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Natasa Cvetkovic - Personal Biography

Natasa started practicing yoga during her childhood in the former Yugoslavia. Her father showed her pranayama and asana as an aid for her swimming and free-diving endeavors. Later, in 1996, she visited Pune for three months and attended B.K.S. Iyengar's classes. In 2002, she began learning Ashtanga vinyasa yoga on a long-term basis from her first certified teacher, Rolf Naujokat, who encouraged her to start teaching Ashtanga yoga in 2003.

Since then, Natasa has had the opportunity to learn from outstanding personalities like Nancy Gilgoff, Lino Miele, Petri Räisänen, Marci Naujokat, Natalia Paisano, Paul Dallaghan, David Swenson and John Scott on various trips around Asia, Africa and Europe. At her first visit to Mysore in 2005, she had the great pleasure of meeting Guruji K. Pattabhi Jois. "I was overwhelmed by his childlike curiosity and strong, peaceful personality," Natasa remembers.  Since then, she returned to Mysore several times and was taught primary and intermediate series by Guruji K. Pattabhi Jois and R. Sharath Jois.

In 2005, Natasa also met Manju Jois, who greatly influenced her practice as well as her own style of teaching. "Manju introduced me to chanting and Sanskrit. His in-depth understanding of his students' needs paired with humour and love inspired my teaching to a great degree. I am very grateful for having been authorized by Manju Jois in 2012 and to continue learning the third series from him." Natasa is lucky enough to have hosted Manju Jois teacher trainings and workshops in Vienna since 2010 and to have developed a deep friendship for him and his family.

In her workshops and daily Ashtanga yoga classes in Vienna, Natasa welcomes students at any level, age and background. She focuses on enabling people to properly assess their current status while encouraging and stabilizing their movements through breath. Over a decade, her precise, playful and safe approach to teaching has helped and encouraged her students to find their own style of practice and adjustment.

Natasa has extensive experience in teaching Yoga Therapy and is involved in educational health programs of Austrian schools and authorities. Aside from Ashtanga, Natasa studied at KYM Institute (Chennai, 2006) and has classical and contemporary dance education (Cannes, 1998-2002). She completed Freediving-Instructor-Training under Umberto Pellizari's guidance (Red Sea, 2008) and developed her own method of integrating yoga into free-diving. She also holds certifications as Feldenkrais-Practitioner (Munich, 2004), Personal Trainer (Nice, 2002) and Spiral Dynamics Instructor (Munich, 2001). Natasa studied and has worked in the fields of physics, astronomy and neuroscience as part of her holistic approach towards life and yoga. "Life is here."