About

I am Ala (Anila) Amrita Amundson. I am a Jane of many trades, wearing many hats… Mother, völva, herbalist, wise woman… massage therapist, holistic health coach, homeopathy student… permaculturist, homesteader, seamstress, felted wool clothing designer and oil painter… visionary and dreamer, writer, poet, singer and song writer… and so much more.

I am a mother of four amazing kids and two “bonus kids”. My own children were all born at home, in the water, three of them “free birthed” (without a birth attendant) and one with a midwife. My first born actually was born without a midwife by accident, and was the most powerful, primal birth of all! This, coupled with my desire to serve women in the health and birthing continuum, led me to begin my study of midwifery at age 24.

I am also a lifelong student of health, healing and nutrition, having "gone vegetarian" at the age of 15, much to my parents' chagrin.  Stepping over the threshold of motherhood at 22 sent my health into a tailspin, partly due to a sacral injury just prior to pregnancy, and partly due to unknown factors which took years to properly dissect and understand.  I became deeply depleted, depressed, and confused about why motherhood felt so much harder than I thought it should be. My body felt completely out of my control, pain levels through the roof, strange symptoms constantly plaguing me and robbing me of precious moments to enjoy my baby.

What I found after years of searching, was that at the root of my health issues, the subsequent debilitating fatigue and pain, was a combination of Lyme disease and co-infections, mold toxicity, gut dysbiosis (poor gut flora balance), poor macro and micronutrient balance due to a modern diet and poorly executed vegetarian plan, and a cascade of factors which had caused my body to begin shutting down, adrenals stretched to the max, and ligaments weakened by overwork and undernourishment.  

I am still on my health journey!  It is a Lifestyle, and a lifelong journey of discovery through living in a body on a changing Earth...  But my years of learning have brought me to a place of understanding which I share with others.

I have become an expert in bodywork techniques to balance the pelvis and spine, unravelling tailbone traumas, and more, through the nerves and ligaments of the body. My experience of my own sacral injury and subluxation issues led me to seek and find incredible healers, one of whom, Philip Young, became my mentor. He taught me Neuro-Structural Integration, and the art of working on the body from a neurological and structural point of view. He helped my tailbone regain mobility (yes, it should be movable!), and pain melt away, and what he taught me continues to inform my work on the deepest levels, even when I do other forms of bodywork.

I also have a holistic and wide range of knowledge about nutrition, having been vegetarian, and now happily and healthfully omnivore during moments when I feel it is needed. I have learned that what works for some does not always work for everyone.  My approach to health coaching is to work with a client's goals and preferences, and give the best quality guidance as possible, explaining how the gut works, how nutrients work, and what brings our body's organs, glands, gut, and brain into balance with blood, muscle, and bone. I also offer nutritional counsel for women in the birthing continuum, to assist in making the best choices with what they have available.

My passion for helping others came from learning how to heal myself, and my own self inquiry and work with my chronically ill partner as well, has led me to explore and add to my repertoire of healing modalities and bodywork techniques over the years.

I studied 250 hours of massage in California, plus another ~150 hours in her Neuro-structural training in Hawaii, graduating in 2012 and practicing as a massage practitioner, and then took a 650 hour course again in Oregon, graduating 2018. I have also taken other continuing ed courses in myofascial release, Cranio-sacral therapy, Mayan abdominal therapy, and more.

My immense empathy for those in pain has further honed my empathetic skill and taught me to slow down, tune in, and gently coax the body back into alignment.

I also apprenticed under two midwives in 2009-2010, and continued on to study midwifery and doula work, culminating in my recent graduation in 2021 from The Matrona midwifery program as well as doula program. I have studied the Arvigo Techniques of Mayan Abdominal Therapy, and later studied a different version of Mayan abdominal massage and temazcal sweat lodge from an indigenous Mayan midwife. It is my hope to bridge these worlds, studying with indigenous midwives and bringing their wisdom back to the US as long as I live here, to help women in our modern world remember that birth is and can be a natural, every day, yet still remarkable, sacred event.

I also am a student of homeopathy and homeopathic agriculture, and of permaculture, and my wish is to bring these absolutely incredible modalities to others in an accessible way. I currently offer student homeopathic consults at a discounted rate, and use homeopathy in the birth continuum with my clients. I am also a homesteader, growing as much food as I can, and bringing herbal medicines, food, seeds, and knowledge to others through various products, events, festivals, and more.

My hope is to bridge worlds, share my wealth of knowledge, and empower people to heal, to birth, to commune with one another, in a sacred way. I hold practical knowledge as well as deep spiritual wisdom gleaned from years of challenges, heartache and suffering as well as incredible initiations, including those of the births of my own children. I hope to be able to share this wisdom in a humble way, and to remind women and others of the incredible primal wisdom of the body, to know how to heal, birth, emote, cleanse, and age beautifully.

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