I am Latina, born and raised in Canada to immigrant parents who fled poverty and violence in South America in search of safety and possibility. Spanish is my first language; I still dream in it. I am reclaiming cultural practices while making sense of what was carried forward, what was lost, and what I choose to tend and pass on.

I hold a Bachelor of Social Work and a Master of Social Work. My additional training includes Mind-Body Coaching, Trauma-Informed Practice, Somatic Attachment Therapy, Somatic Stress Release, Somatic Body Work, Restorative and Yoga Nidra. I have also participated in the intensive experiences Somatic Parts Work, 21 Day Somatic Journey, Embodied Transformation and Somatics, Trauma and Resilience as part of my own care and development. I am completing the Strozzi Institute Somatic Coach Certification Program and working toward an International Coaching Federation credential.

Somatics is not only something I study or offer; it is part of how I live. I maintain a daily somatic practice and receive regular coaching and mentoring as part of my ongoing development, allowing this work to continue shaping how I live, relate, and coach.

Over the years, my work has included crisis response, social services, programs supporting children and families, entrepreneurship, and women’s group facilitation. Much of this work unfolded in Toronto, Mississauga, Kitchener-Waterloo, and Austin. I have also lived in Florida and now make my home near Collingwood in South Georgian Bay. I currently serve on the steering committee of a women-led giving collective that supports local charities.

Living and working across these communities, together with my own life experience, has taught me to see people in context rather than in isolation. Our histories, relationships, cultures, institutions, and social and political conditions all shape who we are and what feels possible.

I am a parent of three and share a loving partnership of more than thirty years—a continuing practice in intimacy, resilience, commitment, repair, and, oh yes, boundaries. Parenting, chronic pain, and periods of exhaustion deepened my attention to the body and its wisdom. They also led me to question a culture that treats bodies like machines and measures their value by what they look like or produce. I came to understand rest not only as recovery, but also as resistance: a way of reclaiming body, time, dignity, and humanity.

I find joy in daily yoga and Aikido 31 Jo Kata, cooking meals that nourish the people I love, turning my kitchen into a dance floor as my Abuelita once did, riding my lit-up bike on warm nights, wishing on shooting stars, finding wonder in science fiction, dreaming of collective freedom, and savoring the drama of Spanish telenovelas. These joys are not separate from how I approach this work. They are living expressions of connection, aliveness, and possibility.

Influences, lineages, and gratitude

My formal somatic coaching training is through the Strozzi Institute, within a lineage shaped by Richard Strozzi-Heckler, Staci K. Haines, and many others. I have also pursued additional somatic study through EmbodyLab, including the work of Dr. Scott Lyons, Rae Johnson, and Kai Cheng Thom.

My wider approach is informed by Peter Levine, Bessel van der Kolk, Tricia Hersey and The Nap Ministry, Dr. Aimie Apigian, Thích Nhất Hạnh and the Plum Village tradition, Riivive Body by Riikka Wilson, as well as Restorative Yoga and Yoga Nidra. I learned these yoga practices in a Western context and recognize their roots in Indian yogic traditions.

I name these teachers, communities, practices, and bodies of work with gratitude, while recognizing that each emerges from a distinct history and lineage. I understand somatics as a living and evolving lineage, shaped by many contributions as well as histories of colonization, oppression, and systemic inequity. I remain committed to engaging its complexities honestly and accountably, and to practicing this work in service of personal, community, and systemic transformation, equity, and liberation.

Land and place

I live and work in the Town of The Blue Mountains on the Traditional Territory of the Anishinabek Nation: The People of the Three Fires (Ojibway, Odawa, and Pottawatomie Nations), and further give thanks to the Chippewas of Saugeen and the Chippewas of Nawash (Saugeen Ojibway Nation) as the traditional keepers of this land.  As a settler, I acknowledge the enduring presence, history, and continued stewardship of the Indigenous peoples who care for the land and waters of the Southern Georgian Bay region. I offer this acknowledgment with gratitude, respect, and a commitment to reconciliation.