Private Sessions with Sara

An interview with CanvasRebel shares what it takes to build a longterm yoga practice working privately with Sara Blumenkranz.

Hi Sara, thanks for joining us today. Getting that first client is always an exciting milestone. Can you talk to us about how you got your first customer who wasn’t a friend, family, or acquaintance?

By the time I got my first paying private student, I had already been teaching for three years and been taking additional training sessions for over two years. I had completed an additional 200-hour training in Katonah Yoga that focused on hands-on adjustments and body reading, along with a specialized training on working privately with students. Even then, I didn’t feel ready, but deep down I knew that I had something special to offer.

My training as a Katonah Yoga practitioner had given me a new vernacular, an arsenal of hands-on adjustments and the vision to understand how to help my students. Often students who seek out working privately either has to do with their schedule in order to fit in their practice or because they don’t feel confident the traditional mold of a group class. In my training, I started to learn how to work with ANYbody, especially students who had past injuries or chronic pain. I kept encouraging myself by considering that if a student was seeking private sessions, they could end up with ANY teacher and with any type of background, and even someone who had never trained in working privately. So what better reason to begin offering private sessions so that my background could shine!

Before charging anyone, I offered free private sessions to a few fellow instructors so I could gain confidence and work through the details. I still remember during one of my training sessions, on the last day, we were asked to take all that we had learned and offer a private session to another participant. That moment I had to sit across from someone, look directly into their eyes and begin working with them. It felt surprisingly vulnerable. Suddenly, all of the responsibility was on me. I was also fumbling with props, and learning how to read what someone needed in real time. I wanted all of those pieces to feel aligned before I asked someone to pay for my time. When you work privately with a student, it’s hard to prepare ahead of time because you are working with someone in the moment. The preparation takes years of practice and training! That is what a student is paying for, your experience.

Then one day, the studio where I was teaching at sent me a message saying they had a request for private sessions. Looking back, I think I only received that opportunity because the student was interested in working at 6:00 a.m. Probably, not a lot of teachers wanted that time slot! But, I lived across the street from the studio, and said yes without hesitation.

What makes the story even better is what happened next. We started meeting twice a week back in 2018 and as of today, we have continued working twice a week ever since. What began as my very first paying private session turned into a relationship that has lasted for years. I remember realizing that someone trusted me enough to invest in working with me. That feeling has stayed with me ever since.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I help people build a different relationship with their bodies through movement, personalized instruction, and hands-on adjustments. While group classes can be incredibly valuable, private sessions allow me to meet people exactly where they are and tailor a practice to their specific needs, goals, and lifestyle.

What drew me to this work was seeing how powerful individualized attention can be. Sometimes the smallest adjustment or shift in awareness can completely change how someone experiences movement in their own body. I love helping people discover those moments. My work is not just about teaching, it’s about helping people move more efficiently, feel more connected to themselves, and build practices that support them for the long term.

One thing that sets my work apart is that I try to make consistency as easy as possible. Most people genuinely want to take care of themselves, but life gets busy. Work deadlines, family responsibilities, travel, and unexpected events can make it difficult to maintain a regular practice. Rather than creating additional pressure, I try to create a structure that supports people where they are. My private students have a dedicated weekly time slot reserved for them. If they can make it, great. If they need to miss a week because life gets in the way, that’s okay too.
I think that combination of consistency and flexibility is one of the reasons many of my students have continued working with me. Together we’ve built practices that have evolved alongside their lives rather than competing with them.
What I’m most proud of isn’t any single achievement. It’s the relationships I’ve built over time and the trust my students place in me. Many of the people I work with have been showing up week after week for years. Seeing the long-term changes they’ve experienced, not just physically but in their confidence, awareness, and commitment to themselves, is the most rewarding part of what I do.
If there’s one thing I’d want potential private students to know, it’s that I believe movement should support your life, not become another obligation on your to-do list. My goal is to help people create a practice that feels sustainable, personal, and valuable enough that they want to keep coming back to it for years.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

Yes, what started as a side hustle eventually became my primary career.
Before teaching yoga full-time, I worked as a footwear designer. I loved the creative side of the work, but over time I became increasingly burned out by the pace and demands of the industry. Around that same period, yoga became a much more significant part of my life. What began as a personal practice gradually evolved into a deeper interest in teaching and working with people one-on-one.

I didn’t make a dramatic overnight career change. Instead, I started teaching group classes and building a private client base while continuing to do freelance footwear design. For a while, I balanced both careers. The design work provided stability, while teaching allowed me to explore a completely different kind of creativity and connection.
As my teaching experience grew, so did the demand for private sessions. I invested heavily in my education, completing additional training focused on hands-on adjustments, body reading, and private instruction. The more I learned, the more I realized that personalized work with my students was where I felt most fulfilled.
One of the biggest milestones was building a base of long-term private students. When people began returning week after week and year after year, I started to see that this wasn’t just a side project anymore. It was becoming a sustainable business. Over time, the balance between my two careers started to shift. More opportunities came through teaching, my private schedule filled up, and I found myself dedicating more energy towards yoga instruction.
Another important milestone was realizing that my work wasn’t just about teaching movement. I was helping people create sustainable practices that fit into their real lives. Many of my clients have now been working with me for six to eight years, which is something I’m incredibly proud of.
Since the transition happened gradually, when I look back, it feels very natural. What started as a way to explore an interest outside of my design career eventually became the work I wanted to devote myself to full-time. Today, my focus is on private instruction and helping people build long-term, personalized movement practices that support them both physically and mentally.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

My growth has been quiet and mostly through word of mouth or location based. I haven’t promoted my work my as a private yoga instructor because I haven’t had to. I teach about 5-7 sessions a week and that feels doable. Sometimes I have some breaks because many of my students travel quite a bit so I tend to work around there schedules. I also offer virtual yoga sessions so we get to keep a consistent practice even while traveling. It works out well! However, I have always fantasized about being a private yoga instructor for a celebrity! And you never know, Pasadena is a hub for many stars. I’ll be manifesting that next!