Meet Nicole Antoinette Lewis: Yoga Goddess

Featured in SD Voyager Trailblazers Series

“I consider myself a Renaissance woman; after all, I share the same birthday as Michelangelo. I have also been referred to as a social butterfly, yogi, writer, artist, teacher, and culinary Goddess. Have you ever been inspired by something so simple yet powerful that it struck you in a way you could not explain? Maybe wildflowers on the side of the road, butterflies fluttering, a vibrant painting, or an exquisite spring salad with strawberries? There is magic everywhere. We find pieces of ourselves inside the things that inspire us and share them with others. I never knew how to define success until I chose the path of inspiration.

I am the business owner of Mariposa Yoga & The Creative Arts. I offer yoga as an afterschool program at local schools around San Diego. My grandmother introduced me to a holistic way of living when I was young, and I worked in daycares to pay for college. Naturally, I was drawn to becoming a teacher, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine being a yoga instructor for children.

My yoga journey started twenty-five years ago in college at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. I studied English Literature with a minor in Art History and enrolled in a yoga course to fulfill a Physical Education requirement. I was a gymnast growing up, and I thought, “How hard could it be to take yoga?” I was wrong; yoga goes deeper than stretching and exercise. I was self-conscious in my first yoga class and wasn’t ready to be that open or dig deeper into my psyche.

Years later, I became a Montessori teacher and worked at Escuela Del Sol/Harwood Arts Center in New Mexico. Cindy, the teacher whose class I took over, sadly died of cancer. She left her teaching materials. The night she died, she came to me in my dream and said goodbye. She was trying to send me a message to take care of her students. Among the teaching materials, she beyond was  a yoga for kids book. One day, I sensed my students needed something other than the usual lesson, so I pulled out the yoga book and led them in yoga poses. Before I knew it, yoga was incorporated into our morning circle. We had a huge ficus tree in the classroom; it was a daily ritual to gather around it and do yoga. We even named it The Tree of Life, because it was alive and healthy.  We all believed that Cindy’s spirit lived through the tree.

The children led me to the path of yoga, but I wasn’t ready to surrender to that fact yet. When I moved to San Diego fifteen years ago, once again, yoga reappeared in my life. I was teaching at a Montessori school and incorporated yoga into my class. Parents told me their children were coming home and practicing yoga and that I should consider starting my own business, so I did just that! I started a business that infused the creative arts with yoga. I have taught yoga to children in the K-12th grade and facilitated yoga and journaling workshops for adults. Teaching yoga has been life-changing, and in 2014, I received my Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) from Pilgrimage of the Heart in North Park, San Diego. I wanted to strengthen my knowledge as an instructor of kids and for my sacred practice. I love it, and I don’t think I will ever stop.”

To read the whole article about my yoga journey, click here. Meet Nicole Antoinette Lewis.