YOUR GUIDE

As a young child back in my little hometown on the east coast of South Africa, my love language was always movement — it was my THING - an expression and expansion of my inner fire — my love — to my surrounding world and everything in it.

Organically (and with a lot of hard work), I progressed to working as a professional dancer with Cape Town City Ballet. I thought this was it — that I had made it and reached my soul purpose in life. Much to my surprise, my journey there was only my preparation for the entire new world of healing and awakening that awaited me. With loud insecurities and harming myself in hate, I encountered the practice of Yoga.

Yoga became my medicine and over some time I realised that my mind, heart and body could no longer cope or thrive in that same working environment. In 2017, I intuitively and spontaneously made the bold decision to move abroad to a place I’d never been before: Hong Kong. 

There, I fell back in love with myself. I deep dived into Yoga, learning from top international masters most days. I couldn’t get enough of it and began to feel the inner call for me to share this ancient wisdom practice with the world. I felt called to help people heal whatever needed to be by coming home to themselves as I had.

In 2019, I chose to honour this feeling by completing a 200hr Yoga Teacher Training in Rishikesh, India. I continued following my heart by relocating to London (later, Essex) to build a life with my husband, where I’ve moved through the initiation of Motherhood twice. My experience as both a life partner and mother deeply inspires my teachings.

My perception of what Yoga is has naturally evolved over time as I’ve studied further and continued learning from different teachers. I have thus immersed myself in many various types of Yoga, such as Traditional Hatha, Vinyasa, Hot 26, Ashtanga, Yin, and Restorative yoga. On my journey of devotion, my curiosity has led me to soaking up ancient and modern wisdom, resulting in my work being supported by threads of Non-dual Tantric and Buddhist philosophy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Neuroscience, Astrology, Somatics, Sound, Voicework , Trauma awareness, and Embodiment practices. Since 2019, I have completed an Embodied Mama training (Pre & Postnatal yoga), an Embodied Yin training, and most recently a 300 hour teacher training with Authentic Flow Tribe rooted in Body-Mind Centering, Somatics and Non-dual Tantra. I am currently engaged in a Myofascial Release training too.

My current teachers are Satu Tuomela and Fanny Olsson. My teachings are also deeply drawn from the words of the late Michael Stone. Apart from them, Motherhood is my everyday teacher. It has undoubtedly taught me the most about myself, and I look forward to continue drawing from my experience in order to hold space for not only other mothers, but all human beings.

I stand rooted in the belief that Yoga, Dance and Somatic Movement hold the power to transform the way humanity inhabits and experiences life on Earth as individuals and as a collective. While I don’t believe that healing ought to be the end product of our practice, I do believe that healing on an individual level will ripple out into our human collective. This, along with simply accepting our reality, even if we cannot change it. Both create a shift in the way we function, respond and yield towards one another. I believe that we are a part of Nature and that in being with ourselves, we bring healing to our greater Mother: Earth.

My hope is to offer you the necessary tools and practices to help guide you deeper into your bodyheartmind in order for you to integrate your practice and learnings into your daily life. I hope that you come to know that there is nowhere but here, and that the intimacy you seek is available to you right here, right now.

Nicola x

While I believe that everyone and everything in Life is a Teacher, there are a few features about me that point me towards actively showing up as one.

My first given name Nicola means “Victory of People”, with my second Talia meaning “Dew of God”. Lastly, my maiden surname means “People/Warrior/Army/Tribe”. I love to think that my purpose is to bring people together into connection, and to guide them into their victory — their liberation — through connection to God and the sacred everythingness that is life.

Astrologically speaking, I’m triple Fire, meaning: my sun, moon and rising signs are all in Aries — suggesting that my nature is adventurous, spontaneous, intuitive, assertive, direct, passionate, self expressive, imaginative, and independent. These traits are always revealing themselves to me as I continue journeying home to myself in my daily practice, and supporting me in showing up as a teacher.

Founder & Guide. E-RYT 500