Meet Sarah Pigion

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sarah Pigion. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sarah below.

Hi Sarah, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

Pain can be a powerful teacher, and passion a powerful motivator. Following your passions and living your truth doesn’t free you of obstacles. In my experience, it often confronts you with challenges. When I hit a wall, I look to the natural world and observe how cycles inevitably flux with the elements, and life always persists. I take time to be with whatever challenge from a very zoomed out lens. There is often a lesson to learn or an insight to be gained. In a sense, resilience can be cultivated from challenge if we are open to growth.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Thank you for the opportunity. My work currently focuses on mediums that support positive transformation. This can take on many forms, from visual art, to hands-on healing sessions, to sound journeys.
My visual art practice stems from observations of parallel processes in the natural world and our bodies. I have a fascination with the brain and nervous system, and explore how our cellular structures express themselves akin to the world around us. I combine dried fauna, stone, crystal, and paint on panels made of wood or aluminum to create a piece that captures an evolutionary moment in time. The viewer is invited to see an inner part of themselves, perhaps a part of their own process, alchemizing. The work began as part of my own self-expression, but has now been informed by the reaction and meaning invoked by collectors of my work. The response I received revealed to me how transformative the act of viewing art can be. The eyes bypass our logical mind and connect directly with the psyche. Therefore, gazing contemplatively at a work can help us access deeper parts of our being. Collectors have described my work as soothing, regulating, and calming, while others have been moved to tears by finally being able to feel something that was challenging. With their abstract and elemental nature leaving room for personalization, the works offer themselves as tools for attunement, transformation, and grounding. My current body of work is spread amongst three different series: Neuron Dances, Support and Repair, and Growth and Transformation.
Another branch of my work exists where I hold space for others through the transformational power of sound and hands-on therapy. There has been a lot of confirming research lately about the ability of sound to regulate and heal our nervous system. I find this so exciting and encouraging because it validates what we know from ancient practices. It feels like we are in a transitional time where eastern and western approaches are integrating.
Having been a classically trained singer and dancer with a music degree, I found working with sound applied to the physical and energetic body to be profound and intuitive. With my body as my instrument, I have always continued to study functional anatomy, physiology, and various healing modalities alongside my creative work. This started with Pilates and massage therapy, but has since expanded to include CranioSacral Therapy, SomatoEmotional Release, lymphatic drainage, Visceral Manipulation, Structural Integration, and sound healing. I now have a private practice where I integrate these modalities to assist with various physical disorders, pain syndromes, postural problems, headache and spinal issues, and mental and emotional challenges. At our core, we are all energetic beings made of vibrations, and so I try to honor that in my work by observing the whole person and assisting them in activating their innate intelligence and healing capacity.
Currently, I host a monthly sound journey at Mind & Motion in Hancock Park that offers a deeply relaxing reset using healing instruments such as singing bowls, chimes, tuning forks, gong, and the voice. The next one is coming up September 21st!
My own healing journey led me to an immersive training in Spain where I learned overtone singing, the science of harmonics, sang and drummed in caves with ancient cave paintings, experimented with various sacred instruments, and honed the healing power of my voice. My teachers balanced science with ancient traditions where sound was used from a more shamanic approach, so I honor the wisdom of both the ancient and modern practices. From there, I trained in Gong Yoga Nidra from the Vedic tradition, giving me more tools to structure a deeply relaxing and transformative experience. I am looking to expand this offering, so if you have a space, a group, or event that could benefit from this kind of session, please reach out!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

If I look back at all the twists and turns I’ve made, a critical point in each of them was staying in integrity. If I feel a pull towards something, it’s usually for a reason that keeps me true to myself. I have a strong logical mind that will try and reason me into certain decisions or paths, but if it’s not in alignment with what I’m feeling deep down, it’s not for me.
Secondly, staying curious. When something sparks my interest, I want to know ALL about it. The curiosity fuels me to study and learn, and I discover fascinating things that only further inspire me.
Third, I would say, is discipline. A creative and entrepreneurial life comes without structure, so you have to create it for yourself. This hasn’t been easy for me, but it’s allowed me the freedom to work doing what I love. Since I report to myself, I have to be self-motivated. That sense of work ethic was really instilled in my upbringing and education. I balanced academics with rigorous study of my craft, which demanded that I show up and give a hundred percent. My early professional life followed a similar bent as a performer, showing up and giving my all even through injuries, colds, and heartbreaks… the show must go on, as they say. And the integrity piece in me wouldn’t settle for anything but my best. My college voice teacher, the late great Florence Birdwell, would say to me whenever some intense emotional experience would be going on when I needed to perform, “…USE IT!” It always worked, and knowing what I know now, I can understand a bit more why. It’s simply allowing energy to move through you. If we block something, we are closed off to a part of ourselves. You’ll feel the disconnect, and an audience will, too.
My advice to those starting out is to stay connected to the urges that motivate you. Keep yourself sacred, whatever that means to you. In order for you to succeed, you will have to deal with inevitable obstacles and inconveniences, and if these are enough to derail you, you will lose your way on the path. So don’t give your soul away, no matter how strongly a situation or job might be pleased if you do. Create an inspiration board, or carve out a designated space where you practice your craft so you are really giving it the love it deserves. Stay curious about what you’re pursuing and allow yourself to be struck with moments of awe and wonder. If you find yourself in a rut, try getting out of your wheelhouse and taking a class in a different discipline. My term for this is “creative crop rotation”. Surround yourself with people who are doing what you want to be doing or know more about what it is you want to know. I have so much gratitude for all of the teachers I’ve had along the way, and love seeing the enthusiasm and creativity of young people.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

