Sarah Junkin

Sarah Junkin (she/her) studied Kinesiology at the University of Saskatchewan (BSc, MSc), has enjoyed careers as a sessional lecturer; kinesiologist, coach, mental performance consultant, coordinator/manager within the provincial and national sport systems, as a whole foods/vegan cook and as a sales associate within the home décor/design landscape. She previously served on the National Board of Directors for the Coaching Association of Canada, and is a proud class of 2018 graduate with Leadership Saskatoon. Sarah discovered yoga in 1998, developed a regular practice in 2002, and began teaching in 2003. She completed 3-year teacher training obtaining Yoga Alliance accreditation in 2007 with Yoga Central in Saskatoon, SK under the leadership of her primary and ongoing mentor, Patricia Dewar. She has since completed numerous trainings and teachers workshops most notably with primary teachers Donald Moyer and Mary Lou Weprin (The Yoga Room, Berkeley, CA); Barbara Fergusson and Todd Jackson (Portland, OR); Lynne Minton (Arizona); Fr. Joe Pereira (Kripa Foundation, India); and more recently experienced the fluid, creative work of Mariko Tanabe (Body-Mind Centering®, Montreal, QC). In 2013, she completed Yin Yoga training with Joe Barnett a senior teaching assistant of Paul Grilley, the founder of Yin Yoga; and in 2018 she acquired additional 80-Hour Yoga Alliance ‘SHE Yoga & Meditation Teacher Training: Women’s Yin and Flow Yoga, Buddhist Meditation, and SHE Dharma’ with Sara Avant Stover. In 2019, Sarah joined the teaching faculty which includes her younger sister Katie Junkin under the leadership of Studio Co-Owners Jacqueline Gilbey and Ken Hood with Arrive Yoga & Mindfulness in Guelph, Ontario. She taught both in-person yin yoga sessions and substitute taught alignment based yoga classes for other studio teachers, and during the pandemic she shifted to offer online yin yoga classes via Zoom. The time spent in Guelph also deepened her study and commitment to her longstanding insight meditation practice in attending meditation classes with her new sangha and teacher Ken Hood. Sarah returned to Saskatoon in 2022 and is newly immersed in continuing education yoga study with Tias and Surya Little (Prajna Yoga + Healing Arts, Santa Fe, NM). She is thrilled to offer her teaching and new learnings to prior students and looks forward to meeting and working alongside new students and practitioners. Her teaching of the subtle body, yin yoga and meditation is guided by a continued path of learning, curiosity, nourishment and retaining a beginner's mind. She enjoys teaching in alignment with the seasons/elements and in rhythm to the seasons and intuitions of her life. She is known for her skillful use of props, building energetically towards a peak pose or concept/theme, knowledge of the body and inner/subtle body, yin yoga expertise, and for her creative, inclusive, intuitive and poetic lesson plans.