About Sarah
Sarah is a Vedic meditation teacher, birthkeeper and
ex-human rights lawyer based in Melbourne. She has spent the past 9 years training with masters and custodians of Vedic wisdom in both Australia and India.
Sarah comes from a legal-advocacy background, and has worked in human rights and refugee law. She has directly experienced the expectations and stress faced by people working in high pressure environments and works with her students to help them create balance in daily life. Sarah is dedicated to creating the space for her students to go deep and get to know themselves without the accumulated layers of stress and fatigue that life has delivered. Sarah works with you to create greater space for life to flow.
Sarah is currently one of the founding members of Mahasoma Meditation Collective, a feminine-led meditation collective teaching Vedic wisdom, embodiment practices and community. She teaches and collaborates with Mahasoma to create a community based in heart-led leadership and embodied Vedic wisdom.
Sarah teaches on retreats, events and advances courses with warmth and humour. Never fully serious, Sarah embodies a deeply nurturing and welcoming quality in all that she shares. Everyone is welcome, and all experiences are valid.
Bachelor of Global Arts (Human Rights and International Relations) and Juris Doctor Law Degree.
Fully qualified & trained Vedic meditation teacher with 5 years of full-time teaching experience
Accredited Mental Health First Aid provider.
Birthkeeper & postpartum training with Soma Shakti
Certified Birth Mentor with Birth From Within
Vedic Counselling with American Institute of Vedic Studies
Credentials & Training
Sarah’s personal story
I had an idea of what meditation was.
‘Yoga is my meditation’.
‘Walking is my meditation’.
‘Reading is my meditation’.
And for a time, I avoided actually meditating because I truly believed that I didn’t need to, and more honestly, I didn’t think I could. And so, meditation found me.
I was in the second year of my postgraduate law degree and I experienced an anxiety spiral like nothing I ever had before. I had experienced anxiety from when I was young but didn’t really know what it was until my early 20s. But this was something different. It would not go away, no matter how much I distracted myself, no matter how much caffeine or sugar I quit and how little I put myself in stressful situations.
Slowly, though, I began to heal. I started practising yoga 5 days a week, I was supported by my Naturopath and family, and I began telling my friends what I was experiencing.
What shifted everything for me was when my dearest friend and sister, Kathleen, questioned why I hadn’t considered meditation. She had been practising Vedic meditation for about a year and spoke from the heart to let me know how much of an impact it had already made on her life. I had seen the transformation in her and I was curious.
From my first session I was in love. I never thought I could experience something so blissful and calm, and I was overwhelmed with joy for the new practice that had found me.
I saw stress slowly begin to slide from my life and be replaced by flow, connection and creativity. I finally felt brave enough to look at parts of myself that I didn’t want to see and felt supported to go through the process of letting them go. Perhaps most importantly, Vedic meditation gave me a community of humans that are so filled with life, love and wisdom that it sometimes takes my breath away. Meditation became my closest friend and companion and became my shadow that follows me wherever I go.
Over time I slowly dissolved ideas I had about who I was and where I was going, and I decided to become a teacher of Vedic meditation. For me, this was the decision that revealed my evolution. I had an idea that I was going to be a human rights lawyer, working on international criminal law and reforming the legal system. And for a time, I was. Not to the seniority that I had always wanted and there was no international glamor about my job, but I experienced enough to witness what taking that path would look like. And I could see that it was no longer relevant. My love of the Veda was greater, and I let it lead me into something new.
This is my story, but I hear it echoed in every person who learns to meditate.
And I want YOU to also feel this way.
I want you to see and experience love as your nature.
I want you to unravel the ideas you have about who and what you are.
I want you to feel at home in your body.
I want you to meet people that will inspire you to love harder and know you have a place.
Iwant you to experience everything that the Veda has to offer.
I want you to experience the fullness you already are.
With love,
Sarah xxx
TESTIMONIALS
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Thank you so much for the 4 day course. I have been so resistant to sitting with me eyes closed. But this has been the most supportive space to have learnt. Thank you for your beautiful knowledge, and a very quiet strength which flowed through you as you taught. And thanks so much for always validating us!
Victoria
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I highly recommend Mahasoma's advanced program - Rishi training - which I've experienced as expertly taught by Sarah O'Brien. If you're looking to be held the entire way through your journey with Vedic meditation and philosophy, Mahasoma is rich with touch points to grow and deepen - and it's an inspired space stitched together with love and integrity
Tracey
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I attended a retreat in India 2022 and it was life changing. The facilitators Sarah & Kathleen held a sacred space of love, knowledge and openness. The group that a travelled with will be friends for life. Meditating with like minded souls on an ongoing basis is also a gift!
Sunday
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You made everything really easy and practical. I wasn’t sure how I was going to make meditation work on the jobsite but I have no issues making it work. It’s become the best part of my day.
Cameron