To Morales, yoga is so much more than a form of exercise – it’s a way to give back, both to community and self.
When Natalie Morales teaches her weekly yoga classes in Coconut Grove, she defies the typical image of a yoga instructor.
She doesn’t arrive in activewear – she wears a breezy button-down instead – and she guides her class with equal parts of motivation and humor, teasing students for looking too serious between poses.
“It doesn’t matter what way you move,” she tells them. “As long as it’s special.”
Morales herself has taken that advice to heart, and the mantra she repeats during class – “do it your own way” – might just as well describe her teaching style, and her life.
“I like to focus on the fun, the joy of movement,” Morales tells the Spotlight. “So that’s what I call my classes – funyasa.”
It’s an approach and a philosophy that students appreciate.
“She’s so easy to relate to,” said yoga student Alexandra Stoerger. “There’s always something to chat about or laugh about outside of class. I feel like all of her students really feel that connection with her.”
Surprisingly, though, given the way she connects with her students today, Morales says yoga wasn’t her first love.
A child of the 70s, Morales was raised in South Florida by Cuban parents, in a household where learning and self-expression was encouraged.
Of all the activities she did as a kid – French lessons, dance and art classes – Morales said her experience as a ballet student – and her struggles with body image that came with it – left a lasting impact on her.
“I really loved it, but I remember thinking that if I ever were in a position to teach anyone anything, I would never treat someone the way we were treated as ballet students,” she said.
Morales said the contrast between the often-toxic expectations of ballet and the positive reinforcement she experienced at home helped inform her approach to yoga – namely, that anyone, of any body type, skill level or ability, can benefit from yoga.
“When we talk about yoga, usually people are talking about physical yoga, which is a small fraction of what yoga really means,” she said. “Yes, it’s a physical practice, but it’s more about peeling away layers of what’s going on in your inner world.”
Morales was 14 when a friend introduced her to yoga. She didn’t begin to teach until much later, after years of practice, and only then by chance.
“I entered the profession kind of accidentally,” she recalled.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Florida, Morales worked as a crisis counselor in Los Angeles before returning to Miami to pursue her master’s in art education at Florida International University.
Back in South Florida, Morales began to explore the idea of teaching yoga herself, after subbing a class for a friend.
“I say she tricked me, but that’s how it started,” Morales said. “When I realized that I could create the lifestyle that I wanted teaching yoga, that’s when I went for it full blast.”
In 1999, Morales moved to St. Louis, where she became fully devoted to the profession. The city’s central location constantly attracted traveling yoga instructors and new opportunities to learn about a variety of styles.
Multiple training sessions later, Morales trademarked her individual style, putting a spin on the term “vinyasa” with her own “funyasa” classes.
“I think that when people are approaching a physical discipline with a lighthearted spirit, they’re less likely to be injured, and it kind of sets the tone for the playfulness of it so that it’s not about a competition,” she says today.
After moving back to Miami in 2002, Morales brought her teaching style to Coconut Grove, eventually opening Dharma Yoga Studio. The studio offered close to 50 classes a week taught by 22 different instructors, with an emphasis on inclusion.
Morales also led the free outdoor yoga classes in Peacock Park sponsored by the Coconut Grove Business Improvement District (BID).
Todd Friedman started taking Morales’ class at Dharma about 10 years ago. He’s gotten to know her both in and out of the studio.
“She’s the kind of a person that you feel – even in a short time – close to her because she just has such good vibes,” he said. “She’s a rare person in that her energy is very positive and bright.”
Morales is also known for teaching yoga to people in wheelchairs – a self-described passion and a reminder that yoga is so much more than just a physical practice.
While at Dharma, Morales donated a portion of her proceeds each month to a different nonprofit that empowered individuals with disabilities. Over the years, she has worked closely with organizations like the Way Forward Foundation, Shake-A-Leg Miami, the Sabrina Cohen Foundation, and the Impossible Dream catamaran.
The care that Morales showed for the community came back to her in times of hardship. After her husband Steve passed away from a brain tumor within two years of his diagnosis in 2016, she returned to the studio with a strong support system to guide her.
“I was able to go back and just focus on it – just focus on helping people feel better. That – the support from the community – it was amazing,” she recalled.
After 13 years at Dharma, Morales closed her studio during the pandemic. Today, she teaches her signature “funyasa” classes at Open Door Yoga in the Grove.
“She’s unbelievably kind and wise and very giving, and really lives the life of a yogi,” Sherrie Giusto, the owner and founder of Open Door Yoga, told the Spotlight. “She has a unique ability to see light in all of her students.”
Morales has been teaching at Open Door since the studio’s opening over two years ago, bonding with Giusto over their shared philosophy that yoga is for everybody.
Stoerger, the yoga student, said Morales puts that philosophy into practice by making everyone in her class feel like they belong.
“She has such a big heart, and that comes through in her teaching,” she said. “She’ll lead a tough practice, but she makes it accessible for anybody who wants to go.”
Stoerger completed the studio’s first ever 200-hour teacher training. Morales wrote the 300-page training manual and led the program. Stoerger says Morales’ emphasis on inclusivity and accessibility will influence her own teaching style.
“It was amazing. I mean her manual was so comprehensive. Honestly, she just made the teacher training so much fun in so many ways,” she said.
Added Giusto: “She’s the type of person that, if you walk around Coconut Grove with her, like 10 people walk up to you and say ‘Natalie!’”
Morales says Coconut Grove is where she has found her community, healthy pastimes and connections with like-minded people.
“Yoga can be that. Yoga can create that community. It’s an excuse for people to come together and do something that’s good for them,” she said.
