Simone Nitzan Yoga

21/10/2026

21/10/2026

Azores retreat day 2

Exhale a little longer. The shoulders relax. The tension starts to release.

I’m captivated by the raw beauty of nature here, and by the vulnerability of human emotion when people feel safe enough to let it show.

Everyone arrives from a different place in their life, each in search of something. What they find is comfort and community. Belonging. A sense of centre. A deeper kind of peace.

Listening to the ocean and watching the sun rise is powerful medicine.

19/10/2026

Azores Retreat Day 1

Arrival day can be a lot, we’re sleep deprived, exhausted and excited to finally have the day arrive. We see the place there’s a mix of feelings as certain expectations are met or exceeded and others aren’t.

Being on retreat is meant to push you, to help you dive into yourself and to be with yourself. The best thing about running retreats is watching people truly embody and be with the knowledge that they are enough exactly as they are. They don’t need to apologize for existing, they can take up space, be seen and heard and cared for.

What a tremendous privilege it is to do this work!

At the spectacular Xhale Azores what a delight to be here!!!

17/10/2026

Getting my bearings in Angra do Hermoísmo, Terceira island Azores! Retreat starts in 2 days!

17/10/2026

For the rest of us, retreat gives the nervous system time and space to fully release. Most of us don’t realize our background stress level until it finally has somewhere to go.

I’ve just arrived in the Azores, and I can already feel my nervous system downshifting as I prepare to meet the group in a few days. On retreat, my exhale naturally lengthens and my shoulders release, usually around day three.

Being in community helps. When the people around you are softening, your body follows.

But we can’t be on retreat all the time. When I’m not, I use Yoga Nidra. It’s one of the most powerful tools I know for calming an overstimulated nervous system, and honestly, I need it almost every day.

I sent out a free Yoga Nidra in my newsletter today. If you don’t want to miss the next one, sign up at the link in my bio.

And if you’re feeling the pull toward retreat, there are a couple of spots left in Ecuador this February and a few in Sicily this May/June. DM me if you’re curious.

15/10/2026

It’s often said that thirty minutes of Yoga Nidra can feel like two hours of sleep. But the real work happens in the space between waking and sleep.

There, your brain waves slow and you drop beneath the thinking mind, reaching layers of your being you likely aren’t aware of.

Much of our life runs on subconscious programming laid down in childhood to keep us safe. As we grow, those patterns stop serving us, but they keep running quietly in the background.

Once we see they’re working against us, we want a way out. Yoga Nidra is one of the most powerful practices I know to loosen their grip.

It also serves you on the days you need rest, when you’re exhausted, overwhelmed, burnt out, or just a human living in this overstimulated world. I’ve practiced for over 13 years and love it as much today as when I first discovered it.

On Saturday, I’m sending a new Yoga Nidra on healing the physical body to my newsletter. To receive it, sign up through the link in my bio.

Let this practice serve you, open you up, and help you let go.

13/10/2026

One of the greatest things I’ve learned from Judith Hanson Lasater is that no one can make me feel anything without my permission.

I’m responsible for my own emotional state. And I’m not responsible for anyone else’s.

That second part is where many of us get stuck. If you’ve spent years caring for others, you probably know the reflex. Someone you love is upset, and you rush in to fix it.

For me, it’s my children. It’s so hard to watch your child suffer, and it’s natural to want to make them happy when they’re upset. But one of our most important jobs as parents is teaching our children how to be with uncomfortable emotions. And that’s almost impossible if we can’t be with our own.

When someone we love is upset, it can wake up our own hurt child. Healing those wounds is one of the most responsible things we can do.

Their feelings are theirs to feel. Your work is to stay steady enough to be there while they do.

11/10/2026

When I was trying to get pregnant with my first child, a Chinese medicine doctor told me to trick my body into thinking I was resting all the time.

She saw someone depleted, stressed, undernourished and exhausted. Waking before 5, doing two to three hours of yoga a day, teaching 15-plus classes a week and eating little more than salad looked healthy from the outside. Inside, my body was stuck in fight or flight.

After two years of trying, I did exactly what she said and was pregnant within three months.

That’s when I fell in love with restorative yoga and realized it’s a missing piece for most of us. Our accomplishment-driven culture tells us to do more, produce more, consume more. No wonder so many of us live with chronic pain or illness. Our nervous systems are in overdrive.

In a parasympathetic state, our bodies can build back, heal and recover. That’s why I do a Savasana every day, and why restorative yoga is part of everything I teach. When people learn to rest consciously, things shift. Tension releases. Old scars heal. So much more becomes possible.

You don’t need another coffee to push through. You need a Savasana.

10/10/2026

Many of us think our stiff, achy lower backs need to be stretched out. Most of the time, that’s not what they need.

You need to release the muscles that are tight, wake up the muscles that are sleepy, and move the joints that are stiff.
For 10 years, I’ve refined my own back care routine out of necessity. When I’m overtired, stressed, or overwhelmed, the pain settles into my right SI joint.

I’ve taught for over 20 years and hold two university degrees in kinesiology. I’ve worked with thousands of students and so many back issues. So I can say this with confidence: this routine will help your back.

Imagine moving through the world without having to think about your back. Taking the long walk without needing to rest, or playing with your kids or grandkids without bracing for the pain.

On October 27 at 4 p.m. ET, I’m teaching The Back Pain Reset, a free live class on Zoom. If you can’t make it live, you’ll get the recording.

Comment BACK and I’ll send you the link to register.

Please send this to anyone you know with a sore lower back.

09/10/2026

I don’t practice on the mat to get good at yoga. I practice so I can bring something from it into the rest of my day.

Practicing noticing my breath on the mat helps me notice it everywhere else too. In the car. In the kitchen. In the middle of a conversation I’d rather not be having.

Staying present on the mat is the easy part. Staying present when life gets hard is the real practice.

There’s no magic cure. You do the work, and you keep showing up. Some days that’s all it is.