So here's the first blog post introducing the Yemaya Ladies.
Nadine is just a force of energy! Her passion and enthusiasm for life is evident. An accomplished kite surfer and snow kiter with some pretty impressive titles under her belt including holding the long distance European snow kite title and winning the Swiss Snow Kite Tour 2017.
I caught up with Nadine a couple of weeks ago to find out more about her adventures.
Hey Nadine! Welcome to Yemaya Ladies Nadine! It’s great to have you onboard!
Hey Yemaya girls, I am happy to be a part of your unique and wonderful team and looking forward to share the spirit for the ocean with you together.
So introduce yourself – tell us a little bit about what you’re up to and where you are right now?
My name is Nadine and I am from the south of Germany near to the beautiful Lake Chiemsee. I am an enthusiastic 25- year- old kitesurfing and yoga girl. In my everyday life I am an educator in youth welfare in a collage (fulltime), teaching skiing and kitesurfing. Also I started my yoga teacher training for 2 years and started to teach my own yoga classes in September (you can see on the homepage www.spirit4love.de).
From the beginning since i was born, I was confronted with water and totally fell in love with the blue, wonderful, positive element of water. Incidentally, this includes the snow for me, since it is only frozen water ;) At the age of 6 I learned windsurfing from my water enthusiastic family and at the age of 3 I got on my skis for the first time. Also I was allowed to learn a part of yoga through my parents. Now I am incredibly grateful and filled with love that my parents gave this gift at the young age on the way.
I am an open person, do not make judgements about others and take my fellow human beings the way they are. I don`t make judgements about others and take my fellow human beings the way they are. I don´t care what social position they have or what they started with their lives because we are all brothers and sisters.
I am travelling a lot around the world for kiting, doing yoga and to meet new cultures and people. But I also love to be at home, where actually I am for working and seeing my family.
So firstly you have just launched your new website Spirit for Love – how did you first get into yoga – is this something you have done from a young age?
We are a very spiritual family, so as a child I was allowed to experience some yoga through my parents. For us yoga is not just doing Asanas or some kind of Hatha yoga. For us is yoga more then this. Yoga is a own form of life. From the beginning of 2017 until the beginning of 2019, I completed a 2-years yoga teacher training course at Yoga Vidya. During this time I was able to learn even more about how much of my previous life was actually already yoga, my family and I just always called it different.
Today I am incredibly grateful and filled with love that my parents gave me this gift at a young age on the way.
Your classes look awesome – I wish I lived nearer! What are your plans for Spirit for Love?
So it sounds like you have lots of exciting projects on the horizon – what does the future hold?
Thank you so much my love for the great words. I'm only in my first steps to build my own little business "Spirit4Love“ incidentally. My yoga classes are all about giving everyone the chance to practice yoga, because yoga is much more than just doing exercise, like Asanas, as it is unfortunately often presented in society.
I want to spread my yoga classes and that more people can get the confidence to do yoga or at least give it a try. So check it out on my site, ask me questions as much as you like and just take a quick sniff. How can you know if yoga is possible for you or you like it or not, if you have never tried it? Therefore, I also like to offer taster lessons, because I am well aware that yoga is interpreted differently, through and executed.
In addition, I'm planning in the Chiemgau and Austria Yoga retreats for a little break from everyday life, where also everyone is welcome. It is very important to me to respond individually to the needs of my participants (eg in which the participants may decide for themselves whether they want to book accommodation and which, if they can only participate for 1 or 1.5 days or if they have child care during the retreat need).
I also plan yoga projects with combos of sports, such as kite surfing and hiking to get closer to nature.
I am also always ready to be booked for projects or ideas. You are always welcome to contact me with suggestions and we can develop great ideas together.
I'm looking forward to the time to carry out my new projects and hope to see many of you to meet.
You are not only a yoga pro but you are also an an ocean lover. Kite surfing is a big part of your life – talk me through that?
Yes that's true! Kite surfing for me is like freedom. The feeling of freedom is priceless. Forget all worries for a moment. Feel the wind, blow your hair, light your eyes and hear the sound of the water. To be one with the element of water that is meant for me. Enjoy the beauty of nature and be grateful for what Mother Earth gives us. It's a passion that makes my heart beat faster and makes my eyes shine. An indescribable, emotional and special feeling. As soon as I am in the water, hearing the sound of the ocean and the wind blowing in my hair, I feel a magical, intoxicating feeling, full of adrenaline and new experiences.
In addition, kite surfing opened a new door for me and showed me that you should fight for your dreams and always believe in it. It offers so many possibilities, which are not only dreams, but can also become reality.
You don’t just kite on the water too – you are an accomplished snow kiter too aren’t you with some pretty impressive world cup results under your belt? How did you get into kiting? How did you transition from the water to the snow?
I love the adrenaline in my veins, no matter if I'm pulled on the water or in the snow from the kite.
Since the age of 16 I have been working as a ski instructor in the ski school Oberaudorf. At some point, skiing on the slopes became boring for me. Free riding is / was hardly possible due to the increasingly insufficient snow conditions.
The search for a new challenge brought me to snow kiting.
Since I work as a VDWS Kitesurf instruction at the Reschensee for about 6 years, this was then 4 years ago the perfect opportunity to go snow kiting together with my friends there for the first time and we had incredible fun.
