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| a little share in response to my stories on why privacy is such a turn on for me, and so sacred in life..

how bodyism plays into the portrayal of our bodies, and how that is not always beneficial.

+ how we can be discerning, choiceful and contained in who, where and how we share our energy with people, with the world, and in specific situations 🙌

#embodiment #discernment #privacy #relationalintimacy

| a little share in response to my stories on why privacy is such a turn on for me, and so sacred in life..

how bodyism plays into the portrayal of our bodies, and how that is not always beneficial.

+ how we can be discerning, choiceful and contained in who, where and how we share our energy with people, with the world, and in specific situations 🙌

#embodiment #discernment #privacy #relationalintimacy

For most of us, aging has this impact, our body getting more frail.
For some of us an accident does it – a moment where we are so utterly confronted with the fragility of our body that the pain opens us to humility, to gratitude, to appreciation.
If we let it – then we feel the pain so fully that the ache turns into ecstasy.

Some of us find reverence for our body through the life we birth through our bodies.
Some of us are born into bodies that were never without challenge or limitation.

Life is fragile.
And life is lived through the vehicle that is your body.

Being a soul in a body, being formlessness put into form, is ultimately very limiting, whether you are aware of it or not.. I know– this is a deep realization.

Most of us will not realize the limitation of the body until the pain of limitation arrives, later in life.

The presence of pain, the luring of limitation, is that cliche that we only see what we had once we lost it– health, comfort, ecstasy–

In working with people in private practice, I always longed to work with the body as the gateway to our selves, through somatic psychotherapy, because it has us understand ourselves through the wisdom of our very own unique vessel— through the wisdom of this living, sensing, feeling body.

As a woman in a body with a distinct look + limitations beyond the looks of my body, I’ve learned the intricacy and beauty of reconnecting uniquely to the body, in a way that serves my life uniquely. Studying ableism, bodyism and lookism also gave me the understanding of what I had been living.

I talk with many many people– I know so many people who have something with their body that is not considered ‘normal’, but is unique to their experience in living their life.

I love honoring each and every individual vessel, and to guide in understanding and feeling our vessel in its unique ways, to find reverence for our body.

Honoring yourself through the wisdom of your body is a somewhat forgotten way of finding empowerment, resilience and beauty in this body and life <3

—
#embodiedliving #deeperrelating #somatics #somaticpsychotherapy #bodybasedtherapy #embodiment

For most of us, aging has this impact, our body getting more frail.
For some of us an accident does it – a moment where we are so utterly confronted with the fragility of our body that the pain opens us to humility, to gratitude, to appreciation.
If we let it – then we feel the pain so fully that the ache turns into ecstasy.

Some of us find reverence for our body through the life we birth through our bodies.
Some of us are born into bodies that were never without challenge or limitation.

Life is fragile.
And life is lived through the vehicle that is your body.

Being a soul in a body, being formlessness put into form, is ultimately very limiting, whether you are aware of it or not.. I know– this is a deep realization.

Most of us will not realize the limitation of the body until the pain of limitation arrives, later in life.

The presence of pain, the luring of limitation, is that cliche that we only see what we had once we lost it– health, comfort, ecstasy–

In working with people in private practice, I always longed to work with the body as the gateway to our selves, through somatic psychotherapy, because it has us understand ourselves through the wisdom of our very own unique vessel— through the wisdom of this living, sensing, feeling body.

As a woman in a body with a distinct look + limitations beyond the looks of my body, I’ve learned the intricacy and beauty of reconnecting uniquely to the body, in a way that serves my life uniquely. Studying ableism, bodyism and lookism also gave me the understanding of what I had been living.

I talk with many many people– I know so many people who have something with their body that is not considered ‘normal’, but is unique to their experience in living their life.

I love honoring each and every individual vessel, and to guide in understanding and feeling our vessel in its unique ways, to find reverence for our body.

Honoring yourself through the wisdom of your body is a somewhat forgotten way of finding empowerment, resilience and beauty in this body and life <3

—
#embodiedliving #deeperrelating #somatics #somaticpsychotherapy #bodybasedtherapy #embodiment

One of the deepest lessons in love for me has been in the deep hurt that comes with deep love. If you love deeply, it hurts deeply.

I like life’s strange paradoxes, and this is one of those deep ones.

One that often goes unnoticed.
Until you find yourself so deeply with someone, or something, that love opens you so deeply that it hurts.

Love opens our fragile parts like nothing else does. And it is this very vulnerability that makes love profound and something we all long and yearn for as humans.

The deeper you care, the deeper you risk. And risk is potential for pain. Even amidst the hurt, there is beauty in the pain. And I love transforming pain into beauty, whatever the origins of the pain.

Through pain. I have often found immense beauty. I have found this many times in heartbreak– feeling ecstatic, feeling blissful, and being deeply in touch with the beauty of life despite hurt.

There is beauty in knowing you have allowed yourself to feel completely, to be so vulnerable, and to have the richness only love can bring.

It’s easy to protect your heart, to move away from feeling– but there is far more beauty to be found in feeling deeply. Without it, you will miss the beauty of life that comes in joy, warmth, reverence, connection and love..

And although love and sorrow are two sides of the same coin, they together are the greatest teachers if you ask me.

Bringing strength and fragility together as one.

With the ache in our hearts we can find ecstasy in our lives. Pain then is not something to endure, it is part of living and loving deeply.

Transforming pain into beauty brings a deeper relationship to life. 🌹

—
📸 beach moments on favorite grounds + lyrics of inspiration from sting in slides
—
www.tessaschiethart.com
embodied living | deeper relating
somatic psychotherapy • relational mentoring

One of the deepest lessons in love for me has been in the deep hurt that comes with deep love. If you love deeply, it hurts deeply.

I like life’s strange paradoxes, and this is one of those deep ones.

One that often goes unnoticed.
Until you find yourself so deeply with someone, or something, that love opens you so deeply that it hurts.

Love opens our fragile parts like nothing else does. And it is this very vulnerability that makes love profound and something we all long and yearn for as humans.

The deeper you care, the deeper you risk. And risk is potential for pain. Even amidst the hurt, there is beauty in the pain. And I love transforming pain into beauty, whatever the origins of the pain.

Through pain. I have often found immense beauty. I have found this many times in heartbreak– feeling ecstatic, feeling blissful, and being deeply in touch with the beauty of life despite hurt.

There is beauty in knowing you have allowed yourself to feel completely, to be so vulnerable, and to have the richness only love can bring.

It’s easy to protect your heart, to move away from feeling– but there is far more beauty to be found in feeling deeply. Without it, you will miss the beauty of life that comes in joy, warmth, reverence, connection and love..

And although love and sorrow are two sides of the same coin, they together are the greatest teachers if you ask me.

Bringing strength and fragility together as one.

With the ache in our hearts we can find ecstasy in our lives. Pain then is not something to endure, it is part of living and loving deeply.

Transforming pain into beauty brings a deeper relationship to life. 🌹

—
📸 beach moments on favorite grounds + lyrics of inspiration from sting in slides
—
www.tessaschiethart.com
embodied living | deeper relating
somatic psychotherapy • relational mentoring

As women, we learn that we are valuable when we are ‘beautiful’ and so we perform beauty – you may be dancing your most sensual dance, you may exhibit your beauty very overtly, you may be the shiniest on the outside, or have the most voluptuous lips…

And not embody your beauty.

There is a path to integrating your beauty from performativity to embodiment as a woman.

And there’s nothing inherently wrong with performing your beauty– it is part of the evolution of a woman and her relationship to beauty and expression – we all go through phases where we perform beauty, and we all want to be beautiful — this is a holy and primal longing every woman has. And the quest to be beautiful in a more surface level way is rewarded in this society.

And there is something in performing your beauty – it can be empowering, it can be liberating, it can be self-affirming to portray your beauty…

Yet, there is something to performativity that does not quite satisfy your deep longing to be beautiful...

Relating to your beauty in the performative sense, over time, often leaves many women empty and not truly in relationship to their beauty..

At some point, you’re ready to deepen your relationship to beauty and expression.

This is where the women I work with are …

Where they long to embody beauty in a new sense, a deeper way, into a steeped relationship to embodied beauty…

Where beauty is not merely a product to apply to your skin, but it is also not the neutral self-acceptance that body positivity teaches.

This is divine beauty. It is seeing yourself through holy eyes.

This is embodying your beauty as a divine way of relating to the most exquisite sides of you, and coming into relationship with a deep pulse of light within you.

It is a different relationship. It is honoring your uniqueness, it is a natural way of expression, whether you use the product or not, and have the acceptance or lose it for a moment. It is a daily devotion to Beauty itself that shines through you.

A honoring of your expression through the body you live in and experience life through.

—
#embodiment #beauty #relationalaesthetics

As women, we learn that we are valuable when we are ‘beautiful’ and so we perform beauty – you may be dancing your most sensual dance, you may exhibit your beauty very overtly, you may be the shiniest on the outside, or have the most voluptuous lips…

And not embody your beauty.

There is a path to integrating your beauty from performativity to embodiment as a woman.

And there’s nothing inherently wrong with performing your beauty– it is part of the evolution of a woman and her relationship to beauty and expression – we all go through phases where we perform beauty, and we all want to be beautiful — this is a holy and primal longing every woman has. And the quest to be beautiful in a more surface level way is rewarded in this society.

And there is something in performing your beauty – it can be empowering, it can be liberating, it can be self-affirming to portray your beauty…

Yet, there is something to performativity that does not quite satisfy your deep longing to be beautiful...

Relating to your beauty in the performative sense, over time, often leaves many women empty and not truly in relationship to their beauty..

At some point, you’re ready to deepen your relationship to beauty and expression.

This is where the women I work with are …

Where they long to embody beauty in a new sense, a deeper way, into a steeped relationship to embodied beauty…

Where beauty is not merely a product to apply to your skin, but it is also not the neutral self-acceptance that body positivity teaches.

This is divine beauty. It is seeing yourself through holy eyes.

This is embodying your beauty as a divine way of relating to the most exquisite sides of you, and coming into relationship with a deep pulse of light within you.

It is a different relationship. It is honoring your uniqueness, it is a natural way of expression, whether you use the product or not, and have the acceptance or lose it for a moment. It is a daily devotion to Beauty itself that shines through you.

A honoring of your expression through the body you live in and experience life through.

—
#embodiment #beauty #relationalaesthetics

At the start of this year, I laid on a pristine beach. I had just come out of a tough year, with many setbacks in many different realms, and with many openings that were beautiful beyond my comprehension.

Laying there in the sand, I found myself in yet another moment of being asked to trust a flow of life, and found a deepened devotion in saying ‘yes’ to anything that life would bring me and I felt a joy with.

There is something about having faced challenges, having been to hell and backwards that softens our grip on life. Pain has a way of humbling us deeply, having us see that there is little to control in life, that there is a way to let life have its way with us– in many different facets.

Aside from the most joy I have ever felt in life, I am amazed what life has offered– blessing that I could’ve only received were I a full ‘yes’ to anything unfolding, the bitter and the sweet.

In all of my journey, and especially in a body that has its own way with me, being often misunderstood, the path has been about finding the balance between beauty and pain in life, and trusting all of life as the foundation to this balance.

That whatever I am faced with, when I soften, life flows in her own mystic way..

This is the feminine principle of life I am devoted to– the energetic aspect of reality that is experience itself – whether it is the thoughts we have, the sensations & emotions we feel, or the experience in life we have – anything that changes and is transient about life; this is the feminine principle. The part of the cosmos that is changing all the time.

The masculine principle being awareness– being intimately aware and conscious of the experience, of any experience, beautiful or painful. The aspect of reality that is constant, that lies deep within us as our soulfulness, the part of us that can observe our experience.

Shiva, shakti, yin and yang.

To be conscious of how life wants to flow– and to practice being open to it in all of its forms, the beauty and the pain, that is intimacy with life for me.

–
I am teaching a month-long journey into this practice :: a joy in being - starting june 4th - dm ‘joy’ for the link <3

At the start of this year, I laid on a pristine beach. I had just come out of a tough year, with many setbacks in many different realms, and with many openings that were beautiful beyond my comprehension.

Laying there in the sand, I found myself in yet another moment of being asked to trust a flow of life, and found a deepened devotion in saying ‘yes’ to anything that life would bring me and I felt a joy with.

There is something about having faced challenges, having been to hell and backwards that softens our grip on life. Pain has a way of humbling us deeply, having us see that there is little to control in life, that there is a way to let life have its way with us– in many different facets.

Aside from the most joy I have ever felt in life, I am amazed what life has offered– blessing that I could’ve only received were I a full ‘yes’ to anything unfolding, the bitter and the sweet.

In all of my journey, and especially in a body that has its own way with me, being often misunderstood, the path has been about finding the balance between beauty and pain in life, and trusting all of life as the foundation to this balance.

That whatever I am faced with, when I soften, life flows in her own mystic way..

This is the feminine principle of life I am devoted to– the energetic aspect of reality that is experience itself – whether it is the thoughts we have, the sensations & emotions we feel, or the experience in life we have – anything that changes and is transient about life; this is the feminine principle. The part of the cosmos that is changing all the time.

The masculine principle being awareness– being intimately aware and conscious of the experience, of any experience, beautiful or painful. The aspect of reality that is constant, that lies deep within us as our soulfulness, the part of us that can observe our experience.

Shiva, shakti, yin and yang.

To be conscious of how life wants to flow– and to practice being open to it in all of its forms, the beauty and the pain, that is intimacy with life for me.

–
I am teaching a month-long journey into this practice :: a joy in being - starting june 4th - dm ‘joy’ for the link <3

We learn to track our body in data– our heart rates, our speed, our calories, our sleep.

But data is devoid of depth.

It does not tell you about the heaviness you feel in your.
It does not tell you the reasons for the contraction in your chest.
It does not tell you why that right shoulder feels achy in certain situations.

For that, we need to be intimate with the wisdom of our own body.
For that, we need to feel.
For that, we need embodiment.

We live in a culture teaching us to distrust our bodies.

We can track everything.
But what do we trust?

I live in a body that balances between tracking and trusting for all of my life.

I have a condition inexplicable by the most educated since I was 6.
I have not had eye check-ups for the last 10 months, a risky choice I made myself, with lots of care.

A choice I made because I wanted to see the world & feel myself deeper beyond measure..

My body has needed heavy tracking, profound monitoring, and altering too.
All the while, I have learned to trust for the last 25+ years.

I feel my body more than any machine will ever understand.
I feel the slight changes that cannot be measured.
And these are no easy words to write– yes, I am scared of what I feel at times, my mind wants the tracking at times, yet I trust my body fully.

We live in a culture that urges us to give over our intuition to experts.
That demands answers beyond attunement.

The body becomes something to control & censor, to fight & fix.
It is in our language: we ‘fight’ the cells that give off the dis-ease, we ‘overcome’ the sickness, we ‘battle’ until we are healed.

