ABOUT US
Nandini Narayanan is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and passionate mental health professional with over twenty years of experience in the field. During this time, she began to study and incorporate multiple mind-body interventions to help both her patients and herself, and became a yoga and mindfulness teacher, and Reiki Master. Practicing and teaching changed her life, and the lives of many of her patients, and students, as you will see in her story below. Nandini hopes to share this knowledge with you.
QUALIFICATIONS
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW - CA), with 25 years experience. Check out my LinkedIn profile
Registered Yoga Teacher (ERYT-500) with Yoga Alliance
Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider (YACEP)
Certified International Association of Yoga Therapy (C-IAYT)
Reiki Master with over 15 years of practice
Certified Mindfulness Teacher (CMT)
Transcendental Meditation Practitioner
Shiv Kailash Narayanan (RYT-200) is a student of Yoga Bharati and trained under his devoted teachers beginning with Youth Yoga Teacher Training followed by the 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training. He has practiced yoga his whole life and been a “teacher” with his mother Nandini in the infant and toddler yoga classes they taught together in La Jolla, California. He has championed yoga as an ambassador for integrative health by having his story shared through Boston Children’s Hospital’s fundraising initiatives. Learn more about Shiv’s story from the 2022 Yoga Reaches Out event by clicking the link: https://f.io/APVS6RmD
EXPERIENCE
Transcendental Meditation Practitioner
Lifelong Yoga Student, Yoga Bharati
Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200)
OUR STORY
My yoga teaching story begins with my extremely premature baby who was given a 50% chance of survival….-Nandini
This is the story of how my baby boy inspired me to teach yoga… -NN
I had a fulfilling career (as an oncology social worker), a husband I adored (and continue to cherish), and a wonderful home. Starting a family, however, proved to be a significant challenge. My initiation into teaching had begun...
The joy of carrying a healthy baby into the third trimester was quickly shattered when I delivered my baby three months premature. At 25 weeks of gestation, baby Shiv had premature lungs and struggled to breathe on his own. He weighed a few hundred grams, and fit the length of my husband’s palm. I often worried and feared about ensuring a healthy life for our son while in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Yoga became my hope, outlet, and refuge during that time mitigating the immense stress and trauma even as it was happening; and was something I could also pass on to my son no matter the outcomes.
Determined to give Shiv the best chance possible, I put a hold on being a full-time professional social worker, and focused entirely on being his mother. Incorporating yoga and pranayama (yogic breathing exercises) into my existing regimen of prayer, bhajans (singing the name of god and goddesses), and chanting (practices started from childhood in our home) were anchors both my baby and I needed. Having learned Reiki a year before, and explored other techniques of meditation including Metta Bhavana or LovingKindness Meditation, and Mindfulness as an oncology social worker, these tools now became tremendously useful to my own personal healing.
The benefits were profound, and did wonders for my mind, body, and soul. As I healed, so did our son. I knew inherently that my well-being was interconnected with his wellness. In fact, he began to thrive, surprising everyone! This was the beginning of my steady Self-Compassion practice. Parents and healthcare workers who saw these changes in my son began approaching me for advice and support, and I readily shared what I could.
Over time, I became certified/registered as a teacher in the different disciplines I was practicing and continued to stretch my knowledge and experience. I studied under many teachers across the US, including those that specialized in baby, toddler, and children’s yoga which I regularly practiced with our son and shared with people in our community including in the NICU and pediatric occupational therapy clinic. I am honored to be a student of Jack Kornfield, Ph.D., and Tara Brach, Ph.D. studying Mindfulness and Compassion and graduating from their teacher training program. My Yoga teachers who I am continually learning from are Diana Pipaloff, Yogananda Bharati, Indu Arora, Chitra Sukhu, Ashwhini Surpur and Louise Allen. I humbly bow to them and many other teachers and mentors who have bestowed me with their teachings in the paths of yoga, reiki, social work and Bharatanatyam-classical South Indian dance. My teachers live inside of me and fuel my inspiration daily.
When I finally returned to work again (after Shiv started pre-school), I took these healing practices into the workplace and was gladdened by how enthusiastically my patients responded. They genuinely appreciated the integration of body-mind-east-west techniques. Alongside social work, I began teaching both meditation and yoga professionally in local studios in Southern California.
When the multiple polycrisises, pandemics of COVID, social justice, a country’s delayed historical reckoning with its inception, hit in 2020, I felt a fundamental shift inside of me. An awakening of the heart, a clarion call to address narratives dominated by a western lens, in addition to health crises that people faced, the area I was devoted to as a medical social worker. As colleagues and frontline workers I knew (many of whom were family members) threw themselves into their work, I felt I had to do more!
Since then, I have been offering free weekly classes in yoga, LovingKindness meditation, and mindfulness to those interested, in the spirit of belonging to one another in our interconnected universe. Hoag Hospital, where I had originally served as their oncology social worker, and the Melinda Hoag Smith Center for Healthy Living have been invaluable collaborators over the years in helping me offer integrative mental health that bridges eastern and western modalities in service of well being. In Yoga Bharati I have found a reconnection to the roots of yoga for which I am grateful. Through Orange Coast College and Samueli Academy I am humbled to bring Yoga to underserved youth through education in Yoga and Mindfulness.
At present I am delving into the deep and personal work of connecting to my indigenous civilizational roots of Sanathana Dharma of Bharat - India, from which all the branches of Yoga, Buddhism and Shakti traditions emerge. As I connect to and embody my indigeneity I sense a freedom and dignity that is unmatched.
The classes offered are free, accessible by Zoom, and open to everyone. So I hope to see you in class one of these days!
Thank you for giving me this chance to share my story. You are warmly invited to join Shiv and I in our yoga journey.
With love and gratitude,
Nandini Narayanan
Baby Shiv, a few weeks after birth. He couldn't breathe or eat on his own, and fit the size of my hand. He had tubes everywhere, and was given a 50% chance of surviving. He was also predicted to have severe developmental delays.
Yoga nourished us both. I learned and practiced constantly with him, and he absolutely thrived. He quickly surpassed all developmental expectations. Other parents and healthcare workers were eager to learn and turn the odds in their favor as well, and I wanted to give them those tools. I became certified to teach babies, toddlers, youth, and adults and began to share what I had learned with everyone else.
Shiv is now nearly 6 feet tall, healthy, excelling in regular school, and an ardent yoga and meditation practitioner. His developmental delays are minimal, and yoga continues to help him refine his motor skills, agility, and hand-eye coordination. It has also given him the ability to deal with anxiety and stress in a healthy way.
I am extremely grateful for the part Yoga has played in making my family possible, and keeping us together and healthy. Picture captures our lifelong commitment to Yoga Reaches Out - Boston Children's Hospital.
It is a family affair. My husband and son regularly accompany me to training sessions, and join me for class everyday.
You aren't seeing double! I have an identical twin, and both she and my mom (center) regularly attend class with me.
Yoga & Meditation are a huge part of my life today, and I love sharing and teaching what I have learned. I can't imagine doing anything else in my life.
I love teaching kids and young adults, and incorporate all kinds of techniques to get them engaged. Here we did a rock-painting session to set the mood for our meditation class.
I practice everywhere, and feel particularly inspired by nature. Being of Indian origin is a huge part of my identity and I regularly go back to India to recharge and reconnect. Here I am by the Ganges, just outside the holy city of Rishikesh. Shiv is behind me. It's important to me that he gets exposed to these things as he grows.