BA Dance/Movement Therapy
Naropa University

Pilates Certification
2003 Physicalmind

Movement Medicine Program
Turning Point Studios

Level-one Gyrotonic Training

Shannon began studying dance at the young age of four. She rediscovered her love of movement in high school, swimming on the swim team and dancing on the dance team. Her appreciation of movement and how it can transform and heal the body deepened when she took a summer workshop with Anna Halprin, one of the pioneers of modern dance. Shannon went on to complete her degree in dance/movement therapy at Naropa University, studying movement modalities ranging from Body Mind Centering to Authentic Movement to Butoh. After graduation, Shannon began working with adolescent girls with eating disorders and young women who had been physically abused and were living in group homes, and at the same time working as the movement coach for severely emotionally disturbed youth at Edgewood Center in San Francisco. While pursuing her career in dance therapy, she was also pursuing her love of dance, working with teachers in the Bay Area. She continued her studies in ethnic dance, dancing with a samba and Cuban modern dance troupe, Akat.

A few years later, Shannon entered a Pilates studio to get a class schedule. She had taken many mat classes in her dance training, but had never seen the Pilates equipment in use. She immediately felt at home, and knew she wanted to learn to teach Pilates. She completed her Pilates training through Physicalmind in 2003. While teaching Pilates full time, she studied Pilates rehabilitation with Nora St. John, completing the Movement Medicine Program at Turning Point Studios. She has also completed her level-one Gyrotonic Training, another movement modality, which has deepened her understanding of the body and its path to healing.

For Shannon, Pilates is not how you look, it is how you feel. It is all about feeling good in your body, and coming home to your body. She believes Pilates is really for everybody. It is not just for the "fit,” it is for everyone who moves, or anyone who wants more movement in their life. And it is for anyone who has experienced pain in the body. Pilates is the way to find a new pattern in your body, a way to help you move freely and efficiently.