Fitness: Nicole Smith specialises in teaching yoga to athletes

Passionate about making yoga accessible, Nicole Smith teaches chair-based classes, wellbeing in the workplace and specialist yoga sessions for runners and athletes in Cambridge, Newmarket and beyond

My fitness story

I am a yoga teacher with a special interest in yoga for athletes. I teach yoga for runners’ classes and workshops. I am also passionate about making yoga accessible to those for whom a traditional mat-based class might not be suitable. I enjoy the creativity of chair yoga and the range of people, some with significant health conditions, who come to these classes including clients at Newmarket Day Centre. The other element of my teaching is in the workplace offering one-off or weekly classes to support staff wellbeing. This is how I came to discover yoga myself as free classes were offered by my then employer. I have been practicing yoga for over 20 years and teaching it for two years. I teach classes in Cambridge, Newmarket and the surrounding villages.

Why I love my job

The people! I love the sense of community created in my classes. There is always a lot of chatter and I reluctantly sound my chimes to start proceedings. I also love that with yoga you are continually learning. I will always be a student first and foremost as well as a teacher.

My go-to quick workout

I’m practicing a lot of what I call ‘yoga snacks’ at the moment. You don’t have to spend an hour on the mat to get the benefits and shorter sessions are easy to fit into your day particularly when life is busy. For me this might simply be standing in Tadasana (Mountain pose) with my eyes closed taking some breaths to ground myself or moving through a couple of rounds of Sun Salutation. This ‘snacking’ approach brings me more in tune with what my body and mind need on any given day.

My favourite feel-good long workout

My teacher Elaine Baker, back in my home county of Essex, offers a wonderful monthly two-hour yin yoga class called Sanctuary. I find this so relaxing and it’s wonderful for me to be guided by another teacher. I can’t go as often as I would like but when I do it’s always worth the trip.

From a running perspective I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with long runs when marathon training. The distance can feel daunting and they are naturally hard work. Yet they also offer some great headspace especially when done on trails.

The energy-boosting snack I swear by

I like making homemade energy balls from dates, walnuts, cacao powder and almond butter. They’re a sweet treat without any nastiness.

My indulgent treat food

A burger from Hank’s Dirty in Cambridge.

How I kick back and relax

I’m obviously going to say yoga! I also like to lose myself in a book.

My top tip for anyone who needs motivating to start exercising

Don’t be afraid to give something a go and try and put any preconceived ideas to one side. It’s easy to talk yourself out of going to a yoga class because you don’t think you are flexible enough or to not try a running group because you don’t think you’re fast enough. I’ve been to some amazing countries and met some wonderful people through both running and yoga – I couldn’t imagine my life without either now.

Find out more at calmwithnicole.com and follow on Facebook and Instagram @calmwithnicole