Bring me in to speak on balance, rest, and paying attention.
I’m Sage Rountree, PhD. I’ve spent twenty-plus years teaching people to balance effort against recovery—as an endurance coach and as a yoga teacher, and for more than 18 years with University of North Carolina athletes and coaches who have to perform on a schedule. I’ve written thirteen books about it.
I also spent six years as a public radio announcer, which is a long way of saying I am comfortable with a microphone and I will not just read you my slides.
These are talks, not yoga classes. Nobody has to change clothes, get on the floor, or be told to breathe. If you want a short practical segment people can do sitting in their chairs, I’ll build one in—but the talk stands on its own.
talks
Three talks I give most often, each useful to any audience. Any of them runs as a 45- to 60-minute keynote, or opens out into a half day:
- Rest Is the Work—why recovery, not effort, is where the gains happen
- Balance Is a Moving Target—balance as a trainable skill, on one leg and off it
- Yoga Off the Mat—mindfulness for people who are suspicious of the word
They land well at corporate offsites and leadership retreats, conferences and association meetings, university and athletic-department programs, and wellness and benefits events.
on camera
start here
contact for booking
Tell me your date, your audience, and what you want people walking out with. Email [email protected].
formats
Keynote, 45 to 60 minutes. Breakout or workshop, 60 to 90. Half day, 2.5 to 3 hours with practical work built in. Fireside chat or moderated Q&A. Or virtual, from my own studio.
what people say
“Yoga with Sage makes me feel better!”
—Roy Williams, Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame coach, University of North Carolina
promo materials
Bios at every length, headshots, and a fact sheet live on the press page.
rest is the work
We don’t get stronger during the effort. We get stronger during the recovery, and almost every high-performing person and organization has this exactly backward. I wrote The Athlete’s Guide to Recovery about how elite athletes structure rest deliberately, and the same argument holds for a team shipping on a deadline. Practical, specific, and slightly uncomfortable for anyone who wears exhaustion as a credential.
balance is a moving target
Standing on one leg is trainable at any age, and so is the other kind of balance. This talk starts with the physical—what actually keeps a person upright, and why it erodes—and opens out into the harder question of what we’re balancing and who decided. Especially good for audiences over fifty, and for anyone who has been told to find work-life balance . . . without being told how.
yoga off the mat
Drawn from my 2026 book with Alexandra DeSiato. The interesting part of a contemplative practice isn’t the hour on the mat—it’s what it does to the other twenty-three: how you work, how you rest, how you talk to yourself when something goes wrong. This is mindfulness for people who are suspicious of the word.
something built for your people
If you already know what your audience needs, tell me and I’ll build it—that’s usually a better starting point than a menu. Send me the audience, the room, and what you want them talking about on the drive home.
why me and not a wellness speaker
I am not going to tell your people to be present. I’ve spent two decades teaching a physical skill to people who need it to work—athletes, coaches, and the readers of thirteen books that have sold more than 150,000 copies—and the argument I make about rest and attention is the one I use with a Division I football team. It holds up to skeptics, which is usually most of the room.
the details
Fee depends on the format, the travel, and the size of the audience—email me and I’ll send a number the same day.
Lead time: at least six weeks for in-person work, about three weeks for virtual.
Travel: I’m based in Hillsborough, North Carolina, and fly from Raleigh-Durham (RDU); travel and lodging are in addition to the fee.
What I need: a microphone in any room bigger than a boardroom, and a screen only if we’ve agreed there are slides.
to book
Email [email protected] or call 919-345-8367 with your date, your audience, and what you’re hoping people walk out with.
I’ll tell you what I’d give them.
