“All Life is Yoga”
-Sri Aurobindo
Nancy LaNasa began her Yoga practice in 1986 in the East Village of New York City. She started taking classes at a local aerobics studio there with Sharon Gannon, who became the co-founder of the renowned Jivamukti Yoga School along with her partner David Life. She also took weekly classes with Dharma Mittra, another acclaimed NYC yogi. Sharon and David mentored her and she led classes at their school, along with working in the office there. In 1990 Nancy traveled to India and received Yoga teaching certification at the Sivananda Yoga Ashran in Neyyar Dam, Kerala. Coming back to NYC she resumed teaching at the Jivamukti Yoga School and at several health clubs, along with teaching weekly classes as a volunteer at the Gay Mens’ Health Crisis in Chelsea. In 1995, Nancy became one of the first certified Jivamukti Yoga teachers in the world. She opened Abhaya Yoga Center in Pensacola, FL in 2006 and closed it in 2013, moving her classes to Breathe Yoga and Wellness Center and to her backyard yoga room she calls Abhaya Above which Tom, her husband of 42 years built for her above their garage. Abhaya Yoga Center was voted Pensacola’s “Best Yoga” every year the center was open. With the beginning of the Covid pandemic she began teaching on the Zoom platform through the auspices of Breathe. Now that Breathe has closed she continues to teach on Zoom and offers private yoga sessions at Abhaya Above. Abhaya is a Sanskrit word which means “fearless.” She grows lots of camellias (and weeds) and loves really loud rock’n’roll music along with Yoga and Pilates. Because “All Life IS Yoga.”
