About Shauna
Hi, my name is Shauna.
[awkward t-rex wave]
I’m an anti-diet, weight-neutral registered yoga teacher and ACE-certified personal trainer and health coach. I am currently in the process of finishing Mat Pilates Teacher Training.
I also have a background in mental health education*, yet I didn't learn I was autistic and ADHD until 2022 when I was 40-years old. Like many others, this discovery was a result of a debilitating burnout.
Along with finding out I'm AuDHD, I began to add many other things to the list, like hyper-mobility, that have allowed me to connect so many dots about my own health and wellbeing.
This includes answers to why so many things just do not work for me or help me the same way as others. The reality is that I need help with HOW to do things rather than what to do, which is also how I approach working with my hypermobile and neurodivergent clients.
The Embautied Method is about helping you rebuild your relationship with your bautie. We're moving better and more safely, feeling more stable and less stressed, and exploring everyday accommodations to manage on the best and worst days.
My life’s mission is simple: help you better understand your brain and bautie so you can live more comfortably.
* I am not a mental health professional; I am one class shy of a masters in mental health counseling (a story for a different day) so I possess a basic understanding of the medical model of mental health care, etc.
About Embautied
The Embautied Method
The scenario I hear more often than not:
You keep working out, you keep going to physical therapy, but you aren't feeling more stable or connected to your body. You're putting in the time and effort, but still feel like you lack the knowledge and tools to understand and manage your body on a daily basis.
I know you're frustrated, but you're not alone.
More often than not, this isn't because you haven't found the correct workout yet, it's because you need help learning how to workout correctly.
You need help learning how to translate what you're experiencing during workouts into daily life.
And most importantly, you need interactive instruction because a workout video without feedback is ineffective and potentially dangerous.
Enter the Embautied method.
Most hypermobile people struggle with basic body awareness (proprioception), joint stability, and muscle engagement (interoception). All of these impair the body's ability to recruit the proper muscles when moving and at rest. The result is the body ends up masking or performing, going through the motions without using the proper muscles to do it.
But this isn't your fault!
You just need a little more help developing 'bautie intelligence' than some others do.
The Embautied method addresses all of these by moving slowly, focusing on breathing with safe alignment, and teaching the anatomy of movement for exercise and beyond.
And the Embautied method includes a combination of strength training, stability training, and yoga because our bodies aren't binary, and efficiency matters when you a finate number of spoons.
Who Comes to Embautied?
Some commonalties among many who choose Embautied:
-
Hypermobile/HSD/hEDS/EDS
-
Prior to learning I’m hypermobile, I primarily worked with folks coming out of physical therapy after having knees and hips replaced. I’ve always been passionate about the importance of stability work, which has only grown exponentially.
-
-
Millennials / 35+ years old
-
As we get older, those things that used to be a nuisance turn to constant aches and pains that require more direct support than traditional workout programs and classes provide.
-
-
Unable to access physical therapy
-
Personal training is not a direct substitute for physical therapy, but can be a good alternative if therapy is not accessible since most personal training starts with very similar foundational stability work
-
-
Are in physical therapy, but need more support than it provides
-
Want and need to go beyond corrective exercise, transitioning to more advanced stability work, and eventually incorporating strength training
-
Need help interpreting PT exercises when there’s a ‘hypermobile language barrier’
-
-
Neurodivergent / PTSD / Complex Trauma
-
Your brain impacts your body during exercise and beyond. You need a trainer who understands that physical and emotional safety are paramount.
-
-
Managing multiple chronic illnesses
-
Traditional workout plans are hard because they don’t account for flares, fatigue, etc. Embautied supports and helps you manage without losing hope or feeling like you’ve been set back
-
-
Need to understand the anatomy of movement and how that transfers beyond exercise and into daily life
-
Traditional workouts often don’t account for the sheer lack of proprioception and interoception issues many people struggle with. It isn’t enough to tell you to engage your core or shoulders, you need to see the muscles involved and understand how it feels in your body when they’re properly activated and engaged. That’s experiential anatomy, and you will feel the difference.
-
Scope of Practice
Certified Health Coach (ACE-CHC)
-
General health advice/information
-
General nutrition advice/information
-
Realistic stress management
-
Help with “lifestyle behavior” changes - with an understanding of executive dysfunction
-
Tackling/addressing the (emotional) barriers related to social determinants of health like access to affordable nutrition, job and housing security, social support systems, healthcare, etc.
Certified Personal Trainer (ACE-CPT)
-
Assessments and guidance for postural and/or muscular imbalances (body mechanics)
-
Improve posture, body mechanics, and functional movement to reduce aches and pains from daily life
-
Diaphragmatic breathing
-
Help achieving stability, mobility, and/or flexibility goals
-
Other personalized fitness plans and guidance
Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200)
-
1:1 or small group classes with specific focus
-
Personalized yoga plans and guidance
-
Pranayama breathwork & diaphragmatic breathing
-
Meditation for busy brains
-
Stretching advice, plans, guidance