SPEAKING & WORKSHOPS
Mindfulness and creativity are at the heart of living, teaching, learning, and working in fulfilling and productive ways.
Passionate about sharing ideas on how to integrate creativity and mindfulness into daily living, working, learning, and creating, as well as personal style, I facilitate workshops on and speak about the following topics:
Artful Thinking—a program I worked on at Harvard’s research center, Project Zero. AT gets to the heart of mindful and creative thinking, learning, teaching, brainstorming, planning, discussing, and doing.
Integrating practices of yoga, mindfulness and creativity into daily living, parenting, working, teaching, and learning.
Mindfulness and creativity in the context of being a woman going through the many, layered transitions of life!
Mindfulness, creativity, sustainability and personal style!
Creating mindful, inspiring, cozy and creative spaces.
Learning how to look at and discuss art, including contemporary art, in ways that are accessible and inviting to people of all backgrounds and ages. Art wakes us up and brightens us up, so let's get comfortable looking at it and discussing it!
I work with groups large and small, such as:
women-focused groups
businesses & companies
non-profits & community outreach organizations
teachers & schools
parent groups
community groups
creative spaces, museums & art education organizations
EDUCATION & BACKGROUND:
I have always worked at the intersections of holistic health, the arts, and education. No matter the setting, I have focused on mindful and creative thinking, learning, living, and doing. I have facilitated workshops and professional development for organizations and schools, spoken at conferences, created courses, programs, curricula and evaluative measures, consulted with organizations, and taught undergraduate and graduate courses. I am currently teaching in the arts education department at Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design.
B.A. Human Biology with a focus in Holistic Health, Stanford University
Ed.M. Arts in Education, Harvard University
Yoga Teacher Certification, Raja Center for Yoga Studies
Certificate in Visual Arts, Accademia Italiana International School of Design
Certificate in Energy-based bodywork
testimonials:
What a great morning! Thank you so much! Thank you, thank you, thank you! – School Administrator
We had a chance to talk to many people during the week, and we heard over and over again that you are a great person for us to be working with. Thanks again! –School Administrator
The Artful Thinking session was amazing--everything I look for in professional development. I walked away from the session with 3-4 concrete practices I can use in my classroom that are new, innovative, and exciting. This session re-energized me to plan engaging visual activities into my reading lessons to engage my students on a multi-sensory level and to develop them as critical thinkers. I think this development opportunity could benefit teachers of ALL contents, and should be offered again in the future. –Teacher
I was in your session this past Monday, and I wanted to let you know that I tried out See/Think/Wonder in my class yesterday to introduce our new book and it went SO WELL. The kids were engaged, interested, and so creative. Once we finished, I asked them how the process was for them, and they all said they enjoyed it and that it helped them see more things about the image than they originally saw. They all said they’d like to do the activity again in the future! Thanks so much for leading the session. –Teacher
This class was extremely eye opening. -Future Teacher
Sara was a great instructor. Very enthusiastic and motivating. Started meaningful discussions and taught me to be mindful. Very inspiring! -Future Teacher
This class completely changed the way I look at both art and teaching. It has been my favorite class so far! -Future Teacher
Mrs. Hiris is a wonderful instructor-she is thoughtful and encourages perspectives on many different levels. She is open minded and teaches the value of being open-minded, having a perspective, and positive approach. To question, wonder and explore—life lessons beyond the classroom. She also had a lot of valuable material/resources for us to utilize. -Future Teacher