I believe in human resilience. Whatever you have experienced or are experiencing. As long as there is hope and faith, I experience people as resilient.

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My background is social pedagogical. By nature I am interested in different cultures, human behavior and the communication between them. I deepened this interest in a training to become a professional coach, which I successfully completed with a diploma at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences in 2008. Development work and working with different cultures in the Netherlands and in West Africa have enriched my life. I answered my desire for adventure by backpacking through Africa, India and Southeast Asia.

 

I coach people with questions in the area of intercultural communication, work, lifestyle, health and life questions.

 

The search for inner balance is part of my life. Personal development is important to me and it reached a low point when I received a burnout at the age of 36 years. I had to learn to trust my body again. I first came into contact with yoga at the gym. Yoga touched something in me that I didn't know before. The concentration in the yoga postures and the pleasant calm feeling after a class made sure that I kept going to the classes. During that period I started with a body-oriented training to better understand my body. Forms that were discussed were, among other things, breathing techniques, expressive dance and active meditations. In short: Body work.

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After the burnout period, I left my job as a case manager and coach of refugees and went to Mali for development work. On Crete I first followed a 200-hour yoga teacher training course, so that I could give private yoga lessons to Malian women in Mali. In Togo and Ghana I did development work in the field of health education and intercultural communication.

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Yoga continued to have an attractive effect on me. I wanted to know more about yoga. In 2017 I started the three-year dynamic Hatha yoga teacher training with Ron van der Post.

Yoga has brought me a lot over the past ten years. The yoga exercises, breathing techniques, meditation and yoga theory were supportive in letting go of loved ones, dreams and ideals.

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During the yoga training, the theory gave me insight into the events in my life and my own role in it. Yoga is a lifelong learning. I can no longer imagine a life without yoga. It is so much more than just the physical exercises.

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I see many similarities between yoga and professional coaching. The cognitive approach of coaching (mindful) and the physical (bodywork) of yoga, dance, breath and meditation ensure balance in body and mind.

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​My core values are balance, honesty, integrity and adventure.

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I like to pass on the knowledge and experiences I have gained in the form of yoga, coaching, dance, meditation, breath, humor and movement.