I’m Catherine.
Coach. Yoga Educator. Builder of Things.
I love to help people. I always have. I haven't always helped myself, though.
The Superpower (and Achilles Heel)
Despite knowing deep down that I'm worthy as-is, simply for being, for most of my life I never felt "enough." That "not enoughness" drove my work ethic and achievements for as long as I can remember. I felt this constant urge to prove myself—over and over and over again. I still do sometimes.
When managed well, this drive is my superpower. It carried me through 20+ years across professional sports, global brands, agencies and mission-driven organizations—from D.C. United, where I founded the community relations department and a standalone nonprofit from scratch, to the New York Mets and New York Road Runners, where I built partnership programs and business infrastructure that didn't exist before I arrived. I've sat on the brand side, the property side and the agency side. I've built teams, departments and systems. I know what it feels like to create something from nothing—and I know what it costs.
When not managed well, that same drive is my Achilles heel. It has led me to overwork at the expense of rest, to measure my worth by what I produced rather than who I was and to stay in situations long past the point when I knew they weren't right.
Sound familiar?
How I Found Yoga
I came to yoga after two foot surgeries forced me to hang up my spikes following more than a decade of competitive running. I walked on to the Division I cross country and track teams at UNC Chapel Hill, and running was my identity. Losing it broke something open. Yoga helped me understand body, breath and movement in ways that competitive athletics never did. I've been practicing for more than 20 years and teaching for almost as long, still studying with my own teacher, mentor and friend of 17 years.
How I Found Coaching
I came to coaching because something in my life needed to shift, and I needed someone to help me see what I couldn't see on my own. I trained at the Co-Active Training Institute, widely regarded as one of the most rigorous coaching programs in the world. Through that work—and through years of my own therapy, coaching and practice—I've been able to nurture my self-care and well-being journey in ways that have produced some of the most valuable (and hardest) work of my life.
What I Offer You
Not answers — I don't have yours. But a partnership, a practice and someone in your corner who's been in the arena and understands what it takes to build, to lead, to pour yourself into something and to wonder whether it's leading you where you actually want to go.
A Few More Things
I'm a Tar Heel by way of undergrad and a Hoya via my MBA from Georgetown. I'm a proud aunt to seven niblings and mum to two bunny rabbits. A military brat, I live in an old Victorian house in Historic Anacostia in Washington, D.C., where I tend a community garden plot in Capitol Hill and teach Wednesday evening Vinyasa and Restorative classes at Lighthouse Yoga Center in Brightwood.
I'm also an avid solo traveler, a lover of journals and cameras and someone who believes that the most important relationship you'll ever have is the one with yourself.
Credentials
Coaching
Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC)—Co-Active Training Institute (CTI)
Associate Certified Coach (ACC)—International Coaching Federation (ICF)
Yoga & Mindfulness
Experienced-Registered Yoga Teacher 500 (E-RYT 500)—Yoga Alliance (YA)
Experienced-Certified Yoga Teacher 500 (E-CYT 500)—Global Online Yoga Association (GOYA)
Continuing Education Provider (YACEP)—Yoga Alliance
RYS 200 Teacher Trainer (New York City & Washington, D.C.)—YogaWorks
Hear More
DC Yoga Podcast - a conversation with Chris Parkison from Dec 19, 2019
Yogaland Podcast - a conversation with Jason Crandell and Andrea Ferretti from March 20, 2020 on how to bring yoga teacher trainings online during COVID-19
Accessible Yoga - a YouTube chat with Jivana Heyman and Dr. Christa Kuberry from April 22, 2020 sharing advice on how to navigate COVID-19
Business of Teaching Yoga Podcast - a conversation with Cora Geroux and Dr. Christa Kuberry from May 26, 2020 on how Yoga Alliance was supporting its international members during COVID-19
We were all designed to move. breathe. be.