Sandi Goodwin is the owner and founder of Garden Home Yoga and Wellness. The idea for the business came from the desire to offer community-based classes offering healthful lifestyle practices that people could access on foot. Her belief is that the health of a community is reflected in the health of its individuals. Small group classes allow for community bonds to form and individualized attention to occur.
Sandi holds such gratitude and reverence for the wisdom of her teachers, both living and astral. The most notable in-person influences have been felt by Uddhava Ramsden, Leslie Ellis, Sarahjoy Marsh, Sarasvati Buhrman, Susan Bass, Angela Farmer, Rama Jyoti Vernon, Leslie Howard, Karen O'Donnell Clark, Kaya Mindlin, and Mark Halpern. In philosophy and writing, Paramhansa Yogananda has been her North Star, compass, and life-raft. So very much gratitude to his teachings and guidance.
Sandi is registered with the Yoga Alliance as an RYT-500 level Yoga Teacher and holds a 300-hour certification in Yoga Therapy from the Rocky Mountain Institute for Yoga and Ayurveda. She is a certified Ayurvedic Health Educator and Meditation Teacher. Sandi has continued to train with teachers in a variety of classical traditions and Postural Alignment. Most recently, she completed an additional 300 hours of training for her 500-hour yoga teacher certification with the Sarasvati Institute of Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy. She pulls from all her training to create an eclectic blend and customizes her classes to the needs of her students. She enjoys teaching small groups and individuals in a casual and personal environment. She uses a therapeutic style of yoga practice as a vehicle to guide individuals toward personal and spiritual growth and awareness as well as physical health and well-being.
"I meet people where they are and enjoy leading them to their next step."
Luna is a white Staffordshire terrier rescue and the Garden Home Yoga greeter and therapy dog.
A Timeline...
1990's
Sandi discovered yoga sometime in the 90's and found it a great complement to her other activities, hiking, skiing, aerobics, swimming, dancing, and racquetball. It also helped ease the stress of teaching public school.
2000
Sandi moved to Portland to teach in a small private school with yoga-based values and to immerse herself in a spiritual community that prioritized yoga and meditation as a path to knowing one's true Self.
2007
Sandi became a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200) in Ananda Yoga and trained with teachers in Los Angeles in Yoga Ed., a program focused on improving student outcomes in inner city settings. She began teaching yoga in the classroom as well as a few public classes on the side.
2009
The yurt was erected in the backyard, and Sandi completed a 300-hour Yoga Therapy program with the Rocky Mountain Institute for Yoga and Ayurveda and a Meditation Teacher Certification through Ananda. Classes in the yurt included yoga and meditation.
2010
Sandi retired from teaching elementary school and went full-time teaching yoga in the yurt while volunteering for Living Yoga and continuing her education by studying with more experienced yoga teachers.
2012
Posture Alignment Specialist and Ayurvedic Health Educator were added to the list of skills after experiencing the healing potential of these methods in her own body.
2016
Luna, the white Staffordshire Terrier rescue and Garden Home Yoga greeter and therapy dog, joined the Garden Home Yoga team.
2020
Amidst the Pandemic, the first Garden Home Yoga Teacher Certification Course was born! All classes moved online in March, a video class library was born, and Sandi completed 300 hours of training with the Sarasvati Institute of Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy to receive her RYT-500 certification through Yoga Alliance.
2021
This was the year of learning to adapt to the ever-changing world of virtual teaching. It was also the first of 3 years of intensive Ayurveda training.
2022
Here we go!
