What is body alignment?
Body alignment refers to the position and relationship of different parts of the body with respect to one another. Heathy alignment is the positioning of the joints, muscles, and bones from foot to head, in the natural way they were designed, for efficient and healthy long-term movement. “Posture” is another word for alignment.
How does body alignment relate to healthy movement and a vibrant life?
Body alignment fundamentally impacts every aspect of our physical health and wellbeing. It influences how we move, sit, stand, sleep, and carry out our daily activities. Poor alignment can lead to chronic body pain, physical limitations, injuries, and damaging posture, which ultimately impacts our overall physical health and wellbeing. Bringing your body into healthy alignment involves optimizing the positioning of the joints, muscles, and bones to achieve natural, efficient movement and reduce strain on the body.
Ultimately, body alignment is indispensable for living a vibrant physical life. It allows you to move more efficiently, with less strain and discomfort, which leads to increased energy, better sleep, improved looks, and an overall sense of wellbeing.
How does Whole Being Care support my transformation to healthy alignment and vibrant movement?
Whole Being Care's approach to body alignment focuses on helping you recognize and correct long-held movement habits that may be contributing to pain and limitations. By using a combination of therapeutic massage, targeted restorative exercises, body alignment training, and movement awareness, you can heal chronic pain and significantly reduce future injury and limitation.
Whole Being Care uses four potent approaches:
Hands-on massage and self-massage with therapy balls loosens tight muscles, increases mobility, and often provides immediate relief of tension.
Targeted, restorative exercises unwind habitual movement patterns, strengthen weakened and underused muscles, and lengthens tight and overused parts.
Alignment training guides you to do everyday activities of sitting, standing, walking, bending, lifting, and sleeping in ways that boost your strength, agility, and balance, rather than in ways that degrade your wellbeing.
Awareness of what your body is doing allows you to choose your positions and movements, let go of habitual muscle gripping, and shift inefficient breathing patterns.
What results can I expect from healthy body alignment and movement?
Body alignment is a catalyst for inviting more of what you want in life:
Relief from chronic and acute pain and tension
Range of motion in your joints
Injury healing
Balance
Sleep
Energy
Strength
Flexibility and agility
Oxygenation and breathing
More benefits from your workouts, less injury
Confidence
An improved look
Mindfulness
Surgery recovery
Surgery prevention
Overall sense of wellbeing
Trust in your body's ability to heal
Understanding of your body
For more than 20 years Natasha has helped thousands of people move with greater freedom. She brings a unique combination of expertise, passion, humor, and deep care to body therapy and movement education.
Natasha has received an extensive education. Before her formal body therapy training began in 2000, she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Women’s Studies from the University of Minnesota. She received her first certificate of bodywork in Swedish Massage at McKinnon Institute in Oakland, CA.
Natasha soon discovered her love for the potent healing art of Chinese massage and acupressure, called Tui Na, which she studied extensively for years from three masterful teachers–Brian O’Dea at the Acupressure Institute in Berkeley, CA, Greg Zheng at the Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Sciences in Oakland, CA, and apprenticed for seven years with Oliver Chu, DAOM of Menhong Clinic.
Natasha’s formal training in body alignment and movement began in 2014. Her primary mentors have been Katy Bowman, Biomechanist, and Esther Gokhale, Posture Guru. In addition, she has taken many human anatomy classes, including a 6-day human dissection workshop with Gil Hedley. As a Physical Therapy Aide at Red Hawk Physical Therapy in San Francisco for one year, she was immersed in a physical therapy approach to healing. She also studied the spine in-depth with Judith Lasater.
Natasha has studied Hatha Yoga for over 20 years, practicing and receiving training in the U.S. and India. For several years, she also practiced Yang Style Tai Chi.
Natasha engages in many efforts to make positive change in the world. She is dedicated to unlearning racial bias within herself and helping others do the same and has given enormous amounts of time and attention in her life to social justice.
Physically moving in the wilderness is her greatest joy—backpacking, surfing, hiking, swimming, and biking. She loves teaching healthy body movement in natural environments.
Her life is guided by her connection to the path of Sanatana Dharma and her spiritual teacher, Mata Amritanandamayi, or Amma, the Hugging Saint.
Meet Natasha, Whole Being Care Founder
