NINA JOHNSON – Founder & Director
Nina Johnson is the founder and Director Emeritus of the Himalayan Yoga Meditation Center, formerly called The Yoga Society. Nina has been teaching classes in Milwaukee for over 40 years. With the blessings of her guru H.H. Sri Swami Rama, and with her own natural compassion, determination and a practical, down-to-earth style, Nina has trained and initiated hundreds of students in the practice of hatha yoga and meditation.
Nina began studying yoga in 1965 at the downtown YWCA. When her teacher retired, Nina was chosen as her successor. In the spring of 1971 she met Swami Rama during one of his first visits to the United States. Soon after their first meeting, Nina was initiated by Swami Rama and asked to open a center for Himalayan yoga and meditation in Milwaukee. The Center opened in 1971 and began offering classes in this tradition. In 1974, Swami Rama instructed Nina to begin giving mantras on his behalf.
Nina now lives in in the village of Malethi, in Uttaranchal, India, the site of SRIVERM (Swami Rama Institute of Vocational Education and Research, Malehti), a project started by Nina’s beloved teacher Swami Hariharananda. Nina returns to Milwaukee twice a year and continues to teach and initiate new students into the Himalayan Yoga Meditation tradition.