We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Natalia Minasian a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Natalia, thanks for joining us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

I don’t think I would be talking about my creative journey if I wasn’t happy with what I’m doing. I am delighted to be an actress, a coach, a multidimensional creative with so much to learn and explore, so many stories to share, so many people and things to get inspired by. Embracing the fact that I am indeed an artist was not easy, and it feels like I am still battling the inner imposter troll on a daily basis. But the feeling of total freedom and true happiness I get when I emerge myself in the creative process and see the fruits of my work – this is when I understand why I do what I chose to do.

As a rational person who needs to make a living and pay those bills, I sometimes wonder what if I had a “regular” job with a set schedule and predictable income. I wonder what it would feel like to go to work 9 to 5, 5 days a week, year after year, focusing on similar tasks and knowing what I’m working on next. This is not the life for me, period. It’s beautiful that people feel safe, inspired and happy doing a job like this, obviously nothing wrong with it, but we are different, and I simply cannot picture myself surviving this routine.

Being an artist for me is a gift that I can’t and don’t want to waste or push away. This is what I need to be doing, what brings me the most joy, and what gives me an opportunity to uplift, inspire and support the people around me. If this is not enough to forget about a ‘regular’ job and keep on creating, I don’t know what is.

Natalia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have tried a lot of jobs and occupations in my life so far, but at this moment in time, I am an actress, embodiment coach, facilitator and assistant director. After exploring teaching ESL for a while, I have claimed my right to be an artist and performer. Leaving the familiar life in Moscow behind, I went to study at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York to embrace what it means to be a working actor. I had done acting before at that point, but this was THE step to start being more authentic and true to myself. Our education focused heavily on movement and embodied practices, and I resonated so much with it that I started exploring other body and mind techniques in New York and then back in Moscow. This eventually led me to becoming a certified embodiment coach and facilitator. Combining my artistry with what I know about the body and mind allows me to construct the classes and sessions in a way that works for everyone – newbies or professionals, thinkers or feelers. It also opens up so many amazing things about the world, the universe, and the human psyche for me that this journey never seizes the keep me excited and curious.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

As an actress, my mission is to give voice to the stories that need to be heard and give new resonating meaning to the stories that we all know. I strongly believe that by excelling in the craft and befriending everything that I am as a person is the way towards the most authentic and inspiring performance.

Being an embodiment coach gives me the tools and the opportunity to touch even more people deeply, get to understand them better every day and hopefully support them in a meaningful way on their journey. I am committed to meeting people where they’re at and going alongside them as long as they’ll have me. Sometimes, it’s one meeting, sometimes we keep in touch for much longer – in any case, I love being there for them, holding the space and allowing things to unfold in a safe environment. Oh, the things our bodies can tell us! Fascinating and endless.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I am sure the lesson I had to unlearn is very familiar to a lot of people and is very much tied up with feeling like an imposter or not enough. As a good girl from an Armenian family, the values that were passed on to me through my grandma made me think I had to be perfect in order to be rewarded in life. I hold absolutely no grudges because this is something every generation of women in my family had to learn and build their lives on. Even after recognizing all of that, I was still left with the imprinted idea that I can’t be enough unless I’m perfect. And we can all agree that this sounds unproductive, right? So what I had to do is to substitute the destructive story with a healthy one. I have come a long way, but I’m still on this journey. Reminding myself that everything I am is good enough to get anything I want in life and that I am the one steering the ship. If you resonate with it, I wish you all the strength and patience to find the inner power and rewrite your story. You’ve got this!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/nat.minasian
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@Bodyandmindwithnat
• Other: For Russian speakers, I’ve got a Telegram channel with more embodiment insights and free group sessions – https://t.me/bodymindwithnat

Image Credits
Images by Alexandra Dyoma, Luana Seu, and friends.