And I do love the tracking, oh am I grateful for it every day.
But my body is not wrong when the tracking says so.

Embodied living, for me, has meant a lot in living in a body that has its own way.
To feel, to attune.
It made me trust beyond tracking.
And love beyond the labels.

I know how hard it is to not know, to have no answer and only sensation.

But feeling, being attuned to the wisdom of your own body, knowing how your body speaks to you and trusting that, is incredibly valuable.

Embodiment is valuable beyond measure 💕

#embodiment #deeperrelating

We learn to track our body in data– our heart rates, our speed, our calories, our sleep.

But data is devoid of depth.

It does not tell you about the heaviness you feel in your.
It does not tell you the reasons for the contraction in your chest.
It does not tell you why that right shoulder feels achy in certain situations.

For that, we need to be intimate with the wisdom of our own body.
For that, we need to feel.
For that, we need embodiment.

We live in a culture teaching us to distrust our bodies.

We can track everything.
But what do we trust?

I live in a body that balances between tracking and trusting for all of my life.

I have a condition inexplicable by the most educated since I was 6.
I have not had eye check-ups for the last 10 months, a risky choice I made myself, with lots of care.

A choice I made because I wanted to see the world & feel myself deeper beyond measure..

My body has needed heavy tracking, profound monitoring, and altering too.
All the while, I have learned to trust for the last 25+ years.

I feel my body more than any machine will ever understand.
I feel the slight changes that cannot be measured.
And these are no easy words to write– yes, I am scared of what I feel at times, my mind wants the tracking at times, yet I trust my body fully.

We live in a culture that urges us to give over our intuition to experts.
That demands answers beyond attunement.

The body becomes something to control & censor, to fight & fix.
It is in our language: we ‘fight’ the cells that give off the dis-ease, we ‘overcome’ the sickness, we ‘battle’ until we are healed.

And I do love the tracking, oh am I grateful for it every day.
But my body is not wrong when the tracking says so.

Embodied living, for me, has meant a lot in living in a body that has its own way.
To feel, to attune.
It made me trust beyond tracking.
And love beyond the labels.

I know how hard it is to not know, to have no answer and only sensation.

But feeling, being attuned to the wisdom of your own body, knowing how your body speaks to you and trusting that, is incredibly valuable.

Embodiment is valuable beyond measure 💕

#embodiment #deeperrelating

“You have no wrinkles”, she said, as I sat with 10 women, talking about injectables.

“You don’t have any stress in your face, your skin is smooth and glowy”

This topic of what I call ‘surface shine beauty’ is one I am passionate for & uncomfortable with at times. I call it surface shine; I believe there is a ‘pulse of beauty’ that is more than skin-deep..

I am the recipient of plastic surgery, albeit received very young for good medical reasons.
I wear the scars from laser treatment gone wrong on my face.

& in another life, I worked in the dermal industry— taught dermatology students, saw how women adjusted themselves too, worked in private practice on body image & skin acceptance.

I see the lure for women to adjust their skin & the deep longing to be beautiful in it.

This longing to be beautiful is as old as civilization. With the position of women, we happen to find ourselves in a time where longing for beauty expresses in the form of adjustment.

With my heart-shaped b’mark, I’m a woman who cannot choose this adjusting, even if I wanted to.

“How to relate to beauty when women around you choose to adjust while you will not have that choice?” – an inquiry that fascinates me.

Mostly, I learned to treasure my skin, give loving care to it, learned to relate to my skin beyond surface shine.

I love relating to the depth of radiance; the light and shine a woman has within her

I write this with so much love;
that light can be dimmed no matter how smooth your skin is

You can look model-perfect while no radiance or light shines through you

ánd you can defy every ‘beauty standard’ and be the most magnetic, radiant woman in the room.

If I could choose, maybe I would’ve adjusted my skin.

Yet, my skin brought me a deep relationship to beauty, made me value natural expression, showed me how wrong things can go, how precious our body is.

I don’t believe adjustments are only wrong, I’m grateful for the ones I received— the question perhaps is in the “why”?

Beyond it all, there remains something to a radiant woman, adjusted or not

So, I deepen my relationship to that

• • musings— curious about your relationship to beauty + your skin…

“You have no wrinkles”, she said, as I sat with 10 women, talking about injectables.

“You don’t have any stress in your face, your skin is smooth and glowy”

This topic of what I call ‘surface shine beauty’ is one I am passionate for & uncomfortable with at times. I call it surface shine; I believe there is a ‘pulse of beauty’ that is more than skin-deep..

I am the recipient of plastic surgery, albeit received very young for good medical reasons.
I wear the scars from laser treatment gone wrong on my face.

& in another life, I worked in the dermal industry— taught dermatology students, saw how women adjusted themselves too, worked in private practice on body image & skin acceptance.

I see the lure for women to adjust their skin & the deep longing to be beautiful in it.

This longing to be beautiful is as old as civilization. With the position of women, we happen to find ourselves in a time where longing for beauty expresses in the form of adjustment.

With my heart-shaped b’mark, I’m a woman who cannot choose this adjusting, even if I wanted to.

“How to relate to beauty when women around you choose to adjust while you will not have that choice?” – an inquiry that fascinates me.

Mostly, I learned to treasure my skin, give loving care to it, learned to relate to my skin beyond surface shine.

I love relating to the depth of radiance; the light and shine a woman has within her

I write this with so much love;
that light can be dimmed no matter how smooth your skin is

You can look model-perfect while no radiance or light shines through you

ánd you can defy every ‘beauty standard’ and be the most magnetic, radiant woman in the room.

If I could choose, maybe I would’ve adjusted my skin.

Yet, my skin brought me a deep relationship to beauty, made me value natural expression, showed me how wrong things can go, how precious our body is.

I don’t believe adjustments are only wrong, I’m grateful for the ones I received— the question perhaps is in the “why”?

Beyond it all, there remains something to a radiant woman, adjusted or not

So, I deepen my relationship to that

• • musings— curious about your relationship to beauty + your skin…

I find these beautiful questions, because often our bodies clench, harden and tighten around life experiences that challenge, hurt or impact us. We often ‘forget’ the free, joyous, unbridled expression that lies beneath what hurt us.

Before we got hurt, whether emotionally, mentally, physically, there was a sense of lightness, freedom in expression and a joy in being.

And so what happens when we release the hardness held in our body and return to a joy in being?

Feel into the places in your life that feel stuck, where do you feel hardness?
— where does that hardness show up in your body? Where do you hold tightness?

Where are you taking things too seriously, where does seriousness show up in your soma?

Sometimes hardness serves us, sometimes it no longer does.

How can you relax tension and turn to joy?

How can you bring more levity in your body?

What does it mean to trust in ecstasy beyond the ache?

What does joy feel and express like in your body, in your life?

The question of what joy feels like before we were hurt is one I explore often in private practice with clients because it is empowering to choose joy, not to ignore the hurt but use joy as something to return to, regulate with and rest in

I have transformed these questions into a little offering;

—- a joy in being :: a month-long journey into the essence of your joy

dm me ‘joy’ for the link to join - we start june 4th ::

#joy #empowerment #offering #embodiment #embodiedliving #somatics #healing #remembrance

I find these beautiful questions, because often our bodies clench, harden and tighten around life experiences that challenge, hurt or impact us. We often ‘forget’ the free, joyous, unbridled expression that lies beneath what hurt us.

Before we got hurt, whether emotionally, mentally, physically, there was a sense of lightness, freedom in expression and a joy in being.

And so what happens when we release the hardness held in our body and return to a joy in being?

Feel into the places in your life that feel stuck, where do you feel hardness?
— where does that hardness show up in your body? Where do you hold tightness?

Where are you taking things too seriously, where does seriousness show up in your soma?

Sometimes hardness serves us, sometimes it no longer does.

How can you relax tension and turn to joy?

How can you bring more levity in your body?

What does it mean to trust in ecstasy beyond the ache?

What does joy feel and express like in your body, in your life?

The question of what joy feels like before we were hurt is one I explore often in private practice with clients because it is empowering to choose joy, not to ignore the hurt but use joy as something to return to, regulate with and rest in

I have transformed these questions into a little offering;

—- a joy in being :: a month-long journey into the essence of your joy

dm me ‘joy’ for the link to join - we start june 4th ::

#joy #empowerment #offering #embodiment #embodiedliving #somatics #healing #remembrance

I have lost countless things, people, and bodily functions too— either indefinitely or for a time I didn’t know how long would be.
It taught me to be with the unknown.

I have sat with those undiagnosed, untreatable, those who’ve lost everything that was dear to them and more, and those who long, never to know if their love will come

The unknown aspect of life, with the joy as much as the grief that is in that..

When we are more explicitly confronted with not knowing how life will unfold, it brings us to the essence of what is true for us— values, what brings us joy, what and who we love.

And the relationship to the unknown asks of you to have a strong spine and a soft heart— to carry yourself wholesomely, while remaining open to whatever turn life may take you.

Being with the unknown is deeply rooted in your body, for your mind will not be of service here

as sometimes our body knows things we can barely understand.

And so, in the unknown, we learn to feel, and we learn to listen for what is true to us.

There is no room for control in relationship to the unknown.
Right there, is where you are asked to relinquish all things you think you can micromanage. This is where you realize there is quite little to be certain about.

And this will teach you, deeply.

What the unknown taught me most, is seeing the beauty in all small things.

To learn about pain, and true pleasure

About challenge, and celebration.

About savoring the moment, and slowing it all down.

There is something to the relationship to the unknown that is powerful,
for the simple fact that we have to let go of forced power we thought we had over our lives.

And somehow, finding ourselves in the unknown of life, for me, has become a joyful place, because it hold the potency to intimately connect to the very simple truths of what truly brings us joy in life.

— #reflections
+ sharing something soon to be with this kind of joy.

#embodiment #resilience #transformation #healing #somatics #beauty #theuknown

I have lost countless things, people, and bodily functions too— either indefinitely or for a time I didn’t know how long would be.
It taught me to be with the unknown.

I have sat with those undiagnosed, untreatable, those who’ve lost everything that was dear to them and more, and those who long, never to know if their love will come

The unknown aspect of life, with the joy as much as the grief that is in that..

When we are more explicitly confronted with not knowing how life will unfold, it brings us to the essence of what is true for us— values, what brings us joy, what and who we love.

And the relationship to the unknown asks of you to have a strong spine and a soft heart— to carry yourself wholesomely, while remaining open to whatever turn life may take you.

Being with the unknown is deeply rooted in your body, for your mind will not be of service here

as sometimes our body knows things we can barely understand.

And so, in the unknown, we learn to feel, and we learn to listen for what is true to us.

There is no room for control in relationship to the unknown.
Right there, is where you are asked to relinquish all things you think you can micromanage. This is where you realize there is quite little to be certain about.

And this will teach you, deeply.

What the unknown taught me most, is seeing the beauty in all small things.

To learn about pain, and true pleasure

About challenge, and celebration.

About savoring the moment, and slowing it all down.

There is something to the relationship to the unknown that is powerful,
for the simple fact that we have to let go of forced power we thought we had over our lives.

And somehow, finding ourselves in the unknown of life, for me, has become a joyful place, because it hold the potency to intimately connect to the very simple truths of what truly brings us joy in life.

— #reflections
+ sharing something soon to be with this kind of joy.

#embodiment #resilience #transformation #healing #somatics #beauty #theuknown

“How to live a life in support of the body and honor the capacity to feel deeply?”

I speak and work with so many women in search for this.

The sensitive women.
Those who are deeply empathetic, who feel A LOT, emotionally as well as physically.
Those with heightened senses
and bodies with limitations, in need for more rest, solitude and relaxation.

I see the lure of the burnout, the overwhelm, anxiety and overstimulation, the overextension all around me in women who try to uphold it all. I’ve seen the despair, the sadness and defeat, and the trying.

I witness the clenched jaws, the tightness in the bellies, the pursed lips and the contracted chests— for no fault of their own, as this is what a rushed world demands of a soft and sensitive woman.

What is needed for living life in honor of the body?

Early on in life I had no choice but to live that way. I simply live in a body that doms me to honor my vessel.

There is beauty in having a body with a strong upper limit— there is no way around, no pushing beyond, but to rest

I taught me to stay away from most of the lures in our society, through a myriad of ways, practices and daily choices— not always easy, but over and over choosing devotion to live life embodied.

I can tell you that living in support and honor of your bidy & nature isn’t beyond your reach at all. Actually, it is the most natural thing to return to.

And so, this is what I offer— the return to sensitivity, to rest, to riding the waves of emotion, with the boundaries, discernment, choices in place that allow the joy and celebration of softness, relaxation, contemplation, introversion

to bloom and flourish in living in support of our body and feminine essence regardless whether the dream is to work a 9/5 job, kickass in the boardroom, to have hands in soil all day, whether to attract a dream partner, longing for more intimacy in life, or whether in recovery from bodily challenge.

I offer to say– no matter what life path you walk, your body is your vessel through which you experience life, and your body works for you, never against you— will you listen?

—
a little offering to this is coming soon, dm me ‘being’ for the link ::

“How to live a life in support of the body and honor the capacity to feel deeply?”

I speak and work with so many women in search for this.

The sensitive women.
Those who are deeply empathetic, who feel A LOT, emotionally as well as physically.
Those with heightened senses
and bodies with limitations, in need for more rest, solitude and relaxation.

I see the lure of the burnout, the overwhelm, anxiety and overstimulation, the overextension all around me in women who try to uphold it all. I’ve seen the despair, the sadness and defeat, and the trying.

I witness the clenched jaws, the tightness in the bellies, the pursed lips and the contracted chests— for no fault of their own, as this is what a rushed world demands of a soft and sensitive woman.

What is needed for living life in honor of the body?

Early on in life I had no choice but to live that way. I simply live in a body that doms me to honor my vessel.

There is beauty in having a body with a strong upper limit— there is no way around, no pushing beyond, but to rest

I taught me to stay away from most of the lures in our society, through a myriad of ways, practices and daily choices— not always easy, but over and over choosing devotion to live life embodied.

I can tell you that living in support and honor of your bidy & nature isn’t beyond your reach at all. Actually, it is the most natural thing to return to.

And so, this is what I offer— the return to sensitivity, to rest, to riding the waves of emotion, with the boundaries, discernment, choices in place that allow the joy and celebration of softness, relaxation, contemplation, introversion

to bloom and flourish in living in support of our body and feminine essence regardless whether the dream is to work a 9/5 job, kickass in the boardroom, to have hands in soil all day, whether to attract a dream partner, longing for more intimacy in life, or whether in recovery from bodily challenge.

I offer to say– no matter what life path you walk, your body is your vessel through which you experience life, and your body works for you, never against you— will you listen?

—
a little offering to this is coming soon, dm me ‘being’ for the link ::

This beautiful analogy I learned from one of my teachers on the difference between therapy-based healing work and practice-based healing work.

