From a young age, I was curious about the nature of life & being human, asking the big questions and often experienced long dark periods bound by grief & depression.I had no idea how to permanently get out of the cycle I was in, and on the surface tried to accept it as the way life ‘is’. I smiled and said yes while inside, I was furious.
I pretended I was ok. Hid behind my facade with grit in my teeth. Kept myself fuelled on fitness, pretence and defiance. Nothing was good enough. Exhausted, Worn out. Flat.I was numb, disconnected from life and everything in it. I set my jaw and clenched my teeth. I held on, and didn’t know yet that if I kept running from what was true, life would keep bringing me more of it.
Then my marriage broke up and the breaking of it nearly broke me until I realised that even in that experience (like so many prior), life was inviting me to get real and to finally start to unravel all the knots I’d been accumulating.
From a young age, I was curious about the nature of life & being human, asking the big questions and often experiencing long dark periods bound by grief & depression. I had no idea how to permanently get out of the cycle I was in, and on the surface tried to accept it as the way life ‘is’. I smiled and said yes while inside, I was furious.
I pretended I was ok. Hid behind my facade with grit in my teeth. Kept myself fuelled on fitness, pretence and defiance. Nothing was good enough. Exhausted, Worn out. Flat. I was numb, disconnected from life and everything in it. I set my jaw and clenched my teeth. I held on, and didn’t know yetthat if I kept running from what was true, life would keep bringing me more of it.
Then my marriage broke up and the breaking of it nearly broke me until I realised that even in that experience (like so many prior), life was inviting me to get real and to finally start to unravel all the knots I’d been accumulating.
As a holistic wellness specialist, trauma-informed somatic and breath worker, reiki master and life coach, I guide people who are feeling lost & unfulfilled, navigating grief, loss, life challenges and big emotions. Through healing modalities based in embodiment practices, breathwork, mindfulness and intuitive guidance, I help my clients reconnect with their higher selves and the innate joy, wellbeing and peace that are our true nature. Actively undertaking additional formal trauma training, I've spent years harnessing the power of somatic and breath work. Finding these practices changed my life and they can change yours too.
As a holistic wellness specialist, trauma-informed somatic and breath worker, reiki master and life coach, I guide people who are feeling lost & unfulfilled, navigating grief, loss, life challenges and big emotions. Through healing modalities based in embodiment practices, breathwork, mindfulness and intuitive guidance, I help my clients reconnect with their higher selves and the innate joy, wellbeing and peace that are our true nature.
I am trauma-informed, actively undertaking formal trauma training and have spent years harnessing the power of somatics and breath. Finding these practices changed my life and they can change yours too.
Dawn is my given name, the one my five older brothers, Mom & Dad chose for me. It didn’t resonate with me for decades until one day a few years ago, walking a pristine beach in North East Scotland.
The sun was low on the horizon, barely peeking through clouds and created a spectacular display of light and colour. Light, obscured in the foreground by cloud, refracting and dancing from behind such that it could have been completely obliterated. But no, the light prevailed.
At that moment, as though one of those beams probed straight into my soul, it struck me that this is the apogee of this precious life I’ve been given.
My journey has lead me to understand the keys to finding true, sustainable contentment, joy and happiness lies in figuring out how to deal with the trappings of modern life that keep us stuck and unhappy. Once we discover it, we can be free.
I always wanted to understand myself and why I was feeling low, even though the exterior seemed perfect. I asked myself probing questions, scoured for insight, practices, exercises and experimented with many modalities that might bring understanding and help unravel my emotional knots. At some stage I realised that life would continue to bring challenge, times of being in the dark and feeling derailed, so not only was I keen to heal events from the past but also to learn to be with anything life brings.
My journey has lead me to understand the keys to finding true, sustainable contentment, joy and happiness lies in figuring out how to deal with the trappings of modern life that keep us stuck and unhappy. Once we discover it, we can be free.
I always wanted to understand myself and why I was feeling low, even though the exterior seemed perfect. I asked myself probing questions, scoured for insight, practices, exercises and experimented with many modalities that might bring understanding and help unravel my emotional knots.
