I am the one who revels in change, the mysteries of soul and yields to what must die in order to be born anew.  

I KNOW THAT TRUE POWER LIES IN THE HIDDEN AND REPRESSED ASPECTS OF OURSELVES AND OUR WORLD.

I am a lover of these darker places and of the wild feminine that rises from them. I am in service to awakening her.

I SIT IN THE UNDERGROUND RIVER FROM WHICH ALL OF LIFE FLOWS AND LISTEN. BENEATH THE SWIRLING CHAOTIC ENERGY OF LIFE I FEEL THE GRIEF AND HEARTACHE THAT LONGS FOR THE UNSPOKEN GIFTS OF MY SOUL.

I come from a small farm town in Southern Ontario where things move slow and cultural systems even slower. Some would say that I was a mischievous child, others that I was inquisitive. I like to think that I had a rich imagination and cunning intuition that made me question social norms right from the get go.

I deeply longed for guidance and connection but it felt elusive. I found solace in substances to numb my disconnection and feelings of being adrift in this vast world. From the ages of 18-28 I worked in the nightlife industry. It provided a lot of entertainment but didn’t do much for my addiction. Fear became a driving force in my life that propelled me toward my passions, moving me toward adventure and growth. During this time I began to travel the world and experience different cultures.

In 2005 arrived at the gates of the Sivananda Yoga Ashram. I had no idea what was in store for me yet full of hope for a different way of living. For one month I got to live, eat, sleep and breathe yoga. Instead of going to bed at sunrise I was waking up and meditating. Within the first few days of studying yoga philosophy I knew that the doorway had opened for me into the moral, ethical and spiritual life I had always longed for. There was no going back to the life that I had left and I became staff at the Ashram.

Two years later I received the opportunity to take my spiritual practice out of the ashram and into daily life. While teaching a beginner yoga course at the Sivananda Centre in downtown Toronto I met the man who would become my husband. Life outside of the ashram felt paradoxical--it challenged all the rules that I had embraced about purity, non-attachment and sexulaity. Old behaviours such as wanting to please others, jealousy, and anger quickly resurfaced.  While I had gained resources like witnessing my thoughts, breathing deeply and practicing compassion I still struggled to understand why these basic human emotions kept surfacing.

My world continued to expand and I began practicing Ashtanga Yoga at the famed Downward Dog Yoga Studio. It was there that my life changed again when Maty Ezraty came to teach a 100 hour training. She inspired in me a deep respect for the fundamentals of Ashtanga practice and she taught me a way of seeing that infused my life. Maty guided me to see beneath the surface, to view the deeper layers of embodiment which I came to understand as the underlying structures of life. She taught me the art of cultivating a strong foundation.

In 2013 my son was born. I found in my postpartum that I needed a way to process all of the emotions that were surfacing on my yoga mat. It brought up all my insecurities about being good enough; a good enough wife, a good enough person, a good enough mother, a good enough teacher, a good enough yogi, a good enough friend.  How could I possibly fulfill all of these roles? I had to let go of the way I knew my yoga practice to be and surrender to the most simple practices. I felt my entire relationship to sexuality and my body shift in ways I had never imagined. Every fear and belief I had around men being predatory came to the surface and I hid behind my child and title as Mother as a resource for regulating my nervous system.

After 1000’s of hours of yoga training, nothing had fully prepared me to deal with the grief, anger, jealousy and pain that was arising. This led me to the Spiritual Psychology program at The University of Santa Monica. At USM, I learned how how to witness our humanness in all of its glorious mess without trying to fix, solve, clean up or change it. I learned to enhance communication and intimacy through the deep listening of my heart and to feel, rather than rationalize, what is being said. I learned to hold space for others and to be present with the fullness of another’s experience.

In 2016 a colleague from USM introduced me to The Artemis School for Women’s Sexual Sovereignty and my mentor Lara Catone. This set me on a path of pleasure from which I haven’t looked back. The Artemis School evoked the shadow material I held around sexuality and ways to bring more of me into the light through a sacred safe sexual container, a tribe of vulnerable women, true embodiment and archetypal mythology. I learned the magic of my own body and began to appreciate all womanly forms. Lara is a force of nature, full of wisdom and a keen sense of what’s hidden under the surface. Her embodiment has shown me how to embrace both pleasure and pain. She continues to provide inspiration and guidance in my life. My journey through The Artemis School led me to a few other powerful influences that continue to guide me on this path.

Kimberly Ann Johnson’s experience as an avid yoga practitioner whose life changed after giving birth resonated with my own motherhood journey. As a Somatic Experiencing practitioner Kimberly taught me how trauma was operating in my own system and how to regulate my nervous system in relationship to my sexual desires. She has also invited me to look at my struggles to set limits and boundaries.

Laura Larriva Page speaks in myth and soul poetry, blending archetypal personas with developmental psychology. She is a powerful resource for the deep layers of unconscious wanting to come through. Laura always leaves me asking more questions than receiving rational answers. Apprenticing with her is deeply nourishing as she guides me into more of my wild self.

Heike Joy Hudson is my pleasure and embodiment mentor blending Shamanic healing with sacred sexuality. She uses her razor sharp intuition to point out the areas of life that are out of alignment. She has a no nonsense approach that really asks me to be clear and step into my leadership. I have found a deeper connection to my pleasure, sexuality and body since I started working with her. She continually brings me back to pleasure as the gateway to all creative fulfillment. Heike effortlessly leads me into my deepest fears and layers of unconscious beliefs so that I can transmute them into spiritual awakening and deeper connection. I am honored to have her as my mentor and guide into sacred sexuality and pleasure.

Professional Credentials  

Vinyasa Krama Level 2 Teacher Training 300 Hour

Primary Series, Moon Sequence, Inter Relationship Dynamics

Scar Tissue Remediation and Hands On Work (Exiting the shame Matrix)

with Ellen Heed and Kimberly Johnson

March 2018

Spiritual Psychology (Year 1), University of Santa Monica

2016 -2018

Women’s Holistic Health Sex Education & Wellness, The Artemis School

100+ hours of coursework (Initiate, Thrive and Nurture Modules) + year long apprenticeship

March 2016- October 2017

YogaWorks Teacher Training (100 hour) with Maty Ezraty

December 2015-January 2016

Massage Therapy Training, Sutherland Chan School of Massage Therapy
Toronto, Canada 2012 - 2013

Yoga Alliance Certified Yoga Teacher

Over 1,000 hours of training in Sivananda and Ashtanga Yoga

2007-2014