We will all face times in our lives when we need to tend to our wounds, whether those wounds are physical, mental, emotional or spiritual– we tend to them, inquire into them, heal them with love, care, reflection and rest.

And there is a time when we integrate those wounds, where we learn to live life with them as a whole part of who we are, where our wounds are part of our lived experience, where it becomes our practice to bring ourselves into life despite the limitations, despite the scar tissue, or the twitch.

This distinction matters when we choose to heal a part of ourselves– to inquire whether what we need is therapy-based healing, or practice-based healing.

I love both, we need both. When we courageously choose to look at who we are in our wholesomeness, the healing we choose depends on what we encounter within ourselves and on our paths in life..

Do we need to heal, tend to, care, inquire and rest and reflect?

Or do we need to practice, embrace, expand, deepen, and courageously step in and bring ourselves into life, into our relationships, despite it all?

🌹
#therapeutics #therapy #practice #somatics #embodiment #empowerment #beauty #wisdom #healing

This beautiful analogy I learned from one of my teachers on the difference between therapy-based healing work and practice-based healing work.

We will all face times in our lives when we need to tend to our wounds, whether those wounds are physical, mental, emotional or spiritual– we tend to them, inquire into them, heal them with love, care, reflection and rest.

And there is a time when we integrate those wounds, where we learn to live life with them as a whole part of who we are, where our wounds are part of our lived experience, where it becomes our practice to bring ourselves into life despite the limitations, despite the scar tissue, or the twitch.

This distinction matters when we choose to heal a part of ourselves– to inquire whether what we need is therapy-based healing, or practice-based healing.

I love both, we need both. When we courageously choose to look at who we are in our wholesomeness, the healing we choose depends on what we encounter within ourselves and on our paths in life..

Do we need to heal, tend to, care, inquire and rest and reflect?

Or do we need to practice, embrace, expand, deepen, and courageously step in and bring ourselves into life, into our relationships, despite it all?

🌹
#therapeutics #therapy #practice #somatics #embodiment #empowerment #beauty #wisdom #healing

| a little about

I love to be in the intimate depths of unravelling who we are & coming back into deep connection with our body, heart, and the living world around us.

Somatics and embodiment are the foundation of my work offering somatic psychotherapy and relational mentoring — rooted in the belief that healing happens when we slow down, feel, and become aware of how we relate to life, to others, and to ourselves.

Early on, life led me to first and foremost live in support of the body. I felt connected to the healing arts and therapeutic space amidst my own (bodily) challenges– blending the depth of trauma-informed therapy with the art of embodiment, self-inquiry, emotional maturation, and relational intimacy.

And I truly loved my studies in uni– in anthropology, (buddhist) psychology, (Indian) philosophy, and intersectionality while eventually completing an MSc in women’s diversity studies and bodyism.

The guidance I offer is informed by my academic background as well as my deepening in paths like depth psychology, Ayurveda, human flourishing, Kashmir Shaivism, feminine spiritual & sexual practice, yogic practice, and creative ritual.

I work both with women and men— to tend to our unique becoming in living, loving and leading.

Flourishing in life to me means a life lived in rhythm with the body. From the tenderness of being human, the celebration of our beauty, to the fierce grace of self-trust and resilience, creativity, and inner freedom — and to reconnect to the living intelligence of the body, and how to relate, flourish, open and root ourselves in the world.

the essence is in
𖦹 somatic psychotherapy & trauma integration
𖦹 embodiment, attunement & nervous system regulation
𖦹 inner leadership, self-trust & creative living
𖦹 s/x, love & relationship coaching through the art of relating
𖦹 the beauty way — creating a life of depth and grace

1:1 somatic therapy & mentorship is where I spent my time most, online and in person while teaching workshops and programs, and I love writing my heart out, always, for myself, and here —

→ for mentorship & inquiries
DM me, see link in bio or visit tessaschiethart.com

with love,
Tessa

| a little about

I love to be in the intimate depths of unravelling who we are & coming back into deep connection with our body, heart, and the living world around us.

Somatics and embodiment are the foundation of my work offering somatic psychotherapy and relational mentoring — rooted in the belief that healing happens when we slow down, feel, and become aware of how we relate to life, to others, and to ourselves.

Early on, life led me to first and foremost live in support of the body. I felt connected to the healing arts and therapeutic space amidst my own (bodily) challenges– blending the depth of trauma-informed therapy with the art of embodiment, self-inquiry, emotional maturation, and relational intimacy.

And I truly loved my studies in uni– in anthropology, (buddhist) psychology, (Indian) philosophy, and intersectionality while eventually completing an MSc in women’s diversity studies and bodyism.

The guidance I offer is informed by my academic background as well as my deepening in paths like depth psychology, Ayurveda, human flourishing, Kashmir Shaivism, feminine spiritual & sexual practice, yogic practice, and creative ritual.

I work both with women and men— to tend to our unique becoming in living, loving and leading.

Flourishing in life to me means a life lived in rhythm with the body. From the tenderness of being human, the celebration of our beauty, to the fierce grace of self-trust and resilience, creativity, and inner freedom — and to reconnect to the living intelligence of the body, and how to relate, flourish, open and root ourselves in the world.

the essence is in
𖦹 somatic psychotherapy & trauma integration
𖦹 embodiment, attunement & nervous system regulation
𖦹 inner leadership, self-trust & creative living
𖦹 s/x, love & relationship coaching through the art of relating
𖦹 the beauty way — creating a life of depth and grace

1:1 somatic therapy & mentorship is where I spent my time most, online and in person while teaching workshops and programs, and I love writing my heart out, always, for myself, and here —

→ for mentorship & inquiries
DM me, see link in bio or visit tessaschiethart.com

with love,
Tessa

a little snippet of a share on our inherent sense of deserving, and flipping the script of it being dependent on how much we ‘do’

you don’t only deserve goodness, relaxation and rest when you have worked hard.

you inherently do.
it doesn’t mean you should not work hard, but rest, pleasure and nourishment are your birthrights, these are daily essentials you deserve regardless of how much you have done.

the ingrained beliefs we hold around doing vs. being are so deeply imprinted in all of us, affecting us uniquely in how we live our daily lives.

it ain’t always easy to give space and place for being, for nourishment and relaxation in a culture that rewards productivity over anything else

yet for women especially there is so much to gain in flipping the script around doing vs. being—

it holds the potency to bring you back to your body, to more attunement to your senses, pleasure, to your aliveness, to feeling and beauty in your life #as we flip this script around our sense of deserving ✨

| www.tessaschiethart.com • somatic psychotherapy • relational mentoring

——
#deserving #flippingthescript #worth #aliveness #dailylife #relaxation #aliveness #nourishment #rest #productivity

a little snippet of a share on our inherent sense of deserving, and flipping the script of it being dependent on how much we ‘do’

you don’t only deserve goodness, relaxation and rest when you have worked hard.

you inherently do.
it doesn’t mean you should not work hard, but rest, pleasure and nourishment are your birthrights, these are daily essentials you deserve regardless of how much you have done.

the ingrained beliefs we hold around doing vs. being are so deeply imprinted in all of us, affecting us uniquely in how we live our daily lives.

it ain’t always easy to give space and place for being, for nourishment and relaxation in a culture that rewards productivity over anything else

yet for women especially there is so much to gain in flipping the script around doing vs. being—

it holds the potency to bring you back to your body, to more attunement to your senses, pleasure, to your aliveness, to feeling and beauty in your life #as we flip this script around our sense of deserving ✨

| www.tessaschiethart.com • somatic psychotherapy • relational mentoring

——
#deserving #flippingthescript #worth #aliveness #dailylife #relaxation #aliveness #nourishment #rest #productivity

a dear Ayurvedic teacher once said to me “the true school of life is relationship”— meaning that we learn most in relationship

and mostly we think of relationship as one intimate partner or romantic connection, but all of Life is relational.

With intimacy and connection as the foundation, the art of relating teaches us not necessarily what to do in a situation, but rather how to relate

and it teaches us in many aspects of life

in relating to our body, our food, movement, rest, pleasure, the people in our life, the challenges in our life… all of life is relational.

the art of it lies in how we choose to relate 🌹

| www.tessaschiethart.com • relational mentoring, somatic therapy.

___
#relationship #wrtofrelating #intimacy #connection

a dear Ayurvedic teacher once said to me “the true school of life is relationship”— meaning that we learn most in relationship

and mostly we think of relationship as one intimate partner or romantic connection, but all of Life is relational.

With intimacy and connection as the foundation, the art of relating teaches us not necessarily what to do in a situation, but rather how to relate

and it teaches us in many aspects of life

in relating to our body, our food, movement, rest, pleasure, the people in our life, the challenges in our life… all of life is relational.

the art of it lies in how we choose to relate 🌹

| www.tessaschiethart.com • relational mentoring, somatic therapy.

___
#relationship #wrtofrelating #intimacy #connection

deserving— part of the work I do with women in connecting to the body, is about this relationship we have to deserving pleasure, deserving a beautiful relationship to our very own body.

With pleasure I do not necessarily mean what happens in the bedroom, although how we show up there is a good pointer as to how we relate to pleasure in all areas of our lives.

But with pleasure, I mean your connection to your sensual aliveness, to your body, to your senses, to the way you drink a cup of tea, and to a warm bath, a good meal, some relaxation, slowness – anything that brings us pleasure and sensual aliveness.

You don’t only deserve these things when you have been productive.
Although many of us believe so and live life like this.

Many women feel only worthy, lovable, or deserving under certain circumstances.

Circumstances that first demand them to ‘fix’ themselves before they can enjoy themselves, to first change themselves, work hard, or be good before being allowed the goodness.

Part of reclaiming the relationship to your body, to your power, confidence, your sensual aliveness, your softness, and your relaxation, is flipping the script and realizing that you are inherently deserving of these things.

and seeing all the patterns that stand in the way of living your life embodied.

Because living an embodied life, inherently connected and in honor of your body, requires you to be IN your body, be with your pleasure, be in rest, be in relaxation, be in softness and in within your beingness, connected to your senses, to smell, to taste, to touch, to sound and feel.

And this is actually the most natural thing for a woman– to be in pleasure, connected to the body. As women, we are naturally connected to sensual aliveness and to relaxation.

Once we allow ourselves, we realize how nourishing our life becomes when we honor our bodies, and give ourselves the connection to the sensual aliveness and pleasures in life.

Regardless of the circumstances, regardless of the external world, regardless of the stories you’ve been told about deserving

to live in deep connection to your body 🌹

#embodiment #sensuality #aliveness #relaxation #somatictherqpy

deserving— part of the work I do with women in connecting to the body, is about this relationship we have to deserving pleasure, deserving a beautiful relationship to our very own body.

With pleasure I do not necessarily mean what happens in the bedroom, although how we show up there is a good pointer as to how we relate to pleasure in all areas of our lives.

But with pleasure, I mean your connection to your sensual aliveness, to your body, to your senses, to the way you drink a cup of tea, and to a warm bath, a good meal, some relaxation, slowness – anything that brings us pleasure and sensual aliveness.

You don’t only deserve these things when you have been productive.
Although many of us believe so and live life like this.

Many women feel only worthy, lovable, or deserving under certain circumstances.

Circumstances that first demand them to ‘fix’ themselves before they can enjoy themselves, to first change themselves, work hard, or be good before being allowed the goodness.

Part of reclaiming the relationship to your body, to your power, confidence, your sensual aliveness, your softness, and your relaxation, is flipping the script and realizing that you are inherently deserving of these things.

and seeing all the patterns that stand in the way of living your life embodied.

Because living an embodied life, inherently connected and in honor of your body, requires you to be IN your body, be with your pleasure, be in rest, be in relaxation, be in softness and in within your beingness, connected to your senses, to smell, to taste, to touch, to sound and feel.

And this is actually the most natural thing for a woman– to be in pleasure, connected to the body. As women, we are naturally connected to sensual aliveness and to relaxation.

Once we allow ourselves, we realize how nourishing our life becomes when we honor our bodies, and give ourselves the connection to the sensual aliveness and pleasures in life.

Regardless of the circumstances, regardless of the external world, regardless of the stories you’ve been told about deserving

to live in deep connection to your body 🌹

#embodiment #sensuality #aliveness #relaxation #somatictherqpy

The deep pulse of the feminine is what the past 3 months have given me here in bali— after a year that was challenging, this 1st trimester of this year has felt like the deepest anchor and fullest gestation; a winter of rainy season within the watery waters of the womb space that this island always has felt like for me.

She nurtured me, cared for me, she gave me a time full of ease & deep joy.

She may have taught me yet another layer of what wholesomeness feels like as I laid my body on her lands. It feels like she has whispered to me in ways I couldn’t hear before, but were now clearer than the lightning she struck in her rainy season.

She. the great She. The feminine pulse of Life that is the magic cure of this island.

This time fed me, oh so well, stretched me, oh so well. Holy hands massaged my body in myriad ways, while wrapped in garments, sarongs & things of beauty.

All the while I cultivated consciousness, sat in emptiness, countless hours in lotus awareness.

This time was the dance of fullness and emptiness, of the shiva/shakti within me, and all around me—teaching me yet again we need inner union to become whole within ourselves.

This sense of inner union is the guidance to the seat within our self, our home, our throne.

this seat, this home— or ‘swastha’, my favorite Sanskrit word, meaning ‘being anchored in one’s seat’ or ‘taking one’s throne’— within our body, our holy vessel, our own soil.

Home-coming and being anchored is the very thing the science of life, ayurveda, teaches me, and that the yogic path lets me realize, and the t.ntric path brings me in unity with. Just like it did 14 years ago, when my journey on these paths started, with innocent first steps, here, on her land.

Thank you bali, until the next dance with essence.

#suksma #swastha

The deep pulse of the feminine is what the past 3 months have given me here in bali— after a year that was challenging, this 1st trimester of this year has felt like the deepest anchor and fullest gestation; a winter of rainy season within the watery waters of the womb space that this island always has felt like for me.

She nurtured me, cared for me, she gave me a time full of ease & deep joy.

She may have taught me yet another layer of what wholesomeness feels like as I laid my body on her lands. It feels like she has whispered to me in ways I couldn’t hear before, but were now clearer than the lightning she struck in her rainy season.

She. the great She. The feminine pulse of Life that is the magic cure of this island.

This time fed me, oh so well, stretched me, oh so well. Holy hands massaged my body in myriad ways, while wrapped in garments, sarongs & things of beauty.

All the while I cultivated consciousness, sat in emptiness, countless hours in lotus awareness.

This time was the dance of fullness and emptiness, of the shiva/shakti within me, and all around me—teaching me yet again we need inner union to become whole within ourselves.

This sense of inner union is the guidance to the seat within our self, our home, our throne.

this seat, this home— or ‘swastha’, my favorite Sanskrit word, meaning ‘being anchored in one’s seat’ or ‘taking one’s throne’— within our body, our holy vessel, our own soil.

