Trust the Timing: Nicole Dyck's Sister Science Story

in 2012, Nicole Dyck walked nervously into her first yoga class at Alchemy. Knowing that something needed to shift for her, a hyper independent widowed Mom, finally choosing to step out of the insular safe life she had created.  From her first yoga class to the leap into Teacher Training in 2019, Nicole shares a story of being vulnerable with strangers, asking for helps, opening up, sharing, and letting her light shine. Today, she's a yoga teacher, diving into intensive Yoga Therapy studies, and living proof that your Yoga mat finds you at exactly the right moment. In this episode, Jill sits down with Nicole - one of the original 16 women in Jill & Jody's very first 2019 Yoga Teacher Training - to trace a journey that has been anything but linear. Weeks after completing that training, Nicole found a lump in her breast. By December 27th, she had a breast cancer diagnosis. And then COVID hit. What unfolded in the years that followed is a story of radical opening learning to ask for help, finding her voice in the seat of the teacher, building a beloved chair yoga community, and recently discovering yoga therapy after being diagnosed with osteoarthritis in both knees. Nicole shares how yoga gave her the one thing she didn't know she was missing: freedom. Freedom to be imperfect, to grieve, to love again, to run (yes, run!) up a flight of stairs with no pain, and to show up fully for her students, community, family, partner, and the grandbaby on the way. This conversation will move you. Grab a tissue, settle in, and let Nicole's story remind you to trust the timing of your own life. Nicole teaches at High River & District Seniors Friendship Centre and the Bob Snodgrass Recreation Complex.  She can be reached at [email protected].   Topics explored: breast cancer survivorship, grief and widowhood, vulnerability, yoga teacher training, chair yoga for seniors, yoga therapy, neuroplasticity, osteoarthritis, and the healing power of community.