Nicole Jaquis - yoga & lifestyle
Documentary Film-making and photography brought Nicole Jaquis to India in December 2000; where eventually as the search for good characters became the search for good gurus, the lessons got deeper and deeper, and the filmmaker / photographer / writer (herself) got so engrossed in being (present) in the moment, soaking up all the wisdom she could digest, that actually doing sadhana began to take precedence over documenting it.
However she does have 500 hrs Hatha Yoga Teacher Training, 200 hrs Therapeutic Yoga Teacher Training and 100 hours Bio-dynamic Yin Yoga and Yoga Nidra certificates, her real training in the Hatha Tantra Tradition comes from living among the Naga Sanyasis of Shri Panch Dashnaam Juna Akhara (the oldest and largest organization of ascetic renunciate yogis).
Her Sadhana Training in the traditional seven-limbed Hatha Tantra Yoga system consists of: shatkarma (seasonal and daily cleanses and detoxes), asana (postures), mudra (gestures for connecting one’s individual pranic flow with the universal or cosmic force), pratyahar (concentration towards removal of disturbance from sensory input), pranayama (expansion of the breath and prana / vital energy), meditation (uninterrupted blissful flow of pranic energy), and ultimate samadhi (complete balance of the mind in all situations); Sukshma Vyayām (subtle pranic exercises); Vipassana Meditation (as taught by S.N. Goenka); Yogic / Sanathan Dharmic / Buddhist Philosophy; Karma Yoga (seva – selfless service towards others, without concern or attachment to the fruits of one’s labor); Swadhaya (independent study and introspective study of the self).
Nicole has been working at Race Brook Lodge since March 2017, having temporarily returned to the States after living consistently in North India for nearly seven years.