Nina Jarnum is a Danish Yoga instructor based in Northern California. As a trained Yoga instructor registered with the Yoga Alliance, her Instagram feed is filled with advanced Yoga poses with some of the most breath-taking views behind her. Today we got to speak with her about her morning routine and advice for beginners.
How did you first get into Yoga?
I wish I had some amazing story about how I wanted to find myself and travelled to an ashram in India… buuuut that’s not the case.
I was living in the UK, in my final year of law. I was an avid horse rider and it had left my body incredibly stiff and inflexible. I decided to try out a yoga class because 1) I wanted to be flexible and 2) because Madonna did yoga… and it was Madonna!
As “unpure” my reasons for starting yoga was, I immediately fell in love with the way the practice made me feel; not just physically but also mentally. It gave me a breathing space in a very stressful time of my life… I was hooked!
What time do you wake up on a weekday?
I am basically incapable of sleeping in, so I get up between 6 and 7 all days of the week… I always want to seize the day .. and I have two kids and dog which makes it pretty much impossible to sleep in.
What does your typical breakfast look like?
I am such a creature of habits; I have 2 eggs (from by backyard chickens), a piece of toast and a bucket of earl grey tea every morning. I like to keep it light but high in protein; best way to start the day!
What supplements or vitamins do you swear by?
Sugarbear hair vitamins; my hair did not fare well after pregnancy and these have been great! I also use a Vitamin B12 supplement, Tumeric supplement and Collagen Beauty Bursts from Neocell (im not getting any younger). If I’m stressed, I take the Calm magnesium supplement.
Your body is serious “goals”. How often do you practice Yoga and is it ever hard for you to stay motivated?
I move every day; sometimes it’s just 10 minutes of stretching, sometimes its 2 hours of handstands. It really just depends what my body feels like and what time I have available for self-practice that day. At 42, I think it’s important to keep the body functioning: use or loose it!
It’s never really hard to get motivated, firstly because my body craves movement, and I always listen to my body. Secondly, I never force it; if my body needs to rest, I’ll do something gentle, like 20 minutes of yin yoga. I also look after my body; my yoga practice includes strength training, mobility work and core work .. it’s not your average sun salutations and passive stretching.
During quarantine, how has your coaching routine changed?
It was a fairly smooth transition over to Zoom for me, as I was already teaching private sessions over Zoom to people who live in other states and countries. It’s been a huge change not to walk the room, do hands-on adjustments and feel the energy of the room…. I miss that so much! And having to actually do all my classes instead of just walking around talking. Phew! Hard work!
Teaching from my living room as given me more flexibility in that instead of having my whole schedule set in stone, I announce the coming week’s classes in my newsletter every Sunday. I now have classes I can move around to fit my schedule that week, which has been nice… and it’s been a fun addition to have my dog Lily crashing my classes to the amusements of my students.
What advice do you have for beginners looking to get into Yoga?
Try different classes and different teachers! The wonderful thing about yoga, is that it is so versatile. If you walk out of your first class thinking “yoga isn’t me”, you just haven’t found your type of yoga or your teacher.
You can follow Nina on Instagram @Ninajarnumyoga