Natalie Courtney

Natalie Courtney graduated with a degree in Art History from Colorado State University. In her younger years, she moved frequently and had a great wanderlust to travel and experience life in different places. She later worked in New York, managing art collections and artifacts in museums. It was here that she realized she had lost some of the flexibility she enjoyed when she did ballet and gymnastics as a child. She then attended yoga classes to improve her flexibility and get fit.

But it wasn’t until she moved with her husband to his military base in Okinawa, Japan, that her true journey with yoga began. While she was in Japan for 2 years, she began every morning with meditation and yoga. She realized it was much more than a physical practice, but a self-study, meeting yourself where you are and healing your body from the inside.

Natalie completed her 200 hour yoga teacher training in Okinawa, Japan, through the Yoga Power Shanti Enrichment Series. When she returned to the US, she continued studying yoga in California and became a trained Therapeutic Chef through Bauman College. She later completed her 500 hour yoga training at the Asheville Yoga Center in North Carolina. During this time Natalie opened Tranquility Studios, a boutique yoga studio that offers private, small group, and online classes. Natalie is also a KRI Level 1 220 Kundalini Teacher and a certified Sound Healing practitioner.

Natalie first came across the Life Enrichment Center in 2017 when she was searching for artistic activities her mother would enjoy. At the LEC, she found a new place to teach yoga and a group of eager students. Her favorite part about teaching yoga at the LEC is interacting with the lovely group of students and watching them grow in their practice. She encourages her students to connect to their divine wisdom, to listen to their teacher within, and to live their yoga off the mat.

Natalie is a firm believer of “move it or lose it.” She teaches gentle chair yoga and works with her students at the LEC on building core strength, improving flexibility, and keeping a wide range of motion to help them feel young mentally and physically. Natalie is a forever student and loves to keep learning about yoga and the yogic lifestyle. Her spiritual name is Upma Kaur.