When I work with people, I don’t work with a “mind” that happens to have a body attached. I work with the whole human. In this, I draw on years of close study with embodiment coach Mark Walsh. My work stays deeply informed by the philosophy of Shaolin kung fu, whose wisdom my teacher Shifu Shi Heng Dao has been transmitting to me since 2008.
When I say I work with the whole person, I mean we work together with your mind, your body and your heart – the rational, the emotional and the deeper, embodied sense of things. Your body is not an optional extra. It is a central part of your experience – and often the most overlooked form of intelligence you have.
Most of us are trained to live “in our heads”: to think, analyse, be efficient.
At school, at work and at home, the body is usually noticed only when it hurts or breaks down. In many approaches to coaching and therapy it’s left out of the process too – so we remain disconnected from its wisdom, even while seeking professional help.
Embodiment coaching closes that gap.
We invite your body into the process as a compass, a source of inner signals and a laboratory for change.
You create shifts in a way that talking alone simply can’t reach.
The main purpose of a session is not just to talk about what is happening in your life, but to explore how that lives in your body:
We notice your breath, posture, tension patterns and signs from your nervous system.
Through embodied experiments – changing your breathing, shifting your posture, moving, pausing in silence, using your voice – we explore how your thoughts, emotions and decisions change.
Through simple, repeated embodied practices, you strengthen new, more supportive responses in your body so they become part of your natural behaviour.
You’re not only developing new insights; you’re developing new habits.
And although this might sound a bit new age at first, it is actually very well grounded in science – and the East has known it for centuries. Practices like yoga, aikido or kung fu have survived for thousands of years because they don’t just build skills, they build character. Training in those disciplines is optional—but the small, 10-minute daily embodied practice we choose together is central to our work.
From a neuroscience perspective, this is the gradual rewriting of old, automatic neural pathways with new ones that are more supportive.
The right embodied practice – chosen with care, calibrated to you and done in a safe space – allows your nervous system to learn a different response to the same life situations.
There is a constant conversation between your brain and your body.
Roughly 20% of the information travels from the brain downwards – and about 80% travels from the body upwards.
Your body has far more to say than your thinking mind – and often more than you allow yourself to hear. Embodiment coaching helps you become aware of this conversation and use it in your favour.
Your body lets you:
meet yourself honestly – where you are and what you really need
change your state even when your thoughts can’t find a solution
gradually develop a new way of living, not just new ideas about life
address a challenge in a direct, concrete way – the body is the most tangible, “dense” expression of who you are
“Just think differently!” – has that advice ever truly helped you change?
“Lengthen your exhale, soften your gaze, and let your spine rise.”
That is something you can do right now – and you may notice a shift immediately.
Embodied coaching is alignment from the inside out. We cultivate four core skills:
“If people really knew what they wanted, they would probably already have it.”
— Mark Walsh
What do I even want?
This is a question only a small number of people can truly answer. Conditioning from our caregivers, society and other people’s expectations often pulls us away from our own desires – and even from our most basic needs.
As we start coming back to ourselves, it becomes clearer what is truly ours – for us, from us. From this clarity we can make decisions that really nourish us and, at the same time, allow our gifts to nourish others.
Your “yes” is only as strong as your “no”.
Once we know more clearly what kind of life we want, every moment becomes an opportunity to take a step in that direction. The ability to set a boundary – with another or with ourselves – is essential here.
A boundary is not punishment or selfishness, but the condition for conscious choice: what kind of relationship we want to have with ourselves and others, and where we choose to invest our time and energy.
As our “no” becomes clearer and more embodied, our “yes” can once again lead us into loving aliveness.
When we start living closer to ourselves – choosing our “yes” and “no” more clearly – people react to our new boundaries and choices. These reactions are not always pleasant and can trigger fear, tension, shame or guilt in our body. Especially if you take in a lot from your surroundings and sense things deeply, your nervous system can become overwhelmed very quickly – even if on the outside you seem strong, composed and “in control”.
With nervous system regulation practices, we learn to stay in touch with the body even when life puts us under pressure. We recognize the signs of overwhelm and gently guide our energy back into a sense of safety, so that we can stay committed to our vision for life instead of slipping back into old patterns of people-pleasing or withdrawal.
The nature of life is waves: ups and downs, closeness and loss, health and illness. We can’t avoid this, but we can change how we experience those waves.
Equanimity is the capacity to remain inwardly calm even when life squeezes us. Instead of getting lost in the drama of our thoughts and emotions, we practice a quiet presence with what is – with the pleasant and the unpleasant. We’re not looking for the total absence of fear, shame or guilt, but for a way to live with them without letting them pull us off our path.
Starting to live differently is a courageous act – especially if we’ve spent years pushing our needs, desires and body to the side. The courage we cultivate here is not a jump off a cliff, but the willingness to choose clarity, boundaries, care for our nervous system and equanimity, step by step – even when it’s not easy.
Through the body, we get to know ourselves more honestly, change our state more directly, and slowly grow a new way of living. We stop being victims of our patterns. We become more ethical – with ourselves and with others. We feel more connected. And we return to a more human, natural, loving, alive way of being – for the sake of ourselves, and for the sake of all beings.
Let’s meet for a 30-minute free discovery call.
You don’t have to prepare for it – come as you are, and let’s discover together where you are right now, where you would like to get to, and whether working with me is the right step for you at this time.
Prefer to start by writing a few lines?
Write me about where you are now and where that quiet pull is asking you to go.