About

Curious • Compassionate • Creative

Shannon Kunstman, PT, MS

Physical Therapist • Embodiment Practitioner • Spiritual Companion

I believe the wisdom you seek already lives within you.

This work is not about becoming someone new.

It is about coming home to your body, remembering who you are, and living from your wholeness.

There comes a time when what once worked no longer does.

Sometimes you feel it as pain, tension, injury, or fatigue.

Sometimes it appears as a quiet longing.  A sense that life is inviting you into something deeper, truer, and more fully your own.

My work is to companion you in that unfolding.

As a physical therapist, embodiment practitioner, bodyworker, and spiritual companion, I integrate evidence-informed care with deep listening, awareness, movement, and compassionate presence.

Together, we create a space where healing, growth, and transformation can naturally emerge.

How I Work

My background includes training in physical therapy, embodied and somatic practices, integrative bodywork, nervous system support, and spiritual companionship.

These disciplines inform my work, but they are not the work itself.

The heart of what I offer is a way of being with you.

Together, we slow down.

We listen.

We become curious.

We work at the pace your nervous system is ready for.

Rather than trying to fix the body, we begin cultivating a relationship with it—discovering the wisdom, resilience, and capacity already present within you.

While many people come seeking relief from pain or physical limitations, they often leave with something more:

a deeper connection with themselves,

a greater sense of ease,

greater presence,

and new possibilities for living.

How I Understand Healing

Years of working within both healthcare and spiritual traditions have gradually reshaped how I understand healing.

I found myself questioning models that treated the body as merely mechanical or placed the sacred somewhere outside of us.

Over time, a more integrated understanding emerged.

I have come to trust the body as inherently wise, creative, and worthy of care—

not an object to control or fix,

but a living, dynamic expression of who we are.

When we meet our experience with awareness and compassion—including pain, emotion, belief, and longing—healing becomes more than symptom relief.

It becomes a process of remembering our wholeness,

restoring relationship with ourselves,

and living with greater vitality and freedom.

I believe this remembering ripples outward—

shaping how we live,

how we love,

and how we contribute to our families,

our communities,

and the world.

“Shannon’s work with clients is multi-dimensional and includes attention to body, mind, and spirit. The particular value in this integration is the ability to see the body in a new way, enabling healing at a deeper level. Her healing modalities are not formulaic, but rather intuitively inspired. All of her work is interlaced with loving concern for her clients.”

-Chris, Client of Awareness in Motion

Formal Education

  • Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy — University of Wisconsin–Madison

  • Master of Science in Physical Therapy — Rosalind Franklin University of Health Sciences

  • 500-hour Yoga Teacher Training — Alignment Yoga

  • Spiritual Guidance Training — Siena Retreat Center

  • Mind-Body Coaching Certificate (anticipated completion 2026)

  • Advanced Training in Neurovascular (Craniosacral) Therapy

  • Certified Zero Balancing Practitioner

Ongoing Learning

Learning is a lifelong practice.

I continue to study embodiment, somatic practice, nervous system health, integrative bodywork, contemplative and wisdom traditions, meditation, and the Enneagram.

My approach is grounded in both professional training and lived experience.

The practices I offer are the same ones that continue to shape my own life.

The body remains one of my greatest teachers, along with the many people I have had the privilege of accompanying over the years.

Together, these experiences continue to deepen my understanding of healing, relationship, and the resilience of the human spirit.

What I Believe

  • Your body, your life, and your story are sacred.

  • You belong, you matter, and you are not alone.

  • Your body is wise, creative, and compassionate.

  • The capacity for healing, growth, and becoming already lives within you.

  • Every movement is a creative movement. What are you creating?

  • We are deeply interconnected. We belong to one another.

  • Embodied wholeness is a dynamic, ever-unfolding process woven through every season of life.

These beliefs shape how I listen,

how I move,

how I hold space,

and how I companion those seeking healing, growth, and embodied wholeness.

A Bit More About Me

I live in Madison, Wisconsin, with my husband, Dave, and our sweet dog, Fozzie.

We love spending time with our three young adult children as they create lives of their own.

When I’m not working, you’ll often find me outdoors.  I enjoy walking woodland trails, spending time near water (especially Lake Superior), tending the garden, creating beautiful spaces, listening to or playing music, reading, learning, or sharing time with family, friends, and community.

I remain endlessly curious and continually amazed by the mystery and beauty of this body, this world, and this universe.