In this section, we feature thoughts from an amazing Oulakin. This quarter features Nina Halverson of Minnesota. She’s an Oula and Oula One instructor in Minnesota.

What’s your story? Tell us about yourself.

I’m a wanderer, I love big, I laugh loud, I am in constant awe and admiration for the world around me. I’ve yet to meet a challenge I haven’t faced head on. I’m most comfortable in the woods and mountains where my mind stops and my breath steadies. I can be summed up Pink’s lyrics from I am Here - 

"I like whiskey on ice, I like sun in my eyes

I wanna burn it all down, so let's start a fire

I wanna be lost, so lost that I'm found

Naked and laughing with my blood on the ground.”

What Oula song is on your playlist most often and what do you like about it?

Oh boy, this is ever changing, but it is ALWAYS a heavy hitting emotional release song. Lately I bounce between Sink or Swim or Dark Waters and often throw them into the playlist together. There is something very cathartic about the emotions they pull up and out. 

An Oulakin is visiting your hometown (the Twin Cities) for the first time ever! What should they do/see/eat?

This would vary greatly depending on who the person is and what they love, but I almost always suggest they wander the grounds at Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) with ice cream from one of the local ice cream places nearby if it’s nice out. I always tell them the best places near to Oula and generally steer them towards Hai Hai or Earl Giles for wonderful food, drinks, and atmosphere. 

This quarter’s affirmation is “I am Air.” What does that mean to you?

To me, I am Air represents the ability to be calm, flexible, ever changing, to let your energy be a powerful but mostly invisible force in the world, that you can be soft and gentle while so very strong and turbulent when needed to break free of the cages we live within. 

What book/podcast/tv or movie do you recommend to fellow Oulakins?

This one is a bit harder to answer as I don’t generally sit and rest well. I won’t usually say no to a good book, my TBR pile is ever growing and I usually have a few books in progress all the time from a hodgepodge of genres. I do still love and recommend Sacred Contracts  and Anatomy of the Spirit, both by Caroline Myss, as well as The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk. These are intense reads but have found their way back in my hands for another read through a few times and I always get more from them each time I pick them up.

If you’re interested in being featured yourself, or if you want to nominate someone to be featured, please write connection@oulafitness.com