I have been involved with horses since the age of 5. As a child, I rode as a hunter jumper rider on the East Coast. While I have continued to ride and train hunter jumpers, I shifted gears as an adult and began competing in the sport of endurance, which is long-distance timed trail riding. I have completed the 100-mile Tevis Cup 3 times and have over 2,200 endurance miles logged with the American Endurance Ride Conference. I find it both freeing and humbling to ride in the backcountry for so many miles with one of my trusted equine partners.

My formal education includes a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, with a minor in Health Education. I have worked in emergency services and intensive care, but my current work is in labor and delivery. While I love my nursing career, I found myself at a crossroads this past year when I realized my heart was guiding me towards the healing arts of another kind.

In 2018, I suffered the trauma of the devastating Camp Fire in Paradise, CA, followed by the death of my father in January 2021 while I was pregnant with my fourth child. I began a journey, which I am still on today, of exploring the healing powers of horses through the art of liberty training. I am excited to share my passion and love for these incredible sentient beings through Creative Pathways Retreats. Thank you for joining me.

My favorite quote is by an influential horseman whose training methods I studied during my time as a student in the Feather River College Equine Studies program:

“You’re not working on the horse, you’re working on yourself.” – Ray Hunt

I am deeply honored to move through this collaborative journey with Creative Pathways Retreats. I am grateful to share my heart-work and kinetic approach toward empowering our friends through various healing modalities. My interdisciplinary background in psychology, fitness, classical dance, and theater invites an invigorating perspective toward education and healing. I studied Dance, Theater, and Psychology at the University of California, Irvine and went on to graduate school where I studied Depth Psychology at Sonoma State University. My training in Jungian Analysis, Dance Movement Therapy, and Sports Psychology compliments my movement repertoire as a movement specialist and mental health practitioner. My intention is to invite conversation between you and your body by offering therapeutic tools for a more fulfilling, satiating, and sustainable practice called life.

I currently share my love for movement as a yoga and Pilates instructor in my local and virtual community. Complementing my movement practice, I specialize in the field of recovery for individuals healing from disordered eating, chronic illness, anxiety, and body-image distress.

I subscribe to loving ourselves in our darkest spaces by embracing the nuanced relationship of our shadow through movement exploration. I encourage you to explore the relationship of intention and recognize adverse behavioral patterns for a more conscious, balanced, and nourished life. Most importantly, meet your pain with compassion and use this information to evoke purpose. When we move through life with purpose, we deepen our awareness of somatic experiencing: recognizing body cues and gut intuition. When we metabolize our pain into purpose, we nourish the starving artist within. I am looking forward to moving with you in a shared, safe space and to witness your inner artist illuminate.

Instead of choosing a quote, I offer this from my teachings:

Our nervous system will almost always choose a familiar hell, then an unfamiliar heaven. What inspires our nervous system to evolve is the discernment between discomfort and pain. Discomfort invites us to listen in stillness in order to move toward change. Pain invites us to listen through movement in order to heal and transform into purpose.
 
In deep gratitude, Natalie