You Matter. How You Move Matters.
At Moving Spirit Pilates, we believe that moving well is about a whole lot more than just muscle. When we can move with ease, new possibilities emerge for what we can enjoy and accomplish in our lives. We create our Pilates and integrated movement programs with a personal focus, highlighting education and accountability with the support to maximize follow-through and optimize results. We are continually growing; building a community for fitness and movement training that is client-focused and holds whole-person wellness at its core. We support YOU in doing what YOU love best.
The Moving Spirit Team
Our team is small but mighty! Our teachers are career Pilates professionals with decades of specialized training and experience working with clients in fitness, rehab and elite performance.
Susannah Steers
Owner, Moving Spirit Pilates
Pilates & Integrated Movement Specialist
Susannah’s first foray into Pilates came as a dancer in Montreal in the late 1980’s. After she moved to Vancouver in the early nineties, Pilates proved to be the best treatment for her painful knees, which had been the victims of years of misuse. Inspired by her own results, Susannah went on to certify as a Pilates teacher at the Dianne Miller Pilates Centre in 1996. Over the years, she continued her study of the Pilates method with Pilates elders and industry-leading master teachers. Seeking a still deeper understanding of the body in motion, she sought out practitioners from whom she could learn; all on the forward edge of their fields in movement, medicine, physical conditioning, bodywork and therapy. In 2016, Susannah completed a Clinical Mentorship in the Integrated Systems Model with Diane Lee, PT. The program fine-tuned her assessment skills and taught her to identify and prioritize drivers of dysfunction to support more accurate and effective exercise intervention. Susannah is thrilled to support people in overcoming challenges, and in discovering the power, the joy and the freedom of their own bodies in motion.
In addition to her movement work with clients, Susannah is a seasoned speaker and workshop facilitator. She provides keynotes, teacher training and professional continuing education at Pilates, dance and yoga studios, fitness conventions, and multi-disciplinary health events. She is the co-host & co-producer of the Small Conversations for a Better World Podcast, and formerly hosted her own weekly Internet radio show, called “Alive! Bodies in Motion” on Voice America.
In 2017, Susannah co-produced the “Creating Connections” workshop with Mary Gillespie (Integral Life Coach/Retired Nursing Education Consultant). This full day workshop explored the process for connecting to self and to others in an authentic way, and introduced strategies cultivating those connections to support improved practitioner/client relationships and outcomes. These workshops are designed for Pilates and yoga teachers, fitness trainers, physiotherapists, massage therapists, nurse educators and other “helping” professionals. (If you would like Susannah to speak, teach or facilitate a workshop at your studio/clinic/event, please contact the studio directly. )
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.
Alison Parkins
Certified Pilates Teacher
Alison, dedicated to Pilates since 2001; arrived in Vancouver in 2010 and pursued Human Kinetics courses at Capilano University. With over 20 years of teaching experience, she worked at various renowned places, including 12 years at Trimetrics Physiotherapy and Clinical Pilates, and Pilates From the Centre in North Vancouver, Treloar Physiotherapy, and Align Pilates & Physiotherapy in Vancouver.
Alison thrives in a rehabilitation setting, gaining expertise in diverse areas like pre and post hip and knee surgery, back pain, sports injuries, osteoporosis, hypermobility, pre and post natal and neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s and stroke, among others.
Her extensive training includes learning from Michael King in London, UK, becoming a Body Control mat Pilates, Stott-trained on mat and equipment, and becoming a classical Pilates teacher with advanced training from the Pilates Centre in Boulder, Colorado.
Originally from Northern Ireland, and lived in both London, UK and Australia, Alison’s love for an active lifestyle led her to embrace the outdoor BC lifestyle, indulging in hiking, swimming, biking snowboarding, triathlon and skiing. She firmly believes taht Pilates enhances the body uniformity, corrects postures, revitalizes physical vitality invigorates the mind, and elevates the spirit – without which her body wouldn’t be as capable as it is today.
Katya Skrypchenko
Pilates Teacher
Katya has always been driven by a passion for sports and an aspiration to excel in movement. From the age of 6, she delved into ballroom dancing and became a champion of Ukraine. At university, she took up sports aerobics and achieved noteworthy accomplishments. She dedicated a decade of her life to yoga. After the birth of her second child, she immersed herself in functional training. Over a period of three years, she not only achieved an impeccable physical form, but also developed back pain.
This pain prompted her to explore the Pilates method. Throughout her journey, she has always been intuitive about finding the perfect exercise techniques, whether it’s in the waltz, samba, or even burpees. The question of why certain movements felt more correct than others always intrigued her. She later realized that the principle of mindful movement underpins the Pilates method.
Katya successfully completed the Comprehensive Polestar Pilates course, which covers work with all apparatus including the Reformer, Trapeze Table, Chair, Ladder Barrel, and Spine Corrector. While here in Vancouver, she successfully completed the Pilates for Injury and Pathologies course by Samantha Wood.
Katya’s primary goal is to guide individuals towards mindful movement, enabling them to develop new movement patterns, find relief from injuries, and experience the joy and satisfaction that comes from truly understanding their bodies.
