Meet Sandra Moreland | Yoga Instructor and Studio Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sandra Moreland and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sandra, can you share a quote or affirmation with us?
Care for your own lantern so that others can benefit from your light.

Often, as a caregiver, I would put the needs of others before my own. This would often leave me feeling drained and I couldn’t be the best version of myself. When I would recognize what I need for me – caring for my own lantern, I could show up better for others so they could benefit from my light.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
When I was a kid, thinking about what I wanted to be when I grew up, I often thought about being a school teacher. It’s also worth mentioning that I moved around a lot. Starting in 6th grade I was in a different school almost every year. It was hard to make friends and I often felt like I didn’t belong.

As I graduated high school, going to college wasn’t something I had a desire to do, and the lack of funds to pay for school meant that furthering my education was going to have to wait.

At 18 I began an office job. I was good at what I was doing and decided to just stick with it. I got married and had two kids. I continued working, raising a family, and my 20’s were flying by.

Thinking about my health was never a huge concern. I wasn’t athletic but I took dance in high school. I liked going to Jazzercise. Yes, I said Jazzercise … it was the early 2000’s. And I always thought that my health was determined by the size of my body. I was thin so I was healthy.

After I had my second child, I had some issues arise with ovarian cysts, and at 27 my doctor recommended that I have a complete hysterectomy. I had already had a partial hysterectomy at 19 due to a grapefruit size dermoid tumor. I was forced into menopause 20 years too soon, began taking synthetic hormones, and began to experience my body changing.

Around the time I was 30, I decided to join a local bootcamp and try to lose some of the weight I had gained. I was showing up 2-3 times a week and working hard. I decided to go harder and worked with the trainer 6 days a week for an hour a day. I was put on a super restrictive diet. I had 21 foods to choose from. I did this for a month. After a month, I had lost quite a bit of body fat but I missed food.

This began my yo-yo dieting for the next several years. I kept attending bootcamp for some time and also tried CrossFit for a while.

Life happened. A divorce. Laid off from a job. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. All in an 18-month period. I lost my sense of self. I began drinking a lot. Eating a lot. Trying to numb what I was feeling with food and alcohol.

After doing this for a while, tired of feeling awful, I joined a year-long online coaching program when I began to implement small behavior changes with food and movement. I had support from a coach and was taking small actionable steps to become a healthier version of myself. This led me to want to learn and inspired me to want to help others.

I became a health coach in my mid-30’s, taking a variety of courses, while still working an office job, getting remarried, raising kids. In my late 30’s I started to experience some joint pain and went to physical therapy where it was recommended I try yoga. All I knew about yoga was it was stretching. So I looked up a local yoga studio and decided to try it out. To my surprise, it was not just stretching! It was movement, but it was doable movement with the joint pain. Over time, it became so much more.

I was connecting to myself – to what I was feeling physically and mentally. I attended classes a few days a week and decided to learn more by taking the yoga teacher training (YTT) so I could teach others. After YTT I taught friends and family, became a substitute, later to have a regular class that I taught one day a week. I wanted to teach more and offer yoga closer to home. My husband and I began talking about options, dreaming about locations, and wondering if we could make it work. We both have full-time jobs and three kids, but the kids are getting older, driving, and getting jobs of their own.

I had only been teaching less than two years. I wasn’t as experienced as others. We had never owned a business before. There was some doubt and hesitation. The feelings of not being good enough came and went and came back again.

But for years I’ve wanted to do something to contribute to the well-being of others.

I want to help others find ways to move that feel good to them, encourage them to eat foods they enjoy, come to their breath to relax or build energy, reduce stress, sleep better. I want to encourage letting go of the food rules and restrictive diets, exercise hard or it doesn’t count, being over stressed and under rested. To give people a place where they feel like they belong, just as they are.

To show people how they can tune in to what they need and listen to their body and create their own rules for their own life and they can change those rules at any time.

And to find balance.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We would check out the downtown Hutto area a visit shops like Creative Touch and the Hutto Flower Market, have some coffee at Lampost, enjoy an infared sauna at Love Yourself Shack, do some yoga at Finding Balance, and grab some food and drink at the Downtown Hall of Fame while listening to live music.

Outside of Hutto there are great towns close by that offer art classes, live music, dining with patio seating, and walking trails next to rivers and lakes.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My family has been incredibly supportive. They encouraged the idea of opening the yoga studio, have spent time helping build, clean, attend events, and are understanding when I have classes or events to attend.

Our teachers have been an instrumental part of our studio. They are all amazing and bring so much thoughtfulness to each class and kindness to each person who walks in the doors.

My mentor, Julie Afsahi, owner of Soul Strong Yoga in Round Rock. I was a member of Soul Strong, went through teacher training there, as well as other educational courses including a business mentorship. She has been my guide as I navigate the unknowns.

Website: https://findingbalancetx.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/findingbalancetx/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/findingbalancetx

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/finding-balance-yoga-hutto