Nicole Stone
As a child I was always moving. I would feel currents of energy circulating in and around me and all I could do was move with them. Just walking down my elementary school hallway felt
like a dance. As a teenager, I spent time at the beach practicing spontaneous fluid
movements with the rhythm of the waves at sunset. Just for the pleasure of it.
Movement, as the great love of my life, has served as a means for me to express myself
and has provided a container in which I ask my life questions. The ways I engage with
movement intimately reflect my experiences, perceptions, and understanding of what it
means to be human. And these, of course, are continually evolving.
At age seventeen I found yoga and meditation. I practiced on my mat every day for several
years and even lived at an ashram for a couple summers to deepen my studies.
In college, I immersed myself in Dance. Not only did I get the opportunity to study dances
from all over the world, I also had the opportunity to choreograph and perform for audiences
large and small. In the years after college I dove deeper into movement improvisation, studying with masters like Anna Halprin, Deborah Hay, and Ruth Zaporah. I performed solo improvised pieces on stages in Whidbey Island, San Francisco, and Berkeley. While I was making progress artistically, I was struggling financially and needed to find sustainable employment.
I turned to the field of Elementary Education which was familiar to me because my mom was a kindergarten teacher and I spent much time volunteering in her classroom during my childhood. I earned a Master's Degree in Education and began working in Bay Area elementary schools, trying to bring movement to the children when I could. But, this was a more challenging endeavor than I anticipated. My ideals were being put to the test under standardization and bureaucracy. After working in elementary schools for seven years, I entered into a new phase of life-- my husband and I welcomed our sweet son into the world. I left elementary school teaching and became a full-time mother for the first few years of my son's life. The experience of birthing and nurturing him propelled me to find movement that gently revitalized my new maternal body. I desired to strengthen myself from the inside out. I wanted to (re-) learn how to roll, crawl, and walk with him!
Just after my son turned one year old in 2011, I took my first Qigong class. Moving slowly from my belly was so deeply satisfying and reassuring. I felt like a fish re-discovering water. I could breathe and flow again! I was home.
Qigong brings together my love of fluid movement, my interest in preventative, sustainable health for individuals and communities, and my sincere curiosity in what it means to be human. Since studying qigong, my digestion has improved, my emotions are more balanced, my internal voice is more compassionate, and I have reconnected to my sense of Center-Within. Qigong helped me source an inner stability as I grieved the loss of my mother in 2013 and my father in 2021. Qigong has given me tools to engage in my daily life with more spacious awareness and presence. Connected to my Center, to the earth below and cosmos above, I am able to engage with others with more ground under my feet, trust in my heart, and freedom in my mind.
I spent two years studying Medical Qigong, Chinese Medicine, and Daoist Meditation through the Qigong and Daoist Training Center. I deepened my studies by completing a 150 hour Medical Qigong Therapy certificate program at the Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College in Berkeley. I am also deeply impacted by my studies of Wild Goose Qigong with the late Dr. Hu and ongoingly with Micheline Bogey, a tai chi and qigong master in her own right.
The practice of Qigong gave me the strength I needed to return to my yoga practice. For the past 7 years, alongside Qigong, I have been studying Yoga more deeply. I have found it to be a great complement to Qigong. Both of these ancient practices have ways of working with the body to expel the old and bring in the new. They both have ways to create balance in our being. They both have ways to take us deep inside, so that our conscious awareness can saturate every cell of our Being. In 2022 I completed a 500-hour Iyengar-Inspired Yoga Training through The Yoga Room in Berkeley and am currently teaching yoga at this studio twice a week.
I practice Qigong and Yoga for three main reasons: Health, Nourishment, and Joy. By harmonizing my breath with my movements and allowing my muddled thoughts and emotions to settle, I am able to sip from the great well of stillness within myself and feel both present and at peace. It is my honor and delight to share these practices with you!
