Taira Restar
Taira Restar, our lead teacher, is a mother and grandmother. She and her husband live in the forest above Tomales Bay, where they are in love with the place itself.
For over 20 years, Taira has combined place-based nature education with Expressive Arts education. Her in-person workshops have taken her around the world and back to her own beloved forests and beaches of West Marin.
Taira has a masters degree in movement education, is a certified Breakthrough Parenting™ facilitator and is a registered somatic movement therapist. She is also trained as a Co-Active® coach and is a member of the California Association of Forest Schools. She has been in the field of movement-based Expressive Arts Therapy and Education for 35 years. Her FamiliesDancing! workshops were the first movement-based family offerings at San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art.
As a young mother, Taira was introduced to Waldorf education. With the help of mentors, she opened Playgarden, a Waldorf influenced preschool program which flourished for 10 years in Point Reyes Station.
In summer 2019, Taira was invited by a group of parents to open a nature-based preschool at Heartwood Waldorf School. Emerald Heart was born!
Since then, Taira's sole focus has been offering place-centered Nature Education to her community and beyond. In 2024, she co-founded In Place, a nonprofit for place-centered Nature Education. Taira is thrilled about this, as it means she can serve a wider range of her community.
PHOTO CREDIT
PORTRAIT OF TAIRA: SUSAN ADLER PHOTOGRAPHY
Acknowledgements
Taira acknowledges eco-philosopher David Abram, place-centered educator Ken Otter and iconic dance pioneer Anna Halprin [1920-2021], all of whom have deeply impacted Taira's embodied understanding of wild nature. Taira has had the joy and honor of co-facilitating with David, Ken and Anna. She also had the opportunity to perform with and under the direction of Anna, who was Taira's primary mentor for many years.
Taira acknowledges her home place, the forests and creatures of Inverness Ridge, who have been significant teachers, and the Coast Miwok people, who have been and continue to be stewards of these beloved lands and waters.
Testimonials
Taira Restar’s skill as a teacher of dance -- and of exuberance, body-based rapport with the breathing land -- is a wonder. It’s a delight to see how deeply students and other dancers are nourished by her generous spirit and by her mischievous, passionate, and patient craft.
-David Abram, author of Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology
Taira Restar brings deep understanding of the body and of the creative process into her work.
-Anna Halprin
Taira Restar is a master facilitator, with many creative and improvisational resources at her command. She is highly skilled at responding to and balancing individual and group needs as they arise and creating an environment that is enriching for all.”
-Rebekah Driessen, Marriage Family Therapist
Taira is just like Mary Poppins.
-Sage, age 4