The Moving Spirit Team

Susannah Steers
Founder, Moving Spirit Pilates
Pilates & Integrated Movement Specialist

Susannah Steers is the founder of Moving Spirit Pilates in North Vancouver, where she works as a Pilates and Integrated Movement Specialist, educator, and mentor. Her work brings together more than three decades of Pilates teaching, a background in modern dance, and more than thirty years of teaching, coaching, and guiding developing teachers.

At Moving Spirit, Susannah works with clients who want to move with greater ease and confidence, recover from injury, support athletic performance, or simply feel more at home in their bodies. She takes an integrated, whole-person approach grounded in close observation, thoughtful listening, clinical reasoning, and respect for the individual in front of her. Her extensive study with master Pilates teachers, as well as leading educators in movement, rehabilitation, and integrated systems informs a practice that looks beyond "problems" and supports meaningful, lasting change.

Susannah founded Moving Spirit as a one reformer home practice in 1997,  and has grown it into a welcoming boutique studio shaped by connection, curiosity, and individualized care. Alongside her own client work, she leads and supports the Moving Spirit team in building a shared culture of observation, collaboration, continuity of care, and ongoing professional development. She believes that excellent movement teaching is both rigorous and relational, combining knowledge and skill with the ability to respond to the real person in the room.

Throughout her career, Susannah has facilitated teacher training, workshops, and professional development for Pilates studios, health organizations, fitness facilities, dance programs, and other movement communities. She is especially interested in helping teachers develop the confidence, discernment, and relational skills to move beyond simply applying a system and toward teaching people well.

Her educational work also extends beyond the studio through conversations, writing, podcasting and mentorship. Susannah writes Dialogues on Movement, a Substack for teachers and thoughtful movers exploring movement observation, teaching practice, professional growth, and the human side of working with people and their bodies.

Susannah in Conversation

Allison Birt
PMA Certified Pilates Teacher
Franklin Method Educator

After a series of injuries prompted her to reconsider a career in dance, Allison Birt transformed her passion for movement as an art into a passion for movement as medicine. In 2001, she began learning to teach Pilates from Dianne Miller, teaching in her studio (Vancouver Pilates Centre) until 2016. A perennial student, Allison has learned from and studied the repertoire of multiple first generation Pilates teachers including Ron Fletcher, Kathleen Stanford Grant, and Mary Bowen. Allison is also a Franklin Method Educator, adept at applying mental imagery techniques to embodied anatomy to create lasting positive change in the mind and body. She loves to collaborate with students to help them discover movement resolutions that will maximize their physical potential so that they can move through their lives with as much ease and joy as possible.

For more about Allison, check out  “A Conversation with Allison Birt.” 

Sarah Moore
Pilates Teacher
ELDOA Trainer

Sarah danced from the age of seven in Vancouver. She received professional ballet training from Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. A foot injury concluded this pursuit. After working in various administrative roles a spinal injury prompted a return to Pilates. Inspired by her recovery, she graduated from the Dianne Miller Teacher Training in 2004 and has been teaching ever since.

Her continued studies include Franklin Method Level 1, Neuromuscular Movement Patterns Level 1, ELDOA 1-4 and Myofascial Stretching. Sarah has extensive experience working with spinal dysfunction, pelvic floor health pre/post orthopaedic and joint replacement surgery, Parkinsons, MS, Stroke, sports injury and pre/post natal fitness.

Sarah is compassionate by nature. She works intuitively with creative curiosity and embraces the belief of infinite movement possibilities regardless of circumstance.  She is particularly interested in neuroplasticity, the complex interweaving of fascia and how physical and/or emotional trauma affects the nervous system.

Laura Collings
Administrative Assistant

Laura Collings is our in-house admin wizard at Moving Spirit. She's a passionate Pilates fan, with a background in teaching on the mat and a deep respect for the practice. Laura brings heart and insight to her role (plus an eye for detail). She considers Pilates a centering form of movement that offers space for self-awareness and care, helping her stay grounded amid a busy life. 

When she's not helping to keep things running smoothly at the studio (or enjoying a class herself), Laura can be found exploring her fave hobbies - from pottery and reading to cycling and trail running. As a Mum to three, she values community and connection, always searching for ways to balance family life, wellness and fun!