Sarah Maria

MIA, JD, Certified Meditation Instructor and Ayurvedic Lifestyle Counselor

Free

Body Image and Personal Empowerment Expert

Sarah Maria Quick Facts

Main Areas: Body Image and Personal Empowerment
Career Focus: Author, Speaker, and Business Owner

Sarah Maria is a body-image expert and personal empowerment specialist who teaches people to love their bodies no matter what shape, size, age, or ethnicity. She leads workshops internationally and conducts one-on-one consultations with individuals and couples, empowering them to love themselves and live their dreams.

An extremely accomplished woman, Sarah Maria earned a BA in Theology, graduating summa cum laude, and then earned her MA in International Affairs from Columbia University, graduating at the top of her class in all subject areas. She later earned her law degree from Stanford University.

But woven into her outstanding achievements academically, Sarah Maria experienced an intense hatred of her body. Starting at age 14, she began a vicious cycle of 500 calorie diets, bingeing, and purging. The pain of this cycle motivated her to investigate holistic healing and spirituality. As with everything she does, Sarah Maria pursued these disciplines with a passion. While pursuing her academic career, she studied and practiced yoga, earned a diploma in Ayurvedic Lifestyle Counseling as well as certification as a Chopra Center Meditation instructor. After graduating from law school, Sarah Maria opened a healing business, Ananda Healing Arts, offering yoga instruction, Ayurvedic and nutritional counseling, and massage therapy. After seeing how many people were controlled by self-hatred and discontent with their physical appearance, she founded Break Free Beauty, a company committed to teaching self-love.

Sarah Maria has developed a concrete and practical approach to helping people love their bodies. She teaches a five-step program that takes people from self-loathing to self-love.

She communicates her knowledge and expertise with individuals and couples of all ages in workshops, seminars, speaking engagements, and on-on-one coaching.

Her passion is sharing this signature system with others so that everyone, no matter what their body looks like, can learn to love and cherish themselves. She helps clients love their bodies, connect with the soul, and live their dreams.

"I am committed to helping others learn to love their bodies and to use their struggles as the doorway into the spiritual path. Connecting with spiritual essence transforms body loathing into a sense of love and gratitude, leading to fulfilling lives of joy and vibrancy."

Articles by this expert

SelfGrowth articles and saved writing connected to this expert.

29 total

Article

What Are We Doing To Our Daughters?

In a culture of stick-thin models, our young adolescents are embarking on a dangerous path of dieting, bingeing, and purging. The Statistics: 80-90% of adult women dislike their bodies. 15% of women say they would sacrifice more than five years of their lives to be thinner. 81% of ...

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Body Parts We Love to Hate

Do you love your body? No really - do you? If you're a female, chances are you don't. Studies show that 80 to 90% of adult women dislike their bodies. In fact, many of them truly hate their own bodies. Women as young as five years old and as old as 95, of varying ethnicities, shapes and sizes, ...

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Article

Letting Life Live You

If you are like most people, you think you are doing life. If you are like most people, you live by your to-do list. You get up early—maybe you work out. You go to work, take care of the kids, eat food, deal with your boss, figure out how to sell your house... For many, life itself is one big TO-DO. In reality, however, life is much more about being and less about doing. The exquisite blessings of life are not delivered based on how much you do. No, life’s greatest treasures, life’s pleasures, life’s bliss, life’s ecstasy, are based on being.

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Article

Life is a Love Affair

Life is meant to be a love affair, an actual love affair. Life, as it truly is, is, in fact, a love affair. Now you can choose whether or not to experience life as such, whether or not to join in the dance. But no matter what, life itself always remains a true love affair, an intimate dance in each and every moment. Every desire for love, every desire to love, is simply the longing within you to experience the reality of life, the truth of what you are.

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Author Interview: Body Image Expert Sarah Maria on Love Your Body, Love Your Life

Part I: Excerpts from an interview with Sarah Maria on her new book "Love Your Body, Love Your Life: 5 Steps to End Negative Body Obsession and Start Living Happily and Confidently." Question: I’ve heard many people say that disliking your body is just a normal part of being a woman [or a man in today’s culture]. What do you think about such a statement? This is a very important question that I address specifically in Love Your Body, Love Your Life. Yes, many people, probably most people, say that disliking your body is a normal part of being a woman.

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Article

Pounds And Popularity: How Friendships Influence Your Daughter's Weight

Is your daughter's weight the result of her social network? A recent study authored by Adina Lemeshow claims that feeling unpopular can actually lead to weight gain in girls 12 to 18 years old. The study showed that girls who perceived themselves as "unpopular" were 69 percent more likely to ...

