A – H
Being emotional and seeing the world
An observation that I have made again and again is that when someone is emotional - feeling lost, alone, sad, overly joyful, or angry - they often do not stay connected - to themselves and the world. One way how I notice this is that their eyes are avoiding to look at...
Healthy habit building
Two parameters that make building healthy habits easyier:Build on an existing habitIt doesn't work to replace habits you'd like to get rid of. There are neural pathways engrained in your brain that your system is used to using. Instead of wanting to get rid of a...
Connect with your inner strength
aka strength isn’t force Being strong doesn’t mean using force to achieve what you think you need to do. Being strong means being flexible, in flow, receptive to life. It also means holding still, at times, and tuning in to yourself and what surrounds you so you can...
Defining Presence
Presence is a beautiful state of being. It means being fully in the here and now. Yet, it can also be this vague and abstract concept when you're not in the right space. It can seem like a distant place to reach when you are stuck. It is often said that all that...
Exercise vs Embodied Practice
Everything you do, any movement you make can be 'just' an exercise or it can be an embodied practice that invites growing awareness, more choices and presence. There are a few pointers that help you identify what kind of practice you are engaging in. Especially if...
In 2019, I commit to… being less of a consumer
I am committed to practicing a balanced way of taking in and integrating what I’m taking it. And I’m not only talking about food or other consumer goods. I am mainly focusing on information - verbal, emotional, physical. I have been practicing for a good while being...
Hugging the heart
Every time you take a breath, your lungs are hugging your heart. Isn’t this a beautiful visual for what happens in your body!? The inspiration for this illustration came from Leila Stuart who has given a session on Embodied Anatomy at the online Embodiment...
Effectiveness as the body knows it is not mechanical
In the world of mechanics, there are rules. More makes more. Faster is faster. Bigger is better. The machine is running longer, and it produces more pieces. You create a faster way of doing the process, you will be able to produce more. The body is effective in a...
How you move is how you see
Continuing from last week, I’m sticking with the subject of the eyes. I just finished ‘Embodied Wisdom: The Collected Papers of Moshé Feldenkrais.’ Chapter 5, Man and the World, tells about Feldenkrais' encounter with Van Foerster at an event, where Van Foerster told...
Give your eyes a break
As I am a body and book nerd, I read a lot about what it means to be human. My little home library covers diverse areas from business psychology, neuroscience to old bodywork literature and stuff on systems thinking and how people connect. I can’t remember what...
A rant about research, business and manipulation
A Guardian article with the title ‘Whisper it... ASMR videos are the quiet revolution going global’ found its way in my inbox this morning. And it nicely shows what happens with research and how it can easily miss its purpose. The problem I have with research and...
When stressed, do less
When it comes to stress, one of the main blocks I encounter - in myself and in my work with people - is the effort we make to not feel stressed. I have come to understand stress as a boost of energy that the body provides to make you awake and give you agency in a...
Expectation vs Intention
An expectation ... is what you bring into the situation that is based on old experiences. It is coming from your mind. It’s what you project onto others or the situation thus limiting the possibilities you can experience. You’re putting people and circumstances into...
The two ways of letting go
When we hold on to something for a long time, it goes all the way to our core. It can pervade every cell of our being. Letting go of ideas, fixed postures and patterns is a vital element in becoming more present and having your energy available for your goals in the...
Be like Alice
What if you didn’t have an idea of who you are? What if you weren’t limited by your self-image? What if there were no fixed ways of thinking, moving, feeling? What would you do? What would you wear? Who would you talk to? How would you move on the street? Would you...
I – O
Tense ≠ Intense
Tension is not the same as intensity. Tension is often equivalent with too much effort. We carry a lot of chronic tension in our bodies. By letting go of tension, we can discover new resources that emerge. Maybe you experience stillness, clarity, serenity, direction,...
Beyond to-dos: what to put on your list
The most common list is the to-do list. It’s useful. It saves your brain energy as you don’t need to remember things. But there are other lists that can also be helpful: The not-to-do list if you want to avoid falling into the same trap over and over...
