About Taira Restar
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About
Taira
Taira Restar is a mother, grandmother, and life artist. She and her husband live in the forest overlooking Tomales Bay, where you will find her making acorn ink or dyeing with wild nettles.
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--to meadows in the Swiss Alps, to ancient forests of Mount Fuji, to standing stones in Brittany-- and back to her own beloved forests and beaches of West Marin, California.
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 40 years and is a former faculty member of Tamalpa Institute, an internationally renowned training center for Expressive Arts Therapy. 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 Forest School 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. Taira and In Place are currently offering programs at 3 schools in West Marin as well as public programs.
PHOTO CREDIT
PORTRAIT OF TAIRA: SUSAN ADLER PHOTOGRAPHY
Acknowlegements
Taira acknowledges place-centered educator Ken Otter, eco-philosopher David Abram, and 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 Ken, David, 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 are significant teachers, and the Tamal-ko (Coast Miwok), who have been and continue to be stewards of these beloved lands and waters.
David Abram
Eco-philospher, Author
"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."
Anna Halprin
Dancer, Choreographer, Educator
"Taira Restar brings deep understanding of the body and of the creative process into her work."
Rebekah Driessen
Marriage Family Therapist
“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.”
Sarah Fine
Mother
"My children absolutely loved Nature Arts, and I was deeply moved by the impact it had on them. I've noticed a meaningful shift in the way they engage with and appreciate nature, and I credit that entirely to their time at Nature Arts. The thoughtfulness and effort Taira put into the program really shone through."
Sage
Age 4
"Taira is just like Mary Poppins."
Camila Killion
Artist, College Graduate
“You taught me how to be creative in a meaningful way. You taught me to use creative energy to spread ideas and love. You taught me how to have intention.”