Namaste <3
Sara’s journey into yoga began in high school in 2008, during a time when she was navigating the depths of addiction, anxiety, depression, and disordered eating. At the edge of a personal crisis, she reached a turning point. Fortunately, she found healing through the ancient wisdom of yoga and meditation—tools that offered her a way back to herself.
Since 2012, Sara has deeply studied the chakra system through a psycho-spiritual lens, using this framework to explore and release repressed trauma. Through this work, she uncovered the root causes of her suffering and began the process of lasting transformation. Today, the chakras remain a core part of her personal and professional life, guiding her into balance and self-awareness.
In 2014, Sara completed her first 200-hour yoga teacher training in Cahuita, Costa Rica. Committed to service, she taught yoga for free to students and staff at The University of Akron for a full year. Her intention was to practice, give back, and share yoga’s healing power.
Over the years, Sara has taught tens of thousands of hours of yoga and meditation in a wide variety of settings—elementary schools, high schools, universities, fitness centers, yoga studios, festivals, juvenile detention centers, addiction treatment programs, and mental health facilities.
Sara’s love for growth and service has taken her to over 20 countries, where she has volunteered with children, taught English, supported animal sanctuaries, and—of course—shared yoga wherever possible.
In 2016, Sara embarked on a three-month solo pilgrimage to India, where she completed her 300-hour advanced yoga training in Mysore at Yoga Darshanam. She also studied at the K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute under Saraswathi Jois. That journey deepened her devotion to spiritual practice, surrender, and cultural immersion.
In 2017, Sara discovered Vipassana meditation, studying in the lineage of S.N. Goenka. Since then, she has completed seven 10-day silent meditation retreats and has also served as a manager in two of these courses as an act of seva to help others along the spiritual path. In total, Sara has spent over 70 days in complete silence, deepening her connection to stillness, discipline, and self-inquiry.
In 2018, Sara became the owner of The Studio Cleveland, a wellness center in Downtown Cleveland. Her mission is to make it an inclusive and healing sanctuary for all who seek peace.
She began leading 200-hour yoga teacher trainings in 2019 and has since expanded to offer meditation intensives, retreats, and continuing education programs.
In 2022, she was approved to host 300-hour yoga teacher trainings through Yoga Alliance and became the proud owner of her second studio, Lakewood Yoga. She also grew the beloved Yoga for Every BODY outdoor donation-based series, offering thousands of Clevelanders accessible yoga in nature.
Most recently, in 2026, Sara lost both of her yoga studios and outdoor donation-based yoga program in a divorce. She is now focusing on returning to her personal practice, which has become one of the biggest blessings in her present day, along with the birth of her wonderful son, Wendell Raj.
Sara now focuses on helping women rebuild after experiencing tragic situations. Sara is passionate about sharing the authentic traditions of yoga as rooted in ancient Vedic philosophy. She hopes to carry the torch of traditional and authentic yoga in this modern age full of watered-down, westernized and commercialized yoga. Authentic & traditional yoga has been a lifeline for Sara since high school, now at age 35 she continues to be inspired and find vitality, happiness and peace (even amongst the storms of life) largely because of this practice; she hopes to share this life-saving intervention and ancient healing with others, especially with women who have endured many battles in life, as a means to share these ancient tools for healing, inner transformation and personal growth.
📚 Credentials & Highlights
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🧘♀️ 10,000+ Hour Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT 500), since 2014
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📍 Former owner, The Studio Cleveland (est. 2018) & Lakewood Yoga (est. 2022) until 2026
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🧘♂️ Lead Instructor – 200 & 300 Hour Yoga Alliance Registered Schools
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📖 Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider (YACEP), since 2018
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🌏 Completed 7 silent Vipassana meditation retreats
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🎓 M.S. in Curriculum & Instruction – The University of Akron (2016)
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🎓 B.S. in Psychology – John Carroll University (2013)
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💫 Alcohol & narcotic-free since 2012 – From addiction to liberation
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🕊 Momma to a wonderful baby boy <3
✨ Connect with Sara
Instagram:
@saranadiasyed
@satyameditationandyogaschool
Email:
Core Values
I operate as a yoga teacher and educator as best as I can within the framework of the yamas & niyamas.
No human alive is perfect, including myself, however, I do strive to base my decisions and actions within the framework of the timeless ethical and disciplinary code laid out by the sage Patañjali.
