Who we are

Leanna Falkenhagen, ATCD

Leanna is a carpenter, a martial artist and a dancer.  

She has spent most of the last 30 years working in the building trades and asset management. 

Several years ago, she decided she wanted to take a road less travelled, and embarked on becoming an Alexander Technique teacher.  She studied under the hands of brigitte Caron, Director of the Ottawa School of the Alexander Technique (now the Montreal School of the Alexander Technique) and graduated in November 2019. 

She is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique and a member of Alexander Technique Canada/The Canadian Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (ATC/CanSTAT), the governing body for Alexander Technique teachers in Canada.

Along with Mary Ellen, she is a member of the Musician’s Wellness A.T. Team at the Musician’s Wellness Centre at the University of Ottawa, continuing her relationship with brigitte Caron.

Étant bilingue, Leanna est heureuse d’offrir ses cours en français.

She can be reached at leanna@integralbeing.ca

Mary Ellen Hurd, B.A. (Honours), ATCD

Mary Ellen spent almost 30 years as a marketing executive and owner of a marketing and communications company in Ottawa. She dances Argentine Tango and recently retired from teaching Argentine Tango with the Siempre Tango School. She now also enjoys practicing Tai Chi.

After many years of taking Alexander Technique lessons with brigitte Caron, and having more time after retiring from her marketing career, she decided to take the teacher training course with brigitte Caron, Director of the Ottawa School of the Alexander Technique (now the Montreal School of the Alexander Technique). Initially this was with the intention of just deepening her understanding of the Alexander Technique, but she realized that she had a real enthusiasm for teaching the Technique. She graduated in November, 2019.

She is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique and a member of Alexander Technique Canada/The Canadian Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (ATC/CanSTAT), the governing body for Alexander Technique teachers in Canada.

With Leanna, she is a member of the Musician’s Wellness A.T. Team at the Musician’s Wellness Centre at the University of Ottawa, continuing her relationship with brigitte Caron.

She can be reached at maryellen@integralbeing.ca

How we ended up working together…..

Leanna and Mary Ellen first met in 2013 through the other AT in their lives, Argentine Tango.  Starting out with Leanna as a student and Mary Ellen as an instructor at Siempre Tango, they grew into a friendship.  Through their connection to Siempre, they both (separately) discovered the Alexander Technique as something beneficial to themselves, and eventually each decided to take the training to become teachers. Though they took different ways and timelines to get there, they arrived at their graduation together!  After so many years working and playing together on so many fronts, it just seemed natural to continue that connection on graduation.