Notes from Nina
Each weekend I send out the schedule for the following week along with a quick update on all things Yoga with Nina G
News & Notes - February 2026
Hello my friends!
Here's the news that you need for February:
New Video - There's a new chair yoga practice this week - The Unhurried Breath. It's a 30-minute practice with a focus on self-compassion and kindness. We take the time to enjoy an unhurried breath.
Give it a try!
Survivorship Center Reopens - My students that join me at the Survivorship Center have had to be so flexible these past two weeks...a pipe burst in our building and we have been adjusting our schedule to practice yoga on Zoom.
The good news is that our mat and chair yoga classes are scheduled to resume on Monday, February 9th. I'll see you there!
Love Poetry - In honor of Valentine's Day, this is an excerpt from a favorite of mine by Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ (also attributed to Fr. Joseph P. Whelan, SJ.)
“What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.
It will decide
what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends,
what you read, whom you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in Love, stay in love,
and it will decide everything.”
With joy & gratitude & love,
Nina G
Closer to a Sense of Calm
Dear friends,
If you practice with me in-person or on Zoom, you know that we always check in with our physical, mental, and emotional states at the beginning of each practice. Without judgment or changing anything, we notice how we feel.
When we finish the practice and make our way back to seated after savasana, we repeat that process. It is always my hope that we have made our way a little bit closer to a sense of calm. That's the intention of the practices that I create. I want us to find a calmer state for our nervous system.
The current national news cycle is making this a much more difficult endeavor. It might seem ineffective to sit and breathe and stretch while the very foundations of our democracy are crumbling. But that means that we need our yoga practice now more than ever.
What we do on the mat and in our chair is important self-care. Having the nervous system on high alert 24/7 does not support a healthy body or a healthy mind. It wears us down and we become ineffective. It's important that we find the calm within us so that we can better deal with the chaos around us.
Then change can happen.
I found this beautiful poem this week - Blessing in the Chaos. It speaks to the chaos and the calm and the work ahead.
“To all that is chaotic in you,
let there come silence.
Let there be a calming
of the clamoring,
a stilling
of the voices that
have laid their claim on you,
that have made their home in you,
that go with you
even to the holy places
but will not
let you rest….
Let there be
an opening
into the quiet
that lies beneath the chaos,
where you find the peace
you did not think possible
and see what shimmers
within the storm.”
Love & calm,
Nina G
Let Me Be Water
Dear friends,
It has been bitter cold here in the Great Lakes region. Our high temperature this past Friday was -4, and Saturday wasn’t much better. Needless to say, everything outdoors is frozen and stiff. We’re hunkered down inside, layered up, and waiting for the temperature to change.
It seems like we're stuck.
It's not just the weather that seems stuck either. Our world feels tense and divided. I feel grief, anger, and uncertainty as I read or watch the news - you might too. Nothing - not the weather, not the news - is within our control. How can we get unstuck?
We can still practice yoga.
This week, when we come to our mats, we’ll work to melt that ice both literally and figuratively. We'll explore the flow of breath and movement and find warmth in our bodies, in our minds, and in our hearts.
We'll shift from ice to water.
We know that even though the outside world is frozen and seemingly locked in place, we can create warmth and ease from within.
And then we can share that warmth with the rest of the world.
“When I’m caught
between a rock
and a hard place
Let me be water
Let me be water
Let me be water”
Love, always love,
Nina G
The Yoga of Possibility
“We have more possibilities available in each moment than we realize.”
Dear friends,
This January has felt pretty bleak so far—and the weather isn’t helping. No sun, bitter cold, and a nonstop 24-hour news cycle can make everything feel like it's just too much. It’s easy to feel helpless and discouraged.
This is where our yoga practice comes in.
When we stay in the present moment, we step away from worrying about the future and replaying the past. We arrive here—where possibility lives.
So how do yogis stay present? By focusing on the breath.
I love this idea of being present with the breath. It’s something we all have, no matter our age, gender, or background. And yet, each of us has only this breath.
We can't stockpile breaths for tomorrow.
We can't take any extra breaths from yesterday to use today.
We can only breathe our present breath.
One breath at a time. No more. No less.
That's yoga.
