Today we’d like to introduce you to Nikky Lila.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was born in Florida during the middle of a category 5 hurricane. We lived on the coast, my mom was a manager of a dolphin and charter boat tour company. My love of the ocean probably started before I could even walk! My mom put me in dance academy from a young age and I grew up dancing ballet, jazz, contemporary. I studied at San Diego state university majoring in Philosophy and minor Marine Science. I worked as an ocean education guide for 9 years through various positions in San Diego & Santa Barbara. I never stopped dancing, my love and connection to music and movement has carried me through life. I also started down a holistic health pathway in my early 20’s. I did a 6 month yoga training certification out of Encinitas in 2014. 2018-2021 I traveled to various oceans to train in Freediving and used my underwater camera to document marine life working for conservation organizations writing articles and researching products. Becoming a master at breathholding and the somatic arts of body and movement, relaxation and mental clarity, I took all of this experience with me to pacific side of Mexico to be a coordinator of wellness and facilitator for hotels & retreat experiences. I guided thousands through breath training, movement, fitness and somatic awareness workshops. I stayed in Mexico 5 years and in one month am returning to the US with plans to start an all women’s dance collective specializing in artistry expression and performance. I feel blessed for the level of depth I’ve always shared with the ocean as well as to dance , movement & music through the body! It has absolutely allowed me to traverse through the most difficult times of my life with more ease, grace and clarity. I am beyond excited to launch this next step in my career!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I think when you uproot yourself from a town a place or a community, it breaks a part if you that felt comfortable. So with all the transitions I’ve made through travel, it has pushed me into some really uncomfortable moments of shedding bits of my identity that the last place I was in had complimented. The switch from Hawaii to Mexico was difficult as freediving was no longer a widespread activity in the area I was based, now was there much of a community for it, so in ways I had to close that door to that part of my heart and learn to see new things I had never learned before. In Mexico, I immersed in language, culture and history – but not just of Mexico. I started researching origins of the world, ancient cultures and traditions of Egypt, Europe, and Latin America. I worked hard to become fluent in Spanish, also began a learning journey into Italian and Arabic. My focus shifted, but it expanded me. And I never lost my love for the ocean. But it did make me realize how truly blessed I’ve been that I’ve always had it so close to me.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a movement and breath specialist! It’s beyond just my profession it’s been an entire life of practice and training. I’ve spent years researching, reading and training as a student various styles of “breathwork” but also my time as a deep freediver proved that the secrets of the breath aren’t always found in the places they are lecturing you from. Breath is an internal art. Freediving teaches you that the only option is to use your breath and your mind most efficiently – there’s no space for fear in the mind of a Freediver. When you’re underwater you train yourself to observe, react, process, and feel things all with relative calm and low tension. My movement offerings lately are a wide variety of flexibility workshops, low impact strength and cardio trainings, high energy sculpt classes to amazing music, and sensual floorwork and contemporary choreography pieces. Dance is one of those things you never stop doing, or learning. What sets me apart might be my high excitable energy that loves to see you push your edge without making it uncomfortable that you never want to do it again. I love to watch whoever I’m guiding in movement or breathholding achieve something they didn’t know they could. And the range of my experience in these fields that also parallel each other so well, allows me to introduce new concepts of calisthenics training to the dancers, rhythm and flow to the fitness girlies, and diaphragm / bandha exercises to the freedivers. Right now I offer breath trainings that are applicable to truly anyone but especially if you do watersports, and I offer high energy movement fusion classes that really is like nothing you’ve ever taken before, combining knowledge from literally every stage of my life.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
Is this Los Angeles?!
Well as I wrote I’m in Mexico now, and planning to relocate in one month back to the US. My mom lives in San Diego so I’m going to spend some time to be close to her for a bit and then make my way to LA.
Los Angeles feels like this surreal creative force that has unlimited potential to tap you into your dreams, finding your right niche, and the dedicated creative professionals that also love what you love! It’s full of so much diversity in the arts and people that are so specialized in their craft. My last time living in La I was in Topanga, working a bit in Woodland Hills. Of course I fell in love with Topanga! So adorable and absolutely breathtaking the mountains, the canyon, the views, and the intricate character and soul woven into every home!
With all the light of course, there is the dark to balance it. And I know Los Angeles gets me in my head somedays with the air pollution, the smog, the chaos of a big city, and pockets of places that feel unsafe of course. My time in Mexico taught me a lot about creating safety around you, traveling safely, and being extremely aware of your surroundings and honestly as a woman I think it’s important to know self defense. You just never know when you might need to whip out a ninja move and I believe it’s actually the confidence of knowing you could do something if you wanted or needed to that makes you feel safer as well.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @Nikilalila
