Yoga with Nicole

 

Hello~ First of all, welcome, and thank you for taking the time to browse around this site. 

My journey with yoga continues daily, and I am always finding roots of my practices off the mat. To look back a bit on my relationship with yoga, I can recall around 15 years ago is when I started to find the community. Growing up in an environment that was not highly involved with yoga or a yoga community, my curiosity was always quite high. It was really exciting how good I felt having yoga involved in my day, and that was something I really wanted to explore.

I had the opportunity to travel down to Guatemala at age 19, where I was working next to a yoga studio. Taking classes daily, all in Spanish, which I spoke very little of, was a big step in my path in desire to learn more. It was so fascinating to me how language and words were not necessary to experience yoga. At the beginning, I understood yoga to involve mostly the aspect of movement. It wasn’t until a while later, with the help of different teachers and influences, that I began to understand there are 8 limbs of yoga.

I've been studying the body for years, yearning to learn more and more. Studying massage was quite a dive into the study of myself... I am big believer that to offer authentically, you need to experience and understand first within your own being. Studying the way my own body moves and 'works', I noticed my relationship with yoga strengthening. 

I started a bit backwards with my professional yoga trainings, as I was able to participate in continuing education courses before taking my initial 200hr Yoga Teacher Training. It was a great foundation starting this way, as the first training I took was a 100hr Teacher Training on Yoga for Injury and Pain Prevention. This gave me the building blocks to really understand a deep level of how yoga is translated throughout the body and how to practice and teach safely. Having already completed much in depth study of human anatomy through my massage trainings, this was a perfect offering to take my understanding to a new level. I began understanding the body through a lens of yoga, moulding the way I practice and refining how I teach. I am certified in Restorative Yoga, which really has helped me bridge a gap between yoga and massage.

I've had the opportunity to offer both massage and yoga in jobs I've obtained, which has helped me develop a weave of the two into a whole experience. It brings me such gratitude to be able to offer the knowledge I’ve been gathering, and now that our paths have crossed I look forward to what the future holds. I  customize a session for the needs of the individual. A session with a focus on yoga that has the option to involve massage and/or hands on assist. I hold a safe place for the body and mind to unwind and allow for a deeper connection to the Self. It brings me great joy to help others practice self care, and to feel the pure peace and love that resides within.

With love and light, 

Nicole Rice