About Allyson

My story

I help women move into an embodied clarity so that they can come home to their bodies and the world.

I am the co-founder, with Philip Shepherd, of The Embodied Present Process™ and am also certified as a Co-Active Professional Coach. I bring the strengths of both modalities and my own natural compassion and embodied intuition to the work I do, which is dedicated to helping women move into an embodied clarity in which anxiety is eased and a grounded resilience discovered.

All my work starts with the breath, something we all too often try to manage rather than release. Through group workshops designed for coaches, therapists and teachers, or one on one coaching, I help people discover the grounded calm of the present available to them at all times through the present.

Feedback & Reviews

”The workshop was fun and gentle - full of information that was simple to understand, process and physically feel awareness of.“

Kate S.

Professional Organizer

"That session was really powerful. I'm someone who doesn't necessarily feel the power of a session of any kind till later, and having put down the phone - wow."

Jane M.

Victoria BC

”Allyson’s personal coaching sessions have been among the best decisions I have EVER made for both my career and personal life.“

JP Beaudoin

Regional Sales Manager

What can I do for you?

I work one on one

In person or virtual (phone or Zoom) sessions help you discover the spacious intelligence within.

I lead workshops

Being in a group offers a different dimension as we learn from and with others.

Want to talk?

I'd love to connect with you to see how we might work together.

Contact me

“To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.”
― Emily Dickinson

Some backstory

When I was 13 my family moved from Toronto to Vancouver where I had the good fortune to spend half a school year in an outdoor education program. It was a transformative experience that sparked in me phenomenal self-discovery. Through crazy daily workouts and four challenging wilderness trips, we learned about ourselves, about teamwork, about surviving in the wilderness and about leadership. (There was a significant failure of leadership by the three guys who ran the program, but that's a story for another time.)

I learned about a deep strength in my quiet and that I could outlast much stronger guys on a mentally-tough, icy switchback trail. I learned that speaking my truth always served me, and that forging strong bonds is deeply fulfilling and life-affirming. I also learned about my love of humanity - sparked as we sat around a campfire after a gruelling paddle across a lake in high winds, reconstituting dehydrated apple sauce and sharing life stories.

Outside in nature, I am informed by something larger than me and I connect to the wild peace of the present.

And a little more

Entrepreneurial spirit is in my genetic makeup, and I have been a filmmaker, stained glass artist, graphic designer, web designer, marketing and communications specialist, mature adult MA student (see my 2013 video about flash mobs that I made as part of my thesis), mother, partner, sister, daughter, community volunteer and outdoor enthusiast.

I am also a photographer, a filmmaker, an award-winning graphic designer, filmmaker, and occasional poet. I live on a funky island in Toronto with my partner, Philip Shepherd, who is changing the world with his work.