Hi, my name is Maria-Carin Gala and I can help you be more nourished and in the flow of your life and in your body, by teaching you to cook delicious food and dance! Inner emotional turmoil, a lack of self-worth and battling with anxiety, have forced me to get creative with my challenges and they are the reason why I’m here offering these tools that help me thrive.

I am passionate about sharing how movement and wholefoods cooking can help you become nourished and more alive using your troubles creatively and finding joy in yourself.

I use the powerful tools of dance (ZeroOne movement practice) together with plant-based, gluten-free, refined sugar-free whole foods cooking (Gala’s Organic Kitchen).

With over 25 years as a personal chef and cookery teacher, I am now combining cooking and dancing. This is the result of what I use in my personal life to be well, and I’m more than passionate about sharing these two practices and tools with you. It’s what I feel called to do on this planet right now.

I've been using a dance practices for over 17 years, and without it, I would not be here. It has helped me dance through the trials and tribulations of being human.

I'm training to become a facilitator of ZeroOne Movement, a dance/movement practice founded by Adam Barley.

Learning about and teaching myself how to cook plant-based, gluten-free and sugar-free wholefoods, was my way out of sugar and nicotine addictions, out of unhealthy habits and depression, and continues to be so.

My entire family is Slovakian, but I was born in Germany. At the age of eight, I went to a far-out alternative boarding school in England (Ko-Hsuan School) until I was sixteen, which gave me a deep sense of freedom and responsibility. After that, I searched for a place to call home, which I found in Australia for the following fourteen years. My father died out of the blue when I was twenty-six, which catapulted me into fully taking on my life’s work as director of Gala’s Organic Kitchen, to show people how to use food as medicine. I didn’t plan to ever leave Australia, but when my mother was diagnosed with cancer in 2016, I left straight away to be with her. She died some months after that, so I’m glad I came back to be with her. I fell in love with an extraordinary Englishman and have been living on that small island for the last eight years. It’s been quite a ride.

What has helped me through life’s difficulties, and continues to do so, is my nutritious, healthy, delicious cooking and dance as a movement practice.

Dance is an incredibly potent tool, teaching me to connect with my body, feel my feelings and develop a strong sense of presence, learning to move and breathe so feelings can travel through my system and not get stuck, all essential ingredients for healing.

Dance helps me align with my purpose, listen to what's being asked of me, and see and feel my next steps. It helps me evolve and grow into places I never thought I would—organically, patiently, naturally. It helps me connect to a wider understanding and broader view of the world, slowly becoming more aware of the interconnectedness of life.

Dance helps me wake up to my abilities and place in the world and stop putting others on a pedestal.

Wholefoods cooking is my foundation and my passion. I love to learn about nutrition and find new recipes that use food as medicine every day. I never tire of the many new things that humans are cooking around the globe. It’s endlessly fascinating and fun to pick out the ones that are nutritious and yummy at the same time.

I look forward to sharing my knowledge and passion of plant-based gluten-free cooking and movement with you! 

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out, I look forward to hearing from you,

MC