Natalie Tanous has been masterfully working HYA’s front desk since she arrived in Asheville after graduating from college in 2021, and last year joined our teaching staff after completing her Teacher Training in Bali, Indonesia. She quickly found her voice and now leads HYA students through her wonderful Flow classes.
In June, Natalie will teach our Free Member Workshop, sharing some of the breathing exercises and techniques she learned in her teacher training and has used as part of her daily personal practice. Join her for Pranayama 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Energetic Alchemy on June 22 from 3-5 pm.
Natalie hopes to share her love of the more subtle aspects of yoga in the workshop. She will provide handouts that detail all the techniques and exercises in the workshop and she hopes students can incorporate them into their practice or daily routines.
“I hope that people can take away what calls out to them,” she said. “Maybe it’s a little breath practice that they can do in the morning or right before they go to bed, or using mudras in their asana practice even if it’s not cued. Things to be able to enhance their practice in the studio but also in their own life.”
Learn more about Natalie and her yoga journey:
HYA: How did you get started in yoga?
Natalie: I started in dance. I was dancing from the time I could walk until college and I minored in dance in college. My first yoga class was during a dance camp. My dance background helps me connect my body and my mind together. When I really started getting into yoga was during the pandemic. I was at home all the time and my cousin was a yoga teacher and she started this 30 day yoga journey, do 20 minutes in the morning every day and it changed the way I went about my day. I always just did what felt good in my body. When I moved to Asheville, I found HYA and started working here and really dove into a Hot Vinyasa and Hot 26 practice.
HYA: What led you to become a teacher?
Natalie: I just got really curious about it all and went to Bali for that. for my training, which was a 30-day immersion in yoga and Ayurveda, so I started with this foundational learning of yoga and Pranayama and Ayurveda, really holistic in all the different areas of yoga beyond Raja yoga. Through that, I discovered this is what I’m going to do with the rest of my life, whether I teach yoga or go on to do something like yoga therapy.
HYA: What was your biggest takeaway from your training?
Natalie: The thing that really stuck with me the most was solidifying my morning practice, my spiritual practice and the exploration there. Every morning we would wake up, do 30 minutes of meditation and then we would have asana and then we would have breakfast. That was the routine I was in and when I got back I stayed with that. That helps me propel myself because I can take care of myself before I go and take care of everyone else.
HYA: What do you enjoy about teaching?
Natalie: Diving into teaching has felt in such alignment with what I’m supposed to be doing. It feels very right. Sometimes I will get a little stage fright before class. I think a lot of people do before you have to public speak. It just happens but then during class that all goes away. The feeling I get after class is like a yoga teaching high. People are so happy and feel so good after class. I’m just so happy I got to open up that container and create the space for that.
HYA: What are your hopes for the students in the workshop?
Natalie: In the workshop I will be diving into the parts of yoga that we don’t necessarily touch on in the hot room. We do really asana heavy stuff here. But what I took out of my training and into my personal practice is more subtle yoga, kriya breath cleansing practices, energy cleansing practices and pranayama, directing my energy in certain ways, a lot more meditation and more transcendental yoga as oppose to the physical being here in your body in the present moment yoga. I hope that people can take away what calls out to them. Maybe it’s a little breath practice that they can do in the morning or right before they go to bed or using mudras in their asana practice even if it’s not cued.Things to be able to enhance their practice in the studio but also in their own life. Just little things. I have manuals for everyone to have, pictures of all the mudras and breakdowns of the breath practices.
