MICHAEL J.

"Ms. Natasha Nesic is an extraordinary, sensitive, intuitive, committed, trainer with a deep knowledge of human musculature, and highly refined communication skills. When we began training I was in excellent physical condition, I thought, for a sixty year old. I’d been frequenting the gym regularly for four years, varying my time between swimming and using the stationary bike. Nevertheless, Natasha showed me that I had been shortchanging myself physically and I could accomplish more, be in better shape, be more comfortable in my skin. In the two years or so we’ve been working together, the benefits I have realized from Natasha’s tutelage have amazed me. Some of these include, improving my balance and stability, eliminating the constraints around my right shoulder and right knee from earlier surgeries, extending my flexibility and mobility, achieving a greater agility and control by strengthening my core muscles, and being able to experience a greater overall sense of physical control and well-being. Because I am a librarian, writer and scholar, I spend much of my day slouched in a chair gazing downward at a keyboard. Natasha has worked with me to offset many of the resultant physical problems, developing my neck muscles to widen my range of motion, and my shoulder and back muscles to stave off physical fatigue. 
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There are many other particular gains I can list, and many ways in which I feel more physically alert, springier, lighter, more forceful, and more physically present; however, one benefit from my work with Natasha outshines all the others. Natasha has helped me to eliminate the chronic pain in my lumbar region that I had suffered for almost thirty years.  
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When I began to work with Natasha, I anticipated a few sessions that would teach me how to operate some of the machines at the gym, and give me a clear snapshot of my strengths and weaknesses.  I was in fact skeptical of training and felt sure I didn’t require a trainer.  
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That I had in fact settled into a limited way of evaluating regarding myself physically became clear to me the first time we worked out. Natasha carefully and patiently—both by demonstration and by instruction—expanded my view of the possibilities of physical conditioning by isolating weaknesses and addressing them within a regimen I found both comfortable and challenging. She focused both on specific problems (e.g., balance, abdominal tension, the sternocleidomastoid and trapezius muscles) and on general strengthening, and provided me with exercises that I could follow at the gym. Over the time we’ve worked together, our training sessions have changed. One of the qualities I most value about Natasha is her ability to improvise and adapt. While they are regularized to some extent, our sessions have never lapsed into predictability. We don’t do routine. Our workouts have always resembled the performance of a good musician who might perform the same piece hundreds of times, and yet will always bring a certain freshness and spontaneity to each performance. But they have always observed “the score,” evolving while keeping a clear focus on conditioning, flexibility, balance, and body awareness. 
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Natasha’s lessons have generated routines I can follow on my own, both at the gym and at home. These also have also slowly evolved, assaying more complex and challenging moves, while having a clear grounding in a purposeful conditioning program. Part of Natasha’s methodology as a trainer is to pay attention to how training can beneficially connect to other aspects of a person’s life. 
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I would like to conclude by observing that although Natasha is considerably younger than me, she has shown an extraordinary awareness of the constraints confronting a sixty year body without surrendering to or patronizing them. She has made me realize there are certain limitations that exist only in my mind, and helped me to surpass them. I have always valued her as a partner in my own physical project and always felt valued by her."