Courtney was introduced to yoga at the age of 17 by her mom. Being an athlete her whole life, she struggled with the flexibility aspect of yoga, but was drawn to the spiritual side that other exercise forms lacked.
At the age of 24, her life changed drastically. Having struggled with alcohol addiction and bulimia throughout her teenage years and early 20’s, she put herself into treatment. She chose to live life, instead of hiding away from it and numbing out. One of her counselors suggested she explore teaching yoga, as she had expressed how much the practice had helped her to feel more calm and reduce anxiety. She enrolled in and completed her first 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training in 2008 with FITA Fitness. Before the training was complete, she began teaching group classes at a Pilates Studio. Right after the completion of her first training, she went on her first retreat, a 10-day silent Vipassana Meditation Retreat with the California Vipassana Center. This was one of the most challenging things Courtney has ever done, yet she found answers to many questions, and developed a deeper understanding of her mind and thought patterns . In 2009, she enrolled in Cloud Nine Yoga's 300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training. This advanced training helped her to further her understanding of the deeper dimensions of yoga such as meditation, the chakras, yin yoga, Thai Yoga Massage, and philosophy.
In 2011 Courtney took a workshop with Yogarupa Rod Stryker on the bandhas. The Para Yoga lineage and the tradition of Sri Vidya resonated with her, so in 2012, she took her first intensive training with Yogarupa on Vinyasa Krama. This training helped her immensely to understand the relationship between Ayurveda and yoga, to see the energetic effects of yoga, and to take her knowledge of sequencing to the next level. Since then, she has completed several more Para Yoga trainings, including Yoga Sutras, Yoga Nidra, Kundalini, Koshas, Prana, Marma, and Tantra. She has found that her passion lies in tantra, and combining asana, pranayama, bandha, and meditation to experience the full benefits of yoga.
She led 200 hour trainings with Cloud Nine Yoga from 2012 to 2015 and absolutely loved the experience of watching students transform their entire lives during the length of the training. In January of 2016 she took a second 200 Hour Teacher Training through Yogaworks, where she studied the YogaWorks method, deepening her understanding of anatomy, alignment, and sequencing. She is now a YogaWorks Teacher Trainer.
Each class that she has taught, each practice that she has done, each student she has encountered, have all helped Courtney to become the teacher, the student, and the person that she is today, and she feels grateful for this road that the practice of yoga is taking her.