At some stage I realised that life would continue to bring challenge, times of being in the dark and feeling derailed, so not only was I keen to heal events from the past but also to learn to be with anything life brings.
That day on the beach, the memo landed. I became aware that the whole point is to let those experiences work us. Work us in a way that initiate us toward true freedom, such that no matter what is happening, we can see joy, beauty, truth and light; we can know that even in the darkest moments these are still present, simply obscured.
I knew in that moment that all my life experiences had been serving this purpose…..teaching me how to be in dark, difficult stuff without getting trapped by it.
I knew then that what I’ve been doing my entire life is becoming light. (Light, joy, truth, beauty – the goodness of life that we all seek.)
I believe our true nature is this, and that each of us not only has the ability, but perhaps yearn to experience life’s events as opportunity for growth and transformation if we open to it.
And now I see. ‘Dawn’, light becoming is my life purpose, supporting others to seek and find their true nature – joy.
As your guide, I share tools, practices and teachings that support you to find whatever it is you seek. Awakening to life in all it's light - even in the dark.
Everything in the universe is within you. Ask all from yourself. -RUMI
I’m on a mission. One that resonates so deeply in me, my whole body vibrates when I think about it. I want everyone, and I mean Everyone! to find mental, spiritual and emotional freedom in their lives, no matter who they are, where they are or what they’ve been through.
Why? Because you deserve it. Joy. Contentment. Connection. Vitality. They are your birthright so you’re meant to find it - it’s your true nature. I also know firsthand that how to find it can be really elusive.
That’s where my medicine comes in.
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I’m on a mission. One that resonates so deeply in me, my whole body vibrates when I think about it. I want everyone, and I mean Everyone! to find mental, spiritual and emotional freedom in their lives, no matter who they are, where they are or what they’ve been through.
Why? Because you deserve it. Joy. Contentment. Connection. Vitality. They are your birthright so you’re meant to find it - it’s your true nature. I also know firsthand that how to find it can be really elusive. That’s where my medicine comes in.
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It’s been a long journey from my roots in a small, Canadian prairie town. My Catholic upbringing left me bereft, confused and feeling inadequate because I didn’t get it. I searched for decades for something that could give meaning to this life, for relief from my thoughts, emotions, stress and for practices & tools to help me manage life’s challenges.
My background is a corporate one, with an undergrad in earth sciences, later studies took me to nutrition & herbology, I dallied with Chinese Medicine, studied to become a life coach & neurolinguistic practitioner and have numerous certifications in facilitation, psychometric tools and mental health as well as a Human Resources professional designation.
Throughout these undertakings, I’ve been preoccupied with my true passion - understanding the human condition - how we’re made up, why, what influences us to become who we are, how our thoughts and emotions work and how we can manage them.
I’ve called Calgary home for the better part of three decades and although I lived elsewhere for a few years, Calgary calls me continuously; not only out of connection to friends, family, community but also out of connection to this majestic swath of land between prairie and mountain. I’ve heard it said that one’s true home is known by the minerals of its earth being reflected in the minerals of one’s blood and while I can’t attest to that factually, I know it to be the case for me. I simply cannot be anywhere else because I’m in love.
In my free time, you’ll most often find me immersed in my own work, diving into the practices that I share with my clients as well as new ones I’m exploring. I’m obsessed with the human experience and never tire of studying some aspect of the human psyche, be that the body-mind connection, core and formative belief systems, the brain and nervous system, breath, trauma therapy and the science(s) of how we humans develop, function, heal and transform ourselves.
You might also find me meditating in random locations or simply soaking up the medicine of nature. I also enjoy getting out on my bike, climbing (indoor & outdoor), movement and yoga, long walks, coffee breaks with good friends and accidentally stumbling into part of Calgary or Alberta where I’ve never been before… and falling deeper in love.
It’s been a meandering path and wow, what a privilege and gift to what I know now as my true calling as a Mental Wellness and Resiliency Coach, Trauma-informed Embodiment & Breath Worker, Meditation & Yoga Teacher,
I'd be honoured to guide you to find whatever you seek from life. I promise you, the roads you travelled thus far, have given you all you need to lead yourself home too. I can show you how.