Meet Natalie Onacki

Thanks for sharing your story with us, Natalie. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
My mom planted all the seeds for me – she is a Reiki Master, Herbalist, Yoga Instructor, and more! She was actually one of the first graduates out of Kripalu Institute in Massachusetts. Anyways I grew up with her doing reiki over my head, putting lavender and peppermint on, making teas, putting olive oil and garlic in my ear and more. Of course, I resisted all of these things and had to learn on my own.

Somewhere along the way, I lost my independence and became a follower. I said yes to everything and didn’t have many boundaries. I was definitely a partier and sought attention in ways where I was not respecting myself. In college, this pattern continued. I did not take advantage of a lot of things universities offer; I was really afraid to go off and do things alone and miss out on things with friends. I took classes with friends, partied with friends, went to the gym with friends, ate with friends, studies with friends, you get the gist. Did I say I partied a lot?? My mom actually called me a functioning alcoholic once, of course, I did not want to see what she saw, but now looking back, I could see I was.

During college I got diagnosed with depression and anxiety, my mom actually drove up to school to see me a lot during this, I went home a lot, and I spent time with my then-boyfriend who went to a different school. I was a very toxic and co-dependent relationship. I was in such a bad place and did not understand my emotions that I leaned on everyone else to help me. I went to a few yoga classes which helped and just moved forward.

After college, this continued! I moved to Boston with friends, then moved to California with friends. I got lost in drinking again. This was my ding, I had opportunities to go do other things, but I did not want to go off alone. I again went through a bad bout of depression and anxiety again. I got put on Xanax this time, and wow. For those that know me, I am very vibrant and outgoing, and this completely dimmed my brightness. At this point, I had a weird work schedule and found myself alone with a lot of time, so I found yoga… again. This time was different though; I don’t know what but the energies of the universe were there for me. I took a complete 180 I was like there is more to life than how I have been functioning. I went into a 200-hour training then into a Yoga Therapy Session.

I realized the emotions that I was shoving down and instead of drinking or constantly bombarding myself with people and activities, so I did not have to face myself.

SO I found this holistic path where I felt connected to myself, I changed my thinking to understand that everything happens for a reason and the universe has my back. I learned to sit alone with myself and figure out what was really going on and use integrative health tools to get to the root cause of my anxiety, depression, headaches and anything that came up in my life

So, of course, I wanted to share this with others, you can heal yourself, it is within you. And taking time to take steps with a holistic, integrative health practitioner may yes take longer to heal, but it will be long-lasting, YOu will actually release what is going on rather than covering it with medicine. Our body is amazing; it can recover and deal with a lot and heal itself!

So I opened up my business to work with people one on one, in couples or in relationships to realize the power within themselves to heal. I have created webinars and events to present this information and start empowering people and plant the seeds.

One of the biggest challenges I ran into was finances, and for those of you that know energy, money lies in the first chara. Once that energy system is thrown off, it will restrict flow. So I took it upon myself to add this to my repertoire and empower people financially!

We ALL go through darkness, we all go through things and are going through things, and I wanted to provide a community where people can talk about that and be open and feel seen, heard and supported.

Don’t get me wrong peeps, I still go out and have fun, I have built a strong connection with myself that I do it when I am feeling good and no longer turn to it out of boredom or avoidance.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I have had SOOOO many lessons!!! I had to do the work on myself first, that’s what held me back from a lot. I was preaching for people to do things, and I was not. I had to get out of a hole and learn to balance my life. I have failed a lot I have had to cancel events, I have had no shows. It’s all been an amazing learning lesson so I can share my story with others. What made it easy is when something maybe not so positive happened I looked for the lesson, looked for the positive looked at how I could move forward. I believe the universe has my back completely and that whatever happens – happens for a reason, and I will be guided. This is all new territory, especially for our society so there are days where I feel down I feel like people don’t believe in me or understand what I am doing and I won’t make an impact. Have to rise up those days, give myself some mantras and move around, and just believe that I got this, that I will help others. The universe is funny though because the days I am feeling low I will get a random email, Instagram DM, Facebook message from someone from high school or who has just been watching me and they tell me to keep going and that they are inspired. Or I will have a friend reach out and ask for advice on meditation, healthy eating habits, how to help them create a morning routine, and that helps me a lot. I have had to build myself up a lot to believe in me and to be confident. I still have my days though; everyone does especially in this type of industry. We are going against the grain of society, and we are really working to help others. What I am helping people with is not as quick as medicine, anxiety? Heres a Xanax take it every few hours to numb everything. This holistic, integrative approach takes a little more time but is life long! I have connected with others a lot in this industry to collaborate and just meet new friends, so the days I am feeling low. I have people to call.

Please tell us about your work.
I am a Yoga Therapist, so think of it like a holistic practitioner. I bring balance into peoples life; I call myself a life navigator I help them understand all aspects. I work with the person as an individual, not as a diagnosis. Diseases are different in each person. I aim to get to the root cause where is this disease, this anxiety, etc. actually coming from? I use my toolbox of holistic modalities, including Ayurveda, breathework, meditation, etc. to help transform individuals. I truly want people to step into their power and lead a happy life. My goals is for them to find this power where they can go off on there own and take the tools with them.

I help people to grow and understand the relationships with themself and understand what’s happening in there life. I can tell a lot through the body. Once they can grow the relationship with themself and their spirit and their soul, they will be able to grow and change things in their life, and they will see their life transform in front of them as they transform and their vibration changes.

This is what happened to me, as I started growing and I would go into dark places I was like no I don’t want alcohol I want to be alone and to meditate and dig into myself.

Then, of course, comes finances, this is something that’s like a voodoo topic people don’t really like talking about there’s a lot of fear behind it. But money affects EVERYONE, and we need to educate ourselves on it and take power in it. So I aim to help people by understanding how do you feel about money? Why, what is your story? How do you feel right now? What are your goals? Then I go through a budget and look at different places they can save or remove and different places; maybe they can put their money that will grow and be safe.

What’s your outlook for the industry in our city?
Yes! I think Integrative Health is up and coming and it is much easier in bigger cities. Overall it is hard holistic health goes against what we have learned in society, so with time, it will be bigger!

Same with finances it’s a voodoo topic people hate talking about it, but yet it affects everyone. It’s just about talking about it differently and spreading knowledge.