Tatiana - Bio
Part 1 (Russia)
My life journey started in Yekaterinburg, Russia. In childhood I was quite curious and felt like exploring life in a big way, it was not always possible... Most of my childhood and youth I studied much more than I'd like to do, and worked very hard on trying to be a great student, first at school and then in the Ural Teachers' Training University learning foreign languages - English and German. Looking back to those years, I feel like even if there were a lot of happy moments, overall it feels sad to feel so constrained for one reason or another by society "norms" and rigid structure of education. I did enjoy some teachers and subjects, however just the sheer amount of material was super overwhelming. I look at my niece who is growing up in Canada and my heart is delighted to see how many creative elements the school offers, even if it might not be as "informative" as Russian school used to be. From an adult's and a counselor's & therapist's perspective now I feel that it is impossible to process so much information during school and university for every person, there has to be some level of flexibility and freedom to allow kids and young people choose what they actually want to learn and when. I was a bit of a subdued rebel by nature, quite opinionated, yet not always dared to voice what I thought accepting the "rules". And in truth noone really asked any opinion on the schooling structure. The highlights of my early years was time spent in the Russian forest in the Urals in the summer and also going to the Azov sea to a tiny village where my mom was born. Up to these days I remember the swimming, fishing, the smells and experiences from those trips. In the late years of school and university years I sort of had an existential crisis, as I understand it now, the way I wanted to live was not possible, there was a lot of stress and disharmony in the family for many years and I felt exhausted from the Russian education system which was not suitable for my personality. However we did not have a choice back then in the 90s, and as a diligent person, I did my best to stay on that "train" in the never-ending perfection journey. During mid-late 1990s I started watching a lot of auteur movies of neorealism and other styles by Soviet, European and American directors, like Ingmar Bergman, Wim Wenders, Andrey Tarkovsky, Antonioni, Federico Fellini, Ksistof Kislowski and I fell in love with cinema, amazed how deep cinematographic storytelling can go. Not sure I'd be able to enjoy watching those films now, yet it was very helpful at those times. Anyways, I was slightly obsessed with a dream of becoming a visual storyteller and movie director, however my age did not allow easily to get education in Russia. We did not know at that time of any online courses like one can take in the 21st century (we are so lucky now!!) Later I took some workshops on dance filmmaking. And I also got into photography and started learning it on my own through books and magazines as well as a correspondence course. On the 3rd year of the university a very strange strike of fate happened, a small mid-term paper in the University by mistake I was not allowed to take exams and not transferred to the 4th year, and had to leave the university as I could not face coming back there with missing a year and losing my classmates. All my world suddenly crushed. It was already a super intense hard year emotionally, and that situation was the last drop which was somewhat like a Tower in Tarot I suppose... Every sphere of life was crumbling. It was the worst year of my life... and I am happy I stayed alive... At the same time it was a a chance to begin something new. ....................................... If you are currently in such a year, I'd encourage you to go and take a few therapy sessions, especially which are based on working with the subconscious. If you cannot find or afford therapy, you can listen to some meditation or reiki music on youtube, watch a few videos to help yourself to smile again and feel the joy of life, and not just the heavier side. Do something good for your body, help it to restore the energy level and simplify your life and your aspirations. It might help you. As it can be hard to find in such times answers to all the questions circulating in your head on and on and on. The goal is just to minimize the stress level and get to the basic needs and find emotional balance. The rest can wait. ........................................ Unfortunately I did not have a budget and wisdom to take any therapy sessions at that time... but I moved on in life. Fairly fast in the university years I realized that it is not my calling to be a school teacher of English, even if occasionally teaching private classes was enjoyable, yet the soul asked for something else, something more creative, yet I was not sure who to be. After that I felt an extreme need for movement and expressing emotions and feelings through movement and I got interested contemporary dance and have been taking classes in the following 2-3 years. My world also changed in some way after laser operation on my eyes, I saw the world with different eyes, both seeing a lot of beauty and many people walking around with unhappy faces or suffering. However it is another story... When I moved to Moscow to join my sister there, I started working in a famous Russian news agency "Photo ITAR-TASS" as a freelance photo reporter, later I collaborated with 2 other Russian photo agencies. In was an interesting time in some way! My favorite was to take photos of athletes at different sports events and to cover cultural events. I also did a bit of portrait and event shoots on the side. I have a talent for photography and video, and enjoyed it a lot, even if such a job does not always pay well. |
In early 2000s I plunged into Argentine Tango and it was so fascinating as a whole new world of social dancing. It became a big passion and a creative outlet, a way to balance my energy, up to these days.
Carrying heavy bags every day and possibly dancing started telling on the health of my knees, so for a variety of reasons I had to consider changing the occupation. At that time also I started learning more on psychosomatics, why people get certain body problems, was it connected to emotions, beliefs, etc? Or was it simply some mechanical tear-and-wear influence? Jumping ahead, I found a way to heal my knees with non-traditional methods and adjusting lifestyle and habits. Later astrology also helped to understand why some parts of the body might be prone to disfunctions or pain. In mid 2000s I got deeper into esoteric psychology as I call it, diving deeper in attempt to find answers to some burning questions. A year before immigrating to Canada where my sister moved, I took a course on Art Therapy, it was not an easy course however I really appreciated the opportunity. Part 2 (Canada) After immigration to Canada in 2009 it was difficult to find a job as an art therapist with Russian continuous education and filmmaking schools were very expensive. I finished a 4-month program for Documentary Production, you can watch my documentary film here. I worked as a portrait photographer and at some other jobs and at the same time started a long chapter of organizing Argentine Tango events. It was a bit of a roller coaster however organizing milongas was precious in many ways, especially in terms of relationships with people and tango community building. Later I started learning a few other social dances (kizomba, zouk, fusion, bachata, salsa...). Dancing gives such a freedom often which I cannot put into words. It is a life elixir for me and especially partner dances. It is quite unique as experience often, or at least offers some movement and it feels special to be able to move in sync in the dance flow to beautiful music. I enjoyed teaching occasionally as well. At some point things shifted inside and I felt it was time for a change. Feeling the need for getting back to the wellness practice I started learning a few other methods of helping people - intuitive consulting, crystal healing, astrology, counselling with MACards, emotion-image therapy, which took thousands of hours however I appreciate the patience to learn them. Since 2017 I have my company "Life in Glow Wellness", offering 1on1 consultations. Look forward to collaborating with you, check my Services page for what I offer currently and bookings. to be continued ... Warmly, Tatiana Balashova |