About me
People often describe me as a warm and sunny person with an intuitive approach to teaching yoga. I like hearing this description because it shows that I’ve made a real connection with my students. And if there’s one thing about yoga that I love the most and which characterises my classes, workshops and retreats, it’s the feeling of being connected and going on a journey together.
As a teacher, I am helpful and supportive. I offer options for all levels, so that everyone feels held and at ease, and able to experience the joy and stillness within.
My Yoga journey
Have you ever had a strong, almost irrepressible, feeling that you should do something - without really knowing why?
My life before yoga
Until 2009, I was a professional dancer. I performed on stage in theatres across Europe and was involved in the creative processes. Music and movement stirred my creativity and made me feel alive. Dancing was everything to me.
Then, one day in 2009, I met up with a friend who’d just been to India for a 200-hr Yoga Teacher Training at Himalaya Yoga Valley. I had never tried yoga before, let alone thought about teaching, but everything within me told me to go and do the course. So, I went - and it changed my life!
Meeting yoga
I was inspired by everything I encountered, from the physical postures and breathing exercises, to the mantras and meditation. I was amazed, too, by the way these practices calmed my mind and gave me such clarity. I knew right away, that yoga would always be part of my life.
Over the years that followed, I undertook several more teacher trainings (including an intensive 500-hr diploma at Svaha Yoga in the Netherlands, a profound 10-day silent meditation in India, and an Advanced Teacher Training programme at Laughing Lotus in New York), whilst simultaneously growing into my new teaching role. It felt like a natural transition from dance to yoga.
Today
Over a decade later, I continue to give classes and workshops in my hometown of Amsterdam, as well as retreats in remote locations around Europe (click here to read about retreats). I remain a student of yoga, constantly seeking to explore and deepen my understanding and experience of this ancient spiritual practice. The past few years I have studied with Kamini Desai to dive into calmer yoga practices, like Yoga Nidra- and Yoga Therapy. I integrate these practices as an approach in any style of yoga I teach and practice.
For me, yoga is not just about teaching and studying. Above all, it is a way of living and an experience – one in which our hearts expand to include all of life as one spiritual whole.
