You're an active person, or at least you were…
but your physical pain or tension keeps you from doing the activities you love (biking, walking, gardening, skiing).
And you don’t want to keep pushing through the pain anymore…it’s too exhausting.
Getting through the day can be draining enough, let alone doing the ‘extra’ things (like gardening, biking, hiking, walking, running) - heck putting on your shoes or pulling your shirt on over your head can be too much sometimes.
And when you manage to do the activities you want to, you have to force yourself or ‘power’ through, and end up in more pain which is even more exhausting...
It ends up taking a ton of energy, and you suffer a lot afterwards.
You’re in this weird spot where you know you have to keep moving
because it helps get the kinks and tension out
but also
moving hurts
The pain is so consuming that AND you’ve been dealing with this for so long that…
You are seriously thinking that it’s time to stop hiking, playing hockey, running, biking, gardening, wearing tie up shoes - whatever activity that you love
(and maybe you already have stopped)
This is a very important moment…
I’d invite you to stop and acknowledge this moment.
Those thoughts about stopping what’s hurting show that you are ready to do something different.
It shows that you are willing and wanting to learn how to listen to your body…
I don’t believe that our bodies are meant to be overcome. “Pushing” or “powering” through may be necessary occasionally but if you find yourself saying “I just need to push through this” everyday then this has become your operating mode.
and that’s a sign that you’re not hearing something, that your body is telling you something.
Here’s the thing…
your body has been trying to get your attention for a very long time…
that pain is literally your body S C R E A M I N G at you.
sending you a sign…a big flashing Las Vegas style neon sign, it’s trying to tell you something
And if you are at the point of being willing to give up what you love…
then you are ready to listen to your body and hear what your pain is telling you.
I’m not saying you’ll HAVE to give up doing what you love, but you will have to do something different but the fact that you are willing to is important.
Hi, I’m Natt Forrest. I’m a Moving Well Consultant. You could think of me as your personal “body whisperer”, I help you figure out what movements are keeping you in pain, and what movements will help create more ease.
I help you learn to listen to the whispers so you don’t have to hear the screams.
Book a free 15 minute Introductory call to find out more.
I want to be super clear here on 3 things:
1. What you get by working with me are the skills and ability to find relief; the proverbial “Learn to Fish” scenario. This is not a passive session like a massage or chiropractor, you will be engaged and part of the process. I come from a place of working with you, not on you! If that delights or intrigues you, then likely this will be a good fit for you.
2. I am not a therapist of any kind - Yoga or otherwise. I am a plain old Yoga teacher that has a weird-ass mystery illness thing and has had a lot of injuries from doing the activities I love (yes, gasp, even injuries from yoga postures) and have learned that by using the Yogic tools of awareness and presence, sprinkled with some knowledge of anatomy, I could figure out what was making my physical pain and injury worse and what was helping, and eventually healing.
AND for over 20 years this is how I have taught my classes, then students started telling me that "their pain was decreasing because of my classes, and that somehow they just felt different after"…and I went “hmmmmm…maybe there’s something here”.
3. If you know (or suspect) that your physical pain is caused by an autoimmune disorder, allergy, deep emotional or ancestral wound, or broken bones, the work we do together can absolutely support you in those areas and the skills you learn with me will be useful BUT those are not my areas of experience, and so I suggest working in collaboration with someone who is an expert in those areas.
