Exploring a Holistic Perspective on Psychotherapy through Conscious Living and Embodied Heartfelt Connections!
Have you ever felt a flame of something extraordinary within you? A yearning to break free from the mundane and live a life that truly resonates with your soul. That fire, my friend, is your authentic self, waiting to be illuminated.
Every single one of us is born with the innate ability to live a bold and heart-centred life. Trauma and oppression disconnect us from this inner knowing. Living life fueled by passion, guided by our values, and brimming with the vulnerable courage to chase our wildest dreams is possible.
The good news? It’s never too late to rekindle and embrace the flame, notes Ann Bayly-Bruneel.
An experienced Psychotherapist at Heartsight Psychotherapy, Ann has two decades of experience working across hospital, community, and private practice settings. Ann’s commitment to the healing process goes beyond conventional boundaries. Her journey is marked by a profound desire to guide individuals back towards an embodied wholeness and liberated joy that centres individual and collective healing simultaneously. Ann’s approach to therapy is rooted in integrative and relational practices that encompass the mind, body, and spirit. Through co-creating a safe and nurturing space, she empowers her clients/collaborators to tap into their inner wisdom, cultivating an embodied journey of self-discovery, choice, and boundless joy.
Having a trauma-responsive and attachment-focused approach to therapy, she champions social justice and facilitates post-traumatic and transformational growth in herself and others. Her practice is guided by an anti-oppressive ethos, welcoming individuals of all backgrounds and orientations. From adults to children, couples to families, Ann celebrates all expressions of diversity and honours the innate wisdom and goodness within each of us.
Central to her approach is her journey of healing, which informs her capacity to show up with presence, compassion, humility, and attuned resonance. Drawing from modalities such as Somatic Experiencing, IFS, NARM, EMDR, Expressive Arts, DBT, Reiki, and Mindful Self-Compassion, she guides her clients/collaborators toward meaningful transformation and embodied inner peace.
Through her dedication to facilitating healing and empowerment, she continues to illuminate the path toward wholeness and authentic living for all who seek her guidance. Let’s explore her journey!
Embracing Psychotherapy as a Way of Being
Ann’s quest to become a psychotherapist is not linear, nor is it prescribed. For her, being a psychotherapist is less of a career and more of a conscious, embodied, and heart-centred way of living, relating, and being human.
She has always felt an underlying sense of trust in herself and a strong desire to actively participate in the process of life. Being a sensitive soul with a curious, playful, and creative personality, she has a strong connection with people and the environment and a love for furry four-legged creatures. She has always been inspired and conscious of the complexities of humanity, having discovered this through interactions with her family, neighbours, and the surrounding community. Ann was fascinated by existential questions from a young age, and she expressed herself through her imagination, inventiveness, and curiosity.
Her parents were great examples of how opposites may attract. She studied and absorbed two distinct yet complementing ways of being in the world, which helped her develop the ability to move past polarization and division and co-create a broader, expanded perspective that is both fluid and inclusive.
Her father, an engineer with a passion for history, storytelling, and writing, identified as agnostic and instilled in her a love for questioning and a reverence for nature. Her mother, a creative soul with a spontaneous nature, adored music and singing and held a deep connection to her faith and emotions. Growing up, she remembers listening to her parents recount tales of their past, piecing together family stories with her siblings, and sensing the untold depths hidden within their narratives.
She grew up listening to intergenerational stories about her ancestors and family history, and she was awestruck by many relatives who had incredible lives whom she only met through stories and genealogies. She listened to their stories and was equally intrigued by the nonverbal, unwritten, and multi-dimensional realities that were presented. She was a child who felt beyond words and was acutely aware of the emotional environment, as well as the impressions and echoes of those who had come before. Immersion in meaningful conversations and wonderings at a young age instilled in her a sense of curiosity, compassion, and a desire to live life fully and in alignment with her soul’s purpose.
She was inspired to study Psychology and Fine Art at the University of Guelph, which helped her understand the relationships between body, mind, and spirit. She based her studies on feminist literature and built a basis for challenging patriarchal, capitalist, hetero-normative, and oppressive structures. She eventually attended Masters-level art therapy training in Vancouver, British Columbia, to enhance her intuition, creativity, and ability to listen deeply. This training ignited her interest in psychotherapy and her journey toward embodied transformative healing, well-being, and self-leadership.