Home-coming and being anchored is the very thing the science of life, ayurveda, teaches me, and that the yogic path lets me realize, and the t.ntric path brings me in unity with. Just like it did 14 years ago, when my journey on these paths started, with innocent first steps, here, on her land.

Thank you bali, until the next dance with essence.

#suksma #swastha

Many women have in some way diminished their expression. Being catcalled on the street as a girl, being seg.sualized or looked at in all sorts of ways— this all has an impact on a woman’s expression and the way she carries her body.

I sure had my own journey with expression myself in a body that is constantly looked at.

Many women go through stages of relating to their expression.
From dressing down, dressing up and from hiding to exhibitionism— we learn to express ourselves based on the responses we get & have gotten in the past that affected us emotionally.

Whether you dress all black, plain, colorful or fifty shades of bougey beige (hi!), whether you express sexy, wild, protective, sheltered, neutral— it carries meaning, and has impact.

The question is, are you expressing in a way that serves the moment you are in?

There is reason to close in certain situations.
There are reasons to open in others.
With a lover, you want to express differently than when you’re in delhi’s airport so to say..

do you bring your fullness or does it perhaps not serve? do you bring less of yourself where more of you is actually deepening the moment you’re in?

The feminine pulse within each of us, the energy we carry in our body, can be cultivated.

The cultivation of your expression as a woman is a skill—a skill I love to deepen with women in.

As women, we have a tremendous ability to impact the world around us with our expression.
ánd our awareness of our own expression, magnetism and attraction is key to living a more liberated, embodied and expressed life.

I sit with women who want to hide a little more from the world, or who are always stared at, women who never feel seen, or model-perfect-looking women who have shrunken their expression.

The way we carry our bodies impacts the world, but more so; it mostly impacts our own experience of our body, our being, and the fullness of our lives

🌹 relational mentoring • somatic psychotherapy • www.tessaschiethart.com/support

Many women have in some way diminished their expression. Being catcalled on the street as a girl, being seg.sualized or looked at in all sorts of ways— this all has an impact on a woman’s expression and the way she carries her body.

I sure had my own journey with expression myself in a body that is constantly looked at.

Many women go through stages of relating to their expression.
From dressing down, dressing up and from hiding to exhibitionism— we learn to express ourselves based on the responses we get & have gotten in the past that affected us emotionally.

Whether you dress all black, plain, colorful or fifty shades of bougey beige (hi!), whether you express sexy, wild, protective, sheltered, neutral— it carries meaning, and has impact.

The question is, are you expressing in a way that serves the moment you are in?

There is reason to close in certain situations.
There are reasons to open in others.
With a lover, you want to express differently than when you’re in delhi’s airport so to say..

do you bring your fullness or does it perhaps not serve? do you bring less of yourself where more of you is actually deepening the moment you’re in?

The feminine pulse within each of us, the energy we carry in our body, can be cultivated.

The cultivation of your expression as a woman is a skill—a skill I love to deepen with women in.

As women, we have a tremendous ability to impact the world around us with our expression.
ánd our awareness of our own expression, magnetism and attraction is key to living a more liberated, embodied and expressed life.

I sit with women who want to hide a little more from the world, or who are always stared at, women who never feel seen, or model-perfect-looking women who have shrunken their expression.

The way we carry our bodies impacts the world, but more so; it mostly impacts our own experience of our body, our being, and the fullness of our lives

🌹 relational mentoring • somatic psychotherapy • www.tessaschiethart.com/support

There is life waiting for you, and a season of blossoming upon you.

Life is composed of love and light, within the dark, as a seed in the soil waiting for the right condition to manifest.

It is laying dormant in the dark, and as soon as the light is there, it springs out.

And then you put all the love and energy to this seed, nourishing and nurturing it, letting this seed unfurl from the dark soil hiding itself in. and that sprouting, spring unfurling is a beautiful energetic love

You are that seed, and this is the way to tend to your own soil, your very own body and being, as there is something waiting within you to sprout, to unfurl

And with the right condition, the right love and light, it will.

The right light and right love manifests Life.

Life: a vibrancy, an unfurling of becoming ourselves, and a continuous thread that weaves us all.

Engaging with Life through the right condition of love, light and acknowledging the soil we come from.

No seed is the same, but all seeds grow from the same light, deserve the same love.

We are all part and parcel of that same life, that flows through the veins, arteries,, undercurrent and overcurrents within and around us,

And that flow, that thread, that pulse of life… it streams through us all.

🌸 spring equinox from luscious bali —
grateful for the winter rains here, closing season here, opening to the wildflowers of Portugal’s spring.

& so loving my pinky rose birthmark in this season, that shows her colour through the warmth, relaxation, rejuvenation, and the veins of openness within (quite literally)

www.tessaschiethart.com/support

There is life waiting for you, and a season of blossoming upon you.

Life is composed of love and light, within the dark, as a seed in the soil waiting for the right condition to manifest.

It is laying dormant in the dark, and as soon as the light is there, it springs out.

And then you put all the love and energy to this seed, nourishing and nurturing it, letting this seed unfurl from the dark soil hiding itself in. and that sprouting, spring unfurling is a beautiful energetic love

You are that seed, and this is the way to tend to your own soil, your very own body and being, as there is something waiting within you to sprout, to unfurl

And with the right condition, the right love and light, it will.

The right light and right love manifests Life.

Life: a vibrancy, an unfurling of becoming ourselves, and a continuous thread that weaves us all.

Engaging with Life through the right condition of love, light and acknowledging the soil we come from.

No seed is the same, but all seeds grow from the same light, deserve the same love.

We are all part and parcel of that same life, that flows through the veins, arteries,, undercurrent and overcurrents within and around us,

And that flow, that thread, that pulse of life… it streams through us all.

🌸 spring equinox from luscious bali —
grateful for the winter rains here, closing season here, opening to the wildflowers of Portugal’s spring.

& so loving my pinky rose birthmark in this season, that shows her colour through the warmth, relaxation, rejuvenation, and the veins of openness within (quite literally)

www.tessaschiethart.com/support

Beauty, to me, is so much more than shine, looks, glamour or gloss

I am so grateful for a father, who is a quantum mathematician, and who taught me early on in life there is so much more to beauty.

I was given insight into sacred geometry, universal laws, and harmony and balance that brings about Beauty and that this Beauty also lived within us.

There is something deeper to Beauty, a deep pulse, a deep radiance that shines from within.

We each hold this within, this inner radiance. It is a life force that can be cultivated to shine outwards into the world.

To me, beauty is in the order and harmony of nature, in energy, in rhythms and cycles, in the beat of our heart and the way we carry the body and see the world.

Beauty, more than only seen, is then lived.

🌹 #thebeautyway #beauty #empowerment #lifeforce #radiance #sacredgeometry #navajo

Beauty, to me, is so much more than shine, looks, glamour or gloss

I am so grateful for a father, who is a quantum mathematician, and who taught me early on in life there is so much more to beauty.

I was given insight into sacred geometry, universal laws, and harmony and balance that brings about Beauty and that this Beauty also lived within us.

There is something deeper to Beauty, a deep pulse, a deep radiance that shines from within.

We each hold this within, this inner radiance. It is a life force that can be cultivated to shine outwards into the world.

To me, beauty is in the order and harmony of nature, in energy, in rhythms and cycles, in the beat of our heart and the way we carry the body and see the world.

Beauty, more than only seen, is then lived.

🌹 #thebeautyway #beauty #empowerment #lifeforce #radiance #sacredgeometry #navajo

there are times in our lives that ask for deep healing— a healing that includes the understanding of mind ánd the wisdom of the body, healing that softens so it releases, healing that asks for our pain to be witnessed, so that it transforms into beauty. 🌹

— if the words resonate, subscribe to my newsletter where I send the occasional long-form writing (yes to slow content!)— dm ‘subscribe’, I’ll send the link. 🌹

there are times in our lives that ask for deep healing— a healing that includes the understanding of mind ánd the wisdom of the body, healing that softens so it releases, healing that asks for our pain to be witnessed, so that it transforms into beauty. 🌹

— if the words resonate, subscribe to my newsletter where I send the occasional long-form writing (yes to slow content!)— dm ‘subscribe’, I’ll send the link. 🌹

daily, I have people tell me their fears in their lives, their challenges and hardships.

with that, they also tell me their frustrations, patterns and how they can feel stuck.

I recently had a client tell me she was so scared to be betrayed that she started to heavily control the situation she was in

I love to shift perspectives.
To come to see that beneath her fear lies her care.
And that the control is merely a pattern to get her care met.

A pattern often is just a way to get our care, love and longing met in a way that doesn’t actually serve us— the pattern

Until we see the deeper layer;

that our patterns actually hold a beauty beneath them

and that that beauty IS our deep feeling, our deep care, our deep love and longing for something, someone.

• beneath the patterns we hold lies the beauty of the truth of what we actually feel

Once we see the deeper layer to our pattern (care, love, a longing), we see it differently too, and that’s where a pattern can shift

because anything you judge cannot shift

When you release your own judgements on your patterns, and shift your perspective to the beauty underneath, things in your life can shift for the better.

The care, love and longing can be shown more fully, more raw, authentically and truthfully

You can honor the beautiful aspects of the hardship you experience and hold yourself in it more wholesomely.

You can express the deeper layers of feeling more beautifully with those you are in relationship with too.

This is where we can flourish from— when we see beneath the patterns that hold us back, honor the deeper layers of feeling beneath them, relate differently to the pattern, and transform them into beauty 🌹

| www.tessaschiethart.com

#deeperrelating #theartofrelating #humanflourishing #embodiedliving #thebeautyway #lookdeeper #seetruth #empowerment #bittersweet #transformation

daily, I have people tell me their fears in their lives, their challenges and hardships.

with that, they also tell me their frustrations, patterns and how they can feel stuck.

I recently had a client tell me she was so scared to be betrayed that she started to heavily control the situation she was in

I love to shift perspectives.
To come to see that beneath her fear lies her care.
And that the control is merely a pattern to get her care met.

A pattern often is just a way to get our care, love and longing met in a way that doesn’t actually serve us— the pattern

Until we see the deeper layer;

that our patterns actually hold a beauty beneath them

and that that beauty IS our deep feeling, our deep care, our deep love and longing for something, someone.

• beneath the patterns we hold lies the beauty of the truth of what we actually feel

Once we see the deeper layer to our pattern (care, love, a longing), we see it differently too, and that’s where a pattern can shift

because anything you judge cannot shift

When you release your own judgements on your patterns, and shift your perspective to the beauty underneath, things in your life can shift for the better.

The care, love and longing can be shown more fully, more raw, authentically and truthfully

You can honor the beautiful aspects of the hardship you experience and hold yourself in it more wholesomely.

You can express the deeper layers of feeling more beautifully with those you are in relationship with too.

This is where we can flourish from— when we see beneath the patterns that hold us back, honor the deeper layers of feeling beneath them, relate differently to the pattern, and transform them into beauty 🌹

| www.tessaschiethart.com

#deeperrelating #theartofrelating #humanflourishing #embodiedliving #thebeautyway #lookdeeper #seetruth #empowerment #bittersweet #transformation

It was in the moments I was sick that I found reverence for my body.

The moments I could barely move, that showed me movement was what I wanted to devote to.

It was in the moments when my eyesight was recovering from surgery, and I couldn’t see, that I became intimate with smell, taste, touch…
And those moments once lasted a summer of 3 months of only that,
where life became slow, sensual to the touch, taste and smell.
Blurry but blissful. Dark yet light.

–being present to the sensations of life, of deeply living life with reverence to your body and your experience, of being with beauty and devotion in every moment.

The relationship to our bodies and the challenges there, has the potency for us to become intimate with the most important aspects of living. To not take living for granted, and to enjoy the ecstasy that lies within each moment. Regardless of what you see, taste, smell, touch, relate to, or hear, to find beauty there– exactly as the moment unfolds.

I’ve learned that we often think everything is super important until we are sick.
Because when we have that annoying cold, the life-threatening diagnosis, we often realize that this moment counts, and that it is lived from within the body. And that there was only ever one thing important. Your health. Your body. And that your body was the only place you’d ever really live.

And then there is the realization what a blessing a body without pain or discomfort truly is. I still have these moments, where pain transforms into beauty.

I hope you root into reverence to your body, I hope you devote to the very place you will only ever live.

I hope you see, smell, taste, hear and touch your own divinity in moments, especially the challenging ones.

I hope you find wholeness there.

I hope you take seat within your own body, like what in Ayurveda is called ‘swastha’; an anchoredness within your own being.

acknowledging that there is reverence for the body to be found in the very moments where you are challenged with your body.

To never forget, it is a gift to feel comfort in your body.

It is the only place of true belonging 🌹

embodied living | deeper relating | www.tessaschiethart.com

It was in the moments I was sick that I found reverence for my body.

The moments I could barely move, that showed me movement was what I wanted to devote to.

It was in the moments when my eyesight was recovering from surgery, and I couldn’t see, that I became intimate with smell, taste, touch…
And those moments once lasted a summer of 3 months of only that,
where life became slow, sensual to the touch, taste and smell.
Blurry but blissful. Dark yet light.

–being present to the sensations of life, of deeply living life with reverence to your body and your experience, of being with beauty and devotion in every moment.

The relationship to our bodies and the challenges there, has the potency for us to become intimate with the most important aspects of living. To not take living for granted, and to enjoy the ecstasy that lies within each moment. Regardless of what you see, taste, smell, touch, relate to, or hear, to find beauty there– exactly as the moment unfolds.

I’ve learned that we often think everything is super important until we are sick.
Because when we have that annoying cold, the life-threatening diagnosis, we often realize that this moment counts, and that it is lived from within the body. And that there was only ever one thing important. Your health. Your body. And that your body was the only place you’d ever really live.

And then there is the realization what a blessing a body without pain or discomfort truly is. I still have these moments, where pain transforms into beauty.

I hope you root into reverence to your body, I hope you devote to the very place you will only ever live.

I hope you see, smell, taste, hear and touch your own divinity in moments, especially the challenging ones.

I hope you find wholeness there.

I hope you take seat within your own body, like what in Ayurveda is called ‘swastha’; an anchoredness within your own being.

acknowledging that there is reverence for the body to be found in the very moments where you are challenged with your body.

To never forget, it is a gift to feel comfort in your body.

It is the only place of true belonging 🌹

embodied living | deeper relating | www.tessaschiethart.com

I see this around me at times — the romanticizing of our hardship (or the positivizing of things that actually deep down touch us deeply)

I truly believe there may be something that, often in hindsight, we see our hard times as epiphanies, as revelations, portals in becoming more of us, and understanding why it happened.

I sure relate to my hardships in that way, in hindsight.

But endings in life, letting go of people and parts of ourselves is incredibly challenging too, especially when we’re in it, going through it.

Hardships create all sorts of questions. From ‘why me’?
To ‘what do I want’?
To ‘what does this mean for my life’?— some questions empowering, other questions not so empowering for us.

Abd these are multi-faceted questions— with many layers of who we are behind them and in the answers to these questions.