Do something grounding, reconnect to nature, or find a process for yourself to downregulate. This can look different for everyone, and for me, it usually goes one of two directions.
If I’m feeling higher anxiety or stress, something physical and even a bit strenuous can help me work through physical tension and give my system a sense of strength and capacity to show up and work through a more demanding time. A good sweat is a great detoxifier, and my go-to for this is a long trail run. LA is surrounded by hundreds of miles of stunning trails, and if you reach any of the peaks, taking in the view after the effort is an ultimate reset. Because running or hiking is so rhythmic, it is also very grounding, connecting you to your legs, your contact with the ground. The contralateral movement stimulates both sides of the brain, increasing mental clarity, and promoting creativity. I have gotten so many downloads, inspiration, and creative ideas while out on the trail, following my body’s cadence, and connecting with the environment. I return mentally invigorated and ready to move into a project, or approach things with a fresh perspective.
The other direction I go when I need something more restorative and downregulating is through my sound meditation practice. The states of overwhelm and anxiety have chaotic and discordant frequencies that leech energy and cause our systems to work harder to maintain a sense of balance. In today’s society, there is so much visual and auditory stimulation, and we are managing a lot of inputs from the outside world on top of our personal lives. I have many ways I approach this, so I’ll share one simple way to get started without any instruments using just your voice, your breath, and 5 minutes:

Find a comfortable place to sit upright with as little tension as possible. Soften your gaze, and imagine your eyes originating in the back of your head. Soften there, too. Take an inhale through the nose and draw the breath up through your spine to the crown of the head, and exhale through the mouth, down through your spine, out through your tailbone and into the ground beneath whatever structure you are in. Do this until you feel connected to the ground. Then, inhale and imagine a cord of light coming down through the crown of your head and filling a hollow space between your ears, behind your eyes, about the size of two thumbs. Continue breathing the cord of light down through your spine and feel it exit the tailbone into the earth as you did with your original breath. Now, inhale and visualize the entire cord of light from crown to tail. On the exhale, with the jaw relaxed, draw out a long hum. You can siren or slide the note up or down until you find a pitch that feels ideal, with the least effort, your own sweet spot in your voice. Continue for two to five minutes inhaling deeply, letting the belly expand, and humming on the exhale. Allow the vibration of your voice to fill your body as if it were a vessel (it is). As the vibration fills your body, let it buff out any tension you feel in this container of your body. Check your jaw, your shoulders, your face, your hips, your tail. If you like, you may open the hum to a vowel like Ah, or Oh, or even Ohm. As tension melts away, feel the energy of the voice conducting through the channel of light, focusing and strengthening it. With the connection to the crown and the ground, feel the sound projected out through the voice containing this pure light. Feel yourself in the continuum of universal energy from above and ground below. Experience the sound in your container where those two energies meet.

These and other tools have helped me so much, however, I’ll just end with the acknowledgement that there are times when the therapeutic support of a healing practitioner to hold space for your wellbeing can be crucially helpful. It’s important to remember that we don’t have to suffer silently or alone, that we as human beings are designed to be in concert and community with one another. When one nervous system is dysregulated, the calming presence of a nervous system that is regulated can provide a space for co-regulation. In a sense, the dysregulated nervous system is “borrowing” the frequency of the regulated person and finding their way back to baseline. Children do this with their caregivers constantly. Whether this is a therapist, wellness practitioner, or trusted friend, it’s important to remember that reaching out for help when we need to is part of taking care of ourselves.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sarahpigionstudios.com; www.bodyaxiom-la.com
• Instagram: @pigion_musings; @bodyaxiom

Image Credits

Sarah Pigion