Nicola Zaghi

Born in Sanremo, where he lived until the age of 17, his passion for basketball then took him to Reggio Calabria, where he was signed by a team playing in Serie A2, soon to be promoted to Serie A1, the highest level of Italian basketball. This marked the beginning of his professional career in basketball, a journey that took him to many different cities and teams. In the early 1990s, he arrived in Tuscany, where he continued to play at a high level for many years with the Lucca team, which eventually became his new hometown.

It is here that he began to nurture his interest in yoga. He never imagined it would become his profession; he practiced it simply because he enjoyed it, because it made him feel good. Sometimes, he would experience moments of happiness for no particular reason, and he often found that this illogical joy, unrelated to his life circumstances, would emerge after particularly profound yoga sessions. Although he didn’t yet understand why, he noticed that yoga had the power to change his state of mind.

At the same time, another passion ignited: theater, another way to explore and learn how to use the body differently. Acting, writing scripts, and attending workshops sparked an internal crisis that led him, after being recruited by Teatro del Carretto for the production of Trojan Women by Sophocles, to a difficult decision between pursuing a career as a theater actor and continuing with basketball.

In 1999, after a brief entrepreneurial venture in the restaurant business, he decided to take a solo trip, far away, to find himself. First, he traveled to London, and then to Mexico, where he stayed for three months. It was there that a particular event struck him, something akin to a Fellini-esque vision: a secluded beach, a lagoon near Acapulco, a solitary red tent in the middle of the sand, and ten women practicing yoga. In that moment, he realized clearly what he would do upon returning to Italy: teach yoga.