Who is Shira?

I am an embodied spirituality guide and teacher of the heart. I am also a photographer, musician, and former physician.

An outside-the-box thinker, I have studied with teachers from diverse spiritual paths and have spent my life building bridges between different cultures and religions, between body and mind, between secularism and religion, and between spirituality and everyday life. As such, I hold a deep respect for the wisdom found within all traditions.

From a young age I have felt a deep calling to be in service to humanity and to our earth. I see loving service as something that can happen in every moment of life, big or small, and it shapes how I live each day.

Trained first as a family physician and later as a physician psychotherapist, I spent fifteen years facilitating mindfulness, yoga, and psychotherapy groups, primarily within healthcare settings in Canada.

My passion is inviting myself and those around me into a deeper, more intimate relationship with life and expanding our circle of belonging to include all living beings on this precious and beautiful planet.

Photography

Since childhood, photography has been an access point to flow—a way of becoming fully present to the moment. Drawn to both social documentary and creative nature photography, my work has been featured in multiple solo and group exhibitions in Toronto, and in 2002 I was awarded second place in the Toronto Star Photography Competition.

Both a joyful creative pursuit and a contemplative practice, photography invites me to slow down, pay attention, and see the world differently. It remains one of my favourite ways of exploring beauty, connection, and our intimate relationship with the natural world.

Professional Education and Training

My work is informed by formal training in medicine, psychotherapy, mindfulness, yoga, and body-based approaches to healing.

Education

  • Bachelor of Environmental Studies, York University, Toronto

  • Doctor of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto

  • Family Medicine Residency, University of Toronto, Toronto, Port Perry (Rural Program)

Additional Training

  • Yoga Teacher Traning - Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Organization, Madurai, India

  • Sadhana Intensive Training - Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Organization, Val Morin, Canada

  • Yin Yoga Teacher Training with Bernie Clark, Vancouver, BC

  • Certified MBCT Facilitator (Centre for Mindfulness Studies), Ontario, Canada

  • Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Level I, Toronto, Canada

  • Five years of advanced training in Psychodramatic Bodywork, Toronto, Canada

  • Certified Havening Practitioner

  • Numerous psychotherapy, meditation, and yoga trainings and retreats in ashrams and monasteries in Canada and abroad

Humanitarian Service

Service has been a central thread throughout my life and has taken many forms over the years.

  • Chair of the Board, The Julien Project (Guelph)

  • Co-Director, Books with Wings (bringing medical textbooks to medical libraries in Afghanistan)

  • International Health Representative, International Federation of Medical Students (Toronto)

  • Volunteer Teacher, Prema-Dharma Children's Home (Puttaparthi, India)

  • Founding and ongoing supporter of Joy Village (Ebe, Nigeria)

  • Board Member, Aangen (social enterprise based in Toronto)

  • Meditation Teacher - Centre for Mindfulness Muskoka

From Colleagues

“I had the privilege of co-facilitating an 8-week stress management workshop, and numerous day-long retreats with Dr. Shira Taylor between 2012-2017. Throughout our collaboration, I was impressed by her wisdom, compassion, and capacity to be fully present with participants from all walks of life. 

Drawing upon years of meditation practice and personal inquiry, she brings a calm, grounded, and authentic presence to her work. She is deeply attuned to those she supports and creates the conditions for reflection, healing, and growth. I witnessed her gift for guiding others in cultivating mindfulness, self-awareness, and inner clarity.

I also came to appreciate her gift for bringing together people from diverse faith traditions and backgrounds, creating welcoming spaces for practice, belonging, and a deeper experience of our interconnectedness.

— Angiela Teo, M.Ed, RP, CCC

“Shira Taylor shines a gentle, warm light wherever she goes. Her depth of understanding of the human condition, trauma and healing modalities is profound and incredibly powerful.

I've seen people transform during Shira's group sessions and blossom in their unique ways. I trust Shira as a colleague and often seek her counsel when I'm working with people who have complex situations. I've referred people to attend Shira's groups and I've seen lasting impact on those individuals.

An incredibly talented therapist, photographer, musician, meditator and guide, I highly recommend her work and I know that anyone who chooses to work with her will benefit greatly.” 

-Gurbeen Bhasin, MSW, Social Entrepreneur

“Shira has a huge heart and also a wealth of skills, wisdom and intuition. When we chat I can feel how present she is, and how genuinely non-judgmental her attention is. She is grounded, compassionate and strong and to sit with her is a gift. It's not that often that you can find someone so genuinely connected to humanity and open to the journey we are all on. Shira can hold space for others with her words, her open-mindedness, her presence and her compassion.”

-Monica Maurin, Meditation Teacher