ABOUT KIRSI
I'm Kirsi Marie (she/her), the owner of LEVÄTÄ and a certified yoga and meditation teacher (RYT-200) and Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) facilitator. I was led to creating LEVÄTÄ by my own lived experiences with chronic illnesses (depression, anxiety and rheumatoid arthritis) and mental and physical burnout. Following my most recent burnout - which I'm determined will be my last - I committed to prioritizing my wellbeing, learning best practices for both healing from burnout and living vibrantly with chronic illness and sharing these practices with others. I identify as chronically ill, sick, Mad and disabled.
I am trained in accessible, equitable and trauma-informed teaching and I continue to seek opportunities to learn and grow. Having completed Breathe For Change’s 200-hour Wellness, SEL and Yoga Teacher training (in the Krishnamacharya lineage), I am currently enrolled in their advanced 300-hour yoga and leadership training certification, which includes next-level training in trauma,
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Photo by the gorgeous and talented Susanna Gordon, taken October 2022 in my backyard, Camden East, Ontario
equitable and accessible teaching, yoga philosophy, chair yoga and restorative yoga as well as advanced leadership training. I am committed to the lifelong "doing and undoing" that is the learning and activation of inclusive, feminist, anti-oppression and anti-racist practices in all my ways of connecting and being. I am also registered with and dedicated to the standards of practice set by the Yoga Alliance.
This is me as a tot.
I look at this photo often to remind myself that this kid deserves love and care. And to remember to never again have bangs.
My professional background is primarily in the nonprofit arts sector and I hold a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Drama. In addition to my work with LEVÄTÄ, I'm the Administrator for Creative Users Projects, a national arts service organization that supports D/deaf and disabled artists, and I serve as a mentor for Breathe For Change's 200-hour yoga teacher trainees. I'm also a certified editor and creative writer; some of my writing can be found online at www.joytothegirl.com.
Most importantly, I am a proud mother of two incredible children, Ethan (13) and Isla (15), four cats, two rabbits, one hamster and laps-full of foster kittens. I love 90s music, goats, British comedy, Earl Grey tea and borrowing more books from the library than I can possibly read in my lifetime. I have a favourite kind of pen and, I'm told, too many throw pillows. I'm a Gemini sun / Pisces moon / Leo rising, an Enneagram One (Nine-Wing), an INFJ, a Manifesting Generator, I am a rock, I am an island.
I live, work, raise my family and create on the unceded territory of the Anishinaabe, Mississauga and Huron-Wendat peoples in what is now colonized as the village of Camden East, Ontario, Canada.