Natascha Grief, NASM -CPT, -BCS; Owner & Trainer

I became a trainer because I was confused, overwhelmed, in pain and feeling disconnected from my body. 

In 2016, I found myself at an impasse. Years of working a high-stress desk job had started taking its toll, and I was sleeping less, stressing more, and slowly but steadily, feeling worse and worse. My back and hips hurt constantly, which left me feeling drained and tired by the end of the day. All the while, my clothes just kept getting tighter and tighter. I had literally become uncomfortable in my own skin.

I looked around me and saw so many other people feeling the same way - not feeling well or vibrant, feeling insecure and at odds with their bodies, and not knowing what to do about it. 

The amount of confusing and often conflicting information out there about how to “get in shape” was (and still is) overwhelming. 

Not to mention the steady drone of shame-based messaging about “fixing problem areas” and “bikini bodies,” or “deserving” food because we did some magic amount of cardio that day. Or the dismissive attitudes that claim feeling this disconnected and unwell was somehow inevitable, that “it’s just part of getting older.”

I started asking myself: what would fitness look like if the goal wasn’t to be as skinny as possible, but to feel as embodied as possible? How would it be different?

What if fitness was a form of self-care instead of punishment? What if, instead of counting calories like our lives depend on it, we learned how to nourish ourselves in healthy, balanced ways that made us feel energized and satisfied? What if we learned how to work out in way that makes us leaner and stronger while also making us feel embodied and confident? What if fitness made us feel welcome no matter what type of body we have?

This was all back in 2016. That’s when I decided to switch careers and when training chapter began. At the heart of my decision was the desire to help clients in finding their own empowerment through movement, finding their own personal version of fitness — one that makes them feel strong, embodied and connected to themselves.