About Nina

I was always curious about the human body/mind. My curiosity led me to study Yoga, Anatomy and Physiology, Psychology and Nutrition. My goal is to live a holistic and sustainable life, and my passion is to help others heal, grow and thrive. I share my knowledge and experience using different avenues, mainly as an educator, blogger and therapist.

 

biography


I started practising Yoga when I moved to London in 1998. My life then took me over the Atlantic in the US, where I continued to practice, got my first Yoga Teacher diploma in 2005 and started to teach. In 2006 I decided to move back to Europe and opened Sangha Yoga Studio in my hometown Zagreb, Croatia. I continued to attend Yoga workshops and take courses worldwide and soon acquired a 300-hour Yoga Teacher certification. I have studied with some of the best Yoga Teachers today, too many to name, and am very grateful for everything I have learned.

Out of my studies, my personal practice and the daily classes and workshops I taught, a method of Vinyasa Yoga was born, and I was ready to offer it in Yoga Teacher Training courses. So in 2009, I established a Yoga Teacher Training school. As I grew as a teacher, so did the school. I soon offered Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training and 200 and 300-hour programmes in Milan, Italy, Sri Lanka and Portugal. 

As I taught Teacher Training courses, guest workshops and Yoga retreats worldwide, I could no longer teach regular classes in my Yoga studio as I was away most of the time. I also wanted to spend more time in Portugal and started contemplating making it a home base. So in 2019, I closed my studio and moved to Portugal. 

My curiosity about the mind and mental health led me to study Body-Oriented psychotherapy (Core Evolution with Siegmar and Cornelia Gerkin), which I finished in 2018. I also became more interested in Trauma work and took numerous courses with some of the best professionals in the field. I also decided to pursue a psychology degree. My newly acquired knowledge led me to develop programs connecting Yoga and psychology, such as Somatic Awareness and Trauma Sensitive Yoga. Parallel to this, I enrolled in a Yoga Therapy programme and learned more about Yoga as a healing tool for various health challenges. I have also done a course in plant-based nutrition in clinical practice. 

Today I mainly work as an educator, leading Spanda Institute Advanced Training programmes and developing new ones. I also offer one-to-one therapy sessions, usually a mix of Yoga Therapy, Psychotherapy and holistic health advice. My passion is to help my students and clients learn more about themselves and to help them heal, grow and thrive. 

And I keep learning and being curious about human body/mind.


Learning never exhausts the mind.
— Leonardo da Vinci

education

(In Yoga and other holistic disciplines)

  • 200-hour YTTC Miami Yogashala

  • 300-hour Prana Flow YTTC with Shiva Rea

  • Yoga Tradition Teacher Training with Georg Feuerstein

  • Various Yoga workshops

  • Ayurvedic studies (various courses) 

  • Core Evolution Body-Oriented Psychotherapy course

  • Meditation and Mindfulness Teacher Training

  • Anatomy Specialisation - University of Michigan

  • Neuroscience courses (various)

  • Master program for Trauma treatment (Bessel van der Kolk et al.)

  • iRest level I (Yoga Nidra by Richard Miller)

  • Yoga Therapy Training (Soul of Yoga)

  • Plant-based Nutrition in Clinical Practice (University of Winchester)

  • BsC (Honours) Psychology (curent)