Sandra Moreland – From the Beginning
By Doris Morisaki
Sandra Moreland heard about Still & Moving Center before it even had a name! Before it had a place to live. When it was just a seed idea in Renée Tillotson’s mind.
“How did you first meet Renée,” I ask Sandra, “since it wasn’t at Still & Moving Center?”
Sandra and a friend were taking classes and working out at the Honolulu Club. “One morning as we walked by this big glass exercise room, we saw about twenty women inside completely rocking out, just dancing with so much energy. My friend didn’t even ask me, she just opened the door and said, ‘Let’s go.’ She went straight in and started dancing with everyone, so I did, too. That was my first introduction to Nia!”
Sandra started attending Renée’s Nia classes at both the Honolulu Club and at the YMCA. “It was New Year’s time of maybe 2008, and Renée was starting class by saying, ‘If you don’t like something in your life, change it. That’s why we’re dancing.’ I thought, I love this woman. We ended up going to lunch together, talking and sharing stories, and we became fast friends from that point on.”
Before moving toward her current, slower pace of life, Sandra spent much of her career working in public relations. Eventually the company she worked for was acquired by a global firm, after which she went into independent consulting.
“But the more time I spent in Hawaii, the less interested I was in working!” laughs Sandra. “I just fell in love with the island and being here. I love the concept of ʻohana, extended family, and the deeper meaning behind words like aloha. It’s about sharing breath, sharing life. The spirit of connection here on the islands is special.”
In 2010, Renée invited Sandra to be part of the First Circle – the first group of people to whom she introduced her idea of opening a studio for Nia and other forms of moving meditation. When Sandra first heard about Renée’s plans for the Still & Moving Center, she was amazed.
“I had been part of gyms and yoga studios in Atlanta, but nothing as comprehensive as what Renée envisioned. She wanted to include all kinds of mindful movement practices under one roof.
Renée took Sandra to see the building she and her husband were leasing at 1024 Queen Street in Honolulu while it was in its demolition phase, before anything new had been built.
“It was completely empty,” Sandra recalls. “Just rafters. I remember walking up the stairs, there wasn’t even a railing yet, just boards. Renée walked me through the space and painted this incredible vision of what it would become. She described where everything would be, the Barefoot Ballroom, all of it. There was nothing there yet, but she could already see it so clearly.”
For Renée Sandra has always been an anchor of stable support, encouraging her onward through rough waters and celebrating the peak times.
For Sandra, the center has always felt like a second home.
“When I returned home to Georgia, I would really miss it. But during the pandemic, when the center moved online, that became a silver lining for me. I could reconnect and be part of the community again through the online classes.”
She smiles while recalling one practical detail from when she finally made the move to Honolulu for good in 2023. “When I was looking for an apartment, my main criteria was simple: it had to be close enough for a walk or a short drive to the Still & Moving Center.”
“All the offerings keep evolving. There are new teachers alongside longtime ones like Renée. For example, Robin Shepard’s functional yoga is amazing, I can’t get enough of it. Dance offerings like belly dance, tango, and hula, and all the performances bring so much beauty into the space.
I’ve brought many friends over the years, and they’re always amazed. Watching new people discover the magic of the center for the first time reminds me how special it is.
As the conversation concluded, Sandra reflected once more on what the Still & Moving Center has meant to her.
“It’s been a guiding light for me for nearly a quarter of my life. Whenever I walk in, people greet me like family, like walking into a place where everyone knows your name. Still & Moving Center offers not only movement and wellness practices, but also that sense of belonging.”
“To think about everything that has been created in these 15 years – even more than Renée imagined – it’s phenomenal. The number of people she’s impacted, and the ripple effect of that, has touched so many lives. Local people, visitors, and now people around the world who connect with the center online.
“And now she’s entering this next phase of creating a legacy so the Still & Moving COMMUNITY Center can continue serving as a nonprofit into the future. I just feel privileged to have been part of it from the beginning.”
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P.S. When I ask Sandra about the most famous person she has ever met, she shares a memorable story of the late President Jimmy Carter.
“I met him in the early 1980s when I was managing public relations for Callaway Gardens resort in Georgia. We hosted an outdoor symphony concert series, and one evening we learned that he and Rosalynn would be attending.
“I coordinated with the Secret Service and his staff to plan everything. At the end of the event, someone introduced me to him as the person who had organized it. He gave me the biggest smile and hug, and a photographer captured the moment. It’s one of my favorite memories from long ago. He dedicated his life to helping others – from global health initiatives to Habitat for Humanity. He was truly a man of principle.”
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