Nat's Journey
My name is Natalie, but I'm really a Nat. If you were to ask my closest friends and family to describe me it would sound like this; "She is a ball of energy filled with unique, and eclectic talents and abilities." Very open to interpretation!
My own healing journey began in 2012. I was diagnosed with mononucleosis. After 3 years of not being able to heal due to living in mold, I found 3 very important tools. I found an amazing doctor who thought differently about health and healing. I began seeing an acupuncturist who helped me search within myself to create abundance in my thoughts and beliefs, nutrition and energy. Thirdly, I met a beautiful soul who practiced Reiki and Yoga. This was the door that fully opened my wellness path. And this is how I arrived here at this moment with you!
Introduction:
Natalie Glassford, IAYT specializing in autoimmune disorders, stress reduction, digestion, grief care, and making your dreams come to life.:)
My Profession and Resume: IAYT Yoga Therapist, Āyurveda Counselor, Herbalist, Reiki Master, Cosmotologist, Dancer, Recording Artist, Ed Specialist,
Creator of The oracle deck “Basic Skills Affirmation Cards ” and Author/Graphic Designer of the book “the MAGICK of the Universe”
My services focus on 1:1 yoga therapy and creating a specialized, personal plan for specific disorders/dis-ease/ symptoms that are manifesting and bringing back balance and ease.
I also incorporate energy services, body treatments and dance movement.
Outside of Work:
I am a daughter, a mom, and a dutchess to 2 beautiful and sparkly grandbabies.
I am a lover of dance and music.
I am a cat mom to 4 furry beasts.
I love to cook, bake and create teas, herbals, concoctions, decoctions, salves, tinctures, medicinal wines. I volunteer at the living free animal sanctuary in the Cattery weekly.
My Early Journey…
Let’s start w my birth story. My mother shared she had a good pregnancy. She was 27 years old when she conceived. She had a super quick labor, 2 hours. By the time she arrived at the hospital, the nurses whisked her in the room and I popped out. This says a lot about me.
As for my upbringing, my dad’s family was Christian, very privileged. My mom’s family was of catholic upbringing and a military brat.
At the age of 8, I moved to California with my mom to stay with my grandmother. Raised by a single mother, I experienced an emotionally unsafe and stressful home. I was an emotionally introverted child often getting sick especially upset stomachs.
My saving grace- music, dance and my cat Tiger.
My Families Lineage;
Though for generations my family on both sides have been completely disconnected from their culture and traditions, ancestory.com has shared much with my mom and myself. My father’s roots in Germany, England, Switzerland. My mother’s roots of Swedishand Scott-Irish.
As for religion, my dad never spoke of religion. My mother’s beliefs from a catholic upbringing are deeply embedded, yet my grandma and mom didn’t attend church in my childhood, though I attended catholic school until 5th grade.
So for many generations, and unsure how far back, both family lines have been physically and spiritually seperate from the land and traditions of their ancestors.
Before Finding Yoga, Reiki and Āyurveda: I had music and dance that kept me alive. I started dancing later in life. I was a gymnast for 9 years. And when it wore me down physically and emotionally at the age of 13, I found musical theater. Singing and dancing was my greatest joy in life. It wasn’t until high school that I found classical dance training and this supported me through college. After college I found West African dance and Ms. Monik Jones. I have been dancing under Monik for 20 + years and to this day.
How Yoga Found Me:
Well, one human can only be so healthy mind and body as the lifestyle and relationships they are immersed in. I experienced both a dysfunctional and emotionally unsafe parental relationship as well as an absent father, influencing me into an unsafe and highly unstable significant other relationship. I then became an educational specialist within an unhealthy school/district community and unable to stabilize boundaries due to workload. During my career I was also unaware I was living in mold. This was an explosion waiting to happen. I experienced illness, a mixture of EBV viral activation from all the stress exposure. The hidden mold was slowly deteriorating my body and mind. After 3 years and 7 doctors, the 8th doctor created a plan to bring me back to health. On his menu, many things, but the most important, Yoga, Accupuncture and Reiki.
These 3 modalities of healing and their lineages of wisdom each played a crucial role in my healing as they each focused on a whole body approach.
My Studies and Specialties:
My first reiki session felt uplifting and freeing. Kathy Kangaroo was a yogi and an energy healer. She was nourishing and her touch was safe, kind and loving. It was with Kathy I also had my first yoga movement experience and mantra recitation and prayer. It was in this space I learned about medicine Buddha.
After a year with Kathy and feeling better, I began reiki trainings.