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Article

Love and Freedom

One of the defining themes of my adult life has been this something that I refer to as Love. When the universe forced me into personal crisis a few years ago, it slowly became apparent that a key issue was love. Ever since then, my life has become, in one form or another, a meditation on love: What is love? How do I love myself? Why does my heart feel broken? Will I ever feel loved? How do I love and be loved? Does love exist? Is it just an idea, or is it something real?

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Body-Image and Our Relationships

Have you ever hid under the bed covers, not wanting your love to see you? Or have you cringed at the thought of seeing yourself in the bathroom mirror? Were you competitive with your siblings or your parents about the size of your body? Has anyone you love, has anyone close to you, been judgmental about your body? Are you, or have you ever been, in a relationship where your love didn’t like your body? The fact of the matter is that our bodies and how we feel about our bodies and ourselves can dramatically impact our relationships, either for good or for bad.

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How Our Thoughts Influence Our Health

How Our Thoughts Influence Our Health Have you ever ruminated endlessly about a decision and felt a pain in your stomach? Do you notice yourself having critical thoughts and feel tightness in your chest? Have you been happy, excited, thinking positive thoughts and felt your whole body ...

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Article

6 Tips to Feel Beautiful Today!

How many times have you waited for something to change so that you could finally start feeling beautiful? If you are like most women, the answer is “all the time.” Here is the problem: Most of us tend to live with the delusional belief that we somehow need to change in order to be beautiful.

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Article

Subtleties Of Body Loathing

5 signs that you need to make peace with your body So you are not anorexic, and you are not bulimic, and you don’t binge eat most of the time, but do you love your body? According to the latest statistics, the answer is probably “no”. And if you don’t love your body, ...

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Article

Q&A With Body Image Expert Sarah Maria

Part II: Excerpts from an interview with Sarah Maria, Body Image Expert and Author of ”Love Your Body, Love Your Life: 5 Steps to End Negative Body Obsession and Start Living Happily and Confidently.” Question: In your book Love Your Body, Love Your Life, you present the five steps for ending NBO. Can you talk about these steps? The first step is to set an Intention. This is the crucial first step in creating what you want in life, and in creating and experiencing a body and a life that you love. Step Two is to Identify and Detach from Negative Thoughts.

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Websites & resources

SelfGrowth-published websites, downloads, and contributor profile websites connected to this expert.

1 total

Website

Break Free Beauty

Break Free Beauty offers information, services, and products designed to empower people to fully love and accept their bodies and themselves.

July 25, 2012

Favorite Quotes & Thoughts from Sarah Maria

“We are living at a time when war is a popular paradigm, and many of us have embodied “the war against our bodies.” As is the case in all wars, there are no winners. I can guarantee you one thing: if you are having a war with your body, you will lose. You will lose, and your body will lose. The only choice for a healthy body, a healthy soul, and a healthy mind is collaboration. There must be a healthy collaborative relationship between all aspects of our organism for us to achieve the happiness and satisfaction that we desire and that is our birthright.” “You are more than the struggle you are currently going through. I know the hell you are going through; I know because I have been there. You are noble and courageous for stepping out of our cultural paradigm that says your self worth is equal to your clothing size. You are standing up for what is true and beautiful and affirming it in yourself and in everyone around you. You are a spiritual warrior, and by fighting your battle, you are making the world a better place for everyone. Don’t fight the war against your body because no one will win. Instead, become a voice, a face, and a body for real beauty, beauty that honors women for whatever their size and complexion, knowing that we are all different faces of the divine, a physical representation of the infinite nature of the cosmos.” “Find the beauty in everything, and you will discover that true beauty lasts forever.” “Find out what you truly want from this life, what will truly fulfill your heart’s desire. Then begin to live according to this vision, and you will realize your soul’s highest potential.” "Do you want your epitaph to read, 'She was thin'?” “You will begin to identify and live a new reality: the reality of beauty, the reality of vitality, the reality of strength, the reality of your glory.” “When we see the beauty in others, it can help us to see the beauty in ourselves. And when we can see the beauty in ourselves, it can help us to see the beauty in others.” “You need to take your attention away from the self-hatred and self-loathing and put love in its place instead. Love has the effect of making us brilliant and magnificent. When people fall in love, they feel at the top of their game. You need to fall in love with yourself. When you are in love with yourself, everything becomes possible because you only know the love that is your birthright.”

“Our bodies are our babies and need to be cared for and nurtured with the same love and affection.”

"Become a voice, a face, and a body for real beauty, beauty that honors women for whatever their size and complexion, knowing that we are all different faces of the divine, a physical representation of the infinite nature of the cosmos."

Contacting Sarah Maria

Sarah Maria

sarah@breakfreebeauty.com

510-326-9610

P.O. Box 7509

Oakland, CA 94601

How to get started

Please visit www.breakfreebeauty.com to learn more about Sarah Maria. Begin to love yourself and unleash the power of your potential!