They can be important to ask ourselves.

I am fortunate to work with people that face all sorts of challenges, and exploring, navigating and tending to the depth of these hardships, challenges and life alterations.

And I know too that those of us having faced incredibly hard things, often go on to create incredivle beautiful things in the world too. I see it all the time— small or big

Resilience creates beauty— to overcome, to face, to triumph.

The hardship equips us uniquely.
It takes time and inquiry to deeper relate to what we face and transcend and transform.
But this will create meaning and insight, and more access to our unique embodied life beyond the hardships we all will face sooner or later.

🌹 www.tessaschiethart.com |

#beauty #challenge #grace #embodiedliving #deeperrelating
#resilience #empowerment

I see this around me at times — the romanticizing of our hardship (or the positivizing of things that actually deep down touch us deeply)

I truly believe there may be something that, often in hindsight, we see our hard times as epiphanies, as revelations, portals in becoming more of us, and understanding why it happened.

I sure relate to my hardships in that way, in hindsight.

But endings in life, letting go of people and parts of ourselves is incredibly challenging too, especially when we’re in it, going through it.

Hardships create all sorts of questions. From ‘why me’?
To ‘what do I want’?
To ‘what does this mean for my life’?— some questions empowering, other questions not so empowering for us.

Abd these are multi-faceted questions— with many layers of who we are behind them and in the answers to these questions.

They can be important to ask ourselves.

I am fortunate to work with people that face all sorts of challenges, and exploring, navigating and tending to the depth of these hardships, challenges and life alterations.

And I know too that those of us having faced incredibly hard things, often go on to create incredivle beautiful things in the world too. I see it all the time— small or big

Resilience creates beauty— to overcome, to face, to triumph.

The hardship equips us uniquely.
It takes time and inquiry to deeper relate to what we face and transcend and transform.
But this will create meaning and insight, and more access to our unique embodied life beyond the hardships we all will face sooner or later.

🌹 www.tessaschiethart.com |

#beauty #challenge #grace #embodiedliving #deeperrelating
#resilience #empowerment

“Nourish me not with love but with the desire for love.” – Ibn Arabi. “Do not seek for water, be thirsty.” – Rumi.

I love the great mystics, the poetry & the devotion to Longing.

My dad had all the poetry books right there where I grew up.

Longing, and aching, missing, grieving—show a raw beauty.

When it comes to love & longing, the most ecstatic moments of my life were perhaps in heartbreak—on my carpet, winter outside, candlelight flickering, and in the ache of deep feeling and longing I tasted life more beautifully than ever before.

Our longing does not leave. It lingers beneath everything. Because longing is not about lack—it is about depth.

Our world does not teach us how to sit in longing. It tells us to chase, to reach, to grab the next fix—

Longing is not craving.
Longing is not wanting.
Longing is beyond fulfillment.

The moment you get what you want, another hunger will arise. But longing—that deep, holy ache—is different. It is the whisper of something beyond that the poets wrote about.

In the realm of Longing, I love how Sufism sees pain & separation not as a psychological event, but as a spiritual opening. Longing can lead us to become intimate with this one primal pain; the pain of separation. The pain of not belonging. Being born merely is separation.

When we allow the separation & longing to lead us deeper within ourselves, it can take us deeper in life, and in love.

I love to remind the women I work with of longing, as it is particularly part of our feminine nature (while also honoring the psyche & its beautiful wants & needs).

I’ve come to see that longing, and sadness, grief, and ecstatically missing hold such such súuuch beauty!

Longing is not meant to be solved or fulfilled.
I love that longing is meant to be lived. It is meant to bring you deeper. Because, as Rumi said—longing itself is a cure.

The cure is perhaps that it stretches your heart open.
The cure may be feeling deeply.
The cure may be to sit with what is.

If anything, our longing holds pain & beauty simultaneously. Let it move you. 🌹

www.tessaschiethart.com/support

#beauty #longing #love #embodiment #sufism #rumi #mysticism #poetry

“Nourish me not with love but with the desire for love.” – Ibn Arabi. “Do not seek for water, be thirsty.” – Rumi.

I love the great mystics, the poetry & the devotion to Longing.

My dad had all the poetry books right there where I grew up.

Longing, and aching, missing, grieving—show a raw beauty.

When it comes to love & longing, the most ecstatic moments of my life were perhaps in heartbreak—on my carpet, winter outside, candlelight flickering, and in the ache of deep feeling and longing I tasted life more beautifully than ever before.

Our longing does not leave. It lingers beneath everything. Because longing is not about lack—it is about depth.

Our world does not teach us how to sit in longing. It tells us to chase, to reach, to grab the next fix—

Longing is not craving.
Longing is not wanting.
Longing is beyond fulfillment.

The moment you get what you want, another hunger will arise. But longing—that deep, holy ache—is different. It is the whisper of something beyond that the poets wrote about.

In the realm of Longing, I love how Sufism sees pain & separation not as a psychological event, but as a spiritual opening. Longing can lead us to become intimate with this one primal pain; the pain of separation. The pain of not belonging. Being born merely is separation.

When we allow the separation & longing to lead us deeper within ourselves, it can take us deeper in life, and in love.

I love to remind the women I work with of longing, as it is particularly part of our feminine nature (while also honoring the psyche & its beautiful wants & needs).

I’ve come to see that longing, and sadness, grief, and ecstatically missing hold such such súuuch beauty!

Longing is not meant to be solved or fulfilled.
I love that longing is meant to be lived. It is meant to bring you deeper. Because, as Rumi said—longing itself is a cure.

The cure is perhaps that it stretches your heart open.
The cure may be feeling deeply.
The cure may be to sit with what is.

If anything, our longing holds pain & beauty simultaneously. Let it move you. 🌹

www.tessaschiethart.com/support

#beauty #longing #love #embodiment #sufism #rumi #mysticism #poetry

I like meeting people, knowing that behind all of their faces lie stories that are worth listening to

I like raw, I like real, I like unconventional. I like the hidden parts of us deep within our hearts.

Like that young man I met on a retreat, whose body posture looked closed, who looked slightly angry. And then, over a night of deep talk when every body else left, told me everything about what serving in the war was like, giving words to the visuals no eyes should see

Or the loudest lady at the table, who then shares in the bathroom with me the deep grief in her heart—

Ive always known thing do not always look as they are.

And Ive always had people tell me their stories. Not just stories— their deepest life experiences, the things they carried in their hearts, their truths.

I have accepted I have a hard time keeping up conversations that do not feel deep.

I live for depth in conversation, for true listening, connection and rawness.

It humbles me. It teaches me. People tend to pour their hearts out to me. They always have.
In real life encounters. In my dm’s. In long emails I receive.

And the older I grow, the more I am a vessel for this. As my own stories, thoughts and feeling fade more to the background, and do not grapple me as much as my sensitive twenties did.

It is so so liberating to be a vessel people trust

Tell me the truths you’ve never dared to speak. Tell me about your experiences that shaped the way you live. Tell me your grief. Tell me over and over as it will come in waves and as the stories change you.

And lets anchor these stories. Let us anchor them within the very soil of your being. Your body. For its there that the story of your life flourishes. In your embodiment. In your raw, real being.

🌹
#embodiment #somaticpsychotherapy #beingseen #deeperrelating

I like meeting people, knowing that behind all of their faces lie stories that are worth listening to

I like raw, I like real, I like unconventional. I like the hidden parts of us deep within our hearts.

Like that young man I met on a retreat, whose body posture looked closed, who looked slightly angry. And then, over a night of deep talk when every body else left, told me everything about what serving in the war was like, giving words to the visuals no eyes should see

Or the loudest lady at the table, who then shares in the bathroom with me the deep grief in her heart—

Ive always known thing do not always look as they are.

And Ive always had people tell me their stories. Not just stories— their deepest life experiences, the things they carried in their hearts, their truths.

I have accepted I have a hard time keeping up conversations that do not feel deep.

I live for depth in conversation, for true listening, connection and rawness.

It humbles me. It teaches me. People tend to pour their hearts out to me. They always have.
In real life encounters. In my dm’s. In long emails I receive.

And the older I grow, the more I am a vessel for this. As my own stories, thoughts and feeling fade more to the background, and do not grapple me as much as my sensitive twenties did.

It is so so liberating to be a vessel people trust

Tell me the truths you’ve never dared to speak. Tell me about your experiences that shaped the way you live. Tell me your grief. Tell me over and over as it will come in waves and as the stories change you.

And lets anchor these stories. Let us anchor them within the very soil of your being. Your body. For its there that the story of your life flourishes. In your embodiment. In your raw, real being.

🌹
#embodiment #somaticpsychotherapy #beingseen #deeperrelating

on my path, and in guiding others, these are just some of the words that have been anchors.

anchors for resilience, empowerment, choice, creativity, belonging, relating, depth, flourishing and beauty,

themes I deeply love to awaken to and guide you in.

this work I love to bring is rooted in resilience. rooted in the understanding that any human faces challenges in this life, and that those challenge have such potency to bring us empowerment, to bring us an embodied and creative way of living, and a deeper sense of relating to all of life. and that within all of it, there is beauty — beauty in the deepest meaning we can give to it.

🌹 which of these is your favorite?

•
#beauty #resilience #empowerment #meaning #hafiz #rumi #frankl #poetry #wisdom #embodiment #relating #intimacy #choice #belonging #humanflourishing

on my path, and in guiding others, these are just some of the words that have been anchors.

anchors for resilience, empowerment, choice, creativity, belonging, relating, depth, flourishing and beauty,

themes I deeply love to awaken to and guide you in.

this work I love to bring is rooted in resilience. rooted in the understanding that any human faces challenges in this life, and that those challenge have such potency to bring us empowerment, to bring us an embodied and creative way of living, and a deeper sense of relating to all of life. and that within all of it, there is beauty — beauty in the deepest meaning we can give to it.

🌹 which of these is your favorite?

•
#beauty #resilience #empowerment #meaning #hafiz #rumi #frankl #poetry #wisdom #embodiment #relating #intimacy #choice #belonging #humanflourishing

I find this one of the most beautiful things about men:

Their way of seeing us

a man devoted to you, loves to see you in your beauty, shine, greatness, in your power, in your gifts, whatever you name it.

Over the last year, I have worked with tens of men, often partners of the women I worked with – I love that, and it is so beautiful to witness how they can see their woman 💕

A lot of the men I work with have this beautiful way of seeing their woman in her glory ánd see it if she’s not.

The truest men will tell us, wíth full heart, no judgement.

Many men have strong vision, strong insight, and they can see us clearly (depending on their level of presence, too).

the men who will see where were not in our fullness, ánd bring it so so lovingly where he loves to see more in your power, more with the things he knows you’re flourish in, the things he knows you love to do… are a gift.

Can you receive him when he tells you? Can you actually hear him?

or is that hard at times? (i know, patterns in this comeup for all of us..)

ps. there is discernment in whether he judges or truly brings his heart and longing for more of you - you can feel the distinction in your body - often, you can sense a vulnerability, a genuine desire from him for you to grow!

maybe you do feel made small by a man, if he judges, then this is a sign. perhaps a sign to leave — not because he is ultimately wrong or whatever pop-psychology label you want to put onto him, but because you deserve your shine, softness & flourishing met by someone.)

ps. I offer relational mentoring with partners individually, not coupled. I primarily work with monogamous individuals, men and women, using the framework of the stages of relating by deida, who my work is deeply inspired by, as well as many beautiful tools such as attachment relating, mindfulness & nvc, er’tic friction and energetics.
I have a focus on spectrum-relating; e.g grief + love, pain vs. pleasure (example; I work with individuals who have (a partner with) chronic illness / pain that affects pleasure, relating & intimacy.

& I work with more topics of wonder, depth & delight in relating — www.tessaschiethart.com

I find this one of the most beautiful things about men:

Their way of seeing us

a man devoted to you, loves to see you in your beauty, shine, greatness, in your power, in your gifts, whatever you name it.

Over the last year, I have worked with tens of men, often partners of the women I worked with – I love that, and it is so beautiful to witness how they can see their woman 💕

A lot of the men I work with have this beautiful way of seeing their woman in her glory ánd see it if she’s not.

The truest men will tell us, wíth full heart, no judgement.

Many men have strong vision, strong insight, and they can see us clearly (depending on their level of presence, too).

the men who will see where were not in our fullness, ánd bring it so so lovingly where he loves to see more in your power, more with the things he knows you’re flourish in, the things he knows you love to do… are a gift.

Can you receive him when he tells you? Can you actually hear him?

or is that hard at times? (i know, patterns in this comeup for all of us..)

ps. there is discernment in whether he judges or truly brings his heart and longing for more of you - you can feel the distinction in your body - often, you can sense a vulnerability, a genuine desire from him for you to grow!

maybe you do feel made small by a man, if he judges, then this is a sign. perhaps a sign to leave — not because he is ultimately wrong or whatever pop-psychology label you want to put onto him, but because you deserve your shine, softness & flourishing met by someone.)

ps. I offer relational mentoring with partners individually, not coupled. I primarily work with monogamous individuals, men and women, using the framework of the stages of relating by deida, who my work is deeply inspired by, as well as many beautiful tools such as attachment relating, mindfulness & nvc, er’tic friction and energetics.
I have a focus on spectrum-relating; e.g grief + love, pain vs. pleasure (example; I work with individuals who have (a partner with) chronic illness / pain that affects pleasure, relating & intimacy.

& I work with more topics of wonder, depth & delight in relating — www.tessaschiethart.com

if you want to be yourself, if you want to deeper relate to yourself, others and the world around you, learn to be witnessed, learn to witness yourself, be aeen. it will be vulnerable, triggering, opening, scary, humbling. it has you seeing you for all you are and then letting the world in — and its so worth it, because there is nothing as rewarding as just simply being yourself

and it is your gift to the world. your uniqueness truly is.

• #beingseen #embodiedliving #embodiment #empowerment

if you want to be yourself, if you want to deeper relate to yourself, others and the world around you, learn to be witnessed, learn to witness yourself, be aeen. it will be vulnerable, triggering, opening, scary, humbling. it has you seeing you for all you are and then letting the world in — and its so worth it, because there is nothing as rewarding as just simply being yourself

and it is your gift to the world. your uniqueness truly is.

• #beingseen #embodiedliving #embodiment #empowerment

One thing I adore about my birthmark, is that it invites connection and truth

No matter where I find myself in the world — I seem to always have people recognize me.

like “hey, I saw you at yoga the other day, how was your class?” & I end up having lunch with people, be invited to people’s events..
I meet dutchies across the world who tell me “I know you from somewhere”.
In the villages I find myself, it takes about 3 days for all the locals to know me and connect. Its so lovely.

Whether people recognize me from a photo, a friend’s party, a magazine interview, a talk show I was on, or just the neighborhood,

its wild sometimes how I get to meet people.

I know there’s of a feeling that our uniqueness is unacceptable, should be hidden, fumbled away or otherwise is unwanted

Yet, I feel and know your uniqueness creates for something special, for you and others who engage with you.