I know that not everyone likes to read stories but if you do... For real life examples on how the ‘same’ pain has different patterns for each of us Example #1 I had a student (we’ll call her Judy). Judy came to me with some serious hip pain…the kind of pain that had been going on for decades. In our second session we found the movement pattern that had been causing her hip to be so ‘cranky’ (as she called it). We were able to find a movement that calmed her cranky hip in that same session. And the decades of pain started to unravel. And anytime her hip started to be cranky all she had to do was that movement to calm it. Eventually Judy became aware of how often she did that movement that caused pain and we worked together to find supportive ways that her body liked to dissolve that pain. But it wasn’t always that way…. When she first approached me about doing a session, I let her know that when someone starts with this work, I recommend a series of 8 privates over 4 months, and that it would require her to do a few minutes of movement homework daily to increase her awareness of her body. Judy decided that this was too much of a commitment for her at the time. A year later Judy came back to me, still in pain, and decided to book a program. Judy’s hip pain pattern was decades of having an over used outside of the hip muscle and leg rotation (an old injury compensation), her hip pain really calmed down fast by learning to use her inner thighs properly. Example #2: Rose had hip pain for years, and was REALLY diligent at doing all the homework she was given by her massage and chiropractors. She was and is perhaps, the most dedicated to her homework I have ever seen. The homework that her practitioners gave her was good, and useful…except there were things that they didn’t see when they gave her the homework. Rose had a tendency to overdo stuff - if the instructions were to do it 5 times, she would do it 20, if she was to do something 4 times a week, she’d do it twice a day - regardless of what her body was telling her. With Rose it took a little longer but eventually she realized that she had a habit of forcing her body to do things beyond when they were good for her - even if they were good for her in smaller amounts. We also noticed that she had a tendency to tuck her pelvis with everything she was doing. So once she noticed herself forcing herself, she would bring in some breath, and slow down, did less…she eventually was able to decrease her need to tuck her pelvis (a compensation from blasting through and overdoing) and her hip started to ease up. Judy and Rose both had hip pain - they both circled the exact same spot on the intake form…the hip pain was the result of very different things.
2.TEST! TEST! TEST!
You must always test to make sure the actions you are doing are ACTUALLY helping you. You’ve probably been given homework before and it goes something like this: “oh this muscle isn’t working, here’s an exercise to get it to work” BUT they haven’t truly watched you do the movements and then tested to see if it was helping or hindering. Shockingly, I’ve had many clients whose homework actually adds to their pain.
I often work in collaboration with amazing body workers and manual therapists, they are invaluable and I honour the great work they do.
The missing ingredient that I see is in the homework area.
This often isn't their area of expertise. While focusing on their very important work--the therapy you are seeing them for--body workers and manual therapists are aware that incorporating movement in between sessions is highly important. The difference is, those wonderful body-workers aren’t working with you to build your own awareness to learn to hear your body’s whispers and see the yellow lights.
This is where I can help.
Derrick had shoulder pain for almost as long as he could remember. He was unable to lift his arm past shoulder height. He had been to the Osteopath many many times, and it helped for awhile but inevitably he would do something that caused it to start acting up again. One day he asked the Osteo for some homework, something he could do in between sessions. The Osteo, who was very very good at doing Osteopath things, gave Derrick the homework of hanging from a bar. Derrick being eager to get some longer lasting relief started doing that hanging from a bar daily. When he came to me he couldn’t figure out why his shoulder was getting worse. He was doing what he was supposed to. He was about to give up something that he loved dearly - gardening. So I asked him…on a scale of 0 - 100 (0 being no pain, 100 being the most pain) what his shoulder was like before doing the hanging bar? Derrick said it was somewhere around 50. Then I asked what would you rate it after? The number was high 70’s. Was this usually what happened? He said yes. So I asked him based on this, did it make sense for him to keep doing it? It seemed pretty clear what his body was telling him. The aha light went on for Derrick. The hanging bar made things worse. So we found movements that made things feel better and with some awareness of what his body was saying, some skills to support more ease in his body, and diligence in doing the homework movements, he was able to reach above his head again…with no shoulder pain. Eventually he was able to carry watermelons and heavy bags of groceries without it causing pain…but more importantly he was able to get back to gardening again.
3. Slowing down actually gets you there faster.
I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but it’s true. We need to slow down, be present, and see the yellow lights before we blast off a cliff into pain-town. Slowing down allows us to see the things we do that contribute to our pain, and then we can decide if we want to turn around or keep blasting off the cliff.
