“I believe that through learning how to rest, you also learn how to be at your best.”
Restorative yoga teachers Liza Gesuden & Nirel Salazar talk about restorative yoga, rest, and community care.
When I’m not doing yoga, you can find me in the lab.
Hi There! I’m Nirel.
Welcome to my little corner of the internet! I am a second-generation Filipina-American restorative yoga teacher, sound healer, wellness creative, and yoga teacher mentor based in the San Francisco Bay Area. I create opportunities for healing by holding spaces for rest, release, reflection, and connection. I am also an engineer by education, a scientist by trade, and a biotechie by industry, so curiosity and inquiry naturally shape the way I approach yoga, creativity, and teaching. I continue to look to yoga as an integral part of my holistic health and as a reminder of the way I want to live my life.
I believe rest is multifaceted and essential for building resilience in an overstimulating world. Through yoga, sound, creative experiences, and mentorship, I invite people to slow down, explore, and reconnect with themselves while supporting yoga teachers who want to move beyond the poses and become more trauma-informed, accessible, and intentional facilitators. I am especially drawn to bringing yoga and wellness beyond traditional studio spaces and into clinics, communities, organizations, and other places where people already gather. At the heart of all my work is the belief that thoughtful observation, exploration, and introspection can help us grow, relate to others more meaningfully, and live with greater purpose.
My Story:
Yoga helped me through a very low point in my life.
Yoga was a vehicle for self-transformation. I started taking yoga classes as a complement to my active lifestyle, but I didn’t realize how important my yoga practice was to me until I found myself at a very low point in my life. As an Asian-American woman, I felt immense pressure to fulfill the expectation of crafting the “perfect” life: a stable and well-paying career, a family, a house, and a life of service. This pressure to be successful and perfect put me on a path that did not feel like my own. I was confused, frustrated, and unhappy. My only relief came in the form of a weekly 90-minute yoga class. Yoga was my little island oasis getaway in a sea of stress and inner turmoil and I kept coming back for a mini-vacation. Once I stepped off the mat and out of the studio, I was again thrown back into the intensity of life.
I found meditation and mindfulness at a weekly ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy) group. Mindfulness was practical, and it seemed simple and easy (spoiler alert: it’s not easy). I was dumbfounded at how difficult meditation and mindfulness were for me. As I continued to practice mindfulness and meditation, I started to incorporate what I learned about myself on my yoga mat and in my meditation practice into my life off my yoga mat. Mindfulness was the link I needed to connect my yoga studio experience to the real world.
Yoga led me through a long, difficult, and emotional journey of self-exploration. Getting to know my physical and mental self helped me uncover my emotional and spiritual self, which revealed my most important values and deepest needs. I realized that many of these external expectations didn’t line up with what I wanted my life to look like. I began to take more agency over my body and my life. Yoga continues to be my inspiration for living my life in a thoughtful, fulfilling, and purposeful way.
Becoming A Teacher:
Me with my mentor, Stacey Swan, when I received my 300-hr yoga teacher training completion certificate from Yoga Garden (NoPa) in San Francisco
Yoga and mindfulness were so metamorphic to my life that I wanted to learn how to share and support this life-changing experience with others. To do this, I decided to become a yoga teacher. I graduated from the 200-hour and 300-hour teacher training programs from Folk Yoga, Nopa (formerly Yoga Garden) in San Francisco. My teachers include Stacey Swan, Max Kopeikin, Alexandra Rossi, Katrin Kuttner, Rebecca Mayne, Karen Macklin, Sonya Genel, Kimberly Ky, and Samantha Akers. I am eternally grateful for their knowledge and wisdom.
I believe self-exploration and learning about ourselves lead to discernment and personal empowerment. As a yoga teacher, my duty is to guide students toward personal empowerment by helping them become open and curious about what is happening within. That same philosophy shapes the way I mentor yoga teachers, helping them build the confidence, discernment, and practical skills to make thoughtful choices for the people and communities in front of them. I especially enjoy supporting teachers who want to move beyond the poses and explore trauma-informed, accessible, and intentional ways of holding space. Currently, I am a 500-RYT, ERYT-200, and YACEP (Continuing Education Provider) certified with Yoga Alliance.
How can I support you?
Nirel is a very good yoga teacher who manages a good pace of her class. Her classes are the perfect combination of self-awareness, body strengthening, stretching, and breathing techniques. I enjoy the calm and relaxed feeling after each class.
-Thang H.
Certification and Trainings:
200-hr Vinyasa and Hatha Align
300-hr Energetics and Philosophy
Restorative Yoga Training
Yoga with Trauma-Informed emphasis
Mindfulness and G.R.A.C.E. Meditation Training
A Window Between Worlds (AWBW) Art Facilitator
