Hi, I’m Courtney, founder of Inner Heart Glow! I created this space from my experience living with congenital heart disease and my belief that caring for our hearts means caring for ourselves as a whole.

For most of my life, my heart condition was something I only thought about during doctor visits. I was fortunate to live fully, staying active and independent while focusing on everything life had to offer. CHD was always part of my story, but it didn’t define my everyday life.

In 2021, new health challenges affecting my liver changed the way I understood what it meant to live with CHD. For the first time, I saw more clearly how a condition centered in the heart can affect the entire body. It deepened my respect for my body and inspired me to take a more active role in my overall health.

That same year, completing my yoga teacher training opened another layer of understanding. I began paying more attention to stress, mindset, movement, rest, and the connection between how we feel mentally and physically.

Today, caring for my whole self is something I’m deeply passionate about. Living with CHD has taught me that there is so much about our health we can’t control, but there is also so much we can. I choose to focus my energy there: on the habits I build, the questions I ask, how I advocate for myself, and how I choose to live my life. Our health is bigger than any one organ, diagnosis, appointment, or test result, and the way we care for ourselves in between matters too.

Inner Heart Glow is a reflection of that belief. It’s a space where I share the habits, practices, perspectives, and lessons that help me live fully with CHD and care for myself from the inside out. Everything here is based on my lived experience, personal research, and years of learning through trial and error. I’m not a medical professional, just someone who has walked this path firsthand and wants to help others feel more informed, connected, and empowered in their own journeys.

Western medicine has given me so much, and I’m endlessly grateful for it. But there are parts of living with a lifelong condition that don’t always fit neatly into a doctor’s appointment. Understanding my body, asking questions, advocating for myself, and taking an active role in my well-being have become just as important to how I navigate life with CHD.

At its heart, Inner Heart Glow is about caring for the whole person behind the heart, focusing on what we can control, and continuing to build full and meaningful lives alongside CHD.