Hayley Shannon is a dancer of mixed Celtic ancestry and a devotee of body and soul. She believes that our wild (i.e. natural) embodiment is a portal to transform separation into wholeness and restore a right-relationship with Earth.

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Dance has been a sanctuary for Hayley since she was seven years old in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As a professional dancer and teacher in Seattle, Washington throughout her 20’s, she adored the ritual of performing and the aliveness it brought. However, she felt stuck in cycles of depression, anxiety and numbness that had plagued her since she was a child.

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A yearning for personal healing led her to Corfu, Greece to study dance/movement therapy and breathwork with Dr. Danielle Fraenkel. Her life was forever-changed from experiencing the profound power of authentic embodiment to heal.

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Through embodiment, spirituality found Hayley. She felt soul-called to create Dance Healing in 2016 to facilitate adults reclaiming their embodied wholeness. She migrated to northern California to deepen her training in somatic expressive arts therapy with the legendary Anna Halprin and Daria Halprin at Tamalpa Institute from 2018-21. This program emphasizes how nature, voice and communal ritual are essential to wellness, which highly influences Hayley’s work today.

 

Hayley is honored to lead transformative embodiment programs for individuals and groups around the world both in person and online, at festivals and international retreats. She continues her studies in breathwork, griefwork and Taoism while preparing to apprentice Daria Halprin at Tamalpa Institute. She is grateful to live on Orcas Island, Coast Salish Land with her Beloved and rootsy community.