A nun left her monastery to teach yoga in a bikini (4 photos) (Photo)

Ana Nicole Gomes dreamed of a monastic life. But a casual remark from a stranger changed her world. At 24, she left the convent and began teaching yoga on the beach.





At 16, Nicole attended a church youth event in Alagoas, Brazil. There, a stranger told her she was "too pretty for a convent." These words became a turning point in her life.

The man didn't know Gomes and said it jokingly. The girl began to reflect on her life, questioning everything she had been taught.

"It was as if someone had turned on a light inside me. I wondered: am I ready to leave the worldly before I've even begun to live?" she says.



"I believed I was born for the solitary life. My family raised me for it. But when I heard that I was 'too beautiful to be a nun,' something changed within me. I began to doubt whether I was ready to part with my youth, my desires, my freedom. I grew up with loss and the need to rediscover myself," the girl admits.

At age 5, Nicole ended up in an orphanage. Her biological father was stripped of his parental rights, and she was eventually adopted by a religious family. But at 17, she ran away and began an independent life, working as a nanny. However, her religious beliefs remained with her forever.





"In the monastery, I learned the discipline that I later found in yoga. Only this time, it wasn't about guilt, but about connection."

She used to dream of becoming a nun, but now she practices yoga in a bikini, shares videos, and discusses spirituality and sensuality.

"I was taught that sensuality was a sin. Now I see it as sacred. My body is a way to express my truth. The nun I never became helped me accept myself. Giving up that path was my first step to freedom," she adds.