My name is Nicole Marcia and I’m the founder and director of Fine Balance Yoga. Since 2004 I’ve taught yoga classes and offered individual sessions to trauma survivors struggling with addiction, depression and anxiety, teaching them healthy self-regulation strategies to empower them to live connected and embodied lives. I also train Yoga and health care professionals in the trauma-informed yoga theory and techniques required to support trauma survivors in their long-term stability and recovery.

In 2009, I was awarded a master’s degree with a specialization in yoga thrpy from Lesley University in Boston, MA. From 2008-2017 I served as the Director of Yoga Programming for  the Provincial Health Services Authority at their Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addictions and Riverview Hospital where I developed and delivered a comprehensive yoga program for in-patient clients in various stages of recovery from mental health and addiction issues.

I also serve as the Program Director for Incorporating Yoga as a Trauma-informed Practice to Enhance Drug Addiction Services Outcomes for Justice Involved Youth as well as a training facilitator and mentor with Yoga Outreach, a not-for-profit organization providing volunteer yoga teachers to marginalized populations. In 2010 I completed a training to teach yoga in military communities with Warriors at Ease in Silver Spring, MD and in 2017, I completed a 300-hour certification in Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) facilitation  at the Trauma Center at the Justice Resource Institute in Boston, MA.

In 2017, I completed the EMDRIA approved  50-hour Basic Training in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). I’m a faculty member at Ajna Yoga, YTI and the Vancouver School of Yoga  and a project coordinator and instructor at Langara College Continuing Studies in addition to being a yoga teacher at Onsite, the rehabilitation arm of North America’s first safe injection site in Vancouver’s downtown east side.

I’m a C-IAYT with the International Association of Yoga Thrpists and Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider (YACEP) as well a member of Bridge for Health and the Breathe Network which connects survivors of sexual violence with complimentary care practitioners.