Qigong Training
Ongoing studies with Micheline Bogey ~ Wild Goose Qigong
Three year study with Dr. Bingkun Hu in the Wild Goose Qigong lineage
Ongoing studies in Embryology and Embodied Anatomy with Bonnie Bainbridge-Cohen
Medical Qigong Therapy Certification at Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College with Suzannah Stason, L.A.c
Advanced Qigong Teaching Certification 300 Hours, Qigong and Daoist Training Center with shifu Michael Rinaldini
Three months Zhineng Qigong training through The Chi Center with Mingtong Gu
Three months Wild Goose Qigong training through Energy Matters Acupuncture
Anatomy and Physiology, East and West Workshop, The Chi Nei Tsang Institute
Cultivating the Kidney Energy and Embodying Embryology Workshops, Bonnie Bainbridge-Cohen, founder of Body-Mind Centering
Yoga Training
Ongoing studies with Mary Lou Weprin at The Yoga Room
Ongoing studies in Anatomy and Kinesiology
500 Hours Yoga Teaching Certificate, Advanced Studies Program at The Yoga Room, Berkeley
Sivananda Yoga: Practiced, Lived and Worked at Sivananda Ashrams: Venice Beach, Grass Valley, upstate New York
Education
M.A. in Developmental Teacher Education, UC Berkeley
B.A. Double-Major: Dance and Religion, Wesleyan University
Influences
Backpacking and Hiking
Swimming in pools, lakes, oceans, bays
Somatic Practices: Continuum Movement with Emilie Conrad, Body-Mind Centering with Bonnie Bainbridge-Cohen,
Authentic Movement, Feldenkrais, and Hanna Somatics with various teachers
Improvisation: Studies with Anna Halprin, Deborah Hay, Ruth Zaporah, Owen Walker, Zuza Engler, Jeremy Weichsel
American Dance: Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Modern
World Dance: South Indian (Bharatanatyam), Javanese, West African, Afro-Cuban, Flamenco
Spiritual Streams: Diamond Approach (main), Daoism, Tibetan Buddhism, Contemplative Christianity, Sufism
Meditation Practices: Lower Dantian Concentration practice, Micro-cosmic Orbit practice, and Zuowang non-doing practice
As a child I was always moving. I would feel currents of energy circulating in and around me and all I could do was move with them. Just walking down my elementary school hallway felt
like a dance. As a teenager, I spent time at the beach practicing spontaneous fluid
movements with the rhythm of the waves at sunset. Just for the pleasure of it.
Movement, as the great love of my life, has served as a means for me to express myself
and has provided a container in which I ask my life questions. The ways I engage with
movement intimately reflect my experiences, perceptions, and understanding of what it
means to be human. And these, of course, are continually evolving.
At age seventeen I found yoga and meditation. I practiced on my mat every day for several
years and even lived at an ashram for a couple summers to deepen my studies.
In college, I immersed myself in Dance. Not only did I get the opportunity to study dances
from all over the world, I also had the opportunity to choreograph and perform for audiences
large and small. In the years after college I dove deeper into movement improvisation, studying with masters like Anna Halprin, Deborah Hay, and Ruth Zaporah. I performed solo improvised pieces on stages in Whidbey Island, San Francisco, and Berkeley. While I was making progress artistically, I was struggling financially and needed to find sustainable employment.
I turned to the field of Elementary Education which was familiar to me because my mom was a kindergarten teacher and I spent much time volunteering in her classroom during my childhood. I earned a Master's Degree in Education and began working in Bay Area elementary schools, trying to bring movement to the children when I could. But, this was a more challenging endeavor than I anticipated. My ideals were being put to the test under standardization and bureaucracy. After working in elementary schools for seven years, I entered into a new phase of life-- my husband and I welcomed our sweet son into the world. I left elementary school teaching and became a full-time mother for the first few years of my son's life. The experience of birthing and nurturing him propelled me to find movement that gently revitalized my new maternal body. I desired to strengthen myself from the inside out. I wanted to (re-) learn how to roll, crawl, and walk with him!
Just after my son turned one year old in 2011, I took my first Qigong class. Moving slowly from my belly was so deeply satisfying and reassuring. I felt like a fish re-discovering water. I could breathe and flow again! I was home.
