Article by Drew Kramer for Scarsdale Moms
On a Monday morning in Scarsdale Village, a group of local moms assemble carrying the weight of the weekend and yoga mats on their backs. Venting the tantrums of co-parenting or the trauma of caring for aging parents, the multigenerational class comes to yoga to build strength in both body and mind. At the center of this supportive community is warm and approachable, Tara Sussman, a retail executive turned boy mom turned yoga instructor–and dare I say–spiritual guide. While the pivot from big corporate retail to yogic sensei might seem random, the Tara Sussman Yoga origin story, like yoga itself, is all about flow.
In yoga, “flow” describes the coordination of different poses and breath to create a smooth sequence of movement that comes together like a dance. Reflecting on the different phases of her life that led her to the mat, Tara’s flow begins with her mother. As a teenager, Tara joined her mother at Jivamukti, a Union Square studio renowned for combining movement with chanting. Unlike Tara’s accessible, pilates-infused yoga workout, Jivamukti’s brand of yoga felt like a religious experience. For her mother, yoga was spiritual. After beating breast cancer at age 39, yoga became the center of her mother’s life. As a holistic nurse and yoga teacher, she helped other people heal through body movement. Touched by her mother’s emotional connection to the practice and physically challenged by the rhythmic dance of shifting positions, Tara embraced the mind-body-soul workout.
Although attracted to yoga, her early passion for retail initially took center stage. “Retail was in my blood,” Tara explains. Memories of her great-grandfather’s buying office and early childhood games of “store” eventually led to after school jobs at local clothing shops in her hometown of Hewlett, New York. Folding and selling clothes on the floor ignited an ambition that carried her from a retail and marketing major at Syracuse University to a senior buyer at Macy’s.
Transitioning from young professional to young mother, Tara describes a powerful shift of focus. Triggered by the loss of her mother to cancer in 2019, grief, combined with a second pregnancy and COVID isolation, paused her climb up the corporate ladder. Rooting in family, the Sussmans joined Tara’s brother in Scarsdale. There, in the wake of the pandemic, she rediscovered the restorative power of yoga.
On her mat, Tara’s thoughts returned to her mother. “She died a yoga teacher, a Reiki master and the first holistic nurse at Lenox Hill. She had so much work to do.” Tara longed to continue her mother’s journey. After consulting her mother’s yoga mentor for guidance, Tara learned that a training program was beginning at the very studio where her mother trained – a sign.
Licensed in April 2023, her yoga practice became a profession in backyards across Scarsdale. Merging business savvy with yoga’s revitalizing magic, one and a half years later, Tara Sussman Yoga is booming. Today, she teaches a full roster of group and private classes to adults, teens and children. While still popping up at private homes, she bases her adult classes at Pause to be Present, a mindfulness and meditation studio in Scarsdale. Set to an eclectic playlist of music that makes you move, she helps clients find a sense of strength and calmness. Meeting her yogis wherever they are that day, Tara encourages practitioners of all levels to challenge their bodies and play with positions–or do nothing at all. “It is your yoga practice,” she reminds.
With a dose of digestible yoga philosophy and pearls of her mother’s wisdom, Tara gives her students the benefit of her lived experience in the encouraging voice of a familiar friend. Holding space for those in crisis or grief, she encourages clients to let go of pain and anxiety, surrender to the unknown and uncontrollable and, perhaps most importantly, find the light. Her results speak for themselves. Says Jodi Klein, Edgemont resident and Tara Sussman Yoga devotee, “I am always surprised by the strength and clarity that comes from my regular yoga practice. Since working with Tara, I push myself outside my comfort zone, attempting headstands and crow pose even though it feels scary.” Like all things in life and yoga, change is possible when you try. And I am here for that.
