About Nicole

About Nicole

With a background as both a lawyer and an academic, Nicole’s discovery of yoga was epiphanic. She moved from South Africa where she was born and raised, to Antwerp, Belgium at a moment where the local practice of yoga was in its infancy. Her life’s path shifted profoundly as Nicole began to explore yoga through intense practice and theoretical study.

Nicole was fortunate to learn and practice under various teachers and masters over the course of 2 decades. She is a registered yoga teacher (E-RYT) of the Yoga Alliance, certified in diverse yogic lineages including Ashtanga Vinyasa, Vinyasa Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Yin Yoga and is a certified Kundalini Yoga and Meditation Teacher through Kundalini Research Institute (KRI) as well as a prenatal yoga teacher trained in the Khalsa Way and other prenatal practices. She has also been trained in teaching yoga to children.

Nicole Forman founded Aruna Yoga, a syncretic yoga practice, drawing on multiple yogic lineages with a focus on releasing stress, tension, trauma and emotional blocks.  Aruna Yoga is a practice of self enquiry and integrates diverse modalities beyond yoga, using TRE, art and creativity to bring the practitioner to a state of optimal well-being.

She developed the Yoga Alliance (200 and 500 hours) registered Aruna Yoga Teacher Training, with over 80 graduates registered according to the YA standards and offering accredited Yoga Alliance continuing education (YACEP®). She is the author of The Aruna Yoga Teacher Training Manual, The Aruna Yoga Manual on Āsana or Yoga Poses and The Fluidity of the Form (due 2024). She created the extensive online academic yoga training platform, www.arunayoga.online.

She is a certified Trauma Release Provider as developed by Dr David Berceli as well as a certified Journey Practitioner of The Journey Method, as developed by Brandon Bays.

In addition to the Teacher Training program, Nicole offers Trainings for TRE for personal use, Aruna Yoga mentorship programs, Trainings for Yoga and TRE for Multiple Sclerosis, and works to integrate Aruna Yoga as a conjunctive treatment for cancer and autoimmune disease.

Nicole has also led an Aruna Yoga and TRE® for Personal Use Training for the Nobel Women’s Initiative: Sister to Sister Mentorship Program: December 2021.

Nicole is a core faculty member of the One to One Leadership Program for world changers from Refugee and Asylum Seekers (UK) offering tailored session of Aruna Yoga as part of the core curriculum.

Nicole’s academic qualifications include a BA (University of Witwatersand); LL B (University of Witwatersand), MA (University of Antwerp); and admission as a lawyer to the South African Board of Attorneys.

Nicole is also an artist who uses art and the creation of yantra (yogic symbol) and sacred geometry as a practice of meditation. She includes art as part of the Aruna process as an additional tool in the practice of self enquiry.

Nicole currently teaches Aruna Yoga offering weekly classes, trainings, retreats and workshops with a focus on disseminating the practice both for personal use and as a teacher training to leaders in various areas, including conflict areas, health and education.