BIO & Certifications
Holly Cinnamon is an actor, singer-songwriter, Alexander Technique and yoga teacher based in both New York City / Lenapehoking and Toronto / Tkaronto, Canada. She has been teaching yoga since 2013, after completing her YogaWorks teacher training with Catherine Munro and Rene Johnson and her Yin Yoga teaching certificate with Joe Barnett. She has taught yoga at various studios and organizations across the U.S. and Canada, including: Shanti Yoga (Edmonton), Modo Yoga (Charlottetown), Infrared Yoga & Fitness (Charlottetown), the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Opera Nuova (Toronto & Edmonton) and Teaching Presence (NYC).
She trained and certified in Alexander Technique at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee under Debi Adams, where she completed her MFA in Musical Theatre. Holly has also studied with Tommy Thompson at the Alexander Technique Centre at Cambridge and she completed one year of the Actor’s Secret Trauma Training for AT teachers with Betsy Polatin. Holly has assistant taught with Belinda Mello at the Barrow Group Theatre School and with Tommy Thompson in the American Repertory Theatre’s MFA Program. For the past four years, she has been on the faculty of the Opera Nuova Summer Training Program, which is renowned for its developmental impact on early-career opera singers across Canada. She has offered workshops at Alexander Technique International conferences in Ireland, Japan and online. She has published two articles on Alexander Technique, screen fatigue and trauma in the digital age in the ExChange, ATI’s professional journal. Holly owns and operates her small business, Teaching Presence: Embodiment and Empowerment Education, based in Hell’s Kitchen. She works with Broadway actors, professional musicians, painters and beyond, to improve efficiency and ease in performances and the workplace.
In addition to teaching, Holly is a professional actor, singer and songwriter. Notable acting credits include playing Julie Barnes throughout Season 3 of Marvel's Daredevil, now streaming on Disney+, and appearing Off-Broadway in Dear Jane at the Clurman Theatre. She was featured in the film The Girl Who Cannot Speak, which was honoured as a "Coup de Coeur" selection at the 2018 Cannes Festival. Explore her artistic work at: www.hollycinnamon.com
Image of Holly Cinnamon Certificate of Qualification in Alexander Technique from the Boston Conservatory.
Alexander Technique Certification
I received my Alexander Technique (AT) Certification after completing a Teacher Training Course at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, led by Deborah Adams. This course involved a 1600-hour curriculum of training, workshops, reading, hands-on practice and practicum teaching hours. I graduated from this program in 2018, after completing the curriculum over a 4-year period.
YogaWorks Teacher Training
In 2013, I completed my YogaWorks Teacher Training, led by Catherine Munro and Rene Johnson of Shanti Yoga Studio in Edmonton, Alberta. This training involved Anatomy, studying the Yoga Sutras and philosophy, Sanskrit and Pose Names, Sequencing (including Ashtanga, Vinyasa Flow and Peak Pose-oriented Hatha Flow sequencing), and Adaptations and Contraindications for injury, pregnancy, etc. I had previously studied Ashtanga yoga with Rene Johnson for five years, so I am practiced in Ashtanga primary series, but I enjoy teaching more experimental, discovery-oriented creative sequencing.
Yin Yoga Certification
I studied Yin Yoga with Joe Barnett, who trained extensively with Paul Grilley, in Edmonton in 2012. This course included Anatomy (of muscles, bones, connective tissue, joints, internal organs), Yin Poses, Language, Sequencing, and Variations on the poses.
The Actor’s Secret: AT, Somatic Experiencing and Breath Work
In 2018, I completed one year of Betsy Polatin’s The Actor’s Secret training for Alexander Technique teachers, which combined AT with Somatic Experiencing training (somatic healing and processing of trauma) and with Carl Stough’s breath work. This course allowed me to deepen and broaden my understanding of the body and AT teaching, by incorporating a deep understanding of the nervous system and its natural pattern of homeostasis and stress response, and how trauma interrupts and changes this pattern. I have incorporated and integrated this awareness into my teaching, so I am not only addressing clients’ physical and mental patterns, but providing a trauma-informed approach to stress, emotions and patterns that we may discover in the body-mind-emotional map of the self.
Alexander Technique International Teaching Member
I have been a proud member of ATI (Alexander Technique International), which is a global organization of AT teachers from around the world (with notable memberships in Japan, Germany and France), since completing my three sponsorship evaluations in 2018. I have been grateful to attend the conference in Seattle, and to offer workshops at conferences in Japan and Ireland, as well as virtually during the pandemic! I have published two articles in the ATI Exchange: Out Of Our Depth, about the effects of screens on our 3D vision and sense of embodiment, and 2020 Vision: Navigating Trauma through Screens and Self-Isolation. I currently serve on ATI’s Professional Development Committee and the Working Group on Racism and Diversity.
ISMETA Registered Somatic Movement Educator
Since 2020, I have been a proud member of the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association, which is a global network of somatic movement teachers and therapists.
