1:1 somatic support, combining modalities including; functional & somatic movement, breathwork, Pilates and Somatic Experiencing®. 60 minute sessions offered online and soon in-person in Downtown Toronto.

I have been facilitating movement education for over two decades in different contexts, including personal strength training, Dance, Pilates, experiential anatomy, somatic improvisation, breathwork, eco-somatics and mindfulness. These 1:1 embodiment sessions combine multiple modalities to meet your unique needs. The sessions could include ways to increase body awareness, explore nervous system support, develop strength & mobility, increase capacity to tolerate sensations, ease chronic pain patterns, or support psycho-somatic symptoms. My goal is to offer a space to be in dialogue with the wisdom of your physiology and align with the aliveness in your system.

Somatics is a broad umbrella term that encompasses many practices, contexts and frameworks to explore embodiment. Somatics is much more than working with trauma physiology. We can also use somatics to explore bodily expression, creativity, spirituality, connection to the more-than-human world and transcendence, among other things! I bring my background in somatic practices in dance and the healing arts, in conversation with clinical approaches to embodiment through the framework of Somatic Experiencing®. This offering is different in scope than psychotherapy. If you are already working with a therapist who does talk therapy, somatic work can be a great supplement in helping to resolve certain symptoms and challenges you may be experiencing. If you’re interested in exploring somatic psychotherapy you can learn more here.

You can read more about my training, practice and modalities I use below.

  • I am a professional artist, Gestalt therapist in training and somatic facilitator living in Toronto. I am in my 5th year of advanced clinical training at the Gestalt Institute of Toronto. I bring my lived experience as an artist to my work as a therapist and a movement guide; fiercely curious, creative, rigorous in my thinking, warm and compassionate. I apply an intersectional, feminist lens to my work that acknowledges systemic harms and the ways our rapidly changing world is impacting our capacities for connection and mutuality. For me, our individual healing practices of going inside ourselves to grow and evolve must continue outwards, toward building and rebuilding meaningful connections with others and our communities.

    I have been teaching Pilates since 2017, working with clients on strength and mobility since 2008 and guiding dance practices of many kinds since I was 12 years old. In 2023, I completed an MA in Interdisciplinary Studies at York University, using Phenomenology, Dance Studies and Feminist Ecology.

  • Somatic Experiencing® (SE) is a body-based, clinical model developed by Dr. Peter Levine. SE aims to resolve the physiological impacts of stress, shock and trauma that can accumulate in the body and in our nervous system responses. SE can assist us in gently moving out of fixed states of the nervous system response, including fight, flight, freeze and fawn, towards more fluid resiliency. These fixed states can impact our bodies deeply, at times resulting in persisting physiological symptoms. SE can be used to support the resolution of PTSD, developmental attachment trauma, shock trauma events, accidents and falls, medical traumas and more. SE is a “multidisciplinary intersection of physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical biophysics and has been clinically applied for more than four decades”.

    I am in the Intermediate year of the SE® training with Alicen Halquist, MA, LPC, SEP, DARe.

    Read more about the practice at Somatic Experiencing International.

  • Movement for Trauma, developed by Jane Clapp integrates poly-vagal theory, nervous system support and physiology to explore how trauma lives in the body and can be explored and supported by somatic practitioners. The course covers hyper-mobility and anxiety, body armouring, fascial systems and tensegrity, the core system, and breathing mechanics to explore resourcing and support for clients living with the impacts of trauma.

  • Pilates is a wonderful tool in moving toward greater ease in functional movement patterns, improving body awareness and coordination, rehabilitating chronic and acute injuries, building strength, improving breathing mechanics and general support with embodiment. Looking beyond the physical benefits, Pilates is also a practice to find embodied connection to the ground, feel your center of gravity as support, and building greater capacity to feel into sensations in your physical and energetic body. My approach and ethos in practicing and teaching Pilates, is informed by my training in dance, somatic movement practices like Body Mind Centering, and its approach to experiential anatomy. It lights me up to support my clients in finding greater ease and support in their structures.

    If you’re looking for group classes you can find me teaching reformer at Fine Tune Pilates and Mat classes at Goodspace, in downtown Toronto.

    Brief (and certainly incomplete) History of Pilates

    Joseph Pilates founded his mind/body system of movement while working as a nurse in an internment camp in Germany during World War I. He removed bed springs to build his first ‘apparatus’ experimenting with movement & breath patterns using resistance to keep his patients moving. Pilates developed a rehabilitative method that incorporated aspects of his diverse studies and interests as a competitive athlete and his interests in yoga, tai chi, martial arts, and Zen meditation. He also studied anatomy and animal movements. He called his movement technique “Contrology”. He asserted “Change happens through movement, and movement heals.”

    Later moving to New York he opened a studio with his wife Clara and began training the first generation of Pilates teachers, many of whom were professional dancers who gathered around the method for injury rehabilitation and rehabilitation. Some of the first trained Pilates teachers were Carola Trier, Eve Gentry, Ron Fletcher, Kathleen Stanford Grant, Bruce King, and Lolita San Miguel.

  • Gestalt Institute of Toronto

    2026 Gestalt Therapist in Training

    MA Interdisciplinary Studies

    2023 - York University (Dance Studies, Phenomenology and Feminist Ecology)

    Graduate of the 3 Year Professional Training Program / 2008 School of Toronto Dance Theatre

    Somatics Training

    2025 - ongoing / Somatic Experiencing International (Beg I, II, III, Int I, II)

    2024 - Embracing Embodied Presence w Lauren Clarke, GIT

    2022 - Reverence and Repair, Honouring our Somatic Lineages w Marika Heinrichs

    2021 - Cultural Somatics Mentorship, Rooted 12 month cohort in Somatic Abolitionism

    2017 - Movement for Trauma with Jane Clapp

    2008 - 2020 Somatic movement practices as part of professional contemporary dance training through workshops nationally and internationally (Alexander Technique, Body Mind Centering, Axis Syllabus, Continuum)

    Breathwork/ Kundalini Yoga

    Golden Chain - 60 hour Kundalini Training with Krista Schilter

    Qi-Gong

    Practicing since 2002, course through Ontario College of Traditional Chinese Medicine with Claire Turner-Reid

    Reiki Level 1 & 2

    Pilates Education

    2017 Certification Mat Pilates MisfitStudio

    2018 Reformer Apprenticeship with MisfitStudio

    2019 Pelvic Floor workshop with Robyn Breen and Michiko Carnigal

    2021 Bridging Program with Good Body Feel

    2022 Mentorship with Brittany Murphy

    2023 Size Inclusive Pilates with Fat Body Pilates

    2024 Rerformer Certification from Muse Movement

    Can-Fit Pro Personal Training Certificate

  • 1:1 sessions are $125 + hst.

    Acknowledging systemic barriers to support, I offer a number of sliding scale sessions between $85 - $125 + hst. Please reach out to inquire.

  • email: acorn.amanda@gmail.com

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