There are a few key things that most people overlook when searching for ‘the answers’ to their pain relief that make all the difference:
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Our paths for healing are each unique.
This means that two people with the same area of pain need different tools and practices to heal because their bodies are saying different things.
It’s kind of like a strand of lights that you’ve thrown in a box for a year and then need to be untangled; each strand will require you to pay attention to what’s going on and work through it differently.
There are ways to decrease pain.
Ways to bring in more relief and ease in movement throughout your day, so you can eventually get back to doing those ‘extra’ things that bring you joy (gardening, walking, running, hiking...putting on your shoes whilst standing…)
It’s likely that you’ve tried everything, or at least a bunch of things like: massage, chiropractor, osteopathy, energy work, stretching, physical therapy, yoga...and likely more…(or at least you’ve thought of going to someone).
And I love that you probably already have a team of people helping (ex: massage therapist, osteopath, chiropractor...)
And they help, or some of them do, at least for awhile…
But there’s a little voice inside your head saying: “Yes, but what can I do? There’s got to be something I could actively be doing in between sessions so that I don't slip backwards and can go to my next appointment moving forward instead of doing the same thing over and over again.”
Maybe you have a suspicion that some of the exercise homework you’ve been given isn’t helping, or could actually be making it worse (more on this below).
You want to be able to do as much as you can on your own - if only you knew what that was, exactly...
In short, you want to take more control of your pain management.
(Actually, what you probably deeply want is for someone to wave a magic wand, or give you one exercise that will fix it, and make it all go away so you can get on with life. I totally get this, truly. But until I find that magic wand this work can get you through, and help you feel more hopeful, and energetic).
I want to be super clear here. What you get by working with me are the skills and ability to find relief; the proverbial “Learn to Fish” scenario.
This isn’t me giving you the same homework that everyone gets, this is created specifically to you.
We start with where you are (experiencing pain)
Then we figure out where you want to go (able to go for walk, biking, gardening, getting through work without pain, putting shoes on whilst standing...)
And we work towards that in small attainable steps.
And because something even more amazing happens when you have the skills to navigate your pain...your relationship with yourself and pain changes.
I make sure that what you’re doing actually helps you, and that you understand it so you feel confident about doing it.
I do it this way because it’s more powerful and the results more encompassing.
To me, it’s not reasonable to say that you will never again experience physical pain or tension but it is reasonable to have the tools to know what to do when/if you experience them again. I’d rather know how to fish than be given a fish.
This is HUGELY relieving; when you know what to do about something it no longer is a mystery.
You don’t spend your energy trying to figure it out anymore.
You know where to go and how to get there.
The pain is no longer all consuming, or as frustrating. If you do experience tension or pain they become insights; something you can learn from and manage easily BEFORE it becomes a big deal.
We'll be a good fit if:
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You already do movement at home - yoga, meditation, exercise, dance OR are super keen to get into a home practice. This is essential to success with this work.
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You are willing to slow down, increase your awareness and explore how your movements, breath, and mindset affect your overall health and ease.
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You are willing to be curious about your pain and learn (and implement) the skills to navigate what your body is telling you. My goal is for you to be able to eventually be able to tune into you and be able to help yourself.
We probably won't jibe at this time if:
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You have a "no pain, no gain" attitude, and are not willing to examine that. In my opinion pain is a sign to listen to, not blast through to ‘get ‘er done’.
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You are unwilling to slow down and increase your awareness.
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You are so busy that you don't have time to do the practice. This isn’t like a massage or chiropractor where you passively receive treatment, it’s an active, engaged, roll up your sleeves type of session. If you are excited by that, then we’re a fit.
Not sure if we’re a fit?
Let's talk!
Testimonials
Dalphine Success story & Testimonial 1
changed my world...
