Want to feel more balanced and calm? Want to sleep better? Want to connect with yourself more?

My name is Natalia and I am a certified yoga teacher (RYT 500) and meditation coach, a proud Canadian Armed Forces veteran and a single mom. Additionally, I bring two decades of experience as a communications professional to the table. At Find Balance Within, you will find a caring and safe space, where you are always met with patience and compassion. Together, let's find sanctuary in community and within our practice. We always focus on safe movement, including adaptations for injuries and varied abilities. I am trained in trauma-sensitive and adaptive yoga practices with a specialization in military and first responder audiences, though my offerings are for anyone who is facing heightened stressors or is struggling with trauma, anxiety, depression, and/or chronic pain. All are welcome! 

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My personal yoga journey began in 2004 and deepened in 2015, when I began studying the field of trauma and the role of the mind-body connection in processing and integration. Current scientific research is increasingly validating the benefits of trauma-informed yoga and meditation practice as complementary treatment tools. 

 

My practice is my bedrock, helping me stay balanced as I journey to manage PTSD and chronic pain. I sustained severe leg and hip injuries during my service, which landed me in a wheelchair. My doctors doubted that I would ever again walk without mobility aids, but I was determined to beat the odds. An osteoid osteoma tumor was also found in my left leg, complicating my knee joint mobility. Yoga was instrumental in my recovery. My practice supported me in the hard work of physical rehabilitation and helped sustain my morale and mental equilibrium. Today I am once again able to move and walk entirely without supports. This journey has helped me deepen my relationship with myself and the world around me and I profoundly appreciate our human resilience and capabilities. The next step in this journey is taking me to studies in a helping profession and I look forward to growing in my path as a psychotherapist specializing in trauma. I am also very proud to serve on the board of directors at Aftermath Association, a national charity that supports military members, veterans, first responders and frontline workers who are living with mental health challenges. 

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I am first-aid certified, independently insured and am registered with Yoga Alliance International.

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I look forward to connecting with you and honour the light within us all.

Namasté

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Natalia

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Highlights of my training include: 

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• Warriors at Ease Certification – US-developed training for teaching trauma-sensitive yoga and meditation to a military audience

• Mental Health First Aid Crisis Response Training: Caring for the Veteran Community offered through the Canadian Mental Health Commission

• Peer Support Training for the Veteran Community through the Mood Disorders Society of Canada

• Introduction to Somatic Experiencing Course with Dr. Peter Levine, PhD, Founder of the Somatic Experiencing® Trauma Healing Approach and the SE Institute in Boulder, Colorado

• Breathe to Heal and Advanced Teacher Trainings with Max Strom, internationally recognized breath work specialist

• Lectures on current yoga research with Dr. Julie Staples, PhD, Research Director at the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, DC and Assistant Professor of Complementary and Alternative Medicine at Georgetown University

• Master classes and certification in meditation, yin yoga, restorative yoga, yoga Nidra, somatic and intuitive movement practices