And your uniqueness deepens truth, too.

I know that the people I attract are open to look deeper. At me. At people. At life. Beyond skin or surface.

To recognize someone, in a deeper way, is not what all people are able to do. And so the people who are not able to look deeper easily fall away. Uniqueness filters.

This creates a real and raw presence with people that my deep heart doesn’t want to live without anyway.

I rarely write about my birthmarked experiences these days, and these words surely do not mean I don’t have hard moments either. I do.

But those moments can be counted on one hand. While the beautiful moments of connection & truth are endless, bringing me a life of wonder & delight. 💕

Your uniqueness is a gift.
Carry the embodiment of your uniquenss, whether on your skin or below your skin.

The radiance you will shine out as a result is attractive — not in the superficial sense of the word. But in the literal sense: it attracts.

Your own embrace of who you are attracts people, opportunities, and trust me, wild experiences too!

— sending love, Tess

www.tessaschiethart.com |

#embodiment #radiance #truth #connection #embrace #withinyourskin #empowerment

One thing I adore about my birthmark, is that it invites connection and truth

No matter where I find myself in the world — I seem to always have people recognize me.

like “hey, I saw you at yoga the other day, how was your class?” & I end up having lunch with people, be invited to people’s events..
I meet dutchies across the world who tell me “I know you from somewhere”.
In the villages I find myself, it takes about 3 days for all the locals to know me and connect. Its so lovely.

Whether people recognize me from a photo, a friend’s party, a magazine interview, a talk show I was on, or just the neighborhood,

its wild sometimes how I get to meet people.

I know there’s of a feeling that our uniqueness is unacceptable, should be hidden, fumbled away or otherwise is unwanted

Yet, I feel and know your uniqueness creates for something special, for you and others who engage with you.

And your uniqueness deepens truth, too.

I know that the people I attract are open to look deeper. At me. At people. At life. Beyond skin or surface.

To recognize someone, in a deeper way, is not what all people are able to do. And so the people who are not able to look deeper easily fall away. Uniqueness filters.

This creates a real and raw presence with people that my deep heart doesn’t want to live without anyway.

I rarely write about my birthmarked experiences these days, and these words surely do not mean I don’t have hard moments either. I do.

But those moments can be counted on one hand. While the beautiful moments of connection & truth are endless, bringing me a life of wonder & delight. 💕

Your uniqueness is a gift.
Carry the embodiment of your uniquenss, whether on your skin or below your skin.

The radiance you will shine out as a result is attractive — not in the superficial sense of the word. But in the literal sense: it attracts.

Your own embrace of who you are attracts people, opportunities, and trust me, wild experiences too!

— sending love, Tess

www.tessaschiethart.com |

#embodiment #radiance #truth #connection #embrace #withinyourskin #empowerment

Maybe you just need rest?

Maybe you don’t need another activity, but just to lay your body down and be.

Maybe it is simple to rest, maybe it is not at all something that is fancy.

Rest is not a luxury, it is a human need.

It is not defined by massage, or shiny things fhat you think define selfcare.

But just to lay your body down. To breathe for 7 minutes straight. To let your body calm down.

To let the winds of your exhale wind down the intensity.

Maybe you feel you are only allowed to rest when you’ve first done something to deserve it.

Maybe you don’t need to be exhausted to deserve rest. You donMt need to earn your way to rest.

You don’t need to please others before you can rest.

In a world that does so much, doing nothing is a rebellious act.

Often uncomfortable for those who feel they only deserve rest under certain circumstances, and a necessity for those who have a body that demands rest without negotiating — something I am invited in often.

Yet, a rested bodymind is actually more productive than productive exhaustion ever could be. Creativity is one thing that requires rest and relaxation, pleasure, open heartedness, and joy too.

Relaxation is a gateway to understanding ourselves better.

Because we need to have a relaxed nervous system to access parts of ourselves that aren’t online in a stress-mode.

And it ripples out. Stress is contagious. Our energies literally influences the people around us. Our bodies resonate with one another. So your rested state impacts others. If its hard to rest for yourself, then remind yoursef that it ripples and impacts others.

Your aliveness and flourishing starts from rest.

A relaxed open state creates for a different experience of life.

Our bodily rest is needed. It contacts deeper parts of us. Its lets you become aware of what happens in the undercurrents of who you are. Below all the noise and activity and doing.

— when you want to deepen your stae of rest, join the workshop on February 23rd

we’ll dive into relaxation and rest for an openness in your body to step into life with more ease.

• softening within your skin •

dm ‘softening’ & I’ll get you the link 🌺

Maybe you just need rest?

Maybe you don’t need another activity, but just to lay your body down and be.

Maybe it is simple to rest, maybe it is not at all something that is fancy.

Rest is not a luxury, it is a human need.

It is not defined by massage, or shiny things fhat you think define selfcare.

But just to lay your body down. To breathe for 7 minutes straight. To let your body calm down.

To let the winds of your exhale wind down the intensity.

Maybe you feel you are only allowed to rest when you’ve first done something to deserve it.

Maybe you don’t need to be exhausted to deserve rest. You donMt need to earn your way to rest.

You don’t need to please others before you can rest.

In a world that does so much, doing nothing is a rebellious act.

Often uncomfortable for those who feel they only deserve rest under certain circumstances, and a necessity for those who have a body that demands rest without negotiating — something I am invited in often.

Yet, a rested bodymind is actually more productive than productive exhaustion ever could be. Creativity is one thing that requires rest and relaxation, pleasure, open heartedness, and joy too.

Relaxation is a gateway to understanding ourselves better.

Because we need to have a relaxed nervous system to access parts of ourselves that aren’t online in a stress-mode.

And it ripples out. Stress is contagious. Our energies literally influences the people around us. Our bodies resonate with one another. So your rested state impacts others. If its hard to rest for yourself, then remind yoursef that it ripples and impacts others.

Your aliveness and flourishing starts from rest.

A relaxed open state creates for a different experience of life.

Our bodily rest is needed. It contacts deeper parts of us. Its lets you become aware of what happens in the undercurrents of who you are. Below all the noise and activity and doing.

— when you want to deepen your stae of rest, join the workshop on February 23rd

we’ll dive into relaxation and rest for an openness in your body to step into life with more ease.

• softening within your skin •

dm ‘softening’ & I’ll get you the link 🌺

In the framework I curated when working around Beauty, I have made 3 beautiful distinctions in relating to Beauty

1. surface shine — this is relating to beauty from the surface, the looks of it, the external. this is what most people relate to, when relating to beauty; their skin, external looks, the shinyness, and the enhancement of it. this is what ‘beauty’ means for most in our society. its not wrong, its just surface-level— not quite as deep as we can relate to it, but it can be nourishing, like decorating your house is, like enchanting yourself with jewelry and dress, like playing with colors and fabric. ánd it comes with a shadow too: of adjusting, covering and masking, of not enoughness and hiding. for women it often comes with comparison, judgement and generally a more mind-oriented relationship to beauty: of what is deemed beautiful and what is not.

2. equanimous beauty — this is relating to beauty from compassion, (body) neutrality, from the heart and true inclusion of all aspects and expressions of beauty, it is not only external, but an internal wholesome stance towards yourself, others and the environment you find yourself in. it is acceptance: a coming to see beauty in any natural expression. and it usually comes with a lot of healing: healing the way we look at ourselves, the way we see our bodies, a path of releasing any patterns and closures around your beauty and beauty itself, a way of seeing beauty wholesomely.

3. divine beauty — this is an integration, or realization of the deep pulse of beauty within you; a pulse that radiates outwardly, that is unseen yet so felt, so present, and exudes outwardly. it is pure, light, artful, expressive. not confined to any look, beyond the look, a beauty carried because of the inner beauty within.

i love the framework of the psychospiritual 3 stages, and applying this to beauty.

beauty is my most beloved path— teaching intricate lessons, our relationship to beauty is so deeply ingrained in our human experience, as we move between these stages in different ways, in different stages of our life and relationship to our bodies

its the beauty way ✨

#beauty #divinebeauty #wholeness #embodiment

In the framework I curated when working around Beauty, I have made 3 beautiful distinctions in relating to Beauty

1. surface shine — this is relating to beauty from the surface, the looks of it, the external. this is what most people relate to, when relating to beauty; their skin, external looks, the shinyness, and the enhancement of it. this is what ‘beauty’ means for most in our society. its not wrong, its just surface-level— not quite as deep as we can relate to it, but it can be nourishing, like decorating your house is, like enchanting yourself with jewelry and dress, like playing with colors and fabric. ánd it comes with a shadow too: of adjusting, covering and masking, of not enoughness and hiding. for women it often comes with comparison, judgement and generally a more mind-oriented relationship to beauty: of what is deemed beautiful and what is not.

2. equanimous beauty — this is relating to beauty from compassion, (body) neutrality, from the heart and true inclusion of all aspects and expressions of beauty, it is not only external, but an internal wholesome stance towards yourself, others and the environment you find yourself in. it is acceptance: a coming to see beauty in any natural expression. and it usually comes with a lot of healing: healing the way we look at ourselves, the way we see our bodies, a path of releasing any patterns and closures around your beauty and beauty itself, a way of seeing beauty wholesomely.

3. divine beauty — this is an integration, or realization of the deep pulse of beauty within you; a pulse that radiates outwardly, that is unseen yet so felt, so present, and exudes outwardly. it is pure, light, artful, expressive. not confined to any look, beyond the look, a beauty carried because of the inner beauty within.

i love the framework of the psychospiritual 3 stages, and applying this to beauty.

beauty is my most beloved path— teaching intricate lessons, our relationship to beauty is so deeply ingrained in our human experience, as we move between these stages in different ways, in different stages of our life and relationship to our bodies

its the beauty way ✨

#beauty #divinebeauty #wholeness #embodiment

“The true party happens on the inside”

& the true adventure remains the traversing of our inner landscapes.

I giggle often with one of my teachers when yet again we deepen into all that seems to happen inside of me, from digestion to devotion.

Because with a rich inner world, I have always felt there is so much to discover within me that although I can find myself in an external circumstance, in far away lands and fun parties,

nothing really seems to beat the richness of my inner landscapes.

Below your skin lies the true world wide web to discover.

From sensations, emotions, and thoughts, to organs with their functions, feelings and fumbles. From the stories of your mind, and the motions of your heart, to the wisdom held within your cells as they pulse in exaltation.

The trinity of yoga, ayurveda and t-an-tra has guided me in traversing my inner landscapes, and the different bodies: my mental, emotional, physical, energetic, and spiritual

from the sweetest joy and pleasure to the immense pulses and pangs of pains,

I see such beauty in discovering our inner landscapes & bringing it in relationship to the outer world,

through practice & embodiment.

Our inner landscapes are so interesting because they will never be fully travelled, traversed– it is a widening field that opens and deepens just as you thought you’d arrived

The magic? Your inner landscape is right there, right beneath the sacredness of your skin.

To come into relationship with all you hold within takes softening, relaxing, sensitizing, and awareness & curiosity.

I teach a beautiful workshop with the skin as our gateway to the depths of your inner landscapes

with practices of softening and relaxation within the body so that you can step into the world attuned to the wisdom within your very being, within your skin

Softening within your Skin – a workshop

February 23rd

✨ dm me ‘softening’ for the link to join & something sweet with it coming too

#embodiment #embodiedliving #deeperrelating #withinyourskine

“The true party happens on the inside”

& the true adventure remains the traversing of our inner landscapes.

I giggle often with one of my teachers when yet again we deepen into all that seems to happen inside of me, from digestion to devotion.

Because with a rich inner world, I have always felt there is so much to discover within me that although I can find myself in an external circumstance, in far away lands and fun parties,

nothing really seems to beat the richness of my inner landscapes.

Below your skin lies the true world wide web to discover.

From sensations, emotions, and thoughts, to organs with their functions, feelings and fumbles. From the stories of your mind, and the motions of your heart, to the wisdom held within your cells as they pulse in exaltation.

The trinity of yoga, ayurveda and t-an-tra has guided me in traversing my inner landscapes, and the different bodies: my mental, emotional, physical, energetic, and spiritual

from the sweetest joy and pleasure to the immense pulses and pangs of pains,

I see such beauty in discovering our inner landscapes & bringing it in relationship to the outer world,

through practice & embodiment.

Our inner landscapes are so interesting because they will never be fully travelled, traversed– it is a widening field that opens and deepens just as you thought you’d arrived

The magic? Your inner landscape is right there, right beneath the sacredness of your skin.

To come into relationship with all you hold within takes softening, relaxing, sensitizing, and awareness & curiosity.

I teach a beautiful workshop with the skin as our gateway to the depths of your inner landscapes

with practices of softening and relaxation within the body so that you can step into the world attuned to the wisdom within your very being, within your skin

Softening within your Skin – a workshop

February 23rd

✨ dm me ‘softening’ for the link to join & something sweet with it coming too

#embodiment #embodiedliving #deeperrelating #withinyourskine

“Beautiful people don’t just happen”– these words I read many years ago, deeply appreciate them, from Elizabeth Kubler-Ross.

Over the years, I’ve heard and sat with so many beautiful people, and with their experiences of despair, doubt, challenge, heartbreak, obstacles, limitations, grief, and loss– and within my own journey there are some key insights that have brought me to the beauty, grace and flourishing that lies within and beyond each and every of these life hardships,

The wisdom of some of the great mystics have inspired me to orient to an embodiment and acceptance that embraces all experiences in life.

Like Teresa of Avila, partly the namesake of my grandmother and I, who taught me there is growth in challenge, to let nothing frighten you, to open, and build capacity for patience.
Like Khalil Gibran, who taught that suffering brings soulfulness.
Like Rumi, who beautiful said that the wound is where the light enters.

I have come to see that every adversity, every doubt, every setback, every challenge, has the immense potency to let you grow, develop and become soulful in being.

Those who have known defeat, been at the end of themselves, known suffering, struggle, loss and despite it all find their way because of it, not despite of it–

Those experiences hold the potential to bring us a deepened relationship to Life, a sensitivity, appreciation, a not-taking-anything-for-granted attitude, a gratitude, and compassion.

Like Ram Dass said, “I do not wish you the stroke, but I wish you the grace of the stroke”.
I hold many scares myself, but I know deep within there is not a single thing I would change about them for they hold all the beauty of my Life today.

This is where I love to sit with people– at their moment of deepest difficulty. Not because I wish you the difficulty, but because I deeply see potency, possibility and beauty there.
To move challenge into growth, pain into pleasure, and your becoming into your truest beauty.

there is such beauty in human resilience, and the transformative power of coming in harmony with life’s hardship.

🌹 www.tessaschiethart.com/support –

#resilience #embodiedliving #deeperrelating #transformation

“Beautiful people don’t just happen”– these words I read many years ago, deeply appreciate them, from Elizabeth Kubler-Ross.

