Spirit Loft Movement Centre

07/18/2025

Next Friday Andre joins the True Athlete Project .true.athlete.project for a special online event.

Adaptive Resilience & Meaning-making
in Times of Change, Loss & Injury.

Friday, July 25th
9 am - 10:15 am ET (Toronto time)
Attend livestream or via recording.

This webinar invites participants into a reflective and experiential process, exploring how identity, meaning, and resilience intersect during times of injury, transition, and personal challenge.

Who Can Attend?

Athletes, coaches, trainers, clinicians/athlete care practitioners, parents, mentors and anyone interested in fostering wellbeing through a better culture in the sports and athletics ecosystem.

Webinar Details

In the high-performance world of sport—shaped by the relentless pursuit of “bigger, faster, stronger” and reinforced by a business-driven model—athletes are especially vulnerable to over-identifying with their athletic role. While this narrow self-concept may fuel short-term achievement, it often comes at the cost of long-term well-being, reduces adaptability, and can lead to profound psychological distress when disruption or transition inevitably occurs.

Through a systems-based and wholistic lens, participants will be introduced to a broader, more flexible sense of the self—one that sustains mental health, supports performance under pressure, and enhances fulfilment in sport and beyond. We will explore how cultivating an integrated self—that is embodied, embedded, and extended—can support resilience and post-traumatic growth.

About the True Athlete Project (TAP)

The True Athlete Project is international non-profit organization dedicated to transforming the culture of sport into a powerful tool for personal growth, well‑being, and positive social change.

03/09/2025

Seasonal change has begun and the spring equinox is just around the corner! Soon, light and colour will abound, but not before the strong winds of March and all sorts of fluctuating shifts take us for a ride for few more weeks. You may already be noticing changing sleep cycles, moods, immunity, interests and perspectives. Join us Saturday, March 22 for afternoon of gentle movement, reflective practices and restorative rest in support of seasonal change. Led by Catalina. Soundbath with Ru Henry. Reserve your spot as space is limited. Link in bio.

12/29/2024

Be Moved. Be Still. New Year’s Day (Free!) Class
Wednesday, January 1st @ 1-3pm

Join us for our special signature Be Moved. Be Still. practice in celebration of the New Year with Spirit Loft Co-Founders, Andre & Catalina.

This all-levels class of movement and stillness practices is designed to promote reflection, insight, renewal and vitality for the year to come!

As a gesture of our appreciation to the Leslieville and greater community which has sustained our little studio for 14 years we offer this practice as a gift of dana (generosity).

This special class is FREE and requires pre-registration to reserve your spot. Register for classes a link in bio.

11/11/2024

Big News! From Finland to Toronto!! We are so excited to welcome and .rinnevuori back to Spirit Loft this December for a two day workshop inspired by Fighting Monkey practice.

Open to all levels. Attend 1 or 2 days.

Register now open at link in bio.

About this event:

Both days begin with FM Zero Forms to explore how we gather information about ourselves through movement.
 
Day 1 (Saturday) - Negotiating time and space with FM Body/body, Belts and Coordinations

How do we negotiate the space between us? How do we work with external pressures? How do we manage another person? How do we gain and share information from touch? What is appropriate force? How can we be mobile and explosive? How can we rhythmically align ourselves? How do we determine necessary information for ourselves? How do we move through space?
 
Day 2 (Sunday) - FM Tools/Abstract Materials with practice ball, rice bags, paper, small sticks and Movement Improvisation

How do the tools and materials we work with shape our practice? What are their inherent qualities? How do the tools/materials ask us to work with them? How do we shape tools/materials to our creative desires? How does interaction with various tools/materials inform us about ourselves? How do we partner with the world around us?
 
About Elke and Mikko:

Elke Schroeder is Canadian-born professional dance artist, choreographer and teacher. Mikko Rinnevuori (M. Ed.) is an education professional, Finland Gymnastics National Team coach, artist and author.  Currently living in Finland, they teach for movement, dance and circus institutions locally, abroad and through the vast interweb. They have been designated Fighting Monkey Instructors (under the title Inspire by FM) by the practice’s creators Jozef Frucek and Linda Kapetanea. 

10/03/2024

Guest teacher alert!!!

Join for a special edition of Movement Lab this Saturday, Oct 5 at 11 am.

Explore task based movement practice blending stability & improvisation. This class will investigate movement possibilities in the lower body, unlocking your hips and reconnecting you with your feet.

Join us!!!! Register for class at link in bio. 💕

Alice (she/her) is an Australian actor, movement artist and movement coordinator now based in Toronto.
Trained as an actor with a BFA from the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, she fell in love with the power of movement.

Alice believes movement is an effective tool not only for storytelling, but for unpacking our own unconscious personal narrative. In her work, Alice explores
movement as a way in to understanding the human condition. As we change our posture, physical habits or physical capability, we can positively change our
self perception and internal narrative.

