About Me
I built a life I wanted. And sometimes, I wanted to run away from it.
Hi, I’m Shani.
I’m 45, married, and a mother of three daughters. I live in Richmond Hill with my family and our two dogs.
I’m also a woman who knows what it feels like to love the people around her deeply and still feel overwhelmed by the life they share.
There were times when I looked around and thought: This is what I wanted. This is the life I worked to build. Why do I feel so trapped inside it?
From the outside, people might have seen a beautiful family, a home, and a woman making things happen. Inside, there were moments when I felt suffocated. Tired in my bones. Needed by everyone, but far away from myself.
I loved my family. I also wanted to escape the weight of it all.
Both were true, and it was hard to say that out loud.
The life behind my work
For more than seven years, I’ve been living with chronic migraines while raising children, working, and navigating the everyday demands of family life.
Motherhood has brought me love and joy, alongside worry, frustration, and constant adjustment. Raising daughters through adolescence and navigating ADHD in our family means learning, again and again, how to support their needs while remembering that I have needs too.
My marriage has been through seven years of struggle. Three times, we came close to divorce. We temporarily separated and lived apart, and somehow, we kept finding a way back to each other.
That journey has involved difficult questions about love, boundaries, responsibility, and how to remain myself within a relationship.
I grew up with emotionally unavailable parents and a family history carrying pain across generations. Understanding that history has helped me look more closely at what I learned about love, what I came to expect from relationships, and what I want to pass on to my own children.
These are parts of my life I am still navigating. They shape the woman I am and the way I meet others.
Spiritual practice has always been part of my life
My connection to spirituality began early. Long before I became a coach or teacher, I had practices that helped me anchor myself and find steadiness within.
Through difficult childhood experiences, immigration, motherhood, physical pain, and uncertainty in my marriage, that connection has been something I could return to.
Meditation gave me a place to be with myself. Breath, movement, and spiritual practice helped me pause, listen, and find enough ground beneath me to take the next step.
There were times when I practised and still felt exhausted. Times when I could find a moment of peace and then face the same difficult conversation or another migraine.
My practice helped me stay connected to myself through those experiences. It gave me somewhere to bring my feelings, hear my own voice, and remember that my life also needed to include me.
Over the years, I deepened that foundation through yoga, Reiki, Ayurveda, somatic practices, coaching, and spiritual study. My personal practice and professional learning have grown together, each helping me understand more about how we live, relate, and respond to difficulty.
Why I do this work
I know how lonely it can feel to struggle inside a life that looks good from the outside.
You may feel guilty for wanting more space. You may struggle to explain why you are unhappy when you have so much to be grateful for. You may be so used to taking care of everyone else that, when someone asks what you need, you don’t know how to answer.
I understand those feelings.
My own experience helps me make room for the complicated truth of another woman’s life: the love, the anger, the hope, the exhaustion, and the parts she might be afraid to admit.
You can speak honestly with me. You don’t have to arrive calm, clear, or certain about what comes next.
How we work together
I support women who want to reconnect with themselves and make room for their needs within the lives they are living.
Together, we explore what feels heavy, the patterns you keep returning to, and the changes you want to make. We practise expressing your needs, setting boundaries, and taking manageable steps that fit your everyday life.
Depending on your goals and preferences, our sessions may include coaching, meditation, breathwork, gentle movement, or Reiki. There is space for reflection and rest, as well as practical work you can carry into your relationships and daily choices.
My approach is warm, intuitive, and grounded. I bring structure and tools, while leaving room for your experience, your pace, and your own understanding of yourself.
The experience I bring
I’m a holistic empowerment coach and Usui Reiki Master Teacher with more than 16 years of experience in holistic work.
I hold degrees in Business Management and Anthropology & Sociology, alongside 600-hour yoga and meditation teacher training, restorative yoga certification, and specialized training in yoga and meditation for cancer rehabilitation.
My further training and studies include Transcendental Meditation, Ayurveda, breathwork, somatic movement, energy practices, CBT-informed emotional regulation tools, grief support, and relationship communication.
Behind those qualifications is a woman with her own ongoing practice, a family she loves, and a life that continues to teach her.
I bring all of that into my work: professional learning, lived experience, and respect for how much courage it can take to ask for support.
If you see something of yourself in my story, I invite you to book a discovery call.
We can talk about what life feels like for you right now, what you want to change, and whether my six-month mentorship is a good fit.
I offer sessions in person in Richmond Hill and online.