 and RPYT. Sara is Nationally Certified in Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork, and licensed by the Virginia Board of Nursing. She specializes in working with moms during and after pregnancy and attends births as a doula. She completed her doula training with experienced midwives in Colombia, South America and is knowledgeable about modern birth practices as well as ancestral birth practices and plant medicines. Sara has been practicing massage therapy, including specialties in Prenatal Massage, Post-pregnancy Massage, Deep Tissue Massage and Thai Yoga Massage, in Alexandria for 20 years and has been a yoga instructor for 10 years. At Mind the Mat she specializes in Prenatal Yoga, Post-pregnancy Core Yoga, Mommy & Me Core Yoga, Flow Yoga, Hot Flow Yoga and Deep Stretch. One of Sara's favorite things is teaching in the 200 & 300 Hour Mind the Mat Yoga Teacher Training programs, which she began developing in 2013. Before becoming a massage therapist and yoga instructor, Sara earned her Juris Doctorate from William and Mary Law School and was a lawyer in the Washington D.C. area. She found that the healing practices of massage and yoga brought a balance to her life that she had long been searching for. Sara also has a B.A. in English Literature from University of Michigan and an M.A. in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins.

I realized that the Yoga studio couldn't grow if I didn't choose where to put my energy.