This week, our 'healthy habit' practice will center on the breath. We’ll explore how it moves within the body, how it carries us, and how it flows through us. Through this mindful breathing, we’ll work to cultivate clarity and calm and, hopefully, we’ll reconnect with the endless possibilities available to us in each moment.
With love & infinite possibility,
Nina G
News & Notes - January 2026
Hello my friends!
Here's what's happening this month:
New Videos - Our practice last week focused on developing and maintaining healthy habits. We all feel like we can use more yoga in our lives! The beginning of each class was a short (13-minute) sequence that would work on mornings when we feel energized, but don't have time for a full yoga class.
I recorded those sequences for you here:
Healthy Habits - Energy (Chair Yoga)
Healthy Habits - Energy (Mat Yoga)
Which video should you do? Start with the chair yoga video. Most of it is seated, although there is a standing portion at the end where we work with balance and movement.
If you are able to get up and down from the floor safely and without assistance, try the mat yoga practice.
Both sequences are intended for those days when you've had a good night's sleep and are ready for a busy day. But what about when you wake up and don't feel like you can take on the world? Don't worry, we'll touch on those topics in the months to come.
This Week's Practice - As we continue to explore healthy habits, we return to building resilience. Our practice will be the intentional and mindful movement of the body, including bi-lateral and cross-crawl movements.
A regular yoga practice can help us respond to stressors as they arise and return to a state of balance and clarity.
Please join me on your mat or chair!
Love & yoga,
Nina G
A Simple Wish
Hello friends,
A simple wish for all of us in the new year:
“Be gentle, new year. Be kind. And most of all, be blessed.”
I look forward to practicing yoga with you again this week.
Love & kindness,
Nina G
The Art of Being Still
Hi friends!
I've been reading the book The Stillness of Winter by Barbara Mahany. These words spoke to me:
“I am practicing the art of being still.
Stillness, when you look for it, is never far away, and not too hard to grasp.
I find, though, it takes a dose of concentration. And sometimes a stern reminder; I mumble to myself, “Be still now.”
It is, in fact, the heart, the soul, that are the vessels of pure true stillness; those chambers deep inside us that allow for the holy to unfold. The birthing rooms, perhaps, of our most essential stirrings.
It is, yes, in the stillness that the sacred comes.”
Our yoga classes resume this week.
Our focus?
Stillness.
Love in stillness,
Nina G
Stillness & Sanctuary
“Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat and be yourself. ”
Hi friends!
As we discussed last week, it's a busy time of year and we all have many to-do lists and distractions. I hope that finding stillness is on your to-do list.
Whether you practice yoga, meditate, or spend some time tromping through the snow, give yourself the opportunity to find that sanctuary within.
Love & stillness,
Nina G
Controlled Instability
Hello my friends!
If you joined me in person last week, you might remember that we practiced balance using the idea of controlled instability. We found stability in our postures and then shifted in some dimension to explore the instability there. Then we returned to our stable postures.
It was an interesting way to spend an hour and we were all successful - no one fell over!
We all want stability in our lives and we work towards it. But there's a lot of uncontrolled instability in the world. Our yoga practice can help us handle the small shifts in life and bring ourselves back to stability. We can use those same yogic tools - our breath, our mindfulness, and our awareness - to help us in dealing with the seismic shifts as well.
We'll continue to practice our balance in the coming weeks and months. Look for a new chair yoga video in December that explores this topic of controlled instability. I hope that we can all find the stability that we crave!
In the meantime, we celebrate Thanksgiving this Thursday. Our practice this week will focus on gratitude. I am so thankful for each of you! Thank you for sharing your yoga practice with me. Thank you for reading the newsletter. Thank you for practicing with my videos.
Love & balance,
Nina G
In the Service of Joy
Hi friends!
It's that time of year when I get tons of emails trying to sell me the perfect Christmas gift. Most go straight to the trash. Some even inspire me to unsubscribe. There's a small handful that I'll open.
I received one such email this past Wednesday. It was from a chef that was selling colorful aprons. He said that he always wore denim aprons when he cooked, but one day he put on a yellow one and he felt joy when he looked at himself in the mirror.
He said, "It reflected the joy I find in cooking—the color, the play, the sharing. Cooking is about precision and technique, but that precision and technique is always in the service of joy."
That stopped me right in my tracks, because he is right. All the details, all the effort - whether in cooking or in yoga - they all must be in the service of joy.
