I am a devoted student of life, a registered clinical counsellor, a mother and a yogi seeking deep connections and moments through private counselling, classes, retreats and courses.
I’m beyond grateful to live, work and play with my family as an uninvited guest on the lands of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh nation.
Squamish is located at the north end of the Howe Sound fjord on the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Squamish river as it navigates its way from the grandeur of the nearby coastal mountain range towards the pacific ocean.
Here, my partner and I landed in 2009 and this everchanging coastal rainforest community is our home.
Together we are raising two wildlings, caring for an ageing canine friend and tending to the fruits, flowers and veggies in our garden. Outside of my professional life, you can find me exploring the trails on foot or a bike near my home, making pottery at a small studio in Brackendale or getting a view on the alpine singletrack trails above town.
Pieces Of My Story.
My childhood summers were riddled with extended experiences living on the Canadian shield & travelling through the wilderness by canoe. At summer camp, one of my counsellors called me 'the grand inquisitor.' It seems, perhaps, that the journey of inquiry began long before my conscious memory may realise?
Somehow, I believe, beside those quiet lakes, seeds of timelessness were planted, which have led me (again & again) into the wild spaces of nature and into the inner landscape of this human mind body miracle.
When I was 20, I travelled to India & Nepal and had my first experience of formal meditation on a retreat in southern Nepal. A few years later, in 2003, I began a daily hatha yoga practice inspired by a fascination for being upside down and the calm I felt when I completed my practice each day. Soon afterwards, while leading a paddling expedition for NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) on the Rio Grande River, some students asked me if I would share yoga with them. 20 years later, I’ve barely gone a month without sharing yoga and I feel more a beginner than ever with each passing year.
The Inca Trail. Peru. 2012
Many teachers and friends have touched my path along the way. I honour all of them and name a few of them here. Gioia Irwin is a dear friend and Squamish grandmother to my children. She introduced me to her ‘Tensegrity Series’ in 2009 and my world has truly never been the same. She offered the invitation towards ease, the wisdom of slowing down and the strength to show up - even when life is hard. Her presence over these last 15 years has been such a gift in my life. I am grateful to Roshi Joan Halifax for her timeless wisdom and for sharing the Zen way of life with me through simply sitting & retreat life. Roshi Joan’s teachings on death and impermanence and the depth of her body of work on this topic are such a gift for this world.
I honour my ancestral lineage of teachers.
My mom and my dad.
My grandmothers and my grandfathers.
I love you all.
Patience, kindness, teaching & social work are truly in my blood.
Sharing yoga for me, is about diving into my own embodied curiosities, studies & explorations and communicating them in the context of an ancient art. It is about asking questions and unravelling into the sheer presence of these cells & this living nervous system. It is about being a student first and foremost and sharing from that place.
Connected to my explorations of embodiment, I began studying the nervous system as it relates to movement, biotensegrity and healing in 2009. At this same time, I began doing anti-violence work with women, youth and children through the PEACE & VIP programs at the Howe Sound Women’s Centre in the Sea to Sky corridor.
The privilege I felt when working one-on-one with people to support healing, growth & possibility opened doors and dreams for me professionally and it seemed like a natural professional evolution. I returned to school in 2014 and opened my private counselling practice in 2019 as a registered clinical counsellor (RCC) for the BCACC.
For me, yoga is a living art.
A creative expression.
A cellular collage of experience.
A process which continually shows me the biases of my perception, the edges of my existence & reminds me to let go into infinity.
The longer I am on this life journey, the more I trust, and when I trust this world, I remember timelessly who 'I' am. In my life, I find myself landing again and again in the moment where I am; and meeting myself & others from that place.
