Sue Nesler lifts up others heal through movement, therapy and self-care

Sue Nessler

Aaron Eisenhauer

Sue Nesler grew up in Cape Girardeau, left for 25 years, and then returned in 2016. Within two years of moving back to Cape, Nesler purchased Yoga East Healing Arts Studio. She never planned on owning a yoga studio, but Nesler says “when something is right, it’s right.”

Yoga East Healing Arts Studio is a community-based yoga studio offering group classes, private lessons and training in meditation and yoga. Nesler has been a certified yoga therapist for 25 years, and now her goal is to make yoga more accessible, as she passes her knowledge to others through yoga and meditation teacher training.

“[I love] helping beginner yoga and meditation students build into and develop into their own. I really like that process. I like the process of leading and mentoring, as much as I like the process of teaching,” Nesler said.

Nesler previously taught a four-credit hour yoga course at Southeast Missouri State University, but now she has passed the responsibility onto a graduate of the Yoga East teacher training program. She said it’s extremely rewarding to help one of her students get a job.

Nesler stays involved in the community through her position on the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri board. She said she doesn’t want Yoga East to be exclusive; she wants all their teachers to be “assets to the community.”

In the past, Nesler said Yoga East taught a free monthly yoga class for veterans. They have sent yoga teachers to community events such as the Riverfront Market and the Holistic Health Fair to give demonstrations to the public. Recently, Nesler sent a teacher to help grade school teachers learn tools for de-stressing.

“I’m a person that says ‘yes,’ and if I can’t do it, I find a person that can do it,” Nesler said. “[At Yoga East,] we’re all very community focused.”

Nesler started a nonprofit called the Jack Finney Memorial Wellness Fund. She said the money raised through the nonprofit goes to community outreach, increasing yoga and meditation education in the Cape Girardeau area. The fund also gifts scholarships to yoga students seeking further training and certification.

The memorial fund is named after Nesler’s father, Jack Finney, who owned and operated Finney’s Drug Store on 709 Broadway in Cape Girardeau. Nesler said she got a lot of her business sense from her father, as she observed his work and helped in the store.

“I feel very blessed to be a block down Broadway from where his store was, where I learned a pretty good work ethic and learned how to make community connections,” Nesler said.

Besides her yoga certification, Nesler is a certified counselor. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and two master’s degrees in rehabilitation administration and mental health counseling. Nesler works as a counselor at New Vision Counseling and at her private practice. She says she specializes in helping others work through anxiety, trauma and periods of change in life. Nesler loves seeing others realize that “nothing is insurmountable.”

“I enjoy [counseling and therapy] for a lot of the same reasons I enjoy yoga. Just helping people,” Nesler said. “I really like when people seek help, even if they don’t know why they’re seeking help, [and] that they can get something valuable from that process.”

Between teaching yoga, counseling clients and certifying others in the practices of yoga and meditation, Nesler’s areas of expertise are aligned to help people. Nesler said through her work, she gets to see people “graduate into their best selves.”