In this insightful interview, Rianne Vestuto, the creator of Aura Toning, shares her deeply personal journey and the profound inspiration behind her unique movement practice. With a lifelong connection to the healing power of water, Rianne has crafted a modality that blends physical movement, breathwork, and energy healing to help people reconnect with their bodies, emotions, and energy fields. As a somatic healer, artist, and yogi, Rianne’s approach to wellness is rooted in self-love, fluidity, and the sacredness of the body as a water-being. Through Aura Toning, she offers a path to healing and empowerment that feels as natural and nurturing as the waters we are made of.
How has your personal journey influenced the development of Aura Toning?
Something in me has always known to bring myself to the water when I feel broken. In my life I have spent countless hours gazing into water, meditating on how light dances on water. It has brought me so much healing, and has been the common thread on my healing path. Learning to deeply relate to myself as a water-being has helped me fall in love with my body, my spirit, and my life, the same way you fall in love with the ocean or a river. Every day I learn on a deeper and deeper level that we are all sacred water. Understanding this has changed my relationship with exercise, helping me move with greater coherence, trust, and gentle confidence. This path of softening and remembering is something that really inspires me and is infused into Aura Toning. I wanted to create a workout that feels like love, not like force.
Can you explain the concept of working with the waters of the body and aura in your movement class?
We are mostly made of water. I like to say that we are all water beings. In many ways, water is what connects us. We have so many water systems in our bodies, like our lymphatic system, our circulatory system, etc, and we also have energy channels that move like rivers. There are also ancient traditions, art and folklore that connect water to our spirit and healing that overlaps over many cultures.
Aura Toning brings together movement with breath, energy work, and visualization to work with both the physical waters of our bodies (like our lymph, central nervous system, fascia,) and our energetic waters, (our somatic body, our emotional body, and our energy field.)
. What inspired you to create Aura Toning, and how did the idea first come to you?
I was first inspired to create Aura Toning because it was the modality I truly wanted and needed the most. As a deeply creative and spiritual person, I needed movement to stay connected to my body. I have been a yogi since age 3 but found myself drawn to more feminine movement practices. When I was in art school I became fascinated by the ancient sacredness of ceremony that calls the spirit back that often centered around water and light. Seeing how it is a common thread between so many cultures enthralled me. It inspired me to get my Somatic Healing degree and study the waters of the body- how emotions connect to the physical, what causes them to be stagnant and how to clear them. Through this path I got to deepen my studies into dance/water ceremony, vibrational healing, yoga, and ancient forms of dance.
I followed those inspirations until one day it all came together, an invigorating movement class that cleanses your energy, awakens your senses, tones your body, shines your aura, and is fun, too.
How do you believe Aura Toning can help people reconnect with their inner healer?
The class actively works with energy healing practices that an energy healer may do with their clients, except this class teaches you how to do it in your own body through movement. Our focus is water-work, so each participant is also learning to unbind their fascia, move their lymph, tend to their emotional body, and balance their energy channels through moving the waters of their body. We also work with deeper energy healing concepts like releasing energetic cords (or unhealthy attachments) with draining patterns, and replacing them with life-giving, regenerative patterns.
Can you share any transformative experiences or success stories from clients who have participated in your classes?
Often I see women who are really deeply struggling with things like body image or embracing their sexual energy, who feel liberated and free to connect with life, their partners ,and themselves through a place of healthy creative, sexual energy after consistently Aura Toning.
I also have many clients who experience chronic pain and have been unable to exercise for a long time. They take Aura Toning and are able to relate to their bodies from places that are not pain.
Another client had a really big aversion to drinking water before she bravely dove into the Aura Toning Cleanse, (which is a 7 week online immersion that goes quite deep into the water mysteries.) Through consistent Aura Toning she realized that her resistance to water was resistance to her own sensitivity, sensuality, mysticism, and feeling body, and used the practices in Aura Toning to help her overcome them. She recorded a testimonial 6 months after The Cleanse speaking about how much it has helped her become a lover of water and all that water represents in her life. Stories like these mean the world to me.
How do you personally maintain a regulated nervous system and a shining aura in your daily life?
My personal movement practice is my “untangling,” If I am not moving regularly, all of the feelings (my own and others I pick up throughout the day) get tangled up in my body and I immediately notice my lymph holding onto that extra heaviness.
I also sit in tea ceremony, swim in the ocean 5 times a week, snuggle with animals, laugh a lot, sing loudly, dance, and make art.
What advice would you give to women who are looking to create their own wellness practices or businesses?
Be honest, have boundaries, take your time, let love lead you, and trust your gut intuition. Listen to your offering and hold the balance of pushing out a creation before it is ready, and holding onto something inside for too long. I personally have learned from making both mistakes.
How do you balance the physical and energetic aspects of your practice to ensure a holistic approach?
In Aura Toning, the energy work is initiated through the physical movements. The physical movements and the “workout” of it helps ground the energy work. At the end of class we wind down to feel the reverberations in our energy field. Each session has a careful balance of the two so that each you leave feeling neither too over-stimulated, nor too wavy.
What are some common misconceptions people have about energy healing, and how do you address them?
A common misconception is that it is not effective. True energy healing is powerful, because dis-ease begins in the energy body, so clearing that can really transform the physical in truly powerful ways.
How do you see Aura Toning evolving in the future, and what are your hopes for its impact on the wellness community?
Right now I am focusing on bringing Aura Toning to as many water bodies as possible, through our online membership, cleanses & immersions, as well as in-person classes, workshops, and retreat in SoCal and around the world.
Currently Aura Toning is also evolving into the bridging movement with the art world, starting with a community art project we have coming in 2025. If you would like to be a part of it email [email protected].
My mission is that everyone can move through the world understanding the incredible mysterious miracle that we are water. I would love to collaborate with non-profits focused on the ocean to bring Aura Toning off the mat and into the world.
What lessons have you learned from your journey that you believe are essential for other women to hear?
Do not give your dream away to someone who you think can make it come true for you. You are the vessel for your dream, and it is imperative to trust in your own magic. This will not only help you call in the support that will truly help you grow, but it will also keep your work clear and protected.
How can women incorporate the principles of Aura Toning into their everyday lives, even outside of your classes?
If you never forget that you are a body of water, how would you move through the world differently? Would you be softer, kinder, stronger, more connected? I truly believe you live each day exploring that question in your body, in your relationships, in your creative endeavors, and in your everyday life, it can go a long way. 🙂