Shiatsu is about coming back to nature. To a state of being, where your body and mind can surrender to a natural rhythm. Any stagnation, mental or physical, can be seen as resistance to the flow. The touch of Shiatsu reminds the body to regain balance, release resistance and allow the free flow of nature within you.
When you can feel this effortless connection again, you no longer have to struggle mentally and physically to be, but you simply are. From that rediscovered place in yourself, you can be present with all the flows of life.
Shiatsu shows me how we can learn to recognise the different energies in nature outside ourselves and within ourselves. We can learn how to rebalance ourselves by understanding nature. What we see around us, we see inside. Our body is like a small universe.
Each season in nature brings a different atmosphere and has a different effect on us. Similarly, we have different vibrations within ourselves. We can feel these different energies through the meridians, which run through the body. By feeling these meridians, we can learn how the way we were born, how we live, eat, work or move affects our inner seasons. We learn to recognise what in our lives creates a natural flow and what causes stagnation.
In how I work and touch, I combine my intuition and knowledge. I completed the 4-year training as an Iokai Shiatsu Therapist, combined with a 2-year programme in Western Medicine Fundamentals. I grew up in this Western society and was educated here at university. Because of this background, I know Western perspectives, as well as Eastern perspectives on life. With the work I do, it is my vision to open a bridge between the more Eastern holistic view of life and Western society. From this vision, around my Shiatsu Practice, I co-founded De Meditatietuin in 2018—an urban retreat centre for holistic healthcare, and personal and societal growth.
Since my teenage years, I have been fascinated by Eastern philosophy and the workings of the human body. It started with practising and teaching Eastern martial arts where I got to know the body as an expression of art and gateway to connect with the core of life. Later, I deepened my practice with different styles of yoga and meditation.
From my own life experience and working with many different clients, I know well what it is like to encounter resistance in life, what it is like to deal with illness and to get to know yourself on deeper levels. These experiences are all integrated into the way I work as a Shiatsu therapist.
For me, Shiatsu is about opening a space in which you can move from the head, back to the heart and into your centre. From a stable centre, rooted in hara, we can live from an open heart and with a clear and calm mind, welcoming all of life as it simply is.