Next, actually simultaneously, I met Dr. Soon Lee, an unconventional acupuncturist. It was actually Dr Soon that connected me to Kathy. Dr. Soon Lee was a young and gifted doctor, with such wisdom to share. Dr. Lee was a part of my healing tribe, which was necessary to repair the damage accrued in my mind body and spirit. I am grateful for his gifts and lessons shared.
I became more active with yoga and asana when my dear fur cat Loverboy passed. I immersed myself in yoga to relieve the pain I experienced. It was so profound at helping me move through grief that I enrolled in the 200 hour program. This training was so deep, I felt something activate inside me, like a remembering, and I continued on through 300 hour training all the way through yoga therapy.
Āyurveda:
It was in yoga training that Āyurveda was shared. Again, a light ignited and I soaked up the short teaching. Each level of yoga shared a bit more of Āyurveda and the science of life. Once I completed yoga, I leaped into Āyurveda with the beautiful Anjali Deva. What was so powerful is, at the beginning of my training I became so ill again, and come to find out, a second mold exposure. Anjali helped me navigate through and with her teachings and her counseling support I healed once again.
Continued Studies: In January 2020 I completing my Herbalist Certificate with Herb Stop in Pine Arizona, and both the 200 hour and 300 hour Yoga Teacher Training Program @ Be The Change Yoga Wellness in Irvine. I am an internationally certified Yoga Therapist and completed my 600 hour Ayurvedic Counselor program with Anjali Deva to support yoga therapy. I specialize in SRY (supreme release yoga) also known as spinal release yoga. This is a beautiful teaching from the Tantric lineage. As my teacher Kaya would say “as most yoga styles are focused on the outer, physical shapes of a pose, SRY is about going deeply inward.” Another beautiful path of yoga is Bhakti Yoga. I have been priviledged to be taught by Govind Das in the Beauty of Bhakti Sangha and learning Harmonium in the Kirtan sangha (I’m still a work in progress!). Yoga is best served with a teacher as a guide. I continue to immerse myself in the teachings and scriptures of yoga with my teachers to honor yoga’s culture and people.
I am a life long learner. I will continue to follow the path that Divine Source guides me towards. Yoga is so immense in wisdom and teachings and it is exciting when new paths reveal themselves to be traveled down. Some future travels I look forward to explore are Vastu, Hasta and Jyotisha, the science of light! I will continue to seek out and surround myself with beautiful, loving and powerful teachers and healers! The journey continues!
Fascinating Facts:
I attended hair school when I was 19 years old. I received and still hold a valid California Cosmotology license. I participated in many Hair Shows, Very entertaining!
I was a background dancer for 2 up and coming latin artists Destiana and Valerie V.
I recorded a kids hip-pop album titled “So Emotional”. I also authored and created graphic art for my book “The Magick of the Universe”. Along with the book pairs a affirmation cards deck for kids with special needs, parents, teachers and psychologists/counselors. I was a gymnast for 9 years and my outstanding talent was walking on my hands. As my mother shares, I would walk on my hands around the house often.
Thank you for taking the time to read about my life's journey. I am excited to be able to work all souls from humans, to animals, to nature and spaces. Peace, Love and Light! XO Nat
My Yoga Lineage:
My first teachers of yoga, from Be The Change Yoga, studied under Robert Birnberg who studied under T.K. V. Desikachar, son of Tirumalai Krishnamacharya. Through my Yoga Therapy program I was introduced to Arun Deva, an Ayurvedic Yoga Therapist, where I first was introduced to Ayurveda. I then was introduced to Anjali Deva, who taught and continues to teach me the wisdom and magick of Ayurveda through Madya Way and the Ayurveda Counselor Program. Arun Deva’s lineage (the list is long:)) can be caught on the Satyam Stories Podcast Episode 1 created by Anjali Deva found on Rooted Rasa or Spotify. My Kirtan teacher Govind das studied under Ram Das who was a student of Guru Neem Karoli Baba AKA Maharaj-Ji. And lastly, my teacher Kaya Mindlin who has enriched my studies in SRY Yoga and hypermobile patterns, Hasta Samudrika, Yoga Nidra, Vastu, Jyotisha, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Subtle Body, Vedanta and the Nectar of Time which is a journey of the vedic celebrations through the year. Her lineage is widely expansive. Some of her teachers are Swami Nirmalananda Saraswati, Krishan Mantri, Hart deFouw, Swami Tattvavidananda and Pujya Swami Dayananda to name a few. Here is a link to her lineage page @ https://yogawithkaya.com/about-kaya/. I am so grateful for finding yoga and for all the teachers who have come and gone and for those still teaching me. Yoga is definately not a destination but a life long journey. Blessed be.
