Philosophy
As we live in post-pandemic, late capitalism, in any given moment we are simultaneously asked to balance the global and personal- caring for ourselves, our families and communities, the collective, and our own shifting economic realities. All of this can overwhelm the nervous system and create a range of feeling states- from anxiety to anger; fear to frustration; from depression to disconnection; from technological fatigue to technological addiction. These personal and collective experiences may remain unprocessed or be held in our bodies. As a practitioner, I aim to provide you with strategies to attune to what is arising and approach that with greater compassion and clarity. By integrating moment to moment experience and moving stagnant energy, by decreasing mental, physical and emotional tension, we can make space for a more grounded existence. I share tools that help us ride out our thoughts, feelings and experiences as they arise during this time of immense change and disordering of the world we live in.
In addition to being a movement teacher, I am also a trained historian. While working with me, you can expect to be hit with nuggets of historical facts pertaining to the philosophy of the movement traditions that we are practice together.
My Offerings
Clinical Somatics
A somatic movement will take you on a journey of self exploration, helping you to connect better with yourself, finding ease in your body, and attuning to your emotions. Somatic education uses the mind-body connection to help you survey your internal self and listen to signals your body sends about areas of physical or emotional pain, discomfort, or imbalance.
Each clincal, hour-long somatic movement session begins with a standing assessment which helps us determine how your muscles contract under physical, mental, and emotional stress. Once we map your unique stress and muscular contraction pattern, we use what we have learned to release those muscles. So many of the ways that we hold mental, emotional and physical tension in our bodies are unconscious to us. Somatic movement brings us into increased awareness to undo ingrained patterns.
Clinical Somatic Movement is neuromuscular education. The main technique used in Hanna Somatics is called pandiculation which allows us to use the brain to restore muscle length, sensation, and function by working with your nervous system through guided gentle movements. We will work with your whole soma!
Group Movement Class
As a second generation settler on this land with relationships to other lands, I aim to honour the histories of my Punjabi agrarian ancestors by sharing this land and resources with care and responsibility. Within the context of my group movement classes practice, this means that I invite mindfulness and integration of the body, mind, spirit and land. I bring a mindful approach into all of my classes whether that’s through vigourous movement, exploratory gentle movements or even restorative shapes. Through movement, I encourage developing greater understanding of proprioception (your body's ability to sense movement, action, and location), interoception (your perception of sensations from inside the body), exteroception (your sensitivity to stimuli that are outside the body), and nociception (your ability to discern what is painful stimuli).
I teach group classes in both studio and corporate environments.
Rest Practices
I teach a variety of rest practices including yoga nidra, restorative yoga and breathwork to help your system shift into a parasympathetic nervous system response which is responsible for energy building, food digestion, and assimilation. These practices restore homeostasis by allowing the body to recuperate. These practices decrease in the heart rate, stimulate movement of the intestines, and promote the secretion of all digestive juices and tropic (tissue building) hormones.
I teach rest practices in studio or one-on-one sessions.
Honouring my teachers
Novato Institute for Somatic Research and Training Three-year Professional Certification in Clinical Hanna Somatic Education (2022-2025)
Kathryn Bruni Young and Carly Stong 300 hour Yoga Teacher Training: Science, Strength and Inclusion (2022)
Taryn Diamond 20 hour Nidra Yoga Training (2020)
Jules Mitchell 20 hour Breathing Mechanics, Somatic Principles, and Skillful Sequencing (2020)
Union Yoga + Wellness 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training (2017)
Kim McBean 40 hour Somatics and Restorative Training (2016/2020)