Over the years, I’ve heard and sat with so many beautiful people, and with their experiences of despair, doubt, challenge, heartbreak, obstacles, limitations, grief, and loss– and within my own journey there are some key insights that have brought me to the beauty, grace and flourishing that lies within and beyond each and every of these life hardships,

The wisdom of some of the great mystics have inspired me to orient to an embodiment and acceptance that embraces all experiences in life.

Like Teresa of Avila, partly the namesake of my grandmother and I, who taught me there is growth in challenge, to let nothing frighten you, to open, and build capacity for patience.
Like Khalil Gibran, who taught that suffering brings soulfulness.
Like Rumi, who beautiful said that the wound is where the light enters.

I have come to see that every adversity, every doubt, every setback, every challenge, has the immense potency to let you grow, develop and become soulful in being.

Those who have known defeat, been at the end of themselves, known suffering, struggle, loss and despite it all find their way because of it, not despite of it–

Those experiences hold the potential to bring us a deepened relationship to Life, a sensitivity, appreciation, a not-taking-anything-for-granted attitude, a gratitude, and compassion.

Like Ram Dass said, “I do not wish you the stroke, but I wish you the grace of the stroke”.
I hold many scares myself, but I know deep within there is not a single thing I would change about them for they hold all the beauty of my Life today.

This is where I love to sit with people– at their moment of deepest difficulty. Not because I wish you the difficulty, but because I deeply see potency, possibility and beauty there.
To move challenge into growth, pain into pleasure, and your becoming into your truest beauty.

there is such beauty in human resilience, and the transformative power of coming in harmony with life’s hardship.

🌹 www.tessaschiethart.com/support –

#resilience #embodiedliving #deeperrelating #transformation

Washing everything away that is not my natural wild. — precisely after 10 years, a january in bali

a month of rewilding, rewiring, inwardness and being reminded of what home feels like, within and without

of dancing in the rain, big belly laughs, of nasi campur and lime juice, of endless rides through the rice fields, of joe dispenza’ing & long morning meditation as my refuge, of yogic practice, of women’s circles, kirtan, ecstatic dance,

but then all the more for relearning bahasa like I used to speak, of honoring my grandmother who was born and raised on this land, the gamelan sound reminding me of childhood, of re-acquainting with balinese healing arts, of giggles with the women who teach me their recipes as I am welcomed into their living & cooking space, of going to temple with their family for ceremony, of contemporary balinese dance classes, and accidentally learning to woodwork while sheltering from exquisite monsoon rains,

of papa Nyoman’s reflexology as my feet cringe & giggle in pain and pleasure, and discussions with the gojek-driver on indonesian geo-politics or economy, remembering the contents of minoring in indonesian studies at uni, my inner anthropologist alive

of working online with clients while here, and to study, to deepen hindu and buddhist studies, to reflect, to deepen, to read for hours,

with mosquito bites, early nights and earlier mornings, of roosters and birds, coconuts and bananas, incense in the air, flowers everywhere.

of a rekindled knowing why this land always felt so good deep within the merrow of my bones

the blessing of a month away by my self yet to be in relationship to the many beautiful ones here and all the beauty surrounding

—
#downmemorylane #islandofgods

Washing everything away that is not my natural wild. — precisely after 10 years, a january in bali

a month of rewilding, rewiring, inwardness and being reminded of what home feels like, within and without

of dancing in the rain, big belly laughs, of nasi campur and lime juice, of endless rides through the rice fields, of joe dispenza’ing & long morning meditation as my refuge, of yogic practice, of women’s circles, kirtan, ecstatic dance,

but then all the more for relearning bahasa like I used to speak, of honoring my grandmother who was born and raised on this land, the gamelan sound reminding me of childhood, of re-acquainting with balinese healing arts, of giggles with the women who teach me their recipes as I am welcomed into their living & cooking space, of going to temple with their family for ceremony, of contemporary balinese dance classes, and accidentally learning to woodwork while sheltering from exquisite monsoon rains,

of papa Nyoman’s reflexology as my feet cringe & giggle in pain and pleasure, and discussions with the gojek-driver on indonesian geo-politics or economy, remembering the contents of minoring in indonesian studies at uni, my inner anthropologist alive

of working online with clients while here, and to study, to deepen hindu and buddhist studies, to reflect, to deepen, to read for hours,

with mosquito bites, early nights and earlier mornings, of roosters and birds, coconuts and bananas, incense in the air, flowers everywhere.

of a rekindled knowing why this land always felt so good deep within the merrow of my bones

the blessing of a month away by my self yet to be in relationship to the many beautiful ones here and all the beauty surrounding

—
#downmemorylane #islandofgods

I am yet to meet a woman who does not struggle with the skin she is in

almost all women have gone through difficult moments or periods of challenge with their body.

My journey has been quite the ride, around fearing being seen for only my birthmark and not all my interior gifts, coming to terms with the beauty and hardship in what my skin brings to all moments in life

My relationship to food has not always been easy nor has the shape of my body

Embodiment practice has been the one and only thing that has cultivated the deep, wholesome and inclusive relationship I have with my body today.

Yogic practice has been the glue to my daily living & coming into union with my mind and body

Today I see deeply how feeling confident in your skin is an internal affair

You can enlarge, adjust, inject and reshape your body all you want, and I do by no means hold the belief that that is inherently wrong, more so there is true benefit and healing there too (my work at uni in skin terapy has taught me this, and more so, i am the receiver of plastic surgery — albeit at a very young age in the aftermath of the medical mistake of burning my birthmark),

but there is really nothing like feeling your body from the inside out, inhabiting your skin in all glory, devoting to being really curious about your lived experience, your feelings and sensations from within.

how deeply you can relax in your skin, in your body, is related to how you embrace and embody your uniqueness as a woman.

relaxing into your skin is one of the main embodied practices to cultivate

because there is nothing shining brighter than a woman fully relaxed in her skin, confidence and wholesome embodiment

there’s beautiful magnetism (visible + invisible/felt) to you in your very unique being,
no matter your looks or limitations. 🌹

— currently enrolling for 1:1 private mentorship focussed around body image, pain vs. pleasure, sensuality + seg’suality & your embodied self beyond any dis-ease, symptom or limitations

✨ dm me ‘beyond’ and I will get you all the details!

📸 beloved memories of mysore, india, of deep journey into the body —

I am yet to meet a woman who does not struggle with the skin she is in

almost all women have gone through difficult moments or periods of challenge with their body.

My journey has been quite the ride, around fearing being seen for only my birthmark and not all my interior gifts, coming to terms with the beauty and hardship in what my skin brings to all moments in life

My relationship to food has not always been easy nor has the shape of my body

Embodiment practice has been the one and only thing that has cultivated the deep, wholesome and inclusive relationship I have with my body today.

Yogic practice has been the glue to my daily living & coming into union with my mind and body

Today I see deeply how feeling confident in your skin is an internal affair

You can enlarge, adjust, inject and reshape your body all you want, and I do by no means hold the belief that that is inherently wrong, more so there is true benefit and healing there too (my work at uni in skin terapy has taught me this, and more so, i am the receiver of plastic surgery — albeit at a very young age in the aftermath of the medical mistake of burning my birthmark),

but there is really nothing like feeling your body from the inside out, inhabiting your skin in all glory, devoting to being really curious about your lived experience, your feelings and sensations from within.

how deeply you can relax in your skin, in your body, is related to how you embrace and embody your uniqueness as a woman.

relaxing into your skin is one of the main embodied practices to cultivate

because there is nothing shining brighter than a woman fully relaxed in her skin, confidence and wholesome embodiment

there’s beautiful magnetism (visible + invisible/felt) to you in your very unique being,
no matter your looks or limitations. 🌹

— currently enrolling for 1:1 private mentorship focussed around body image, pain vs. pleasure, sensuality + seg’suality & your embodied self beyond any dis-ease, symptom or limitations

✨ dm me ‘beyond’ and I will get you all the details!

📸 beloved memories of mysore, india, of deep journey into the body —

We each come with unique histories, life experiences and stories.
Our body holds these stories inside.

The stories, experiences and histories we have not yet fully integrated, or the ones we do not yet want to face, are held within the body.
These held stories in the body express in body language, in a tight belly, a stiff fist, in contraction in certain situations. Your felt sensations tell the stories of what is held and experienced inside.

It takes a readiness and willingness for us to start to feel the depth of what is stored in our bodies.

It takes a readiness to feel, deeply.

When we begin to feel, sensation come to us in a myriad of ways.
With intensity, in hot and cold flashes, in all kinds of little tingles, pangs, or flows of little electrical pulses of sensations. Which can bring discomfort, pain, confusion and fear.

To feel often is uncomfortable, tender and deeply vulnerably–

Deep feeling is about integrating what is held within, to face the stories that are discomfortable, painful and tender at heart.

The beauty is that within your bones, you hold centuries of knowing too.
Your ability to feel your sensations and your sensual aliveness is as natural to you as your breath is. Coming home to your body through felt sensation, through feeling and integrating brings gold and riches that no worldly thing can buy – it is worth the depth of your experience of life.

Feeling is interconnected with touch and to be touched by life, means you have to feel.

🌹 | www.tessaschiethart.com
#somatictherapy #embodiment

We each come with unique histories, life experiences and stories.
Our body holds these stories inside.

The stories, experiences and histories we have not yet fully integrated, or the ones we do not yet want to face, are held within the body.
These held stories in the body express in body language, in a tight belly, a stiff fist, in contraction in certain situations. Your felt sensations tell the stories of what is held and experienced inside.

It takes a readiness and willingness for us to start to feel the depth of what is stored in our bodies.

It takes a readiness to feel, deeply.

When we begin to feel, sensation come to us in a myriad of ways.
With intensity, in hot and cold flashes, in all kinds of little tingles, pangs, or flows of little electrical pulses of sensations. Which can bring discomfort, pain, confusion and fear.

To feel often is uncomfortable, tender and deeply vulnerably–

Deep feeling is about integrating what is held within, to face the stories that are discomfortable, painful and tender at heart.

The beauty is that within your bones, you hold centuries of knowing too.
Your ability to feel your sensations and your sensual aliveness is as natural to you as your breath is. Coming home to your body through felt sensation, through feeling and integrating brings gold and riches that no worldly thing can buy – it is worth the depth of your experience of life.

Feeling is interconnected with touch and to be touched by life, means you have to feel.

🌹 | www.tessaschiethart.com
#somatictherapy #embodiment

I was given the path of Ayurveda at age 17 on the fortnight of a defining medical moment. My dad gave me a book of wisdom that I read in 2 days which I attempted to apply before a treatment of sorts.

I dare say Ayurveda has saved my life in myriad ways.
I trained as an Ayurvedic nutritionist because of it shortly after that treatment and the path gifted me a relationship to health & dis-ease that influences and inspires me every single day.

It mostly taught me that

health is not the mere absence of dis-ease.

When we approach health beyond the absence of dis-ease, it means so much more. In Ayurveda, there are more stages to dis-ease development prior to a symptom.

Health, too, is about the presence of harmony in mind, body and spirit, includes the vibrancy you live with.

Health is so much more than merely physical, food choices or exercise.

Aside from the balance within the physical body that creates health, there is the mind, the senses and the soul that thrive within a state of balance, contentment, peace and clarity.

Health is thriving beyond surviving.
It is the ability to remain in balance amidst life challenges. It is remaining ‘swastha’ - anchored in your seat (or sitting on your life’s throne :))

Health is a dynamic equilibrium, a constant fluctuation, a balancing.
With the acknowledgement that health may be individual, that what is healthy differs from person to person when it comes to certain choices, that there are differences to experiencing joy, peace and vitality as well as digestion, rhythms and energies based on individual indicators.

+ do not mistake me; I LOVE western medicine. It is very much a part of my individual indicator for balance, I thank my life to it, AND I thank my life to the Ayurvedic path as well.

Balance is the key.
Perhaps to everything.

& to me, Ayurveda is a path of balance, which I always incorporate in somatic therapy with clients.

Because our sense of health affects our relationship to self, to others, to the world around us and to how we relate to our beautiful vessel through which we experience the world, our very unique bodies.

🌹
#ayurveda #health ##wellbeing #bali

I was given the path of Ayurveda at age 17 on the fortnight of a defining medical moment. My dad gave me a book of wisdom that I read in 2 days which I attempted to apply before a treatment of sorts.

I dare say Ayurveda has saved my life in myriad ways.
I trained as an Ayurvedic nutritionist because of it shortly after that treatment and the path gifted me a relationship to health & dis-ease that influences and inspires me every single day.

It mostly taught me that

health is not the mere absence of dis-ease.

When we approach health beyond the absence of dis-ease, it means so much more. In Ayurveda, there are more stages to dis-ease development prior to a symptom.

Health, too, is about the presence of harmony in mind, body and spirit, includes the vibrancy you live with.

Health is so much more than merely physical, food choices or exercise.

Aside from the balance within the physical body that creates health, there is the mind, the senses and the soul that thrive within a state of balance, contentment, peace and clarity.

Health is thriving beyond surviving.
It is the ability to remain in balance amidst life challenges. It is remaining ‘swastha’ - anchored in your seat (or sitting on your life’s throne :))

Health is a dynamic equilibrium, a constant fluctuation, a balancing.
With the acknowledgement that health may be individual, that what is healthy differs from person to person when it comes to certain choices, that there are differences to experiencing joy, peace and vitality as well as digestion, rhythms and energies based on individual indicators.

+ do not mistake me; I LOVE western medicine. It is very much a part of my individual indicator for balance, I thank my life to it, AND I thank my life to the Ayurvedic path as well.

Balance is the key.
Perhaps to everything.

& to me, Ayurveda is a path of balance, which I always incorporate in somatic therapy with clients.

Because our sense of health affects our relationship to self, to others, to the world around us and to how we relate to our beautiful vessel through which we experience the world, our very unique bodies.

🌹
#ayurveda #health ##wellbeing #bali

Ceremony and ritual have been a part of people’s lives since the very beginning. Ritual and ceremony hold some potent powers.

Ritual is based in natural cycles. The celebration of the changes of seasons, the day of your birth, the season to cleanse, the season to bloom, the season to hibernate. With lights, gifts, scents, symbol and song, and the messages of hope in the dark, blooming in the light. The seasons of life.
Ritual symbolizes a beginning and an ending. It symbolizes cycles, rhythms and somatically affects our bodies. Our bodies have known ritual for 1000s of years. Ritual connects us to our bodies as our nervous system thrives on cycles and rhythms.

Life is uncertain, life is unknown.
Ritual helps us walk more sure-footed in this creat mysterious journey.
Ritual is not necessarily religious.
Ritual is as humanly necessary as can be.

As humans, we need beginnings and we need ends to anchor our nervous systems in time and space. Just as much as we need to complete a cycle of stress, we need the completion of a year, a season, or a time in our lives.

Something in all of us ignites when we live with rituals.
Love and attention flow to that which we focus on. Our experience changes entirely based on what we zoom into.
So, make it sacred.

