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SAGEL URLACHER, M.Ed., E-RYT is a yoga and meditation teacher and teacher trainer with 3,000 teaching hours, and the bestselling author of The Book of Yoga Nidra Meditation Scripts: 30 Yoga Nidra Scripts for Deep Relaxation, Inner Peace, & Manifesting Your Joy and Yin Yoga & Meditation.
Sagel offers inspired and empowering Yin Yoga & Meditation and Yoga Nidra in-person and online teacher trainings, retreats, workshops, and classes. With over twenty years of teaching experience and practice, she has collaborated with yoga studios across the country and co-led retreats at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health to share these practices.
Sagel has trained in mindfulness and meditation with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, whose teachings have been a beacon of peace and happiness for her since she first began her practice. She has deep gratitude for each of her beautiful teachers and has trained in Yin Yoga with Bernie Clark and Josh Summers, Vinyasa Yoga with Jacqui Bonwell and Amy Stevens, Yoga Nidra with ShivaShakti School of Yoga, Trauma-Informed Yoga with Michelle Young, and Reiki Healing with Bernadette Curtis.
Her teachings are rooted in the Yogic path as well as Buddhist and Taoist philosophies, and uniquely thread together the core elements of a beneficial and transformative practice with the intention of cultivating compassionate awareness on the mat and in daily life. Sagel guides with a heart of loving service to create a supportive environment and welcomes practitioners and teachers of all levels in her programs.
Sharing these beautiful practices is Sagel’s life service, as she has personally experienced, and has seen in so many of her students, that their power and potential to bring greater peace, presence, connection, and joy is limitless for those who take the journey.
She is a continuing education provider, YACEP verified with Yoga Alliance, and all of her trainings and workshops are eligible for Yoga Alliance continuing education credit hours for registered yoga teachers.
Years ago, the universe abruptly did for me what I hadn’t been doing for myself – it encouraged me to live more balanced days with a more balanced spirit. After completing two consecutive 200-hour Vinyasa yoga teacher training certifications, I was excited to share yoga with as many people as I could and took on countless opportunities to teach. I was teaching in studios, teaching private sessions, teaching at hotels, teaching in conference rooms, teaching at gyms, teaching at universities, and teaching at the beach. From sunup to sundown and often seven days a week, I offered classes at this pace for several years with nothing close to a sense of balance.
One day, the universe responded. I arrived at a Kennebunkport hotel to teach one morning and, in a rush, reached down to grab my bag of props. WHAM! I hit my head on the massive antique wooden reception counter and nearly passed out. Following up with my doctor the next day, I learned my ridiculous rush of a schedule had actually run me right into a concussion.
A concussion or other injury can be scary and slows you down quickly. My body was physically tired and off balance. My mind was, too, for a while. I couldn’t consistently tell left from right and had a hard time speaking in a straight line.
It was a tough time for me both personally and professionally. Although I didn’t realize it right away, that experience hitting my head turned out to be exactly what I needed. Not the concussion, of course, but the permission to slow down and simply be. In our more Yang-centric society, I think this is exactly what so many of us need…the invitation to enjoy a little more being to balance out all of life’s doing. Without even realizing it, we might come to find ourselves skimming the surface of our moments rather than fully living in the present time.
This experience was how offering Yin Yoga & Meditation became my passion, love, and life’s service. This paradigm shift led me along the pathway to practicing and eventually teaching Yin Yoga, Mindfulness Meditation, and Yoga Nidra.
Through the years, these practices have remained a powerful blessing in my life, a source of joy that supports my wellbeing on a daily basis. My yoga mat is a place of replenishment that I can always count on. Whether I’m finding five minutes in the middle of a crazy day or taking a couple of hours in extended serenity, it’s a cherished space to come home to myself, no matter what the circumstances might be inside or around me. These practices are wise teachers that strengthen my capacity to thrive and continue the work of evolving into the best version of myself. They help me to live and love more consistently with greater intention and a more free and happy heart.
As you explore these practices, it’s my hope that you feel safe, empowered, and inspired to experiment and discover for yourself the opportunities for transformation and whole-self wellbeing they can offer your body, mind, and spirit as you travel along your personal and precious journey. As we nurture ourselves, we in turn nurture everyone around us and the beneficial and uplifting ripples of our practice spread ever-outward.
I look forward to seeing you on the mat! It's always a pleasure and honor to be your guide.
In loving blessings,
Sagel
