speaker
WHAT DRIVES HER TO SHARE
In 2018 a good friend and fellow yoga teacher asked Nikki a question that changed her life: what’s it like to be the only prominent Black yoga teacher in the city? Two questions arose within her in reply: “Is that true?” and “Am I Black?” and both would propel Nikki forwards in a new and life changing direction. Up until this moment in her life she hadn’t really reckoned with her racial identity. Both out of a desire to be something she wasn’t and out of a fear for what facing herself would both add and take away from her life. This moment however led her to both face who she was and to examine her life through a whole new lens and it demanded she take responsibility as a community leader both in yoga and beyond.
What did her story look like if she finally faced that she was a woman of colour in a world not often made for her? She began to look around and realize as a full-time yoga teacher she was often singular in spaces both as a student and as someone standing at the front of the rooms. A practice taken from India saw no cultural representation or diversity and she began to wonder how she could have an impact in changing that. She sought out leaders, teachers and trainers locally and around the world to learn from and study with who were invested in the tradition of yoga and its intersection in social justice work while having a meaningful impact in community and she voraciously learned whatever she could so that she could begin to lead from a place of knowledge and certainty as she demanded her local community and its leaders do better and more to create more diverse, equitable and inclusive spaces.
All of this led to a new and integral part of Nikki’s work: bringing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion talks and trainings to the local community with the hopes of creating more diverse and equitable spaces. While she also ran a yoga program at a local studio she built the most diverse team of yoga teachers in the city and has since expanded her talks and trainings to be delivered in corporate environments and anywhere people are looking to change their spaces for the better and inspire their team to be part of that change.
THE STORYTELLER
From 2019 onward Nikki has been a guest on a number of podcasts and has participated in local storytelling events. Through these experiences she began to realize that speaking to people, weaving a story with words in the present moment, much like teaching a yoga class, could be profoundly impactful, transformative and inspiring, and was something she absolutely loved doing.
Nikki has grounded all of her talks in her own story. Sharing from personal experience; being completely honest and vulnerable in a way she’d only done previously in fictional stories. She’s become passionate in talking about her journey to self-acceptance in a world not always willing to acknowledge she deserved it, and her work is firmly rooted in the yogic practices of self-love, liberation and the essential work of being compassionately present in the world for ourselves and each other.
She is a captivating and yet relatable speaker who consistently leaves groups wanting more and loves to facilitate conversation after her talks so that people can see themselves in the essential work of making spaces and the world a safer and more accepting place for all.
CHANGEMAKERS: EMBODIED & inclusive LEADERSHIP iN action
This workshop is for people in a leadership role, or who hold positions of power and influence in their work or communities. It’s designed to support those who are training or mentoring, leading teams, or holding space for groups with diverse individuals so that they can understand how to actively participate in creating spaces that are safer and more equitable for Black, POC, LGBTQ+ and other marginalized folks. This workshop is about what it takes to place ourselves in the work of creating more equitable, diverse and inclusive spaces and how we must first be willing to look within at our own privileges, biases and more as an important starting point.
If you are in a role of leadership you are having an impact either for or against the movement to change. This workshop will support you becoming more self-aware and help support you in seeing your place in making change... in being a CHANGEMAKER for yourself, your clients/students/peers, and your community and staff which is such important and vital work in the world today.
Get inspired to be part of the change for yourself and others!
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
- DE&I basics and where and how they show up in everyday life, spaces and communities
- Embodiment and how it supports leadership and becoming an advocate for change
- Assessing your lens, biases and positionality while becoming more self-aware in action and reaction
- Power and how you can harness your own to be a voice for change and to speak up for those who are powerless to do so
- What incremental and sustainable change look like
- How to move from knowledge to action
yoga IN ACTION: THE ALCHEMY OF MAKING CHANGE
This 3 part, 21 hour Yoga Alliance CEC (certified continuing education) course melds the beautiful tradition, philosophy and practice of yoga beyond asana with the modern-day movement of inclusive leadership and social justice in order to empower teachers and students alike to take their yoga off their mats and into the world.
In a world that requires leaders and changemakers Yoga has the potential to be what leads us into action and what teaches us accountability for our participation in systems of harm and oppression, while empowering us to be part of the change needed to move our communities and the world towards accountability, sustainability, inclusivity and community care. We do this through our own journeys of self-reflection, self-study and most importantly embodiment, where we can witness our resistance, biases and anything else holding us back from being actively engaged, in some way, in social movements and change.
As a 500hr-ERY-T with a decade of full-time yoga teaching experience during which she has supported or co-facilitated a number of 200hr and 300hr YTTs Nikki is an experienced leader and teacher of teachers who brings her experience as a person of colour, often singular in yoga spaces, and as a community leader in creating more inclusive and diverse yoga spaces, to this amazing offering. She is a certified Integral Facilitator and since 2020 has developed CHANGEMAKERS and its various courses where she speaks to groups of all types in support of creating more accessible, inclusive and diverse spaces while supporting people in seeing themselves in the work of being part of the change.
This is Yoga IN ACTION and will give you the tools and support to feel empowered as leaders - in a world desperately in need of them - to make changes first within yourself, and through that, in the spaces and communities you teach and move in, and beyond.
PURPOSEFUL: The Pursuit and Realization of a Passionate Life
Nikki is a passionate speaker and shares from her own experience and story. From addiction and depression as a teen and into her late twenties, to losing her father and how it led her to a spiritual life and new beginnings, from her struggles and loneliness as a person of colour in yoga spaces to how that led her to become an advocate for change in yoga and fitness spaces and studios as well as a community leader in the DE&I movement along the way. From her most heartfelt story, one of failing at a young age as a writer and then finding her voice again years later and how that led her to publish her novels and find her way into film, nothing is off limits as she shares from the heart to inspire and ignite a fire in others to chase their dreams and make change in their lives
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
- Finding and embracing your passion
- How to embrace the commitment, dedication and drive to build a successful life
- Acting courageously and making decisions with certainty and without fear
- Breaking down the barriers within and outside of ourselves to realize your dreams
- Grief, loss and sacrifice and their role on a spiritual path
podcast appearances
Listen below:
Always open to sharing her story of addiction, grief, the journey towards finding spirituality and more Nikki can be found sharing her story on a number of podcasts.
- The Blackout Podcast Ep. 158 Writer/Yoga Teacher
- Yoga Strong Ep 95: The Truth of Myself
- 365YogaDream On the Mat with Nikki Martin
- SHE Quest S4 Ep. 1 Brave Honesty, #BlackLivesMatter & Owning your masks
- Constellate Stories Ep. 20 Self Love live storytelling event
- R Community Exposed Ep. 4 Addiction
- Bent Over Wellness Ep. 29 Recovery, Writing & Retreats
- The Rite Good Podcast Ep 12 Yoga Teacher, Life & Death, Inner Wisdom and Philosophy