Therapeutic Modalities & Approaches in Practice
Ann works from a collaborative, radically inclusive, and compassionate approach that welcomes and celebrates all expressions of diversity and multi-dimensionality. She practices within a framework that embodies anti-oppressive, anti-racist, and decolonized values. Further, Ann honors the shared humanity of her clients/collaborators and is dedicated to processes that encourage compassion, growth, empathy, and ongoing evolution.
Approaching therapy as a co-explorer, she recognizes and appreciates the complexities and layers within herself and others. Recognizing how language, binaries, and traditional structures lead to further polarization and harm, she draws from her cultivated wisdom and sharpened intuition.
Thus, she is ever-curious about reclaiming and igniting that which transcends words and taps into a fluid and responsive, creative wisdom that is deep and innately somatic. Trained in a range of integrative and relational modalities, Ann’s approach incorporates practices that prioritize relational safety, compassion, attunement, and resonance, stimulating a therapeutic environment that supports healing, transformational growth, and self-discovery.
Exploring Driving Passion
Driven by a deep sense of purpose, Ann believes wholeheartedly that we all deserve the right to be free and to have equitable access, optimum care, and support to BElong and live life fully. As a multi-dimensional being, she has co-designed her life in alignment with her soul, authentic purpose, values, and essence. She is passionate about collective healing, embodied liberatory practices, and community care that is inclusive, innovative, and free of binaries and limiting frameworks/ideologies.
As an advocate for her own daughter, she believes in co-creating a world in which every child and person is free to BE who they are. According to Ann, our own healing and transformation are connected to collective liberation. Embodied healing has the power to inspire, enlighten, and awaken us to the infinite possibilities and potential that exist outside our institutionalized, conditioned, and colonized minds.
Being passionate about her art, writing, and somatic practices as a means to enliven and engage in the world more fully, Ann is a practitioner of what is called Heart-Sight Psychotherapy. She works alongside others and within a Trauma Healing Centre to deepen community care and co-create a vibrant ecosystem, healing matrix, and heart line. She volunteers and co-assists various Somatic Experiencing trainings to strengthen embodied conscious communities and support healing engagement, healing justice, and liberated joy!
Ann works alongside many folx who have experienced developmental, complex, and intersectional trauma. With a strong desire to support people on their authentic healing path—she sincerely believes in collaborative processes that encourage and promote each other’s sovereignty, self-agency, and self-leadership. Ann enjoys being a mentor and supporting her peers. She offers supervision and consultation to fellow psychotherapists and entrepreneurs. Her practice revolves around promoting embodied, regenerative, and transformative growth and inspiring processes of co-evolution and community healing.
Navigating Life’s Demands
In her attempt to maintain a balance between her personal and professional obligations, Ann doesn’t strive for balance. Instead, Ann supports finding harmony, a pace, and a creative flow that nurtures her relationships, evolving passions, and interests. Listening to the inner child within her, who serves as a compass and mentor, she ensures that her choices align with her heart’s desires and core values. Engaging in therapy, embodied creative practices, and supervision, she prioritizes her well-being and remains committed to decolonizing her practice and lifestyle.
Moreover, her relationships with family and fellow compassionate advocates in the field are deep and meaningful, reflecting a firm appreciation for the interconnectedness that defines their work. Surrounded by a chosen family of like-minded souls, she finds inspiration in the company of friends and daring visionaries who carve their paths with boldness. Through the mediums of music, art, writing, dance, and exploration, she liberates herself from constraints and embraces a life of boundless possibilities. “I am so grateful that my life is enveloped in the transformative nature of artful living and community,” affirms Ann.
Psychotherapy Evolution
Expressing her excitement about the current transformative landscape within the field, Ann highlighted the increasing trend of individuals seeking healing to enhance their ability to fully engage with life and align with their authentic values and vision. She emphasized a shift away from conventional symptom-focused approaches towards more holistic, embodied, and inclusive pathways that address collective suffering and complexity.
