Sarah Smevog, San Jose State environmental studies senior, women’s volleyball libero and certified yoga instructor, aims to help people find peace and balance with the study of yoga.
Smevog is in her fourth season at SJSU and a two-time Mountain West Scholar-Athlete. In 2020, she played 16 matches and 64 sets.
Smevog completed her yoga training, which took about six months, in the city of Corona in southern California during her senior year of high school.
She started casually teaching her roommates and friends, but when the coronavirus pandemic hit she started a yoga Instagram page and used it as a community outreach outlet.
“I just wanted to share my yoga and meditation practice with people that I feel like could benefit from it,” Smevog said in a Zoom interview.
Smevog first started teaching at the Yoga Den, a studio in Corona.
During the lockdowns during March and April 2020, Smevog was asked by attendees to continue her yoga classes over Zoom.
Her yoga Instagram page, @shakti.sarah, has 571 followers.
Though she doesn’t consider herself an influencer, Instagram was her main way of connecting with other individuals who practice yoga during the pandemic.
Smevog said she tries to hold in-person classes every Sunday at the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden as COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted.
Ryann Thomison, SJSU nutritional science graduate student, volleyball player and Smevog’s best friend, said Smevog is a beautifully unique and passionate person.
Thomison and Smevog first met on the SJSU volleyball team when Smevog was an incoming freshman and Thomison was a sophomore.
She said Smevog is thoughtful when she teaches, and she finds her classes relaxing and peaceful.
“Her classes have brought me a lot of inspiration as well - inspiration to live more mindfully, and I'm in tune with my heart and breath,” Thomison said in a text message.
Smevog said she has a strong support system in San Jose and those who attend her classes bring joy to her life.
“The people that consistently go to my classes and especially when new people come makes me really happy and fills my cup, [which] helps me continue wanting to give my energy to sharing my practice,” Smevog said.
Women’s volleyball head coach Trent Kersten said he thinks it’s “so cool” to have a student like Smevog trying to help not only herself but her team by hosting yoga sessions.
“I think it shows her connection to her peers and also shows her open heart and how much she cares for other people and wants to help,” Kersten said in a phone interview.
Smevog said practicing yoga helps her in her athletic endeavors.
“Meditation and connecting back to my breath help me find calm in very intense and competitive environments and helps me center myself to be able to focus on one point at a time,” Smevog said.
She said at times she becomes restless, unsettled or easily distracted.
When Smevog gets busy, she said she can fall away from her practice and has trouble remaining consistent.
“I reintroduce [yoga] back to my morning routine and set alarms for myself for five minutes of meditation, that’s all you need, even one minute, and slowly build back into the practice,” Smevog said.
Smevog starts her classes by introducing connecting movements with breathing. Smevog said every movement in yoga has a breath that connects to the stretch.
“When you inhale you extend and exhale you deepen into the stretch,” Smevog said. “Just slow movements, waking up the body.”
