Meet Brianna Richer

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brianna Richer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Brianna, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

When I think of the word resilience, I see the image of a spiral. Life is always offering opportunities to experience, learn, and expand. At times, you find yourself in a tight coil. You might feel so constricted that it seems like you’re completely stuck. However, as you take each incremental step forward, the coil simultaneously unfolds. You breathe a little easier. You discover the needed support through people, places, and experiences. With more space your perspective widens, and new ideas are born. This unfolding process allows for the expansion of your sense of self and how you choose to meet your world. The expansion that makes you feel more and more whole.

I used to love my stories of how lonely & chaotic my upbringing was. They were my hard earned badges of survival. I’d share those stories, relive the emotions, and find myself repeating the same destructive, limiting patterns. For a long time this is how I spiralled. The pivotal shift came when I began to approach my stories with compassionate awareness, observing the pain I was cycling through with more curiosity. Consistently connecting with myself offered me a new understanding. The emotions I was feeling in relationship to my past were wise guides, revealing what I truly longed for through the experiences I thought I had missed out on—experiences I could now create for myself.

My constant anxiety was telling me that I longed to feel soothed and secure. I started meditating and taking yoga classes, hoping they would cure me, as the internet promised they would. What began as an attempt to “fix” myself evolved into a path of tender self-acceptance. I learned to slow down and listen to my inner life. As I became more present within my body, an unwavering sense of belonging and inspiration began to flow. Now, it is my passion to share these practices with others seeking their own tenderness and well-being.

My loneliness propelled me to seek deeper intimacy. I filled my own heart through theatre, spiritual philosophy, somatic therapies, and free-form dance. I started sharing more honestly, loving a little louder, going places that interested me alone, and forming new, aligned friendships. I realized that like me, people want to be seen, known, and cared for—that we’re not alone in our depth, heartbreak, joy, fear, or love.

These are just a couple of examples, but the point is this: riding the spiral is a continuous process, and it’s part of the journey to encounter discomfort. Now that I recognize this, challenges no longer feel like roadblocks. They’re more like seeds for experiences, learning, and expansion. It still sucks sometimes! And yet, there is a strange excitement in taking the ride. Each time you spiral, you gain a surer sense of knowing that you’re growing—that you’re more supported than you’ve ever been before—that you’re sifting for fresh desires—that you’re on the edge of creative possibility—that you’re worthy of taking the next step. And there’s no rush because, eventually, you’ll spiral open. It’s inevitable.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

My personal journey has been deeply nourished by spirituality, movement, and creative emotional explorations. As a yoga instructor and embodiment practitioner, I’m deeply interested in processes that integrate the whole; mind, emotion, physicality, and imagination. Through gentle connection, self-inquiry, and creative play, my clients are invited to explore their embodiment as an instrument for nurturing inner-intimacy, self-expression, and soulful insight. My primary intention as a facilitator is to support people in strengthening their own internal guidance system, empowering them to make aligned, authentic choices. In doing so, they can create lives that feel truly fulfilling to them.

If you’re interested in creative embodiment as a healing pathway, I am currently offering a Somatic Movement & Free-Form Dance workshop called Being Moved on a bi-monthly basis. The next session will be held in March in Toronto, ON. Details about this workshop and other ways to work with me can be found on my website.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

It’s easy to get caught up in treating our growth with excessive seriousness, placing a lot of pressure on ourselves, and as a result devaluing the beautiful person we already are. I know, because I’ve been there. For me, embracing gentleness and reintroducing play into healing significantly expanded the possibilities. It makes the journey more enjoyable—and in many cases that joy is what we are ultimately seeking anyway.

Equally important on my journey has been the practice of asking for support and allowing myself to receive it. We’re not meant to have all the answers or navigate the path alone. Healing and growth are not solitary processes; many people want to help you thrive, and it’s okay to lean on them.

Lastly, include your body in the equation. Explore it in ways that feel exciting and nourishing to you—whether that’s going for a walk in nature, dancing in the living room, playing with your pet, taking a class, or even just taking a nap. Our most vibrant experience is available in this present, aware body. Discover what makes you feel alive in your body and give yourself permission to do it often.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

When I feel urgent swell of overwhelm, I take it as a sign to slow down and step back instead of continuing to push for a solution. Here are some ways I support myself in those overwhelming moments:

– Lay my body against the ground, noticing the surface beneath me and my breathe.
– Place a hand on my heart, my belly, or wherever I feel sensation and sincerely say to myself, “I care about this feeling, and it’s temporary.” I might add to that self-soothing by pressing, patting, rubbing, or massaging.
– Wrap myself in a blanket and breathe comfortably—in through the nose, out through the mouth. – Allow sighing, humming, and sounding on the exhales.
– Put on some beautiful music and allow my body to move in any way that feels good in the moment. (rocking, swaying, shaking, dancing, yoga poses, or stillness)
– Call a friend and ask them to remind me of my goodness.
– Take a nap.
– Cook myself a nourishing meal.

It can be hard to make decisions when overwhelmed. That’s why having a personalized list of easy to grab resources like this can be incredibly helpful. Once the energy has been given support to settle, you’ll find that you have much more clarity to act from. Feel free to try some things from my list as you create your own.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.expandedexpression.com
• Instagram: @briexpressed

Image Credits

Julia Isabel Photography