I've learned that most things I thought I wouldn't be able to do, I can...I just need to know how to do them
Dalphine on Therapeutic Movement & Yoga, and testimonial
"Working with Natalie has produced significant and (to me!) surprising results; her knowledge of anatomy and understanding of the interwoven working of the body has helped me to pinpoint areas of difficulty and compensation in my body and daily life. I can't tell you how many people commented how much taller I looked, even after only 2 sessions; which is nothing to how much better I feel. "
"helped me become a more balanced individual"
-Deanna Berrington, private client
"I was invited to see her for Therapeutic Yoga and am I ever glad! The practice not only gave me better mobility, but a much better understanding of how my body works and moves and ways to ease through every day movements as well as chronic pain from rheumatoid disease & degenerative disks. Who knew that a person has so many layers?
Natalie gently and thoroughly worked thru these layers and taught me how to understand them and “be with” these layers until the next layer evolved. I learned many subtle yet profound movements that have made a huge difference in my life.
The combination of her knowledge, compassion and understanding made therapeutic yoga a great experience and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to enhance their life."
"...many subtle yet profound movements..."
- Gayle Dougall, private client
" helped me walk again..."
"I found Natalie shortly after beginning to walk again after 16 weeks with my foot up on pillows and getting about with a wheelchair. My foot surgery had finally healed but I was very weak and had terrible balance. Natalie helped me with various exercises and stretches and my body awareness, balance and strength improved. I am grateful to Natalie for setting me down the right path!"
- Loreen Jacobs, private client
"Working with Natalie has enabled me to address a very old injury in an accurate manner. Consistently doing the exercises provided has given me more mobility and less discomfort."
"given me more mobility and less discomfort..."
-Barb Falkenberg, private client
"created a safe space to dial back and uncover the a-ha moments with laughter..."
"I am a breast cancer survivor since 2006. Numerous surgeries, procedures, medications, and treatment plans changed how I moved and responded to my daily routine, even at the most basic level. Understanding my altered body was a struggle. Not having the awareness or words to describe my condition made it all the more frustrating.
Working with Natalie one-on-one created a safe space to dial back and uncover the a-ha moments with laughter. With her patient guidance, I could be vulnerable and learn how to sit and walk with ease. This practice has lowered my blood pressure significantly, and side effects from my medications are better managed.
Despite living in a small town, informed, knowledgeable and creative professionals like Natalie are providing excellent care comparable to the best in urban centres. I feel empowered under her guidance and blessed to be mentored by her. She is my ‘breathe whisperer.’ I give permission as author of this testimonial to allow a reader to contact me directly, if requested."
- Rhonda Allen, Private client
There are three ways we can get you started on moving well and feeling better:
55 min $80
8 sessions $400
Single Private Sessions
1 hr $85
This is great for those:
*that have already gone through a program with me and just want a check in,
*are wanting to try out before beginning a program,
* have a specific posture and/or question that you want to get a deeper understanding of,
*or if you are in town for a short while.
This private one-on-one session will get you headed in the right direction creating more ease, awareness and insight into how your movement patterns are affecting you.
4 month Starter program
8 sessions, personalized programs,
and support when you need.
4 month $400
This is absolute best value out there for a therapeutic movement & yoga program. Right now most Yoga therapy programs are between $90 - $120 per session.
When you commit to a 4 month program you are getting each session for an affordable $50.
Why would I do that?
Because I know what's it's like to have to get down in the trenches of an injury and crawl your way back out, I know what it's like to live in this small tourist based town and try to make ends meet. So, for now, because I can, I want to reward those that make a commitment.
Private Class
At your place of work, for a sports team, kids yoga, outdoor yoga...
1 hr $125
Great for a group of friends that want to do a weekly or spontaneous class, a bachorlette party, girls night, date night (yes, I offer couples yoga as well).
I often teach on docks, lawns, beaches, or any other location.
I also have space for regular weekly group classes. If you are a small group of 5-6 and want to book a regularly scheduled class, please contact me for more details.