In conversation with: Tawny Cortes

Tawny Cortes is a yoga teacher with a passion for exercise and mental health. She led her to discover yoga her trip to the university and until training as an educator, and finally made her to share the practice with others. Tawny is enthusiastic about the transforming effects that yoga and meditation can have on our physical and mental health. She teaches classes that are introspective and inclusive and enable its students to travel inside and be in your body with more presence and acceptance. We met Tawny to talk about what yoga means in her life and how she shares it with her students.

We would like to learn more about you. Can you tell us something about who you are and what you do?

I am a Latina of Mexican and Colombian parents born in Great Britain. I grew up in a multicultural household, I have a strong connection to my diverse heritage and consider myself more of a world citizen than to align me to a certain place. This can also be seen in my accent that most people cannot hold on! While I spent most of my life in Great Britain, I also lived in California as a child and recorded the accent when I was there, and I am also bilingual (Spanish and English), so my accent is a bit of a mix.

I have been working in the fitness and wellbeing industry for eight years, first as a group exercise teacher and then as a personal trainer before I went on yoga lessons six years ago. I now teach yoga all day and teach in yoga studios, gyms, spas and corporate environments. I teach Hatha Yoga on an alignment basis with elements of the river as well as residual organ yoga and gentle yoga with mindfulness.

You taught a whole series of things before you got to yoga. What brought you to practice?

I have been teaching in any form for 10 years. In the previous years when I worked as a theater broker in the youth theater and finally moved to the fitness and wellness industry in 2012, I practiced yoga in my free time.

yoga has been part of my life since I discovered the practice during my last year of study. My university experience, as astonishing it was, was also an extremely difficult time in my life because it was the first time that I had depression and had to do with difficult anxiety. I had heard that yoga should be relaxing and I was particularly fascinated by the spiritual aspect of liberation and inner peace.

Yoga was significantly involved in my own self-healing and self-care. It enabled me to deepen my own self -confidence, to make friends with my body and mind and to grow as an individual. In many ways, yoga was my therapy, it was a refuge for me, where I am authentic myself, laugh, cry, find joy, play, heal, rest and be easy.

What did she get to teach yoga about everything else?

yoga was always in mind than something I would like to share with others, but I didn't act for some time. I think the practice first intimidated me. There is just so much to learn not only to organize a class and to understand the orientation of the posture, but also to understand and respect the rich history and philosophy of yoga.

I finally decided to complete my yoga teacher training after I received advice from my fitness studio manager at the time, who has now become a dear friend and mentor. For some time I had taught many different classes from Zumba to Spin, Hiit and Pump and I had just started working as a PT in a gym in addition to teaching. I was not sure where my career should go and my gym manager said: "You can be good in many things or you can be in something great." These words really met me and this seed of yoga, which had been planted in my back of my head a long time ago, suddenly came in full view. I knew that this was the only one in which I wanted to be really great.

How do their experiences with everything, from acting lessons to the fight with mental health, their lessons?

I am very introverted, but my background in the theater and in the dramatic arts certainly helped to strengthen my self-confidence in front of a group of people. My passion for teaching is definitely based on my personal experience of how yoga helped me deal with my fear and to face the challenges of life. It was the catalyst for the development of self -care practices that enable me to regulate my nervous system when I feel stressed, anxious or depressed.

As much as yoga has made it possible for me to develop deeper awareness and understanding of my body, mindfulness also enables me to better adjust to my thoughts, especially on negative thoughts that could trigger my fear. The implementation of mindfulness practices in my everyday life as well as consistent meditation practice have contributed to living in the presence more fully.

I hope that one day we can talk about our mental health just as openly and honestly as about our physical health. I think we have put a long way, but there is more than can be done to reduce barriers in connection with mental health. This work will be even more important in the coming months and years if we achieve a new “normality” after Covid-19.

What inspires and motivates you?

I am inspired by many places. Nature, books, poems and my teachers, to name just a few. What motivates me is the love I have for this holy practice with others, hoping that you will also find refuge and peace in the wisdom teachings of yoga.

How would you describe your own classes and where can people get involved?

My lessons is warm, inviting and inclusive for everyone. They are a place where the students are encouraged to let go of the self -judgment and to explore their own unique experience of being in the body. My teaching is based on the understanding that yoga is a way of self -research and self -fulfillment, which enables us to combine us with our nature as a living being and to live more fully in the presence.

Tawny currently teaches online via zoom and personally. Detailed information on your schedule as well as further information on private sessions or company events can be found on your website here.