When Anna decided to establish the Cardiac Clinic in 2010, Nan McKenzie was right there beside her.  With a background in PE and fitness, experience running the cardiac rehab exercise programme at Tauranga hospital, and a passion for education, Nan was instrumental in helping set up and run the clinic, especially in those early days.  She now specialises in teaching stretching and breathing, which she started talking about long before yoga was fashionable.

Nan has never been bound by convention.  As a PE teacher, Nan was far more interested in promoting exercise as a way to help improve confidence and coordination for all students than she was running drills, coaching teams and organising sports events.  As a guidance counsellor, she taught social and career education programmes so students learned practical transition skills they could use outside of the classroom.  As a manager at the national Careers Service (now Careers NZ) she was instrumental in bringing to life innovative career education programmes and resources.  When she came for a visit to Tauranga to find a place to live “later on,” she instead ended up buying and running a gym here.

Nan is driven by a desire to help people live healthier, happier lives, no matter what age.  “Now that I’m older,” she says, “I’m really interested in ageing healthily and helping people keep moving.”  Nan walks the talk, she can often be found riding her bike, exercising at the clinic, or, when her knee permits, jogging around Mauao.