Nicole Renée Matthews has been practicing yoga for mental health for a decade. Her personal journey with anxiety, depression, and pharmaceutical use as a teen inspired her to find accessible, every day solutions for healing and wholeness. When she found yoga, she found guiding principles for navigating difficult times. Today, Nicole strives to inspire in her students curiosity, compassion, and lifelong self-study. She is also the founder and CEO of Our Conscious Agency, a cultural and somatic staffing solutions agency providing yoga classes and holistic health services to organizations whose missions are focused on well-being and connection.
Nicole cultivates community as the director of Charym Yoga Studio in Litchfield, Connecticut, as well as serving as the Director of Yoga for Newport Academy. Nicole was inspired to pursue her first yoga teacher training in 2011 after several years studying and practicing ahimsa, mindfulness and functional athletic training. Nicole has completed an Ashtanga Vinyasa certificate, trauma informed yoga curriculum, Institute of Integrative Nutrition Health Coach Certification and a bachelors of science from Western Michigan University. Nicole designed her bachelor’s degree to enhance her yoga teaching practice with a focus on holistic mental health, trauma work and recovery from addiction. She continues to study with a multigenerational community of yogis from diverse backgrounds.
Nicole immerses her mind each day in ideas new and ancient to grow as a guide for holistic well-being and applying yogic sciences to every day life. She believes that the best way to guide teens in yoga is to listen to them. Nicole was chosen as one of 60 yoga professionals from 23 countries for the first Yoga Ambassadors Tour of Kerala, India.
Newport Academy…in her own words
“Newport Academy treats teens as whole people with unique visions for their lives. Through adventure, Equine Therapy, yoga, and art, as well as traditional models of individual and family therapy, teens have the chance to deepen their sense of self and find what sparks their joy in life. Newport Academy fosters a sense of wholeness, acknowledges that we all lose our center from time to time, and offers methods to return to our true selves with compassion.”–Nicole Renée Matthews
Contact
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media@newportacademy.com
Select Achievements
- Certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, New York, New York
- Certifications in Reiki 1 and 2
- Bachelor’s of Science degree, focused on addiction, holistic health, and nutrition, from Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo