Sara Hundley/Yoga Bites

Sarah Hundley found yoga. Or maybe it found her — with the help of a gypsy.

After growing up in Virginia and Illinois and spending time in Boston, England and Arizona, Hundley has settled in Crescent City.

She shares her knowledge of yoga in group classes, private sessions and soon in a column, “Yoga Bites” for Triplicate readers.

Hundley is also a massage therapist and can be found giving chair massages at various downtown business throughout the week. She also has a space at 5th and H streets, Shambala Studio, where she does chair massages, Thai massage and yoga.

“People need a place to get away,” Hundley said. “It’s an oasis for me and everyone else.”

While studying stage acting in Boston, Hundley took a weekend workshop in massage therapy and found a new passion.

“I thought right away, ‘This is awesome,’” she said. “It felt right.”

Hundley decided to continue studying massage therapy, but she also wanted to experience life outside of the United States. She moved to England to study therapeutic bodywork at the University of Westminster in London.

That’s when she met a fortune teller at a carnival.

“I felt compelled to go see this gypsy,” Hundley said. “She tells me all these things and that I need to go study massage in Arizona.”

Hundley said she had actually “already been thinking about” moving to the desert to continue her educational journey.

Hundley moved back to the U.S., bought an RV and drove to Arizona. She attended the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts in Tempe, Ariz., and became certified in therapeutic massage.

A teacher there turned Hundley on to yoga — it was a “life-changing experience,” she said. Her experience with yoga to that point was imitating her mother practicing poses when Hundley was a child.

She said she’s always loved movement through dancing and stretching, so yoga fit her aesthetic.

“It’s a way into learning more about ourselves,” she said, “working from the outside in.”

She can also be found biking, surfing, dancing and hula hooping around town.

One of Hundley’s favorite forms of massage is Thai massage, which incorporates yoga poses to stretch and relax the body. She was certified in Thai bodywork at the Institute of Somatic Therapy in Wimberley, Texas.

She moved to Crescent City in 2003 with her beau, Tom Boylan, who manages Harvest Natural Foods.

Hundley started working at Express Fitness for Women and became certified as a yoga instructor through YogaSteps, an online national certification program and has also been trained in core strength vinyasa. Hundley also received teacher training at the Prana Yoga and Healing Center in Sarasota, Fla.

“Everybody is stressed,” Hundley said. “Everybody needs to breathe and stretch.”

Hundley currently offers a class every Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Life Fitness Center off Northcrest Drive; the cost is $5 for non-members.

For more information about massage therapy or yoga sessions with Hundley, call her at 218-0497 or go to shambalastudio.com

Sarah Hundley’s new column, Yoga Bites, will appear every four weeks on the Healthy Living page.