Nadia Natali, author of the
memoir, Stairway
to Paradise: Growing Up Gershwin, published by Rare Bird, Los Angeles,
2015, and The Blue Heron Ranch Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from a Zen
Retreat Center published by North Atlantic Books, Berkeley CA, 2008, is
currently working on a second cookbook titled Zafu Kitchen
Cookbook.
Natali, a clinical
psychotherapist and dance therapist, specializes in trauma release through
somatic work. She earned a master’s degree from Hunter College in New York City
in Dance/Movement Therapy and completed another masters degree in clinical
psychology with an emphasis in somatic psychology at the Santa Barbara Graduate
Institute. Nadia is a registered practitioner of Biodynamic Craniosacral
Therapy (RCST) and is also a certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP)
who trained with Peter Levine.
DanceMedicine Workshops is
Natali’s creation where participants move through their trauma with dialogue
and dance. She also offers the Ojai community, DanceMedicine Journeys. In
addition to her private practice, Nadia and her husband offer Zen Retreats at
their center.
Born into a famous family that
was riddled with dysfunction, Nadia Natali made the choice to turn her life
inside out and step away from fame and fortune. Against her parents’ consent
she married an artist and moved to the remote wilderness in California. It was
there that she found grounding as she and her husband raised and homeschooled
their three children and opened a retreat center. As she gathered her own
momentum, she enrolled in a doctorate program finally becoming a clinical
psychotherapist specializing in psychosomatic work. She and her husband live in
Ojai California.
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About the Book:
Growing up as Frankie
Gershwin's daughter, the sister of George and Ira Gershwin, was quite a
challenge. I didn't have the perspective to realize that so much unhappiness in
a family was out of the ordinary. But I knew something was off. My mother was
often depressed and my father was
As a young adult adrift and
depressed I broke from that unsatisfactory life by marrying Enrico Natali, a
photographer, deeply immersed in his own questions about life. We moved into
the wilderness away from what we considered as the dysfunction of society.
That’s when we discovered that life had other kinds of challenges: flood, fire,
rattlesnakes, mountain lions and bears. We lived in a teepee for more than four
years while building a house. Curiously my mother never commented on my life
choice. She must have realized on some level that her own life was less than
satisfactory.
Enrico had developed a serious
meditation practice that had become a kind of ground for him. As for me I
danced. Understanding the somatic, the inner body experience, became my way to
shift the inner story.
We raised and homeschooled our
three children. I taught them to read, Enrico taught them math. The kids ran
free, happy, always engaged, making things, and discovering. We were so sure we
were doing the right thing. However, we didn't have a clue how they would make
the transition to the so-called ‘real world’. The children thrived until they
became teenagers. They then wanted out. Everything fell apart for them and for
Enrico and me. Our lives were turned upside down, our paradise lost. There was
tragedy: our son lost his life while attempting to cross our river during a
fierce storm. Later I was further challenged by advanced breast cancer.
It was during these times that
I delved deeply into the somatic recesses of myself. I began to find my own
voice, a long learning process. I emerged with a profound trust in my own
authority. It became clear that everyone has to find his or her way through
layers of inauthenticity, where a deep knowing can develop. And I came to see
that is the best anyone can offer to the world.
Enrico and I still live in the
wilds of the Lost Padres National Forest, a paradise with many steps going up
and down, a life I would not change.
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-Can you tell us what your book is about?
One may believe genius, fame, and
wealth bring happiness. That was not my experience. My mother, sister of George
and Ira Gershwin, and my father who invented color film were the primary models
in my childhood. Growing up with such talent as I did, I learned early on that
it distorts values. That was my first lesson. I turned my life around when I
met Enrico who was to become my husband and partner in life. We moved out to the
wilderness and met with many obstacles while raising a family. We turned all
the apparent false values of the social system inside out and then had to face
the consequences.
During those years I discovered
my own truth, a journey that took me inward to body sensation, an inner
experience, rather than looking to authority or others for answers. Perhaps
most importantly was how I found my boundaries, my authenticity and my voice,
which led me to find meaning in my life and a meaningful way to help others.
-Why did you write your book?
It was an urge that had no direct path. I just knew I had a
story to tell and hoped others would find it valuable. In a sense it wrote
itself.
-What kind of message is your book trying to tell your
readers?
I believe that my message might inspire and inform readers
how to shift from turning to others for answers to finding one’s own truth
within.
Learning that you are the utmost authority on being human
was huge for me. And finding out thinking is not reality was at the bottom of
it all. I had to turn inward, to the inner experience, to feel when I looked
for an answer. I prefer to hear from people’s experience rather than to read a
how to book and I hope my journey will provide such a context to others.
-Who influenced you to write your book?
A good friend who teaches writing
at UCLA said to me, “You have such an interesting story to tell you ought to
write a memoir”. Her suggestion confirmed an impulse I had been holding, which
was to write how being part of such a famous and wealthy family was completely
at odds with my finding a wholesome life and then the challenging journey I
took to find it.
I joined my friend’s weekly
writing group and found it daunting as I listened to the other professional
writers read their pages. After months of feeling painfully inadequate I
stopped participating and wrote the rest of the book at home. Luckily my friend
was very encouraging and without all those listeners I realized I was better
off working on my own.
-Is it hard to publish a nonfiction book?
I first self-published my memoir and sent it out to other
publishers.
I found someone who would do PR for me at a given cost.
Since they were also a publishing company and liked my book, I asked if they
would publish mine if I paid for the printing. It has been a mixed experience.
-Have you suffered
from writer’s block and what do you do to get back on track?
There were times I felt an uncomfortable sensation in my belly as
I wrote challenging parts of my story. I believe my belly was telling me that
what I was writing was either not genuine or off center. My desire to be
authentic pushed me to rewrite whatever was necessary to go to a deeper level
that allowed both authenticity and integrity. Sometimes the sensation was there
and I had no idea why but I had to rewrite until it disappeared.
-What would you do
with an extra hour today if you could do anything you wanted?
I would bake
something.
-Which holiday is
your favorite and why?
I like Thanksgiving
because I love to cook and love good food.
-If we were to meet
for lunch to talk books, where would we go?
I would go to a
really good but quiet Japanese restaurant
-What do you like to
do for fun?
I enjoy cooking and
writing my cookbook. I love technology and am on the computer a lot reading the
news as a break from my writing.
I also love my
animals, three German Shepherds, four cats and lots of chickens.
They all roam freely
on our property out in the national forest.
-Can you tell us
about your family?
My family of origin
was full of genius and trouble and I tried to create a new paradigm with my
current family, one of wholesomeness and integrity.
The life my husband
and I created in the wilderness felt like an antidote to society and its
apparent pitfalls. We home schooled the kids and ran into serious trouble when
they entered their teenage years. My world turned upside down. We lost one of
our three children in an accident. I have spent my life trying to find my own
voice and have written about it in my memoir.
-What do you like the
most about being an author?
I like having to be
authentic and real and that challenge is equally a part of my life.
-What kind of advice
would you give other non-fiction authors?
It took many years to write, Stairway to Paradise: Growing Up Gershwin.
In some way I felt I had a hand at my back that pushed me through the whole
process. It was very hard work but for me there was little or no resistance.
You really need to want to do it; if there is any doubt I imagine the process
could be agonizing.