After working as an actor in the Australian Film & TV industry, Alice left Australia to continue her training in physical storytelling. She worked in London, UK on productions such as Wind in The Willows - Rose Theatre, before moving to Canada.

Since moving to Toronto Alice has worked as an actor, stunt performer and movement coach in theatre, film and motion capture. Alice now works closely with Dance Theatre company Frog In Hand as a performer and rehearsal director. She loves to use functional and improvised movement tasks to build work and connect artists to their unique quality of movement.

09/06/2024

BIG NEWS!!!

I am thrilled to officially announce the launch of my psychotherapy private practice at Spirit Loft. I am offering both in-person and virtual sessions.

Since co-creating Spirit Loft in 2011 I have been dedicated to the embodied arts as a movement educator, personal trainer, and mindfulness facilitator. The shift to include professional mental health care in my work has been over three years in the making. It has entailed thousands of hours of grad school study, research, writing, personal reflection and clinical practice.

At its core, psychotherapy offers a refuge of kindness, compassion and therapeutic presence, a space to express and explore one’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences. It is a journey of self-discovery and transformation. It is a creative and collaborative process.

The therapeutic process can help us unravel the complexities of the mind-heart-body, understand the patterns and relationships that shape our lives, and approach the wounds of the heart with care and understanding. Therapeutic care can also help us to find meaning in our struggles, re-discover our strengths, and cultivate an intentional path forward.

Reach out to explore counselling and psychotherapy services grounded in an embodied and wholistic approach to care.

~ Andre Talbot, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)

For more info visit the link in bio.

08/20/2024

We’re excited to welcome back for another mobility workshop this September, 15th.

Backbends are invigorating. They also build strength in the legs, arms and back and space in the hip flexors, shoulders and chest, where many of us hold tension.

Join Anastasia to explore pathways towards bridging. Learn underlying principles of mobility training and explore how to structure a mobility training session for yourself.
 
Anastasia is a mobility coach/personal trainer, former competitive swimmer and 2017 Jitsu Jitsu World Championship at adult blue belt middleweight. She draws on an interdisciplinary approach and is passionate about helping her clients meet their unique goals.

08/13/2024

06/11/2024

Shoulders: Mobile & Strong
Workshop with Catalina
Wednesday, June 19
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Register at link in bio

Wednesday Join us to explore structure, function and movement of the shoulder complex.

Cultivate strategies for better shoulder health through mobility, elasticity, stability and strength development. Deepen your understanding of the connections between the shoulder and everything else.

05/15/2024

Workshop Alert
Squat Mobility with
Sunday, May 26th from 1 pm - 3 pm

Squatting is an essential movement pattern for everyone. Whether it is used for getting down to the floor, picking things up, strength training, or even as a resting position.
 
This workshop explores mobility training to help improve the deep squat. Identify your limiting factors, learn what exercises can help you improve your flexibility, stability and strength and how to structure a mobility training session for yourself. This workshop is open to all levels.

Anastasia is a mobility training specialist and trainer with an athletic background in competitive Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and swimming.

We look forward to hosting her at

05/08/2024

Congrats, Andre!

After three years of dedicated study and professional development, Spirit Loft co-founder Andre Talbot completes his Registered Psychotherapy (Qualifying) exam this summer and returns to the studio full-time!

This past year Andre had the great privilege of completing his clinical internship at the University of Waterloo School of Optometry & Vision Science. He worked within the interdisciplinary care team providing counselling services to careseekers navigating the challenges associated with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and vision loss.

We look forward to adding Andre’s psychotherapy services to our offerings in the coming months. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, with a little more space in his schedule Andre is opening a few more private training slots. If you would like to book a consult with him, visit the link in bio.

05/02/2024

Feet, Gait & More! Workshop with Ivan Hui
Thursday, May 16
6:30 - 8:30 pm

Register at link in bio

Join us for this 2 hour workshop to investigate bodily connections and movement patterns related both to how we walk and to other daily activities.

We will explore:

* Joints in the feet and how they impact movement in our lower limbs
* Mobilizing and strengthening the feet, encouraging elasticity for walking and other pursuits
* The connection of the lower body to our hips and core
* Gait - the way we walk, and whole body movement patterns to restore efficiency

Ivan Hui is the owner of Cool East Market , a retail store in Toronto dedicated to minimal footwear. He has a lifelong interest in movement and athletics, and enjoys sharing knowledge about applied anatomy and biomechanics. He is a graduate of Spirit Loft’s inaugural Embodied Arts Teacher Training in 2018 - and applies an interdisciplinary approach to his own personal practice and learning. Ivan is dedicated to facilitating positive explorations of health, and he strongly believes that each person’s journey is unique.