Who is Nikolji? Who is Nikol Giri? Who is Nicole Jaquis? Who is relativelyLocal?
Known on social media as relativelyLocal, known in rural Himalayas as Nikolji, and known among the Juna Akhara as Nikol Giri, American born bilingual (Hindi/English) videshi, Nicole Jaquis built a life of service, spending over 12 years doing sadhana and seva (karma yoga) in Uttarakhand, India.
Documentary Film-making and photography brought me to India in December 2000, to document the 2001 Maha Kumbh Mela.
where eventually as the search for good characters became the search for good gurus, the lessons got deeper and deeper, and the filmmaker / photographer / writer (myself) got so engrossed in being (present) in the moment, soaking up all the wisdom I could digest, that actually doing sadhana began to take precedence over documenting it.
I have trained in Ayurveda, Classical Hatha Yoga, Therapeutic Yoga, Yin Yoga, Yoga Nidra, Classical Kundalini, Trauma Informed Yoga, Sūkṣma Vyāyām, as well as in various philosophies, conducting Vedic fire ceremonies, and mantra japa.
Aside from several Vipassana courses in India and Nepal, most of my real training has been living among traditional yogis, sanyasi within the Śri Panch Daśnām Juna Akhara (the oldest and largest organization of ascetic renunciate yogis) and other Nāth Yogis, where guru / disciple relationships have nothing to do with earning certificates. And thus despite completing over 1000 hours of certificate trainings, I have many issues with the spiritual industrial complex, Yoga Alliance, and how capitalism’s infiltration in an ancient tradition has completely ruined it in the West / Global North.
I take decolonizing yoga very seriously and been trying not to be a snob about it.
While I’ve also become quite disenchanted by the Spiritual Industrial Complex in the West…
And thus having been leaning into having a greater more urgent purpose of fostering stewards of this earth and the collective care of its inhabitants.
I truly believe the way our world is shaping up, the most responsible career path is for me to pivot toward making a contribution in regenerating our planet. This is not just about land, but also about humanity, leaning away from the materialistic greedy individualistic way of dominant culture (which has been the cause of the planet’s destruction in the name of development), into a more collaborative society where collective care extends beyond our human neighbors and into the nature and the species with whom we share land and water.
Trauma-Informed Retreat Facilitator & Yoga Teacher | Ashram & Retreat Center Professional | Holistic Education Consultant | Curriculum & Learning Experience Designer | Multimedia Producer & Digital Strategist
I’m a bilingual (Hindi/English), multidisciplinary educator and artist, working within the intersections of Sadhana & Wellness, Retreat Center Hospitality, Holistic Education, Community & Planet Sustainability and Mindful Multimedia.
• relativelyLocal is a concept that drives my Engagement in the World while Living a Spiritual Life •
I bring a grounded, trauma-informed, and culturally respectful approach to my work, shaped by long-term residential ashram and intentional community living experience, with a strong karma yoga focus.
- 160+ Months living & learning in India
- 1000+ Hours of Lineage-based Hatha Yoga and Ayurveda Trainings
- 2+ Decades of Holistic Teaching Experience
- 15+ Years of Ashram & Retreat Center Hospitality Experience
- 3+ Decades of Multimedia Production Experience
- 12+ Vipassana Meditation Courses – (S.N. Goenka tradition)
I’m also extensively trained in…
- Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Social Justice, & Trauma-Informed Social Emotional Learning
- Curriculum Development, Facilitation, Teaching Methodology & Leadership
- Environmental & Outdoor Education, Risk Management, Safety & Leadership (NOLS + WFA)
- Mindful Journalism, Multimedia & Arts Programming Management
I’m especially skilled in creating accessible trauma-informed learning experiences, guiding and holding space for transformation through classes, workshops, and retreats.
My work spans ashrams, retreat centers, schools, nonprofits, media productions and cultural institutions in India and the U.S., where I’ve designed curricula, taught yoga and meditation, trained teachers and staff, built digital platforms, and produced multimedia content that supports cultural preservation, learning and connection.
I thrive within intentionally sustainable communities and collaborative values-driven work.
Discouraged watching society grow further disconnected, despite all the tech meant to connect us,
in 2010 I left my job as a multimedia educator in the concrete jungle of New York City for the slower paced, simple Himalayan village life, hoping to learn yoga as close to source as possible. I’ve gotten to live and work in intentional communities influenced by Gandhi, Aurobindo, Osho, Krishnamurti, and Dr. Vandana Shiva, where multiple generations collaborated and fostered future generations. We flowed through the rhythm of nature, ate locally grown unprocessed food, mindfully cared for the land, each other and our extended community. Over the years, I watched my physical and emotional health improve drastically. Life was slower, perhaps considered backwards to those in the cities (even to my family back in the States), but to me it felt like returning to the ways of old was indeed right livelihood.
Throughout all these years (12+) in the Himalayas, I’ve also witnessed the cultural norms I thought I abandoned creep up the mountain, in the name of development, brought on by globalization:
youth leaving for office jobs in the city and returning unwell and disillusioned, terrace farms and river fronts being covered in cement, post pandemic internet upgrades ushering in screen-based “connection” replacing face-to-face community, and “English Medical” stores popping up on dirt roads only to erase the ancestral wisdom of the native healing plants growing all around us.
I’ve experienced a cultural feedback loop (between the Global North and India) like a circle;
recognizing for my returning “home” to the States to feel in alignment with who rural India has transformed me to become, the most responsible career path is for me to pivot toward making a contribution in regenerating our planet and the healing of our humanity.
My return to the States feels like a bigger mission to bring with me, what I have learned in collective care culture of rural India.
I truly believe the way our world is shaping-up, the most responsible career path is for me to pivot toward making a contribution in regenerating our planet. This is not just about land, but also about humanity, leaning away from the materialistic greedy individualistic way of dominant culture (which has been the cause of the planet’s destruction in the name of development), into a more collaborative society where collective care extends beyond our human neighbors and into the nature and the species with whom we share land and water.
While I’m still open to collaborations and roles within education, wellness, retreat centers, nonprofits, and cultural organizations; I am mostly excited about pivoting towards opportunities where I can learn sustainable construction and regenerative farming — especially with organizations grounded in service, integrity, sustainability and long-term beneficial community engagement and impact.
Social Location of Nikolji, Nikol Giri, Nicole Jaquis
Third Generation American, female bodied, non-binary atma, queer, masculine leaning lesbian, able-bodied, bi-lingual (Hindi - English), white blonde blue eyed twin,
I straddle white / foreign privilege and discrimination.
Like most white people indoctrinated into American Culture,
I may be the foreigner around here, but I’m not as foreign as most…
Nicole Jaquis, often called Nikolji or Nikol Giri over the years, is relativelyLocal and was feeling like a spiritualAlien dealing with reverse culture shock, when they first returned to the United States in September 2016, after 80 consistent months in India.
Writing about these experiences to a mostly Western audience, their predicament is similar to where they often finds their self in India. Being Bi-lingual (Hindi/English) they instantly become the bridge, as their Indian friends continue to send them to “foreign-explain” all the nuanced etiquettes, when they see a newbie doing something culturally uncool. Because others imagine it may come across softer coming from someone who’s already made that mistake. Let Nikolji save you the trouble.