Qigong brings together my love of fluid movement, my interest in preventative, sustainable health for individuals and communities, and my sincere curiosity in what it means to be human. Since studying qigong, my digestion has improved, my emotions are more balanced, my internal voice is more compassionate, and I have reconnected to my sense of Center-Within. Qigong helped me source an inner stability as I grieved the loss of my mother in 2013 and my father in 2021. Qigong has given me tools to engage in my daily life with more spacious awareness and presence. Connected to my Center, to the earth below and cosmos above, I am able to engage with others with more ground under my feet, trust in my heart, and freedom in my mind.
I spent two years studying Medical Qigong, Chinese Medicine, and Daoist Meditation through the Qigong and Daoist Training Center. I deepened my studies by completing a 150 hour Medical Qigong Therapy certificate program at the Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College in Berkeley. I am also deeply impacted by my studies of Wild Goose Qigong with the late Dr. Hu and ongoingly with Micheline Bogey, a tai chi and qigong master in her own right.
The practice of Qigong gave me the strength I needed to return to my yoga practice. For the past 7 years, alongside Qigong, I have been studying Yoga more deeply. I have found it to be a great complement to Qigong. Both of these ancient practices have ways of working with the body to expel the old and bring in the new. They both have ways to create balance in our being. They both have ways to take us deep inside, so that our conscious awareness can saturate every cell of our Being. In 2022 I completed a 500-hour Iyengar-Inspired Yoga Training through The Yoga Room in Berkeley and am currently teaching yoga at this studio twice a week.
I practice Qigong and Yoga for three main reasons: Health, Nourishment, and Joy. By harmonizing my breath with my movements and allowing my muddled thoughts and emotions to settle, I am able to sip from the great well of stillness within myself and feel both present and at peace. It is my honor and delight to share these practices with you!
Qigong Training
Ongoing studies with Micheline Bogey ~ Wild Goose Qigong
Three year study with Dr. Bingkun Hu in the Wild Goose Qigong lineage
Ongoing studies in Embryology and Embodied Anatomy with Bonnie Bainbridge-Cohen
Medical Qigong Therapy Certification at Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College with Suzannah Stason, L.A.c
Advanced Qigong Teaching Certification 300 Hours, Qigong and Daoist Training Center with shifu Michael Rinaldini
Three months Zhineng Qigong training through The Chi Center with Mingtong Gu
Three months Wild Goose Qigong training through Energy Matters Acupuncture
Anatomy and Physiology, East and West Workshop, The Chi Nei Tsang Institute
Cultivating the Kidney Energy and Embodying Embryology Workshops, Bonnie Bainbridge-Cohen, founder of Body-Mind Centering
Yoga Training
Ongoing studies with Mary Lou Weprin at The Yoga Room
Ongoing studies in Anatomy and Kinesiology
500 Hours Yoga Teaching Certificate, Advanced Studies Program at The Yoga Room, Berkeley
Sivananda Yoga: Practiced, Lived and Worked at Sivananda Ashrams: Venice Beach, Grass Valley, upstate New York
Education
M.A. in Developmental Teacher Education, UC Berkeley
B.A. Double-Major: Dance and Religion, Wesleyan University
Influences
Backpacking and Hiking
Swimming in pools, lakes, oceans, bays
Somatic Practices: Continuum Movement with Emilie Conrad, Body-Mind Centering with Bonnie Bainbridge-Cohen,
Authentic Movement, Feldenkrais, and Hanna Somatics with various teachers
Improvisation: Studies with Anna Halprin, Deborah Hay, Ruth Zaporah, Owen Walker, Zuza Engler, Jeremy Weichsel
American Dance: Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Modern
World Dance: South Indian (Bharatanatyam), Javanese, West African, Afro-Cuban, Flamenco
Spiritual Streams: Diamond Approach (main), Daoism, Tibetan Buddhism, Contemplative Christianity, Sufism
Meditation Practices: Lower Dantian Concentration practice, Micro-cosmic Orbit practice, and Zuowang non-doing practice
