Nick Gonzalez
Army Veteran · Combat Engineer · Veterans Yoga Instructor
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His storyHot yoga clicked with his military brain.
Nick Gonzalez joined the Army as a teenager without much direction and became a combat engineer. He went to war while he was still young, clearing dangerous ground, destroying old ordnance, guarding convoys, and learning quickly that the war he had watched in movies was nothing like the real thing.
His friend Dave was killed during the deployment. Nick came home without a real goodbye from the Army and tried to return to a small-town life that no longer made sense to him. He relied on alcohol to cope, then lost his brother in a motorcycle crash. He kept going, met Lauren, built a family, sought help for PTSD, and eventually got sober.
Yoga entered his life because Lauren kept encouraging him to try it. His first class felt uncomfortable, but hot yoga was different. The heat loosened up a body shaped by military service, and the direct instruction felt like an old-school smoke session. It clicked. Nick became an instructor and started offering a free weekly yoga class for veterans.
Today Nick runs South Side Studio Yoga and shares free veterans yoga through Yoga with Nick G. The class is about more than stretching. Veterans move together, laugh, check on one another, and stay afterward to talk. Nick is still finding his way, but that community has given him another mission to serve.
From the hostThe Post-Flight Debrief
Nick came across as a genuine guy who shared a lot. He joined the Army as a teenager without much direction and became a combat engineer. He experienced war at a young age, lost his friend Dave during the deployment, and later lost his brother. War took a lot from him, and he has spent much of his life recovering from that and finding another mission to serve.
I felt like we had a lot in common. We joined around similar times, both lacked direction before the military, and both experienced war while we were young. I lost friends, but I did not experience a loss as close as Nick losing Dave and then his brother.
What makes Nick who he is today is what he has built from those experiences. After years of struggling with alcohol and PTSD, he got sober and eventually tried yoga because his wife kept encouraging him. Hot yoga clicked with his military brain. He became an instructor, started a free veterans yoga class, and now runs South Side Studio Yoga and the Yoga with Nick G YouTube channel.
The yoga is only part of it. Veterans come together to move, laugh, check on each other, and spend time together after class. That community is something I miss now that I am retired. What I no longer have in the military, I now have with other followers of Christ. I think Nick has found some of that too, a purpose and a mission to serve.
I also enjoyed the lighter parts of his story. We talked about the movies that made him want to become a military man, his military ID burning and being replaced with the wrong birth year, and how he met Lauren, who became his wife.
I saw God throughout Nick's story, but I think he is still finding his way. I am as well. I want veterans to know there is a community out there and to keep looking for their purpose to serve.
Nick also challenged me to try yoga. I am going to give it a try. It could not hurt.
I am thankful Nick shared his story. Other veterans will be able to relate, and his family may get to see a different side of him.
— John "Goofy" Smith
MSgt, USMC (Ret.)
Trust that God has a plan, do what you love, and let's figure this out together.
Mentioned in this episodeThe Resource Vault
- War movies: Full Metal Jacket, Platoon, Patton, and Hamburger Hill were among the movies Nick watched while growing up.
- Catch A Lift Fund: the veteran fitness organization that helped cover Nick's gym membership.
- YMCA: where Nick took the first yoga class that eventually changed his direction.
- Evolation Yoga: the teacher-training program Nick attended after winning its essay contest.
- South Side Studio Yoga: Nick's studio and the home of his veterans yoga community, including its planned permanent yurt.
- Yoga with Nick G: free weekly veterans yoga classes and other yoga videos on YouTube.
- Extreme Sports for Veterans: the veteran organization that helped Nick find a new community after moving.
- Patrol Base Abbate: the veteran nonprofit Nick works with through retreats and community-building.
- South Side Studio Yoga on Instagram: updates from Nick's studio and community.
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