Biography 

Niccola Nelson found yoga ten years ago after making the big move from Rhode Island to Chicago. She came to yoga as a means of checking out of the chaos in her life while attempting to find herself. Yoga has served as a bridge between her mind and body and has become both a lifestyle and personal journey.

She is honored to be a student and teacher of the Ashtanga Yoga method as taught to her by the late Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore India. She took her first Ashtanga class in 2002 and was instantly hooked, although very sore the next day! Niccola has found Ashtanga yoga to be extremely humbling and rewarding, and is slowly learning the Intermediate Series. She stresses the importance of a daily practice and has seen the benefits, both physical and mental, that Ashtanga yoga embodies.

Niccola expresses the importance of dristis, bandhas and breath as tools for strengthening and focusing both the mind and practice. Forever a student, she encourages her students to explore the practice, repeatedly quoting, “Do your practice and all is coming,” as Guruji used to say.

Her love of travel has taken her to India to study with Guruji and Lino Miele, as well as workshops in the US and Mexico taught by Tim Miller and Kino MacGregor. You can expect the most traditional form of the practice, following this lineage, in all of her classes. She firmly believes the daily practice of Ashtanga is life changing and is excited to share her love of yoga with you!

Niccola completed her teacher training at Moksha Yoga Center in 2005 and has taken Tim Miller’s Astanga Teacher Training in Tulum, Mexico. She holds a degree in Journalism and Political Science from the University of Rhode Island and is a published writer in newspapers and magazines.