I love to teach yoga. I love the flow of movement and breath, the curiosity about how our bodies and minds work together, and especially the mudras. I love watching us learn, and laugh, and wobble, and find those small flashes of joy that arise when we move and breathe together as a community.
We really have fun when we practice together!
That’s what all the alignment cues, the sequencing, and the mudras support - not perfection, but joy.
Thank you for being a part of this joy-filled community.
Joy & yoga,
Nina G
Build the Fire
Hi friends,
Well, the weather here has taken a turn. It got a lot colder this weekend and we even had a dusting of snow. It's a great time to stay inside and curl up with a good book.
“If the world is cold, make it your business to build fires.”
These chilly and gray days invite us to slow down — to light a candle, wrap our hands around a warm mug, and settle into the shifting of the seasons. We know that a little warmth can make a big difference. A kind word, a shared laugh, or a small act of care can brighten even the grayest afternoon.
Let's keep tending to these small sparks of kindness. Together we will build a fire big enough to warm our homes, our community, and our world.
Love & yoga,
Nina G
News & Notes - November 2025
Hi friends,
We have turned the calendar page forward and the clocks back. That must mean it's November! Here's what you need to know this month.
New Chair Yoga Video - I just posted a new video that I'm calling Get Up & Go. It's a short video that would be great to do when you wake up or if you're feeling sluggish mid-day. It offers an energy boost to get you moving and keep you moving.
Upcoming Schedule Changes - There will be no class on Wednesday evening, November 26th.
Our Practice - We'll be exploring balance this month. Balance involves strength and flexibility. Guess what? Yoga is great for that. Balance also involves your focused attention - again, yoga is great for that.
Balance is complex, but we can practice our balance in a way that is straightforward and simple. That will be our focus this month.
Love & yoga,
Nina G
Yoga of Mindful Action
“We have the choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place.”
Dear friends,
I have written a lot about Jane Goodall this year. We spent the month of January diving into her most recent publication, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times. We practiced what I called the yoga of hope—focusing on building our strength for the journey, developing resilience, and turning toward the light. It was an interesting exploration of how our practice supports us when the world feels uncertain.
More recently, I wrote about her visit to Chicago in late September, where she spoke about the deep interconnectedness of all beings on this planet. Her talk was based on decades of observation and research. She witnessed the intricate relationships between the chimpanzees, the forest, and the people who lived around them. She reminded us that every action—no matter how small—ripples outward in ways that we may never see.
As Jane often said, “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
And that, my friends, is the yoga of mindful action.
Perhaps your yoga takes the form of a morning walk, noticing the shift of the seasons. Maybe it’s choosing compassion in a difficult moment, sharing a smile, or making an environmentally friendly purchase. Whatever shape it takes, we can make a conscious decision with each action.
We decide what kind of difference we want to make. The little ripples from those decisions can make a powerful, positive difference in our world.
Jane Goodall 1934 - 2025
With ripples of hope & love,
Nina G
Come Fly With Me
Dear friends,
“The contemplation of beauty causes the soul to grow wings.”
Classes resume tomorrow. Please join me this week - let's fly together.
Love & yoga,
Nina G
Falling Leaves - A Haiku
Hi friends,
Here's a fun haiku I made for you!
“Step outside and breathe.
Leaves dance and fall around you.
Crunch them underfoot.”
It's the yoga of October!
Love & leaves,
Nina G
News & Notes - October 2025
Dear friends,
Welcome to October! Here's what you need to know this month.
New Chair Yoga Video:
There's a new chair yoga video on my YouTube channel - Elements of Yoga. We explore the elements of earth, water, fire, air, and space within our practice. Give it a try!
Another Yogaversary:
Yep, we've completed another lap around the sun and I am celebrating 14 years of teaching yoga! I didn't start to track my teaching hours until 2015, but since that time, I have taught over 3,500 classes. The best part is - I really love what I do.
Thank you all for being the world's best students!
Love & yoga,
Nina G
Fortify Yourself
“Fortify yourself with contentment, for this is an impregnable fortress.”
Dear friends,
The Sanskrit word ananda means bliss, divine joy, happiness, or contentment. Yogis tell us that this joy is not fleeting, nor does it depend on circumstances going our way. Instead it is a steady current, shifting and shimmering quietly beneath the surface of our daily activities.
