Mysore Yoga Paris

One month since surgery, two since the accident in Crete. Walking without support now. Gently returning to physical practice, though I smile writing “returning,” since this whole journey has been one of the deepest practice periods of my life. It has blurred any line between formal practice and informal, until there was no line left.

Learning to walk again as an adult means learning to trust the ground again, as if for the first time. This is the oldest Bandha. Practised before we had a word for practice, in the first weeks of life, when our head first turned to gravity and found, somewhat to its surprise, that gravity turned back.

The words of Thich Nhat Hanh has become my guide during these tender weeks.
“Each mindful breath, each mindful step. It is wonderful enough just to be alive, to breathe in, to make one step”.

I’ve written the fuller reflection for this month’s newsletter, on the vestibular system, Kāya Bhāvanā, and what it means to yield to earth. I’m more comfortable sharing deeper to those who have actually signed up for it ;)
Link in bio or on the website if you’d like to read the rest. Thank you for being here 🤍x

Last winter Purple Valley Yoga Centre Ara invited me for an expansive conversation about Yoga Bhāvanā. How this approach has evolved, what in my experience makes a practice sustainable, the principles that quietly hold the teachings together, and why none of us wake up alone.

Ara opens our conversation by asking me:
“You’ve been practising for over thirty years, and your approach feels quite unique. How has your relationship with Ashtanga changed over time, and what has shaped the way you practise and teach today?”

Kia: “It’s a really interesting question, because in many ways we change all the time. It’s not necessarily one particular moment that changes a person. I think a healthy practice should change with time to reflect our different stages in life, so that our practice is always attuned to where we are…”

Link in bio to continue reading the full interview:
yogagoa.com/the-art-of-cultivation-kia-naddermier/

I’m so grateful to return to Purple Valley this winter to teach Yoga Bhāvanā – The Art of Cultivation, two retreats weaving Ashtanga, Pranayama, Meditation and the Buddha Dharma.

Goa Retreat Purple Valley Yoga Centre :
December 5, 2026 – December 19, 2026

Tenerife Retreat Purple Valley Yoga Centre :
February 13, 2027 – February 20, 2027

I don’t think I’ve ever looked forward to a retreat as much as Purple Valley Yoga Centre Goa in December ! With everything that’s unraveled this summer, this will actually be my only 2-week, in-depth retreat this year: Dec 5-19th 2026.

Rooted in both Yogic and Buddhist traditions, we immerse ourselves in all aspects of Yoga Bhāvanā, an integrative approach to practice that deepens every dimension: body, breath, HeartMind & relationship. Through daily Mysore practice, Prāṇāyāma & Kriyās in the Kaivalyadhama lineage, meditation and Buddha Dharma reflection, we cultivate an understanding of yoga as a path of wholeness, compassion, and being of benefit to the world.

There will be opportunity for individual pulse reading and progressions in Prāṇāyāma.

To support those in need, we’re so grateful to offer a limited number of scholarships! Everyone is welcome to apply, but we particularly encourage those with low income and those who are part of the BIPOC and/or LGBTQIA+ community. Please help us share with anyone who could benefit!

Scholarship applications go through mysoreyogaparis.com’s retreat page only, (not Purple Valley).

For general info & registration for the retreat, visit yogagoa.com.

Delighted to be assisted by brilliant Scott Arnott and Maria Olsten

Literally cannot wait to see you there!! 💜

It has been just over a month since the accident in Crete, and less than a week since my surgery. What began as a fracture became, for some days, something far more uncertain. Touching the possibility of actually not making it has shifted something within me that continues to unfold. I am so grateful, and ready to finally begin a journey of healing.

These weeks have been a profound lesson in simplicity, in shedding all that is not essential. Going from someone who travels the world for a living, to someone for whom walking from the living room to the kitchen is a journey requiring full attention, is humbling to say the least. The idea that this will be on autopilot in a couple of weeks feels daunting.

My surgeon has asked me to keep my crutches for thirty days, even once I no longer need them for walking. Browsing the internet, I find something I can only describe as a misplaced competition in progress: what day could I throw my crutches away? An advanced yoga teacher triumphantly flings theirs in the air. Day four and already unsupported. Hah.

What is this fear of support when it’s needed? I once read about Pando, the famous quaking aspen colony in Utah. What looks like a forest of forty thousand individual trees is, in fact, one organism, a single root system holding up every trunk. Not one of them standing alone.