Snow kiting and kite surfing are generally difficult to compare. The gusty wind in winter, the crunch and the speed down from the mountain and the cold that once so incredibly warm give me the kick on the snow and ice.
In the summer on the water is then the opportunity to learn new tricks without hurting yourself great.
It's different in winter. Unfortunately, there was very little snow last year and we went partly on pure ice. The adrenaline is rising, the body is shaking, the heart beats faster, my eyes are starting to light up, because I have the chance to master a new challenge and to be fully connected to nature.
But one thing is definitely kite surfing, whether in the snow or in the water: the feeling of freedom and to find and feel yourself again. As soon as I go kite surfing, I feel free. That's what I love. Free of all burdens and the pressure of society that is increasing more and more. You come back to what and who you actually are. Namely to yourself, as it was created.
So what is your favourite kiting discipline?
Good question.
Form me kite surfing is kite surfing. So I love all disciplines.
In the water Of course freestyle is one of my favorite disciplines, but also foiling I love more and more. I prefer kite surfing in the water because you can not hurt you that much as in the snow. In the snow I love to race fast and to ride up and down from the untouchable mountains. The landscape is fascinating.
So you have been lucky to travel all over for your sports – where is your favourite place you have visited?
It is very difficult to say where is the most beautiful place. What is the most beautiful about overhaul?
Each country and culture is different and has many beautiful places and unique experiences. I love travelling and discovering new things, but now I know it's always nice to go back home again.
I wanted to emigrate for a long time and live close to the water, but after I was 4 months in the Dominican Republic last year and became very ill there, I learned how beautiful it is in my homeland and how grateful I am beautiful and above all safe place to live. When one travels, one sees many things only as a tourist, even if one looks more closely and tries to stay away from tourism. Only when you have really lived longer in one place, you can see the advantages and disadvantages of a country.
Where’s next? Any destinations on your bucket list to tick off?
Currently I have no further plans. I have already travelled a lot this year. Since April I have been almost every weekend in the surrounding lakes Traunsee, Lake Garda, Reschensee and Ammersee, etc. on the way to travel the wind afterwards. I also spent 2 weeks in Croatia, 2 weeks in Tuscany and 4 weeks in Greece. It should not be forgotten that I also work full time on the side and have to work my free time. Therefore, I'm currently at home and decide spontaneously where and when I go where at next. Mostly spontaneously, that's the best way ;)
As a professional athlete you must have to be quite disciplined with all of your training. What does your training for a normal week look like? Do you follow a strict dietary plan?
That's right. I am generally a very disciplined person, knowing only that with discipline you can achieve your goal.
I have a very long knit diet and exercise plan, but have changed a bit, because you should still live as a human and this is often forgotten as a professional athlete. I would not describe myself as a professional athlete, but as a person pursuing their dreams. If you see something too strong and tight, it will still be in the foreground for me. I just started competing to fight for women's rights and having fun with my friends. I also want to call on all professional athletes or other athletes who never have the love of what they do to lose and have fun doing it. Life is far too short to see it as dogged.
Finally, I would like to add. Yes, I pay attention to my diet and try to eat a healthy diet. In addition, I have been a vegetarian for almost 15 years. I also train regularly, walk, do yoga, go swimming, hiking or anything else. It is not about my weight or any figure to get or achieve, but about my health and the well-being of the soul, body and mind. That`s the most important and special in the life.
How do you find juggling competing, working & being a business woman?
Well. Kite surfing is a small fringe sport, which is becoming more and more popular and in 2024 will finally be Olympic for the first time. However, as a professional kite surfer, you definitely can not make money. To be honest and open, I know many professional kiters in the top league, but most have "family" as a sponsor. The training, the way to the competitions, accommodation, registration etc. costs so much money that many "small and inconspicuous" kiters, who could agitate the kite league, will never have the chance to show their skills. Unfortunately, you can still see a 2 class society here and it's not like other sports where competitions are a profession like skiing, tennis, football or anything else. No, in kite surfing you only spend money in competitions and you can hardly win anything.
Therefore, I have a very job and competitions are for me really second-ranking. I come from a down-to-earth family where I learned as a child that you work for your money and you do not get it for free. I think that's a good thing and am very grateful to my parents for raising me and my brother. I work because I enjoy my job and want to enjoy my life, but not for being famous and for being in the limelight. I only compete if it happens and I happen to be there. But then just to have fun with friends, to go to the limit for myself and fight for the women of the world. I hope that women will get more recognition, appreciation and equality. Due to the kite surfing competitions, especially in winter where unfortunately very few girls participate, I just want to show that even girls have the ambition to endure something and to fight for dreams. This is my big goal, therefore: girls hold together and show what you can!
Who are your role models in the industry? Is there anyone who you particularly admire and why?
My role models are not in the industry. My role models in my life are my family. What my parents and my brother reached already in their lives make me so proud. They taught me so much in my life and helped and help me all the time. They have discipline, motivation, stay always positive and fight for the good things.
Thanks for the catch up Nadine - can't wait to hear about more of your adventures!
Follow Nadine: @nadinestippler and check out her yoga website at www.spirit4love.de
In the photos Nadine is wearing the Whale Tail Necklace & the Ocean Lover Bracelet
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