“I am thrilled that more people are developing community care and healing collectives and offering decolonized support that specifically centres voices and people’s experiences that have been silenced or marginalized. People are co-creating radically inclusive pathways that are not limited by the restrictions of oppressed, disembodied, and fractured systems,” says Ann!
Observing a transformative shift taking place within the healthcare landscape and leadership in general, Ann compassionately supports individuals to engage in their nervous system healing to support a collective ripple effect that softens policies and practices and fosters a more collaborative, unifying, and creative expansion. Through this co-evolution, the significance of psychotherapy and nervous system healing is gaining recognition as essential for societal functioning and global well-BEing, highlighting the interconnectedness of our embodied liberation.
With a growing concentration on relational capacity and interconnectedness, people are adopting an embodied approach to well-BEing that promotes individual sovereignty and stimulates novel solutions for both personal and collective care. Ann is dedicated to supporting this co-evolution, collaborating with others to usher in transformative change through writing, speaking, coaching, and collaborative initiatives rooted in flow and ease. Her mission is to ignite inclusive pathways that celebrate our passions, self-agency, and authentic existence, where work and life intertwine harmoniously, and individual essence becomes the currency of connection and growth.
Personal Values in Psychotherapy Practice
Guided by a set of personal values and principles that shape her approach to healing and growth, Ann holds a deep reverence for the interconnectedness of humanity and embraces the complexities of our diverse world. Aligned with her belief in the inherent dignity and worth of every individual, she is committed to cultivating communities that promote integrative trauma healing, solidarity, and restorative justice. Further, Ann values the harmonious blend of grace, grit, and resilience, recognizing the significance of investing in people and long-term solutions that attend to the roots. Even in challenging times, she remains steadfast in her authenticity and principles, striving to nurture understanding and broaden perspectives.
Central to her philosophy is the conviction that everyone deserves to live freely and authentically, liberated from the constraints of conditioned fear and oppression. By upholding these values in her practice, she aims to co-create a space where individuals can explore their true selves, heal and alchemize past wounds, and embark on a journey toward a more fulfilling and liberated existence.
Approach to Healing and Community Care
Operating from a deep understanding of trauma-responsive care, behaviour is viewed as a form of communication that holds profound somatic insights that are often overlooked; Ann embraces nuanced wisdom that recognizes the inherent goodness within each individual and the transformative healing power present in everyone. She firmly believes that true healing occurs within nurturing, compassionate, and secure relationships that welcome every aspect of our being and experiences and that we can foster this compassionate relationship within ourselves and in connection with others.
Collaboration, self-agency, and heart-centred leading are core values for her, forming the bedrock for developing innovative and inclusive strategies in community care and healing. She advocates for a model of care that prioritizes compassion, love, and relational safety, stimulating environments that honour and integrate all facets of individuals and their journeys.
Insights from Personal Experience
One of the current complexities I experience in the field of psychotherapy is that there is an ever-expanding need to address the vast inequities and intersectional trauma happening on a global scale. There is a lack of resources, support, and inner understanding, which leaves many people in cycles of crisis, overwhelm, exhaustion, and collapse. Much of the focus has been on individual mental health and self-care rather than collective and collaborative solutions that centre on healing engagement, community care, prevention, and attending to the systemic roots. The silos of patriarchy and colonization result in fractured and traumatized systems and approaches that orient from a place of fear, competition, lack, scarcity, and control, which do not support well-Being.
I would like budding entrepreneurs to follow their whole body, YES, and recognize that growth requires capacity for grace and grit. I would encourage them to consider decolonized approaches that are somatically attuned and relationally focused. I would encourage them to engage in their nervous system healing so that they have a lived and embodied recognition of the depth of the therapeutic process and can feel the awe and wonder that transcends words.
I would love them to know and radiate to others that it is possible to live a life in flow within your value system and to collaborate and dream-awake with others in support of our shared tender humanity. Together, as more people align to their embodied and illuminating essence, we can feel the possibility and rhythm of co-designing ecosystems that support community wellness, abundance, and liberation and magnify the spirit of love, joy, and play! Infinite possibilities exist every day! To radically imagine is to create!
“Revolution must include visioning a better future and embodying it now. Our joy, our softness, and our love matter!” @mamadrogonrising