I value the ancient traditions of yoga (as a path to liberation), Ayurveda and Vedic astrology.
Authenticity
Each human has a unique purpose for being here, also known as dharma. I encourage students to live and practice from a place of authenticity to help realize and live their dharma.
One of the greatest gifts of yoga is self-study (svādhyāya). The ancient yogic texts teach that much of our suffering arises from avidyā—ignorance or misidentification with the changing aspects of ourselves rather than our true nature.
Through consistent practice, self-inquiry, meditation, and ethical living, we gradually remove these layers of ignorance and begin to recognize who we truly are.
The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates famously encouraged us to "Know thyself." Likewise, the yogic tradition invites us into a lifelong process of self-inquiry—not merely to understand our personality, but to realize the deeper Self that exists beyond the fluctuations of the mind.
As self-awareness grows, so too do compassion, discernment, resilience, and inner peace.
Tradition
Over thousands of years, the practice of yoga has evolved considerably. In many parts of the modern world, yoga is primarily associated with physical exercise and postural practice. Traditionally, however, āsana was only one aspect of a much broader spiritual path whose ultimate purpose was self-realization, inner freedom, and union with the Divine.
Yoga is far more than something we do on a mat. It is a complete way of life—a path toward greater peace, health, clarity, compassion, and ultimately, self-realization. While physical postures are an important part of the practice, they represent only one limb of the eightfold path described by the sage Patañjali.
If you study with me, you can rest knowing you are receiving complete knowledge of the entire eight-limbed ashtanga system in the Guru–Śiṣya tradition.
What is Guru–Śiṣya?
In ancient India, the teachings of yoga were traditionally passed down orally from teacher to student through the guru–śiṣya paramparā (teacher–disciple lineage). This sacred method of transmission emphasized not only intellectual learning but also direct experience, personal guidance, and spiritual transformation.
Transformation
In the Vedic tradition, transformation is not about becoming someone new—it is about remembering who you truly are. In modern wellness culture, transformation often implies self-improvement or reinvention. In the Vedas, the Upaniṣads, the Yoga Sūtras, and the Bhagavad Gītā, transformation is primarily the removal of ignorance (avidyā) so that one's true nature (Ātman) can shine forth.
One of the central teachings of yoga is that your true Self is already whole, peaceful, and complete. The purpose of yoga is not to create a better version of yourself, but to remove the obstacles that prevent you from recognizing your true nature. Through practice, we gradually peel away the layers of fear, attachment, ego, conditioning, and ignorance that obscure the light already within us.
The yogic path is one of purification (śuddhi). As the body, breath, mind, and heart become more balanced, clarity naturally arises.
This purification occurs through:
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ethical living (yama and niyama)
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physical practice (āsana)
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breath regulation (prāṇāyāma)
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meditation (dhyāna)
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self-study (svādhyāya)
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selfless service (karma yoga)
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devotion (bhakti)
Each practice helps quiet the mind and reduce the tendencies (saṃskāras and vāsanās) that keep us caught in habitual patterns of suffering.
My Story
Born to Indian Muslim & Catholic parents, I never really felt like I fit in anywhere. I wasn't Indian enough to fit in with the Indian folk, nor was I white enough to fit in with the white folks. To top it off, I experienced childhood sexual assault and domestic violence in the home while growing up which led me down a path of self-destruction in my early teen years. I was the nerdy 4.0 honors student who could hold a full-time job and purchase a car at the age of only 16, but I could not figure out how to "human;" I could not figure out how to have a healthy relationship with myself or others because my formative years were spent in a war-zone at home.
I was attending a local community college for high school credit in 2008 and ended up in a yoga class (yes, bellydancing was already on a waitlist and I was not about to opt-into a strength-training class as a stoner high school student, so yoga was the only option).
Little did I know, the yoga class I enrolled for an easy-A and for a PE credit was the first step of a lifelong journey of healing, introspection, discovery and continual re-births.
I would attend that yoga class stoned, I did not take it too seriously. However, at some point the yoga started working -- I found myself having more clarity. I would cry a sea of tears in savasana after class, with no apparent cause other than repressed emotions arising to the surface. Once I realized what was happening (I was finally processing repressed and subconscious pain), I became hooked. I realized the yoga was working. I would leave savasana (after my usual cry) feeling so calm and peaceful. I became hooked to feeling calm. I started to chase this sense of inner peace after decades of battling with domestic violence, sexual abuse, dating atrocities, and literal drug addiction.
