Liva Nitschke Duer
VINYASA
Describe your classes in 3 words
Playful, grounding and touching
What is your story with Yoga?
My mom gave me a piece of paper with drawings of the 5 tibetans, when I was packing my backpack for my first long travel. In New Zealand I started doing these exercises every morning. As a former gymnast my body responded quite well to these movements and my mind felt free because for the first time I was moving without being judged in a competition. My first trip to New Zealand was 10 years ago and I have done yoga everyday since.
How are students going to feel after attending one of your classes?
A tiny bit more connected and present in their own body and life.
What is Vinyasa yoga to you?
Vinyasa is a yoga practise where you’re in flow with your body and breath in a beautiful moving meditation.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received?
Don’t carry grudges and forgive easily.
What is your favourite snack?
Salty: Palm kale chips made from kale freshly picked in my garden. Sweet: Laddoos. I always return from Nepal with my bags full of laddoos.
Tell us 3 things we don't know about you
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I feel like a child even though my life is very grown-up like with husband, twins, house and car. Luckily my kids remind me to play everyday.
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Before kids I did a lot of climbing and mountaineering, which led me to Nepal where I became a mountain guide, learned the language and by coincidence became a famous folk-singer.
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I have a weakness for Nepali/Indian culture such as the food, the Bollywood movies and their outfits. My closet is filled with traditional Nepali clothing and I even got married in a saree.
What influences your teaching?
I think above all my own yoga practise but also by nature, seasons and life itself. As a physiotherapist I’m a bit nerdy with biomechanics and anatomy which I love to use to make my classes a bit more technical and safe.
What are your trainings?
My roots of yoga are from Nepal and traditional Hatha yoga. My first teacher training was really old school. I was the only student and I lived and practiced with 2 gurus everyday for 3 months. In Nepal the yoga environment is very male-dominated and the style is therefore where masculine - filled with rules and a very strong practice. Now I love to embrace the feminime and invite in the softness. My last teacher training was elemental vinyasa with Faye and I’m still harvesting creativity from it.
What does your perfect Sunday look like?
It starts early with an early morning practice followed by a cold dip in the ocean. Rest of the day is spent with my family in nature and ends with a home cooked dinner.