Inquiry by touch … in a bodywork session
I don’t know if you’ve ever got a massage or a bodywork session of some kind. If you have, you have your own experience if you enjoyed it and if you had a personal learning from the session. If yes, when was the last time? Can you recall this experience? Was...
Mirror, mirror … what do I need you for
Are you depending on outside perspectives more than your felt sense? How many mirrors do you have in your home? How often are you watching your own reflection in a shop window? How often does looking at yourself in the mirror really make sense? I’m not at home right...
Getting Unstuck #3: List of Frustrations
A way of at looking at frustration: Being frustrated is a state of accumulated little annoyances whose energy hasn’t been used to resolve the issues at hand and instead manifest in a state of stuckness. Frustration is a bucket of ‘negative’ emotion that has...
Experimenting with Coherent Breathing
Three weeks ago I was introduced to the concept of Coherent Breathing by my friend Elisha who is, among other things, a great breathing and meditation teacher. (If you’re curious about what she does, check out her website.) Learning is always a full-body...
Tuning out with headphones
We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. - Epictetus This quote was on my calendar a couple of days ago. On the way to work it struck me to see so many people wearing headphones in public. So am I occasionally, for that matter....
Energy follows attention, applied
Energy follows attention - applied to one-to-one bodywork sessions Energy follows attention is a universal principle. As with anything, you should try and experiment with it for yourself to see if it works for you and if it feels true to you and brings any...
Effective action
Effective action is a natural result of alignment. When your thinking, your emotions and your physical being are attuned to each other, it is clear if, how and when action wants to happen. I believe we are all doing too much. We definitely make too much effort...
Taking care of your personal space
There are visible and invisible aspects that form part of self-care. Some things you can see and touch and measure: the food you eat, your hours of exercise, the amount of water you drink, the hours of sleep you get, just to name a few practical ones. And then there...
P – Z
Tense ≠ Intense
Tension is not the same as intensity. Tension is often equivalent with too much effort. We carry a lot of chronic tension in our bodies. By letting go of tension, we can discover new resources that emerge. Maybe you experience stillness, clarity, serenity, direction,...
Beyond to-dos: what to put on your list
The most common list is the to-do list. It’s useful. It saves your brain energy as you don’t need to remember things. But there are other lists that can also be helpful: The not-to-do list if you want to avoid falling into the same trap over and over...
Inquiry by touch … in a bodywork session
I don’t know if you’ve ever got a massage or a bodywork session of some kind. If you have, you have your own experience if you enjoyed it and if you had a personal learning from the session. If yes, when was the last time? Can you recall this experience? Was...
Mirror, mirror … what do I need you for
Are you depending on outside perspectives more than your felt sense? How many mirrors do you have in your home? How often are you watching your own reflection in a shop window? How often does looking at yourself in the mirror really make sense? I’m not at home right...
Getting Unstuck #3: List of Frustrations
A way of at looking at frustration: Being frustrated is a state of accumulated little annoyances whose energy hasn’t been used to resolve the issues at hand and instead manifest in a state of stuckness. Frustration is a bucket of ‘negative’ emotion that has...
Experimenting with Coherent Breathing
Three weeks ago I was introduced to the concept of Coherent Breathing by my friend Elisha who is, among other things, a great breathing and meditation teacher. (If you’re curious about what she does, check out her website.) Learning is always a full-body...
Tuning out with headphones
We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. - Epictetus This quote was on my calendar a couple of days ago. On the way to work it struck me to see so many people wearing headphones in public. So am I occasionally, for that matter....
Energy follows attention, applied
Energy follows attention - applied to one-to-one bodywork sessions Energy follows attention is a universal principle. As with anything, you should try and experiment with it for yourself to see if it works for you and if it feels true to you and brings any...
Effective action
Effective action is a natural result of alignment. When your thinking, your emotions and your physical being are attuned to each other, it is clear if, how and when action wants to happen. I believe we are all doing too much. We definitely make too much effort...
Taking care of your personal space
There are visible and invisible aspects that form part of self-care. Some things you can see and touch and measure: the food you eat, your hours of exercise, the amount of water you drink, the hours of sleep you get, just to name a few practical ones. And then there...