Maybe my crutches are a kind of graft too, a way of staying connected to something other than myself long enough for what’s underneath to knit and grow strong. Our cracks, and our interdependence, are what make us resilient. Not one tree standing alone, but a single root system, holding up forty thousand trunks.

I’ve written the fuller reflection, on Nepo, Nick Cave, walking meditation, and what Pando has to teach us about Sangha, in my community mail going out tomorrow. As you know I’m more comfortable expanding there. Link in bio or on website if you’d like to join. 🤍xx

With Mettā
x k

Arriving at Paris Le Bourget airport from Heraklion in ambulance plane, I was transferred directly to a hospital in the 19th. In the middle of the most intense heatwave, with no AC, the entire floor was kept in darkness - curtains drawn against the heat.
I shared my very run-down room with a beautiful grandmother named Kelto, a practicing Muslim woman who blessed our space with her prayers while waiting for knee surgery. Although we were both in such poor condition, we felt safe together. Our naked faces and tender situation dissolved any distance between us. Kelto’s relationship with the divine infused her every breath. Quietly being present with her shifted something deep in my heart that I still can’t find words for. Over the days, I think I was introduced to most of her extraordinarily beautiful - and very large! - family.

After more tests and scans, my surgery was finally scheduled for the 20th of July - more than three weeks ahead. I was sent home by ambulance to wait, with strict instructions to limit all movement and put no weight at all on my right leg.

So here I am, staying very still in our apartment for the next few weeks. And then again after surgery for rehabilitation. I’m told I should be able to return to teaching gently in September when I’m scheduled to give a retreat in Crete.

There is still a long journey ahead. But although I’m physically very challenged, all I can feel is immense gratitude - for still being here. For being alive and held by my family, beloved friends and sangha. And for receiving health care: such a privilege. Those carrying me, changing my sheets, checking my blood pressure, scanning my bones, changing my IV, bringing me water and caring for me during my most vulnerable moments - they all linger in my heart like guardian angels. These everyday Bodhisattvas have taught me what real compassion feels like, and it has moved me in the deepest way.

And that cat. In the middle of the dirt road in Tertsa. She literally stopped me in my tracks and threw my entire life and all my perfect plans around. She keeps visiting my mind stream like a talisman. She may be one of my most profound yoga teachers. x

”If you want to make God laugh,
tell her your plans”

I don’t easily share personal experiences this widely, but I’m making an exception this time. It feels important to be reminded of the fragility of this precious human life, and of our absolute belonging to each other.

Halfway through my second retreat in wonderful Tertsa, Devi and I were biking downhill to have dinner with my sangha when a village cat froze in the road. I flew off my bike to avoid hitting her - thankfully she was unhurt. But I broke my hip and scraped my face and body. And while I lay there on the road, only half conscious, she walked over, climbed onto my belly, and purred. It was a strange, wondrous moment of care in the middle of the worst pain. What followed were some of the roughest days of my life (and I believe of Devi’s too who was by my side) - shock, severe pain and dehydration, ambulances between clinics. Finally I was flown with ambulance plane to hospital in Paris where I’m now waiting on scans and possible surgery.

Pain and crisis have their own way of teaching, and what they’ve shown me, again, is the importance of community. Of holding each other close so no one has to go through this alone.
I’m so grateful for my Tertsa family - Nathalie, Andreas, Tereza, Nikos and Renaldo who carried me, drove me through the night and stayed by my bedside.
My sangha, my beautiful sangha. Ana, stepping up for the group when I needed it most, and all of my students in Tertsa showing up for me and each other - the real meaning of Mettā, friendship. Friends around the world sending love and prayers.
And above all, my incredible family - Magnus, Uma, Devi and also Paula who have held me so close and carried me through the medical system and all it takes to get help abroad. Devi, by my side every hour: I wouldn’t have made it without you, ma vie.
I am also acutely aware of my immense privilege to have access to health care. To a hospital bed, night nurses, cleaners, paramedics, surgeons, and the team in Paris working out the next steps. That shouldn’t be a privilege of circumstance. It should be a fundamental human right, equally available to all beings sharing this tender planet.

With Mettā x

Can you feel the joy?? 🩵
What an amazing first session in this gem of a place on earth. Diving deep into the heart of practice with the most wonderful sangha.
Sooo grateful you’re all already booked to come back next summer!!
LOVE collaborating with favorite Tereza Poljanic & Nathalie Tertsa Yoga & Retreats - nourishing us from the inside out x

April and May marvel and madness…
can’t do without you! 🤍

Creative mayhem on Rue Saint Maur as we (all!) prepare for Devi’s graduation show… 🤍x