Brussels-based practice: Holistic bodywork & complementary care
Brussels-based practice: Holistic bodywork & complementary care
My path led from rationale to sentience, and from boardroom to embodied presence. Today, these worlds merge in Bodhiwhispers.
Below, I share an insight into how Mind, Body, and Soul each found their place in the course of my life. Not merely as a personal history, but as the sincere and expert foundation from which I guard the professional framework of Bodhiwhispers and carefully guide every encounter.
Already as a kid, I was eager to climb onto stages, recite my own poems and spellbind my audience.
The seed of expression and connection: from early stage experience to the language of sound and rhythm.
My grandfather showed me his books on the origins of the universe. For hours I could philosophize about the infinitely huge and tiny aspects of our universe. I was entranced by both the beauty and the intangibility of this universal intelligence. Bitten by the same mathematics bug as my father, I used to help my nephew and niece with their lessons: writing formulas in the sand while laughing and playing, to reach simplicity and understanding, that was fun and with good test results!
Also at a young age, I experienced what unaware and unwholesome actions do to people. It turned my idyllic world view upside down. In search of alternative forms of expression, I took my first steps towards diction and drama as a teenager.
During the summer months, I worked as a playground supervisor with differently-abled youngsters. Every afternoon I treated them with storytime reading in the sensory room, and they loved it. Their authenticity, cuddles and empathic talent gave me a great deal of healthy energy.
It was my mother who taught me pragmatism and perseverance. I became a business engineer and wanted to fully apply myself professionally. For some twenty years, I worked at management level, including as a consultant and project coordinator in Global Healthcare and Educational Services: as a connector and diagnostician, I conceptualised and implemented major change projects at home and abroad.
An unforeseen life event, back then difficult to place, steered my life in a different direction: it would become the driving force of a long and intense search for understanding and becoming whole. I travelled a great deal, both for work and privately, and came into contact with Latin American dance. It became a passion. I participated in dance teams, and for a while taught dance classes at home and abroad. A new world opened to me: I explored other cultural values, was introduced to a robust social fabric, and new aspects of physical awareness of our life-energy.
Years of experience in dance teams as the foundation for my understanding of body awareness and group dynamics.
Health issues indicated that I was pursuing values that were not mine both professionally and privately, but I did not understand this at the time. I continued my search for healing and embarked on an inward trajectory with a classical vocal training as a soprano. Singing was good for me, just like my grandmother who sang in operettas and loved to play a Pavarotti cassette. I learned to find my breath control, explore vocal registers, fill a space with sound and vibration. It allowed me to do what I love again: creating connection with myself and others.
Amateur performance 😉 ‘Vaga luna che inargenti’ – Bellini
Once again my body pulled the emergency brakes, forcing me to cease my professional activities: my will had to give way. It was quite difficult not to be in control of my life anymore, and depend on support and understanding whether it was available or not. Traditional western medicine and therapies at the time offered little solutions, and I feared I was going to have to resign myself to my fate. Had I really become a weak link in society? I had a long road ahead of me.
At the turning point of my recovery, I saw myself in a vision, giving shiatsu treatments as a form of active meditation. Curious about what had happened to me, I decided to embark on a shiatsu course to fully support my health. I found connection with a group where there was shared vulnerability and a safe emotional framework. My afflictions were welcomed there as growing pains. I also devoured a great deal of enriching and innovative literature. All this gave me the courage to persevere, despite the many physical and mental obstacles I faced.
Eventually, this personal growth would complete my accumulated experience in bodywork with a spiritual dimension. What I had never dared to hope for turned into a rebirth: my physical and mental strength improved very slowly but surely, I became aware of my core values and reoriented myself in life. With sincere thanks to all the wonderful teachers, fellow students and guides on my path 💕!
Today, I enjoy the enriching encounters with clients and colleagues, and want to continue my commitment to consciousness expansion as a basis for wholeness.