Embodied creativity for a better world
MBA - Facilitator - Focusing Teacher - Environmentalist
Hi, I’m Annette. Here’s my story.
I’ve been passionate about the environment since my childhood. I grew up in nature on the beautiful northeast shores of Lake Superior, in Wawa, Ontario. I started my education in environmental science, wanting to better understand the planet. To help “save it!” I learned that we knew quite a bit about the planet already, and that we were on an unsustainable path.
Helping change organizations to reduce their negative impacts became my new direction. I did an MBA at Schulich in sustainability and strategy. There, I learned that people have to want change for change to happen. After graduating, I worked for over a decade in communications supporting research projects.
In 2012 I found the practice of Focusing and knew intuitively that I had to teach it, though at the time I didn’t understand why. Then it finally made sense. I realized that when we are grounded in our bodies, we are also connected to the Earth and are heart-centered. With Focusing, we can access creativity and courage; we can transform ourselves and our organizations. And create a more flourishing world for all.
About Pupa
A pupa is the metamorphosis stage of transformation from a larva to an imago (mature insect). For example, the chrysalis, is the stage between a caterpillar and a butterfly. And it’s a cocoon before it’s a moth. I love the metaphor that to transform, a caterpillar creates a safe space. Insects need boundaries to go through their vulnerable transformative process. Humans are the same way. Neuroscience is showing us that to learn, create and connect we must feel safe. And growing research shows that this safety is in our bodies. In our own bodies with self-regulation practices (such as breath work, mindfulness and self-compassion). And in the bodies of others with co-regulation (kind facial expressions, tone of voice). In our teams at work this is psychological safety. The practices of Focusing and Theory U are powerful ways to tap into our embodied creativity, allowing the emergence of ideas for us to transform and innovate. Thinking At the Edge and Dynamic Facilitation catalyze group collaboration. The PUPA process is my way of teaching these tools with safety and simplicity. Learn more about the PUPA process.
What People Are Saying: Testimonials
Podcast Appearances
Fasten Your Seatbelts: Listening to Your Bod (includes a demonstration)
Podcast interview with Meghan Walker
where we talk Focusing
More about Annette
My purpose is using embodiment tools and practices to create a more sustainable world. My favourites are Gene Gendlin’s Focusing and Thinking At the Edge, MIT's Theory U/Social Presencing Theatre, and Dynamic Facilitation. Read more about these tools in FAQs.
I offer courses and facilitation services that use embodiment to bring to life creative ideas, build resilience and reduce stress, and grow leadership. In particular, I teach people how to add their body’s wisdom into problem-solving using my PUPA process, which combines Focusing, Theory U, the 8Cs of Self-Leadership and doable action steps.
My organizational offerings include retreats, team building and corporate strategy workshops. A special passion is building psychological safety in teams, via embodied leadership, to enable our creative selves to be fully online. This is what enables us to not only feel safe to share our ideas at work, but have better ones too!
In my personal growth courses, we use the practice of Focusing to discover ourselves. This includes building our resiliency by accessing our already existing 8Cs of Self-Leadership (calm, connectedness, curiosity, clarity, creativity, compassion, confidence, and courage) to help us solve whatever issue we are trying to unpack. In so doing, our felt sense shifts and guides us forward.
Education & Trainings
I am currently a Coordinator-in-Training (see my PUPA Focusing Certification program) with Peter Gill as my Coordinator, and Massimo Zarghetta and Lynn Preston are on my support team. I became a Certified Focusing Professional (also known as a Teacher or Trainer) in 2015 with The International Focusing Institute (view certificate), while attending that year’s weeklong (see picture below and view certificate), and Coordinator Jan Winhall. I’ve also done some training in Thinking At the Edge (TAE).
My initial Focusing training was with Toronto-based Focusing on Borden, led by Jan Winhall. Jan crosses Focusing and the felt sense with Stephen Porges’ polyvagal theory via her Felt Sense Polyvagal Model of Trauma and Addiction. As part of my training, I developed felt sense body cards as a way of tracking our various personality parts or Focusing experiences. Body cards help us record the felt sense—an embodied sensation—including physical sensations, emotions/feelings, thoughts, memories and our intuitive knowing, that can speak to us in words, images or other symbols (handle). Students in my workshops and courses use the cards to record their embodied experiences.
View lineage acknowledgment and land acknowledgment.
In 2019, I completed the Presencing Foundation Program in Theory U from MIT’s Presencing Institute (view certificate). I've also done their online 1x u.lab. In 2019 I also completed a two-day training in Social Presencing Theatre with Arawana Hayashi.
In 2020, I did the Strozzi Institute Embodied Leadership Core online program. In 2022, I completed the The Power of Embodied Transformation (view certificate), an 18-week online coach training with Coaches Rising. This training is accredited by the International Coach Federation.
These more recent trainings follow my inter-disciplinary education in environment and business. I have a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Schulich School of Business, at York University. There I specialized in sustainability, strategy and non-profit management. I have a Bachelor of Science from the University of Waterloo, in environmental science and business. My BSc includes minors in both economics and biology.
2015 Weeklong, Connections and Crossings, held at the Garrison Institute, November 6-12, 2015.
Pre-Facilitation and Teaching Career
Before Focusing teaching and facilitation work, my career was in communication and administration of sustainability research and practice. I was Communications Director at Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission, where we worked to promote the use of pollution pricing in Canada, until the project's end in 2020. I also worked as a marketing and development consultant with Learning for a Sustainable Future for nearly a decade. LSF is an organization focused on integrating sustainability concepts into the education system. After my MBA, I was coordinator at York University’s Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability, an interdisciplinary pan-University research centre whose topics varied from campus sustainability, to local water issues, to global climate change.
My volunteer work has included serving as a board member for the Francophone organization Centres d’Accueil Héritage for seven years, including acting as its chair for one year.
In my spare time, I enjoy reading, cooking, gardening, singing, yoga, cycling, and rock climbing.
