Books*Reviews*Etc: BOOK TOUR: STAIRWAY TO PARADISE

We're thrilled to have Nadia Natali, author of the memoir, Stairway to Paradise: Growing Up Gershwin today! Leave a comment to let her know you stopped by!

Her father invented Kodachrome, and her mother—who sang and danced professionally—was the sister of George and Ira Gershwin. Growing up in Westport, Connecticut amidst great privilege and uncommon fame, Nadia Natali might have chosen a life of comfort and celebrity. But from an early age, she was driven to create one of great consequence instead, one in which she could seek her true purpose and life’s deepest meanings.

When she met photographer Enrico Natali, the two embarked on a shared quest not simply for adventure, but also a journey to discover how their lives could most profoundly unfold. Their yearnings for lives fully-lived took them to a wild and wonderful piece of property surrounded by the Los Padres National Forest in the coastal mountains of Southern California—a place where they lived in a teepee, started a family, and carved out rich satisfaction as they transformed their beautiful piece of earth into Blue Heron Ranch.

The forty years between then and now have been filled with unimaginable adventures, the kind of tragedy that can utterly destroy the lives of those who must endure them and go on, deep introspection and personal growth, as well as joy and gratitude as bounteous as the natural world surrounding them.

Stairway to Paradise is a memoir of uncommon honesty and clarity, the story of one woman’s determination to make the most of the gifts her family heritage has offered her, and to live wisely and honorably in every way one can. This is a book to savor, one that will make you cry and marvel at how essential it is for all of us to bring a commitment to truth and openhearted honesty to all our challenges as well as our many blessings.

Title:
STAIRWAY TO PARADISE: GROWING UP GERSHWIN

Author: Nadia Natali

Publisher: RareBird Books

Pages: 304

Genre: Memoir

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 tyrannical and scary, one never knew when he
would blow up. I learned early on that I had to be the cheery one, the one to fix the problems. Both sides of my family were famous; the Gershwin side and my father who invented color film. But even though there was more than enough recognition, money and parties I understood that wasn't what made people happy.

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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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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MY THOUGHTS

This is a lovely memoir that begins on December 8, 1980. This is Nadia's memoir, her life. When you are born into a famous family, a noted family, you are never really allowed to be you, just you. But Nadia wanted just that. She took on that journey with courage. That journey was nothing less than spectacular and rememberable. Nadia had a desire, a yearning and she went after that with her entire heart. She loved life itself. This is an unforgettable adventure of one women having it all in a well known family and yet, more than that, she had it all through herself and her husband and children. She was reknown in her own right. It wasn't easy, It was a struggle but a struggle she met with courage and love. She took what life threw at her and dealt, then went on to the next struggle. This is her journey, her life like no other. This isn't a sugar coated story. It tells it all from from the privileged childhood to living in a teepee with her husband and children. She is an inspiration to us all. She shows that no matter how hard life is, no matter what it throws at you, you can face it, and go on, better from it.

I received a copy of this book and voluntarily decided to review it.

I would give this book 5 STARS.

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