Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Tomlinson.
Sarah, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
As an art school and yoga adept in my late teens, I found the place where life made sense, either in the art studio or on my mat. Once this period of my schooling came to an end then what? Life happened; travel, making money, thinking adulthood meant leaving these lifelines behind. It took me the next ten years to integrate my two loves: Yoga and Art through this discovery of Yantra Making.
By some greatness of luck, I was teaching yoga at an Upstate retreat center in New York. Harish Johari, my soon to be Yantra and Ayurveda teacher was visiting for the weekend from North India. We were making Yantras, spending time in silence and activity, by the end of the weekend, I felt like I was back. Back to Sarah, back to aligning with the divine in a way I had not been able to since art school.
The support of the gods is palpable with each Yantra. A Yantra is a visual geometric form, sometimes colored, depicting the energy of a deity. The form manifests from the sound vibration known as a Mantra. The two work together: Yantra and Mantra, to reveal the gift the deity has to offer you.
This gift is a remembering. She points out the part of yourself that you have forgotten. For me it was both the practice and the chosen Yantra that weekend. I had forgotten how to connect my heart and life purpose with my spiritual life. Here I was, immersed in the practice, creating my first (of probably hundreds now) Venus Yantra and I was home.
After several trips to India to study with Harish, his family, and several other teachers that appeared around that time, I began to learn about each Yantra and its specific uses. The remedy chest of Yantras was being revealed to me.
Harish gave me his blessings to come back to America and share this work. It has been a work in progress ever since. As I align with the questions and practices modern day practitioners have, and dive deeper into the tantric practice of Sri Vidya of which Yantras play a great role, the life journey continues and the web of learning and practice I see in my students and friends continues to spin outwards even as they as individuals spin inwards uniting their personal spiritual journey with their outer life.
You don’t need to be an artist to create Yantras. You do need to have an open mind and heart and sit down and work with them to feel their healing effects. Presently I teach through my books, on-line classes, you-tube channel, one:one consultations just how empowering working with Yantras is.
Once in a while I take a group back to India to share the experience of studying Yantra in this holy land, Harish’s daughter now hosts my trips and takes such good care of us while I continue the teachings and practices with the group.
We create group Sri Yantras as a ritual using flower petals, Mantras and meditation in different cities around the globe. I am constantly finding new ways (mostly using ancient methods) to share this work.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road for my spiritual practices has been clear and I feel fortunate to have found authentic teachers along the way. Integrating this with a family life was one of my biggest hurdles. I felt like a renunciate for the early years, someone who lives devoted to God but does not have a personal family. When I turned forty, I woke up and my desire to have a family took me by the hair and pulled me away from a troubled relationship and plopped me before my now husband and father of our two children.
I don’t know if these were troubles or just some guidance that came at the right time along the way. I am grateful that my spiritual practice and career have ripened to this point before embarking on family life. Now my spiritual life is my family life and the Yantras continue to weave their way through.
Please tell us about Sarah Yantra.
I run my own counseling, Yantra making and teaching business and yes it is so wonderful doing what I love for a living.
I have woven together ayurvedic astrology with the Yantra work and have developed an intuitive approach to counseling using these two media. Now I teach others how to work with these intuitive arts. I feel blessed to have been given these teachings that come from the scriptures and have developed them into a format where they can reach and help more people.
I am proud of my students and the Yantra Books and Oracle Card Deck I have created that have been published. These are all instruments of learning, spiritual study and a way to unite Yantras into daily life.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
As a child I loved doing gymnastics in my garden. I remember doing handstands and cartwheels and the euphoria I got from that. Second, to that was probably baking, cooking, sewing, painting, all kinds of creating, with my mother who is a highly creative being.
Pricing:
- Two-Hour Initial Consultation – $250.00
- Follow-Up Consultation – $150
- Yantra Bliss Oracle Deck – $39.00
Contact Info:
- Website: sarahyantra.com
- Email: sarah@sarahyantra.com
- Instagram: @sarahyantra
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahyantra/
Image Credit:
Photos by Nousha Salimi
(Siri Jyoti Pix) Matt Thomas
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