"I'm a shaky poodle inside
a black stallion body"

Write your text here...

~~~Alanis Morisette ~~~

As a highly sensitive striver (like Alanis Morisette) after 10 years of teaching in Higher Education I had worn myself out. But of course still kept going (like we do in our family) because I didn't learn how to properly rest, listen, nourish and heal my brain, soul or body. Longing for approval from colleagues/management, and aiming for perfection I spent hours preparing lessons, participating in another curriculum committees to change the system or finding the perfect exercises to really help my university students. Not knowing how to stop; I was taking on more to prove my worthiness was never finished with work, and always taking work home and work martyrdom was born! Combine that with a big heart for others. Always helping colleagues, management and students first I totally forgot myself.

To the point that I felt like a total alien, but more sadly totally member of this culture of repressing any bodily intelligence. In education we really appreciate THINKING, BRAIN, LOGIC, REASON. Anything below the neck is scary and avoided. As a super somatic person and a bodyworker I took COVID as the permission slip to really embrace my body work experience in my classroom working with all the information in the room (inside bodies - between bodies - outside bodies). My oh my. The beauty was that I changed, so my classroom changed! My way into embodiment was through befriending my own nervous system (Deb Dana) so I am more aware and able to connect with anyone I interact with.

Since then two important embodied principals I hold dear in all the work I bring forth.

1. The first principle is about truth and authenticity come from lived experience. We can all learn and teach knowledge, but the real teaching for me comes from the soul you bring to the learning space. Then you can teach anything, whether it be math, gymnastics, welding or Spanish. As a white woman, with some neurospicyness a tremendous love for perfection, beauty, colours, coffee, conversations and the depth of our bodies can only make impact if I embrace my whole me, and my biasses too!

2. The second principle: it's in the cross over fields where knowledge and practice really come to life. After years of teaching Communication students at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, my teaching changed when I allowed all other wisdom over the years as bodyworker to guide my teaching. I dared to lean away from the content, the slides, the stories, the answers, the templates. Don't get me wrong they are all important and necessary, just not always. Learning needs a base of love, connection and safety to thrive. These concepts live in our body, not in our brain! By providing this crucial foundation, we as teachers can learn to hold space for all of our learners. That doesn't mean they don't get to be held responsible!

But it is a two train track as Dr. Niki Elliott says. We need to grow our own capacity of connection over time, AND we need to address the educational system at large too. Both need to work and acknowledge the whole person in the room. Together we can go for big changes. That's why I started The Embodied Educator Podcast. To inspire every educator what can happen if education embraces all intelligence, including our bodily intelligence.

What feeds my work

Workshop Fantastic Fascia;
Photography: Colleague Vincent Albers @AUAS

It al starts and ends with self-care and self-. management. And we are wired for connection.
Photography: Terje @Mit Universitet Sweden

Amazed i was of the materialization of my international students Global Trendwatching
Photography: taken by colleague @AUAS

The art of giving and receiving
Photography: Ray Kazir

Body-mind practises

Over the years, I've been trained in many body work principles alongside my teaching career. Pilates (certified Polestar Pilates MAT-teacher 2010) is one of the lineages I still draw from, next to Yoga Tune Up Fascia Rolling (expired certified Yoga Tune Up teacher 2017). A magical training with Anna Verwaal and Liz Koch (2016) informed my work on birth imprints. Embodied yoga principles (2020). Mindfull leadership program (2024).

And I also have my own daily practises which are a mix of meditation, somatic explorations and movement & qigong.

Theres so much information of our being when we look at how we move our bodies, physically, but also relational, energetically, cultural, intergenerational, biological.

Bodily explorations are ofcourse big part of embodied work, where I tune in on breath, vagus nerve work, posture, alignment, voice.

Communication Specialist

With a M.A. (cum laude) in Communication Science, I noticed loving the teaching more than all the theories I needed to bring accros. Communications for me is all about relating to other humans, and it's a dance between the words and the wordless. We as humans are wired for connection, and one of the ways to do that is storytelling. Yet when it comes to our bodies, often the narratives from the past are actually the ones holding us back from growing and learning. That's why I love connecting storytelling to our senses and finding our body stories, as they hold intelligence too.

Nervous System Health & Polyvagal Informed teaching

Fueled by Polyvagal Institute, Stephen Porges, Deb Dana, Amber Gray and Dr. Niki Elliott who is a changemaker when it comes to waking up the education system to the power of collective healing by attuning to self, others and the world through nervous system intelligence!

I love to ripple their gentle and necessary Nervous System Informed Care into education with knowledge and practice.

Elements at the core of my offerings are; Neuroception, regulation, co-regulation, disregulation working with the hierarchy of our nervous systems to the concept of 'safe as can be'.

What could the world be like if we all start Befriending our Nervous System like Deb Dana says?!

Rythm & cyclical intelligence

Since my adult life, the BRCA1-gene has been part of my life. It impacted my health, femininity in many emotional, physical and spiritual ways. Finding Redschool has been pivoted the way I work drastically.

Cyclical Intelligence is now one of the key aspects to guide my life and work. Everything in nature has an eb and flow, we as humans do too. Getting along in this some what crazy world asks for more rythm and regulation through elements, seasons and cycles. Looking at education from this cyclical point of view provides restoring and powerful ways to working efficiently.

True teacher HE & PE

Igniting my students inner fire has been my calling as an international Communications teacher at The Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS) over the last 15 years. Since 2023 I also freelance as teacher in high schools & primary schools around the NL. Wow and I love the pureness of these kids, they are true mirrors. #LivingTheWork #Sparklingeyes

Embodied coach & facilitator

I am Certified as embodiment coach through Embodiment Unlimited (2020). They provided me with a practical, tactical and ethical framework for embodied coaching and facilitation. Some of the modalities I love working with are their embodied yoga principles & 4 elements.