Courtney Townley is a health and fitness expert with a strong background in dance. Through her business, Grace & Grit, she helps women be healthier, happier and more fit in three specific areas: food, movement & stress management. She has incredible energy and enjoys sharing her love of movement with her clients. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a BFA in dance. She is certified as a coach and trainer in various aspects of health and fitness. Courtney is a strong advocate of mindfulness and uses mindfulness strategies on a daily basis. Courtney began working in the fitness industry nearly two decades ago. She is fully certified as a STOTT PILATES® instructor, NSCA personal trainer, ACE Health Coach, Genesis Transformation Health Coach and Precision Nutrition Health Coach. She is also a certified Booty Barre® instructor, TRX™ trainer, and is a very proud student of the Ido Portal Method.

Contact Info

• Website: www.GraceandGrit.com
• Podcast: Grace and Grit Podcast

Most Influential Person

• My health coach, Sherri-Lynn. She talked a lot about the importance of meditation and mindfulness and fired me up more than I already was to dive deeper into it.

Effect on Emotions

• Calmed me down, I'm a very excitable creature. It really just helped me to have more choice over my emotions rather than my emotions running me.

Thoughts on Breathing

• It's the linchpin in the sense that there is no quicker way to get into a state of mindfulness than just by pausing and taking several deep breaths.

Suggested Resources

• Book: The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
• App: A gratitude App (An alarm went off three times a day when I would stop and jot down what I was grateful for in that moment).

Advice for Newbie

The best way to start walking is by putting one foot in front of the other, so break down mindfulness into a digestible bite and even before you sit in a chair and build some sort of meditation practice, I would say just try practicing being fully present with one activity in your day for a set period of time. And be realistic on that time frame, like maybe five minutes. And be consistent, consistency is everything when it comes to building any kind of practice.