Nikki Dean Yoga & Tahoe Center for Health & Sports Performance

After falling in love with snowboarding on a trip to the Sundance Film Festival, I quit my television production job in NYC and moved to Lake Tahoe. I spent every possible hour on the mountain, usually covered head to toe in snow from getting tossed around, and having the time of my life. As soon as I’d get home, I’d lie on the floor and stretch to soothe my tired body. My friend took me to a yoga class and I was instantly hooked by the feeling of stretching and strengthening every single muscle in my body.  I went to yoga just about every day after that. I would gaze dreamily at my teacher, thinking she was so lucky to spend her day in yoga world. Two years later, I took my first teacher training at Kripalu, moved to New Zealand and started teaching. I’ve never looked back. No other job I’ve ever had has been more satisfying and felt less like work. 

It was serendipity. I was at West End Beach at Donner Lake when I got a call from another teacher asking if I could sub her SUP Yoga class there in a half hour. Having never done yoga on a paddleboard before, I hopped out on the water and gave it a try. It was so fun and exhilarating, calming and inspirational! I taught that class and have been playing and teaching yoga on my board ever since. 

My dear friend, talented photographer, entrepreneur, fellow yogini and Swedish vagabond, Micaela Malmi. She reminds me to follow my dreams and to be courageous, whether she is expanding her personal and professional horizons in her home base of San Diego or traveling around the world with her camera, her yoga mat and, if it fits in her bag, her paddleboard.

You can’t cheat! You’ve got to engage your core and your medial line the whole entire time to stay centered, but you also have to be soft in your joints to flow with the rhythm of the water. Becoming absorbed in the mental concentration while being immersed in nature, everything else seems to slip away.

You can’t beat the early morning. The glassy water, the cool morning air, the sun rising over the misty mountain side …it’s majestic. 

Skiing if it’s winter, hiking if it’s summer or playing at the park, lake or river with my husband and our boys. I’m so fortunate to live in one of nature’s best playgrounds! 

That’s like asking my kids what their favorite ice cream flavor is. Whatever flavor we have! My students constantly remark on how I never teach the same class twice. There are just too many poses, too much fun to be had to settle on just one. As my body has changed from my ski bum days, to having babies, and now that I’ve entered my 40’s, I love that on any single day I can pull a pose out of my pocket that’s just right for me.

I actually think Warrior poses are the most challenging. Any pose where your feet are far apart can be really difficult. 

You don’t have to be flexible to do yoga; you do yoga to become more flexible.  And the coolest part is that as you become more flexible in your body, you tend to become more flexible in your mind. 

I love working with cancer patients, survivors and caregivers. I’ve been teaching yoga and Yoga Nidra (deep relaxation) classes to cancer patients and their families for the past few years. Sometimes, I guide people in meditation during their chemo or radiation treatments to help them assimilate the healing.  Last year, I became a certified Cancer Exercise Specialist and released a Yoga Nidra CD inspired by my cancer group. It seems like so many people I know, and know of, are affected by cancer these days, and sadly, at younger and younger ages. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to help people reconnect with their bodies and ease their minds as they face their challenges. 

Yoga reminds me to set my intentions clearly, to live with effort, yet without strain and to stay present in my ever unfolding life. I guess that’s three lessons!

You are exactly where you are supposed to be, experiencing exactly what you are meant to experience. The question is what do you have to learn from being in this place?

Teaching is incredibly rewarding for me. Talking to students after class, hearing their stories of growth and personal discovery, it gives me the chills every time.

1. Create a Yoga for Cancer teacher training program and videos.
2. Paddleboard all the way around Lake Tahoe.
3. Spend time on an ashram in India.
4. Write a book. I’ve got three swirling in my head.
5. Go on the Amazing Race with my husband. And win.

You have to believe in who you are. As long as you believe in yourself, you will shine and others will believe in you. 

My imagination is infinite and I manifest all that I imagine.