"Our divine nature yearns for us as much as we yearn for it"
My Vision
Every person has a unique soul journey and many gifts -medicines- that are one of a kind that they are here to share. There are so many ways to know the true nature of our soul... this wisdom, although not always experienced, is always present. The greatest gift we can give to ourselves and the world is to fully live from this place.
I lay at your feet my soul medicines - the gifts that naturally come through me - as a prayer offering for each of us to step forth into our soul medicines which are so deeply needed in the world at this time.
... with love ...
Jo Ann
"One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul.. shines like gold in dark times."
- Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Please join JoAnn and Breathwork luminaries from around the globe who will share their wisdom at this immersive experience.
JoAnn will bring her expansive birthing and breathwork experience from the last 35 years that will culminate in a deep dive into our personal Birth Imprints.
We’re gathering in the beautiful mountains and forests of Quebec, Canada surrounded by nature in all its vibrancy…
So you can totally ‘switch off’ and focus on YOU and your experience.
With an incredible line-up of teachers, guides and entertainers (and a few more surprises to come)… ready to guide you on a journey of personal self-discovery AND a deepening of your knowledge and understanding of the breath.
Each day you’ll deepen your knowledge and expand your own personal growth, with practices and immersive sessions that include:
Morning Yoga & Healing Mudras… bringing flow, energy, and healing into each day.
Breathe Awareness… allowing you to take control of your life at any given moment.
Healing Cacao Ceremonies… to harness the restorative and heart-opening power of cacao. With Cacao courtesy of our sponsors Native Wisdom Hub
Meditation and Mindfulness… to support your mental wellbeing.
Heart Coherence Breathing… to regulate your nervous system, to bring calm all around you.
Essential NLP Skills… because your words matter - learn to use them powerfully.
Conscious Connected Breath… bringing you fully into your body, to release, heal, and grow.
Exposure to Cold Water Immersion… to breakthrough, support, and stimulate your nervous system. With Ice Baths courtesy of our Sponsor NuBreath
Sound & Vocal Healing… learn to use the power of your voice to transform and grow.
Traditional SweatLodge… to release cleanse and purify the body, mind & soul.
Breathing Science… so you can understand what’s really happening in your body when you breathe
Whether you are already a Breathwork Practitioner, Facilitator, or Teacher or you simply want to discover tools and techniques to create better health and well-being in your everyday life…
The Breathing Festival Canada is a truly unique opportunity to deepen your knowledge, learn, share, and grow.
We’d love you to join us!
My Offerings
As a captivating speaker at international conferences Jo Ann is warm,
generous and real. She is a champion of the collective awakening and of remembering our sacred place on our one beautiful blue planet. Drawing on her medicine gifts she is a gifted storyteller through her rich experiences with conscious birth, living in Indigenous cultures, filmmaking, breathwork, activism, urban planning, architecture and speaking up for the waters and the greening of the planet. Somehow she manages to connect the dots and connect to the Bigger Story... leaving listeners with a deeper sense of the greater whole.
“Jo Ann is a force for the change and evolution in our world and for that, I’m deeply grateful ... her spirit is strong, she is a beacon of light and possibility for us all.”
Breath is believed to represent the movement of spirit in the body. Through the power of the conscious breath we not only sing, speak from our hearts, birth our babies and climb mountains – it is the window, the spiritus – through which we can more fully know ourselves.
Through workshops, circles and private breath sessions Jo Ann offers participants the opportunity to connect deeply and consciously with their own breath, and through it to a fuller sense of themselves. She creates a safe and sacred space within her circles and retreats for the heart to speak and she has an abiding faith in the unique gifts that each person brings forth. Through the conscious breath she is able to help others recognize some of the unconscious patterns that are operating in their lives, making space to change them. The breath is vital as it brings us into the present moment, as it calms and reinvigorates, heals and soothes, connects us with our inner spirit and yet is deeply physical.
Jo Ann is the National Co-ordinator for Canada for the International
Breathwork Foundation and has been active internationally in the spread of conscious breath into schools, the office, the boardroom, into Indigenous cultures and to decision makers in the highest levels.
“Her breathing ceremonies are a journey into the spirit world, into the unseen realms of internal states, beyond time and space. Through the holy breath, Jo Ann guides people inwards and helps us to discover our own inner healer... she guides spirit into the our sacred vessel leading us to a true experience.”
As a birth attendant Jo Ann offers gentle conscious birthing support for
mothers and their families at home, hospital, in the water or on the land.
She has held peaceful space for gentle birth for over 25 years in many
cultures including all across Canada, Europe, parts of Africa and Indigenous communities in the Arctic. She understands the deep unfoldment and transformation of self during pregnancy and birth and offers a calm wise presence. She listens deeply to each mother-to-be for what allows her to feel held, to relax and let go. “We share a plenty over lots of cups of tea!”
She is a greeter of new souls and says, “ I am humbled and awed at the
beauty of each new soul who arrives to earth...each with the promise the
Creator has written upon their heart. The moment of birth is a never-beforemoment just as each of us is one-of-a-kind... we are so preciously loved and held. Birth is one of the greatest Teachers in my life.”
“My birthing , my labour, my weeping in the night was met by your strength and wisdom...
I celebrate your energy and softness, and the joy of Nodin’s birth that came in the morning. Happy mother of us all~ for the gifts you give all women you welcome at their babe’s birth.”
Who has a dream?... we all do. Whether one remembers their dreams or not... they are still present just below the surface patiently awaiting us to notice. Dreams for us (we are all wisdom keepers) are a source of infinite wisdom and understanding... releasing an expansive, creative force with limitless potential to explore the universe that exists within us. When we begin to dream consciously we enter the world of spirit, becoming more aware of being able to be in two worlds at once. We begin to discover the rich interplay between the messages in the waking world and those messages arising from the dreaming world.
Through Dream Weaving circles with Jo Ann one gets a glimpse of the weave of the universe and a felt sense of how each of us carries a thread of the collective dream. She has an innate sense of being able to hear the patterns that connect the dreams which she weaves into a magnificent tapestry. As we gather our dreams together we get to see how we each carry a puzzle piece of the greater whole. It is a deeply satisfying experience that aligns with the underlying intelligence of the universe. And it is not the same if even one of us doesn't show up - we each hold an important part!
“I see you as a keeper of the stories and wisdom of our ancestors. Stories that need to be told and shared... especially in these challenging, transitional times where it can be hard to find your way.”
Jo Ann honors sacred traditions and the circle of life in all forms. She is called upon to hold ceremonial space at the doorways of birth and of death, to bless pregnancies and to herald the naming of sweet babes, to celebrate sacred union, to hold tender heartfelt space for the loss of a loved one and for healing circles, ... to honor the Ancestors.
She is aligned with wisdom teachings of many Indigenous teachers from many Indigenous communities and she carries a grace and power of grandmother wisdom as a ceremonial leader, dream weaver, keeper of the sweat lodge and a singer of medicine songs. Medicine Wheel teachings and the way of Council form a foundation for the ceremonies she leads.
“Her medicine reaches the hearts of many...thanks to her guidance and support I have been able to continue expanding my own medicine. She is a beautiful gift to this world.”
““Her guidance in my life has reminded me of my soul purpose””