 About
Natalia
Natalia has always been a seeker. Investigating the field of personal
growth has been her primary gig since 1997, when she left her almost
10-year career working to improve environmental policies and practices
in Asia. She began practicing yoga and receiving massage to compensate
for her long distance running habit and fast paced lifestyle. Around
the same time Natalia also discovered Gestalt Awareness Practice
(GAP) developed at the Esalen Institute, and found it an invaluable
form of self-inquiry. She quickly learned that combining a practice
of yoga, massage and GAP helped her honor the complexity of being
human and the unique makeup of each one of us in every aspect -
body, mind, and spirit. Her journey continues to be a healing process
of reunion with herself, with nature, with others and with Spirit.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2005,
and relies on these practices as she faces the challenges of this
disease.
Yoga
After a haphazard practice for a few years, Natalia found her primary
teacher, Thomas Michael Fortel, in 1997 and yoga has been central
in her life ever since. She began teaching at Esalen in 1999 before
moving to Marin County in 2000. Her teaching incorporates the core
technique of the Krishnamacharya lineage (asana, bandha, meditation
and pranayama) with other streams of influence that have deepened
her experience of yoga from dance and bodywork to wilderness experience
and her extensive travels throughout Asia. Her style is influenced
strongly by the alignment principles of Iyengar and Anusara, the
freedom and fluidity of Angela Farmer’s Innerbody Yoga, and
the flow of Vinyasa yoga. In classes, Natalia supports students
in developing a relationship with their own life-long teacher -
the intelligence within. She works with her students to cultivate
strength, flexibility, relaxation... and above all awareness and
acceptance of what is. Her musical selections and sense of humor
help bring joy and light to the practice. She brings her knowledge
of the body as a massage therapist to her manual adjustments in
the classroom. Each class is a celebration.
Massage
Natalia has over 800 hours of massage training including certification
in Swedish and Esalen massage. She also has training in cranio-sacral
therapy, sports massage, acupressure, cortical field re-education,
and Feldenkrais. During a session, the recipient is gently urged
to become an active participant in the massage through heightened
awareness and by surrendering to a deep sensing place. Sessions
include long, lengthening strokes with gentle rocking and stretching,
passive joint movement, sculpting of deep musculature, delicate
cranial balancing, subtle neural reeducation and the precision of
Chinese point work. Personal attention takes precedence over technique
making each massage session unique.
Gestalt Awareness Practice
Natalia has been a student and practitioner
of Gestalt Awareness Practice (GAP) since 1997. She lived
for three years at the Esalen Institute, where GAP is a way of life
(self observation, awareness and ultimately self-acceptance). She
has also completed a three-year Gestalt Awareness Practice program
with Christine Price and Gail Stewart, and is currently assisting
in another 3-year program. Natalia is not a therapist – she
is a teacher and considers this work a spiritual practice, influenced
by her extensive training in massage, yoga, and Buddhist practices. |