Slowly I began to replace my late nights at the bar getting drunk with daily vinyasa classes.
The vinyasa classes made me feel strong and definitely increased my confidence -- which was something new to me. I was never really "good" at anything before; I didn't play sports or participate in clubs during high school; I never really did much of anything except watch MTV and get so blacked out every night.
To this day, I believe yoga saved my life.
I was a living, walking, destructive mess until I made the decision to finally quit my antics as an alcoholic in 2011, December.
Starting in 2012, I went into an inadvertent hermit hole of self-discovery. I isolated myself from my friends, I quit my job as a server (which, if you have ever worked in a restaurant you know restaurants can be one of the most toxic workplaces riddled with alcohol and drugs), and I started studying the chakras. I accidentally discovered the chakras when I found a piece of rose quartz at a local mall; I was told rose quartz would "heal a broken heart." That was all I needed to know to want to dive deeper. There was this entire mysterious world of healing, chakras and crystals I knew nothing of at the time (before social media, mind you, so all my research was through books and some Google articles).
I spent the next six months meditating alone at my mom's house, roughly three hours of meditation per day, in hopes to heal. I remember one day thinking, "I don't want to be rich or famous when I grow up, I just want to be happy. I want to wake up one day and be happy." And so it was!
I intuitively combined my psychological background with what I was learning about the chakras to discover a psycho-spiritual connection between mind-body-spirit-trauma.
I realized my addictive behaviors stemmed in wanting to numb heavy emotions I did not how to process.
I spent roughly the next six months meditating on each chakra for hours on end; I would explore my root chakra at the level of sensation and emotion; I would sit with the repressed fear and anger until they dissipated. I did this for all of my chakras.
Eventually, I found myself attending my first 200-hour yoga teacher training in Costa Rica in 2014 which changed my entire life trajectory. Until this point I had wanted to be successful within "the system;" I wanted a job as a therapist or a doctor to help people battling similar battles I had learned to overcome. The universe had different plans for me, however.
Since 2014, I have traveled to over 50 countries, usually traveling with the intention to either learn, grow or give back. Many of my travels were dedicated to teaching yoga abroad, learning from master teachers in India, and volunteering with kids and animals in places like Nicaragua and Guatemala.
In 2017 I started practicing Buddhist vipassana meditation. Diving into Buddhist meditation was a game changer for me.
In 2018 I became a business owner and ended up owning two yoga studios in northeast Ohio, along with hosting annual yoga and meditation teacher trainings, international and regional wellness retreats, as well as hosting my renowned silent meditation retreats.
In 2025 I became a mother for the first time to a beautiful baby boy.
In 2026 I lost my businesses due to a contentious divorce.
Now, in 2026, I am here to integrate it all -- all of the dark nights of the soul, all of the cycles of death and rebirth -- to not only find meaning in it all, but to transmute and alchemize the energy into something that can benefit humanity's conscious evolution.
If you have ever been abused, ridiculed, assaulted, harmed, robbed, or struggled with addictions, eating d/os, debilitating fear & anxiety -- I am living proof you can use your experiences to make you a better, happier, healthier and more humble human.
Due to my unique life experiences, most of which are not mentioned here, I perceive spirituality and yoga from a different lens than what pop culture celebrates.
To me, yoga and spirituality aren't cute, trendy, or aesthetic ways to lift your butt, gain followers & muscles, or improve your handstands; instead, yoga and spirituality are life-saving interventions that provide sincere and dedicated students with the knowledge, skillset and wisdom to continuously grow and evolve through one's own "shit" into a luminous self-aware beings. Once this self-awareness develops, we can then consciously start to eradicate the mental patterns (saṃskāras), that keep up suffering and stuck. This self-awareness came through Buddhist meditation practices. I started sincere and dedicated Buddhist meditation practices in 2017, over 13 years after I started yoga asana practice. Despite having a decade of dedicated asana practice under my belt at the time, I still found myself going through emotional highs-and-lows in daily life. I still found myself battling with anxiety and other heavy emotions. It wasn't until I did a lot of Buddhist vipassana meditation (I'm talking tens of thousands of hours spent in absolute silent meditation) that my mind actually calmed down; my mind actually stopped.
Contact
I'm always looking for new and exciting opportunities. Let's connect.
440-429-6914