Lived and learned.
Offered with both hands.

A practice built from
the inside out.

I began as a personal fitness instructor working with the body as something to be trained, strengthened, optimised. Yoga changed that. It a practice that moved inward as much as outward, that listened as much as it directed. What drew me then is what draws me still.

In Montreal I built a full practice. I worked with women one-on-one, with corporate teams at TD Bank and Bombardier Aviation, with teachers across the West Island and Quebec, and as a volunteer at the West Island Cancer Wellness Centre. I trained in Buddhist philosophy, Kundalini Yoga, hypnotherapy, and Yoga Nidra. I supported nine women through birth, including one in New Zealand during the pandemic when hospitals were closed.

My own practice has been shaped by years of personal retreat including extended immersions of up to six weeks in the contemplative traditions that inform everything I bring to this work.

The pilgrimage to India was one chapter in a longer life of going inward, of taking the practice seriously enough to live inside it for a while.

It was in that rebuilding that I came to understand trauma not as a concept but as something I lived in my own body. That understanding led me to my TCTSY training Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga and to certification as a death doula, sitting with women in grief and at the edges of life. I sought the training because I finally knew, from the inside, what it was for.

What emerged from all of it is The Maitri Collective. The nervous system work is not theoretical for me. The in-between places are not metaphor. I know what it is to lose the thread of yourself and have to find it again, slowly, in the body.

That is what I bring to this work. All of it the training, the teaching, the living. Offered with both hands.

"The most useful thing a mentor can do is give you tools that belong to you, tools you understand, know how to use, and can reach for whenever you need them."

The Maitri Collective · Philosophy

A woman's toolbox.
Built to last.

Maitri is a Sanskrit word meaning unconditional loving kindness toward oneself, toward one's experience, toward all of it. The Maitri Collective is a collection of learned and lived skills, offered in that spirit. It is a transfer of tools a woman understands, knows how to use, and can choose as needed, once learnt and experienced.

Rooted in the body.

Every tool in this practice begins with the body, its intelligence, its memory, its capacity to regulate, restore, and renew. Not analysed from the outside. Listened to from within.

Tended not fixed.

This is not a clinical experience. It is something older, organic, unhurried, rooted in what grows in its own time. The practice is built around is loving kindness and present moment.

Yours to keep.

The goal is create an understanding of methods specific to what an individual's intentions are. Through understanding and practice the "tool box" is created and filled, kept and called upon as needed. An integrated approach.

Training & Experience

TCTSY

Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga the gold standard in body-based trauma-sensitive practice, developed at the Boston Trauma Center.

Hypnotherapy

Certified Hypnotherapy Ericksonian method, integrated into nervous system restoration, birth preparation, direct change and deep relaxation practices.

Yoga Nidra

Advanced training in Yoga Nidra one of the most profound tools for nervous system repair and restoration available in yoga practice.

Certified Death Doula

Trained to support the bereaved and those navigating grief, holding space at the edges of life with presence, steadiness, and care.

Twenty years of practice across individual mentoring, corporate wellness, perinatal support, yoga instruction, grief work, expressive arts and end-of-life care in person, virtually, and across continents.

Formal Training & Certification

Kundalini Yoga

Certified Kundalini Yoga teacher a technology of breath, movement, and awareness rooted in the yogic tradition and science.

Buddhist Studies

Seminary training in Buddhist philosophy the contemplative foundation that informs the depth and relational quality of all the work.

Perinatal & Birth Support

9 Births Supported

Nine women guided through birth preparation and labour support and postnatal care. One remote birth in New Zealand during the pandemic.

Integrated Medical Model

Worked within a clinical team setting

bringing trauma-sensitive yoga and somatic movement into a medical pain management context alongside conventional healthcare professionals.

Interior Health Recognised

Yoga therapy formally integrated into an Interior Health funded programme demonstrating the clinical value of trauma-sensitive somatic practice within the BC healthcare system.

Corporate & Institutional Wellness

Bombardier Aviation Montreal

Delivered employee wellness programming and worked with executive leadership to instil a wellness model for burnout prevention across the organisation.

Canada Life

Sessions covered under Canada Life extended health benefits for BC Health employees navigating workplace burnout and recovery.

TD Bank Montreal

Yoga and wellness programming for TD Bank employees, supporting nervous system regulation and sustainable workplace wellbeing.

West Island Cancer Wellness Centre

Volunteer yoga and wellness support for cancer patients and those in recovery gentle, trauma-sensitive, and deeply person-centred.

Quebec Teachers Association West Island Montreal

Taught methods for bringing yoga wellness practices into the classroom tools educators could learn and use with their students.

20+ Years Teaching

Two decades of practice across Canada in person in Montreal, virtually across the country, and in community near Nelson, BC.

Interior Health Pain Management Programme

Served as yoga therapist on a funded multidisciplinary pain management team alongside Dr. Kalahan (Nelson, BC), a physiotherapist, and a nutritionist. Offered free to patients across the Kootenays through Interior Health.

Collaborative & Clinical Work

Breathe Your Way Through Birth

Creator of this guided prenatal series engaging in hypnobirthing, breathing ratios for labour, and the knowing that women's bodies already hold what they need.

Postpartum Support

Specialized training in postnatal recovery, nursing support, newborn sleep practices and the tender adjustment of early motherhood.

Sessions may be covered by
extended health benefits.

Shauna's sessions have been covered under employee extended health and wellness benefit programs. Check with your provider and reach out if you need a receipt or documentation for a claim.

Canada Life Insurance - Health Programs - Extended Health Benefits

Coverage varies by plan. Contact your benefits provider to confirm eligibility.