About Annie.
I am a coach, educator, and somatic practitioner. My work is focused on how we share space with others and create space for ourselves. My background is in public health, creating greater ease of access for patients; the arts, as a producer and a performer; and in education, as a primary school teacher with a specialty in social emotional development. I have decades of experience helping people of all ages navigate difficult systems, find joy and connection through creativity, and learn how to fully develop their own sense of empowered and embodied self.
My pedagogy is rooted in trauma informed care, transformative justice models, generative somatics, cooperative practices, and developmental psychology. I am interested in helping folks work through lived and intergenerational traumas, dissociation, harmful or dysregulating patterns, relationship issues, and identity exploration as well as generally understanding how to bring joy, connection, and magic into our lives through knowing ourselves fully. I am dedicated to helping my clients find practices that allow them to connect to their deepest longings, to find ways to regulate and manage their emotions, and build capacity to deal with a world that can make it difficult to thrive.
Why “Atom Fire” Arts?
The name “Atom Fire Arts” is inspired by a lyric from a Woody Guthrie song called “Dance Around My Atom Fire”. He was singing about the dangers of nuclear war, but we use it as a visualization wherein each individual is tending their own fire by taking care of themselves and each other sustainably. The more individuals or “atoms” actively tending their own fire, the easier it becomes for all of us to create a stable, secure world together. In this way the borrowed concept comes full circle as we use this expression to work toward a safer world for everyone.