Whether or not we're aware of it, those positive feelings are always near at hand. Ananda can take many forms - it might feel like a gentle peace, a spark of inspiration, or a simple smile when least expected. It can be the joy of watching the dance of the leaves falling to the ground or the wonder of seeing the mist on the lawn before the sunrise. Ananda is infinitely fluid, taking the shape of what we need at that time.
That current of bliss is always within us, no matter what storms or triumphs pass through our lives. It can support us when times are uncertain and it can share in our greatest achievements as well. We only need to tune in to notice it.
And we can do that when we're practicing yoga - on our mat or in our chair. Each breath, each movement, each pause in our practice, offers us a chance to connect to the joy within. From that point, we can fortify ourselves with bliss.
Ananda!
Nina G
Hope Revisited
Dear friends,
Back in January of this year we spent some time exploring topics from The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams. We touched on the topics of building strength, developing resilience, and connecting to the light as ways to practice the yoga of hope.
It turns out that Ms. Goodall was visiting the Chicago area this past week. She was bringing her messages of conservation and youth-empowerment to a group at the Lincoln Park Zoo. Jane believes that we can find practical solutions for the environmental and conservation challenges that the world now faces.
She ended her talk, as she always does, with the following statement:
Together we can, together we will, together we must: change the world.
The audience chimed in along with Jane. I'm guessing that the hopeful feeling in that room was palpable.
So, where does our yoga come in? Recall that great feeling that you have after you complete a yoga practice. Your body feels refreshed and calm, and you might feel a connection to something greater than yourself. You might even have a smile on your face or a spring in your step.
When we step off the mat and carry that connected feeling forward, something powerful happens. The good feelings, the positive awareness, and the openness we experience in our hearts all begin to ripple outward.
These ripples expand and send out subtle circles of love and hope into the world. These circles touch others in our community and beyond, often in ways we’ll never fully know or understand. Change can happen. It takes time.
So we must keep practicing. We must keep finding that connection and sharing it with humanity.
Together we can, together we will, together we must: change the world.
Love & hope,
Nina G
News & Notes - September 2025
Hi friends!
Here's the news you need to know for September:
New Chair Yoga Video:
There's a new video out on the channel - September Sun. It is a short sequence (<20 minutes) to help energize us and remind us to bask in the warmth of the golden September sun. We use the Surya Mudra - the gesture of the sun - in our practice. Give it a try!
Remember that these videos are free to everyone. If you know someone that might benefit from some mindful movement, please share the information with them. Thank you!
The Yoga of September:
Thank you for practicing with me. Whether you join me live, watch my videos, or read the newsletter, I’m so glad that we are able to share yoga.
I found this quote this week. It sounds like the yoga of September to me.
“So… ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space.”
Contemplate the precious stillness,
Nina G
Star Trek Day
Dear friends,
Tomorrow is Star Trek Day. The original TV series first aired on September 8, 1966, and that anniversary is worth celebrating!
USS Enterprise NCC-1701
I have shared with you before that I absolutely love Star Trek - I'm just a total Trekkie. I am enamored by producer Gene Roddenberry's view of the future. He saw it as something hopeful and positive.
People from all parts of this world (and Vulcan!) were represented on the bridge of the Enterprise. The crew was diverse but they worked together well and respected each other. Their main job was "to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations." The show was filled with curiosity, humor, and creative conflict resolution—all wrapped up in just 42 minutes!
It was a campy, but beautiful, vision of an idyllic tomorrow. Given all of the conflict and turmoil of our current times, I really love this alternate version of the future.
And here’s where we make the bridge to yoga (pun fully intended!). Yoga is all about connection. We link breath to movement, body to mind, and ourselves to something greater. When we practice, we touch on this truth: we are all far more alike than we are different
We're all on a journey of exploration. But instead of traveling through the stars, our journey is inward—the exploration of the self. The more we practice our yoga, the more clearly we come to understand our own true nature.
So, in honor of Star Trek’s 59th anniversary, I've decided to focus on a future filled with possibility - a future where we treat each other with kindness, where we explore the strange and unknown with curiosity, and where we can live in hope.
Please join me on your mat.
Live long & yoga,
Nina G