Once upon a time, a brave and adventurous Australian massage therapist ventured to Vietnam to explore its culture and meet its people. At the same time a Chinese-Canadian school teacher/yoga bum also uprooted her home in Canada to reconnect with her roots in Asia. Their love for well-being, healing and yoga led them to Saigon, Vietnam where they met each other and thus, the birth of saigon om in 2013.
saigon om began as a wellness centre and yoga studio in Ho Chi Minh City. Sarah & Hang now offer teacher training programs, retreats and other wellness courses in three countries - Australia, Vietnam and Canada. Along with their two beautiful children, they currently dwell in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
After decades of practicing mindfulness, Hang and Sarah were ordained at Plum Village as members of the Order of Interbeing in 2019. The Order of Interbeing, Tiep Hien in Vietnamese, is a community of monastics and lay people who have committed to living their lives in accord with the 14 Mindfulness Trainings, formed by Thich Nhat Hanh. Along with their two children they continue to practice with the monks and nuns of Plum Village. When not meditating with two children climbing over them, they enjoy sharing their insights to the world in teaching all things mindfulness including somatic practices like yoga, Qi Gong, and Tai Chi wherever they go.
Do you need a keynote wellness speaker or presenter?
Hang and Sarah have done too many to list here. They include all levels of education: tertiary, high school, elementary schools and early childhood learning, IT industry, Corrections Canada, military, senior centres, and on and on.
Here’s what people are saying:
“Hang is a fantastic presenter. She’s very engaging. She keeps things simple and us laughing. We look forward to having her back.”
“I did a series of private sessions with Hang and knew that my team across Canada needed to hear and learn from this woman. We made it happen.”
Hang Nhan
Mindfulness Educator
Tai Chi & Qi Gong Educator
Yoga Educator
Acupressure & Thai Massage Practitioner
Shamballa Reiki Master Trainer
Hang was born in the time of the Vietnam war. Death and destruction eventually drove her courageous parents to escape in the late 1970s. Their arduous escape landed them in Malaysia as refugees and homeless for a few years before Canada reached out its rescuing hands. Settling and growing up in Canada in the 80s presented new hardships with cultural nuances such as language barrier, racism and the arctic cold! Brr. Later in adulthood with more awareness and recollection of her fragile young life, Hang realized that the challenges faced pre-adolescent in Canada felt like a walk in the park compared to the near death experiences in the war and at sea.
Hang's childhood was full of adjustments and confusions. At the age of 11, she had this deep inner knowing that her purpose in life was to “serve others and help people overcome challenges". Her first step was to get a decent education which wasn't so hard with all the supportive conditions at home and at school. She can still remember the words of her grade 9 science teacher when she was 14 years old that she "outta not pursue a science career”. And, her grade 9 home economics teacher saying "you aren't very good with this home business, are you?" Their unskillfulness inspired Hang to study engineering at one of Canada's most prestigious schools, Queen's University.
Hang fiddled and fuddled with an engineering and marketing career while moving up the corporate ladder but that robbed her of her happiness. She then became a teacher at tertiary and secondary levels. Ten years of teaching gave her more purpose until her energy ran low.
After about 10 years of spiritual seeking in Asia and a regular mindfulness practice with the Plum Village spiritual community, in 2011 Hang decided to give up her "lay" life to join one of the Plum Village monasteries in upstate New York. As Hang was inquiring about becoming Zen teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh's disciple, she met her soulmate, Sarah, in Saigon, Vietnam. Sarah skilfully talked her into delaying her monastic life for a year to see if their relationship would work. That same year in 2013, Hang unwillingly joined Sarah in opening up their wellness school called saigon om.
Fast forward a decade, they now have two gorgeous children and continue to run their dream wellness school that has helped thousands of people worldwide. And, Hang has yet to join the monastery.
Sarah Martin
Mindfulness Educator
Women’s Wellness Educator
Yoga Educator
Hawaiian Lomi Lomi Massage Trainer
Shamballa Reiki Master Trainer
As a privileged white Australian female growing in a working class family in Melbourne, life seemed perfect on the outside. Deep down Sarah knew it differently. Growing up, Sarah didn’t feel at ease in social settings including school and family gatherings. Looking back with deep loving awareness, she didn't have the emotional support at school nor home to reflect, talk, question and figure out the broad spectrum of feelings about her identity and her place in the world. Two things that helped her feel comfortable in her own skin were meditation and belly dancing in her teens.
At 19 years of age, she dropped out of Melbourne University and left home in search of her true self. Her inner teacher guided her to become a massage therapist and then to Saigon, Vietnam in her mid-twenties. Sarah took refuge in yoga and meditation to maintain her calm in the bustling and populous city of Saigon.
Hang likes to think that the universe conspired for Sarah to meet Hang. When their worlds collided, Sarah peeled off her mundane day-to-day life and felt her heart opening to joy and aliveness. She courageously and single handedly started their wellness school by teaching yoga and meditation to students in her massage room once a week. The number grew and the students wanted more. Naturally, she called upon Hang to "assist" as a tactic to get Hang involved in sharing her wisdom. And so, 2013 was the beginning of saigon om. Within a few months, saigon om organically grew and snowballed to a larger space and oceanside retreats and yoga teacher training, and then they started traveling worldwide offering their wellness programs.
Sarah's life forever changed when their daughter was born in 2020. The pandemic put a pause to their travels and also serendipitously offered Sarah space for deep inner healing. Becoming a mother brought up childhood trauma and wounds stemming from generational trauma. Sarah had to learn how to mother herself while learning to mother a newborn. On her healing journey, Sarah gravitated towards womb yoga, menstrual cycle awareness, and somatic healing.
While raising two young children, Sarah's heart is nourished by sharing this inner healing work with others and working with parents to connect to their true self through mindfulness and menstrual cycle awareness in their Mindfulness for Wellness course.