To make sacred, to me, means to hold life as an exquisite masterpiece.
Each moment blessed with the capability to bring the daily doing into the space and place of ritual, by the use of attention, small prayer, ceremony.

Spend time in ritual.
Light a candle.
Sit in the warmth of water.
Plant a seed.
Sip your tea.
Rub your feet.
Be still.
Make your home filled with symbols that are meaningful to you.
Listen to the seasons, live by her rhythms..

Your personal rituals anchor your life, your body and your sense of hope, belonging and the nature of the seasons internally within you and externally around you, and in the cycles of life your find yourself in.

A world devoid of ritual is a world out of sync with its natural cycles, seasons and rhythms.
Tend to your cycle. Tend to your rhythms.

—
📸 during our Reconnect to Her retreat last september :: join us in May ‘25 again! • link in bio / dm me

Ceremony and ritual have been a part of people’s lives since the very beginning. Ritual and ceremony hold some potent powers.

Ritual is based in natural cycles. The celebration of the changes of seasons, the day of your birth, the season to cleanse, the season to bloom, the season to hibernate. With lights, gifts, scents, symbol and song, and the messages of hope in the dark, blooming in the light. The seasons of life.
Ritual symbolizes a beginning and an ending. It symbolizes cycles, rhythms and somatically affects our bodies. Our bodies have known ritual for 1000s of years. Ritual connects us to our bodies as our nervous system thrives on cycles and rhythms.

Life is uncertain, life is unknown.
Ritual helps us walk more sure-footed in this creat mysterious journey.
Ritual is not necessarily religious.
Ritual is as humanly necessary as can be.

As humans, we need beginnings and we need ends to anchor our nervous systems in time and space. Just as much as we need to complete a cycle of stress, we need the completion of a year, a season, or a time in our lives.

Something in all of us ignites when we live with rituals.
Love and attention flow to that which we focus on. Our experience changes entirely based on what we zoom into.
So, make it sacred.

To make sacred, to me, means to hold life as an exquisite masterpiece.
Each moment blessed with the capability to bring the daily doing into the space and place of ritual, by the use of attention, small prayer, ceremony.

Spend time in ritual.
Light a candle.
Sit in the warmth of water.
Plant a seed.
Sip your tea.
Rub your feet.
Be still.
Make your home filled with symbols that are meaningful to you.
Listen to the seasons, live by her rhythms..

Your personal rituals anchor your life, your body and your sense of hope, belonging and the nature of the seasons internally within you and externally around you, and in the cycles of life your find yourself in.

A world devoid of ritual is a world out of sync with its natural cycles, seasons and rhythms.
Tend to your cycle. Tend to your rhythms.

—
📸 during our Reconnect to Her retreat last september :: join us in May ‘25 again! • link in bio / dm me

Especially as women we have a deep longing to be seen. Sure, for the surface-level parts of our appearances.
But, at the depths, more so for our deep inner heart, our energy, our emotion, our capacity to feel, to love, and experience this world fully…
to be recognized, to be acknowledged, to be seen for our deepest parts, the parts that connect to our radiance, our true spark, our inner light.

There is a shadow to our longing to be seen too.
When it becomes “I need to be seen… in order to be whole, in order to be loved, in order to thrive” aka “I need you to witness my emotion, my perspective, my expression, my looks, my body…” – then this beautiful deep longing to be seen becomes wrapped in neediness.

Our deep longing is beautiful and pure.
Outside of the realms of actual needs, our neediness is a pattern, coming from conditioning,
And we are all human to have these patterns.

When we relate to our longing to be seen from a place of neediness, it can show as an identification with our thoughts, our emotions, and the identification with our more surface level expression and energy.

Our neediness can prevent us from actually being deeply embodied and skillful in how we bring our body & energy (emotion, thought, expression…) to the world, to our loved ones, and ourselves.

Our longing to be seen ibeautiful, pure, natural, deep.
It is there asking you to bring your fullness and expression.

— It is an ongoing practice: to anchor yourself in the deeper longing as there will continously be moments you find yourself in a pattern— but then to release identifications and return to a deeper place within you.

And when you practice releasing the need to be seen for something or someone, you may find more often than you may think, that you will be seen for so much depth when you lose the grip of the surface level needs.

@tessa.schiethart

🌹
#longing #femininearts #embodiment #feminineenergy #deconditioning #womensempowerment

Especially as women we have a deep longing to be seen. Sure, for the surface-level parts of our appearances.
But, at the depths, more so for our deep inner heart, our energy, our emotion, our capacity to feel, to love, and experience this world fully…
to be recognized, to be acknowledged, to be seen for our deepest parts, the parts that connect to our radiance, our true spark, our inner light.

There is a shadow to our longing to be seen too.
When it becomes “I need to be seen… in order to be whole, in order to be loved, in order to thrive” aka “I need you to witness my emotion, my perspective, my expression, my looks, my body…” – then this beautiful deep longing to be seen becomes wrapped in neediness.

Our deep longing is beautiful and pure.
Outside of the realms of actual needs, our neediness is a pattern, coming from conditioning,
And we are all human to have these patterns.

When we relate to our longing to be seen from a place of neediness, it can show as an identification with our thoughts, our emotions, and the identification with our more surface level expression and energy.

Our neediness can prevent us from actually being deeply embodied and skillful in how we bring our body & energy (emotion, thought, expression…) to the world, to our loved ones, and ourselves.

Our longing to be seen ibeautiful, pure, natural, deep.
It is there asking you to bring your fullness and expression.

— It is an ongoing practice: to anchor yourself in the deeper longing as there will continously be moments you find yourself in a pattern— but then to release identifications and return to a deeper place within you.

And when you practice releasing the need to be seen for something or someone, you may find more often than you may think, that you will be seen for so much depth when you lose the grip of the surface level needs.

@tessa.schiethart

🌹
#longing #femininearts #embodiment #feminineenergy #deconditioning #womensempowerment

cultivating sensual aliveness by tuning into your internal, subjective experience—your felt sense within the body, is partly about connecting deeply with your bodily sensations: the tingling in your belly, the tightness in your throat, the heaviness in your chest. The somatic awareness through being sensually alive invites you to listen to the body’s language—a language spoken through sensations.

sensation is not emotion.
* Sensation is: “heavy heart,” “tight throat,” “tingle in the belly.”
* Emotion is: fear, joy, sorrow.

While sensation and emotion are distinct, they are also interconnected. Sensations can give rise to emotions, and emotions can spark sensations.

In a world that often teaches us to numb and suppress, learning to feel safe to feel our sensations in our own body is a powerful act of reclamation.

Many of us avoid discomfort, in any kind of way, because, honestly, it’s hard to feel.
But avoiding our feelings and sensations comes at a cost: pent-up sensations and emotions when uncheck, released or given their rightful place and space in our human life, can manifest as all sorts of dis-ease and dis-connect.
 Ssuppressing our humanness in favor of following rules and ticking boxes, is what we all learned at some point.

Learning to feel safe to feel where it once felt unsafe is one of the most beautiful gifts you can give yourself. Because it gives so much beauty back: the savoring of deep taste, nourishing touch, beauty to see also become much more alive in you as you enliven your sensual awareness

The gateway is safety, and, relaxation. Relaxation of the body gives an openness, which allows you to become more receptive to the subtle messages of your body.

The safety and relaxation and the sensually aliveness bring a beautiful return to wholeness from within your very own body.

🌹www.tessaschiethart.com/support

#somatictherapy #embodiment #sensuality #sensualawareness

cultivating sensual aliveness by tuning into your internal, subjective experience—your felt sense within the body, is partly about connecting deeply with your bodily sensations: the tingling in your belly, the tightness in your throat, the heaviness in your chest. The somatic awareness through being sensually alive invites you to listen to the body’s language—a language spoken through sensations.

sensation is not emotion.
* Sensation is: “heavy heart,” “tight throat,” “tingle in the belly.”
* Emotion is: fear, joy, sorrow.

While sensation and emotion are distinct, they are also interconnected. Sensations can give rise to emotions, and emotions can spark sensations.

In a world that often teaches us to numb and suppress, learning to feel safe to feel our sensations in our own body is a powerful act of reclamation.

Many of us avoid discomfort, in any kind of way, because, honestly, it’s hard to feel.
But avoiding our feelings and sensations comes at a cost: pent-up sensations and emotions when uncheck, released or given their rightful place and space in our human life, can manifest as all sorts of dis-ease and dis-connect.
 Ssuppressing our humanness in favor of following rules and ticking boxes, is what we all learned at some point.

Learning to feel safe to feel where it once felt unsafe is one of the most beautiful gifts you can give yourself. Because it gives so much beauty back: the savoring of deep taste, nourishing touch, beauty to see also become much more alive in you as you enliven your sensual awareness

The gateway is safety, and, relaxation. Relaxation of the body gives an openness, which allows you to become more receptive to the subtle messages of your body.

The safety and relaxation and the sensually aliveness bring a beautiful return to wholeness from within your very own body.

🌹www.tessaschiethart.com/support

#somatictherapy #embodiment #sensuality #sensualawareness

A little reflection on Beauty as of late.

There is always a possibility to see beauty.

Beauty, for me, has been a potent gateway to reimagine my relationship to my body and the earth itself, to slow down, look at the overextension and come closer to wholesomeness, natural cycles, and the present moment awareness of what it actually means to flourish as a human, as a species, and as a planet.

The way you see yourself, and the way you treat your body is so much bigger than you, not as a way to pressure you even more, but with such a reference to you, your beauty and your body, and as a delicate way of realizing the interwovenness of who we are as humans, that we are part of a living system, that we have cycles, and seasons, and also, that often, personal dis-ease goes hand in hand with environmental decay,

that we are not individual failures when we feel disconnected from our bodies and our beauty,

That anything like stress, depletion and burn-out of the body (yours or the earth’s) has an interwoven effect, on both, that it is systemic, and that in all of it, we are not separate or alone when we feel a disconnect from our beauty, or dislike, mistrust, or have shame around our bodies, but instead are reminded to come home to our bodies, and see the beauty of our own soil and earth.

🌹
#beauty #visionovervisibility #ecopsychology

A little reflection on Beauty as of late.

There is always a possibility to see beauty.

Beauty, for me, has been a potent gateway to reimagine my relationship to my body and the earth itself, to slow down, look at the overextension and come closer to wholesomeness, natural cycles, and the present moment awareness of what it actually means to flourish as a human, as a species, and as a planet.

The way you see yourself, and the way you treat your body is so much bigger than you, not as a way to pressure you even more, but with such a reference to you, your beauty and your body, and as a delicate way of realizing the interwovenness of who we are as humans, that we are part of a living system, that we have cycles, and seasons, and also, that often, personal dis-ease goes hand in hand with environmental decay,

that we are not individual failures when we feel disconnected from our bodies and our beauty,

That anything like stress, depletion and burn-out of the body (yours or the earth’s) has an interwoven effect, on both, that it is systemic, and that in all of it, we are not separate or alone when we feel a disconnect from our beauty, or dislike, mistrust, or have shame around our bodies, but instead are reminded to come home to our bodies, and see the beauty of our own soil and earth.

🌹
#beauty #visionovervisibility #ecopsychology

little thai tales of loving it here & now

taken to these grounds where I feel home, loved and opened, always, but especially this month.

being here, now, I am grateful for the wild turns and twists of this year
• of the loss and the grief that filled the first months of ‘24.
• of the opening, the meeting and the grounding that brought the next few.
• then the packing, departing and coming home elsewhere.
• the adventure, the love and the mystery I close the last months of this year with.

Like for so many of us, a year of shedding and letting go
A year that quite literally stripped me bare from anything that wasn’t mine to keep
— I feel full while ‘shedded’ to my core at the same time, fresh, new, grown. grateful for continuing the steps, one at a time.

& grateful for some doubting of the continuation of my presence here earlier this year, of my service, vision, mission. And then to completely changing my whole business, from name to offer— refreshing, maybe that was what this year was?

Then, to be able to see the fruits of the moves & changes— in my own life and within a flourishing of this beautiful full therapy practice, a dream, deepening empowerment, embodiment and intimacy, love lives, and the relationship to self, other, body, beauty, life…

• the gift of serving my work from wherever my body finds herself, whichever place in the world, whichever state of my ability with a body that keeps having her own ways at times, with days where its more uncertain, challenging, with pain with pleasure, with rest, with trust, and, with love.

grateful for the wild dreams, the claimed desires, the beautiful longings, this year especially,

on knees, humble bows, the Asian jungles opening up a mystery of unfolding for the next months to come

closing chapters, always opening new ones.

#2024 #ka

little thai tales of loving it here & now

taken to these grounds where I feel home, loved and opened, always, but especially this month.

being here, now, I am grateful for the wild turns and twists of this year
• of the loss and the grief that filled the first months of ‘24.
• of the opening, the meeting and the grounding that brought the next few.
• then the packing, departing and coming home elsewhere.
• the adventure, the love and the mystery I close the last months of this year with.

Like for so many of us, a year of shedding and letting go
A year that quite literally stripped me bare from anything that wasn’t mine to keep
— I feel full while ‘shedded’ to my core at the same time, fresh, new, grown. grateful for continuing the steps, one at a time.

& grateful for some doubting of the continuation of my presence here earlier this year, of my service, vision, mission. And then to completely changing my whole business, from name to offer— refreshing, maybe that was what this year was?

Then, to be able to see the fruits of the moves & changes— in my own life and within a flourishing of this beautiful full therapy practice, a dream, deepening empowerment, embodiment and intimacy, love lives, and the relationship to self, other, body, beauty, life…

• the gift of serving my work from wherever my body finds herself, whichever place in the world, whichever state of my ability with a body that keeps having her own ways at times, with days where its more uncertain, challenging, with pain with pleasure, with rest, with trust, and, with love.

grateful for the wild dreams, the claimed desires, the beautiful longings, this year especially,

on knees, humble bows, the Asian jungles opening up a mystery of unfolding for the next months to come

closing chapters, always opening new ones.

#2024 #ka

For women, the body can be kind of a battlefield– societally, and culturally, our looks, hormones, the pressures of what to do with our bodies, to conceive & birth… it all can lend itself to see the body as an enemy, based on how we relate to our body,

We have been heavily conditioned in how we relate to the body.

There are many complexities synthesized in our body, from which we create behavioural patterns in response to our bodies.

There are the traumas of our grandmothers and mothers of whom many grew up in times of conflict which has an imprint on the ancestral lines we belong to and that continue to live on in our bodies (epigenetics, generational traumas).

Having maladaptive (eating) patterns, ways of relating & dealing with the way we look, the way we dress, and have learned to (dis)connect to our sensuality & sec.suality are all influenced by conditioning as women, societal messaging about our bodies and the overculture that wants us to be, look and behave certain ways.

It is important to acknowledge & destigmatize that the shame, mistrust and rejection of our body is something we all carry as women, to varying degrees, to be able to come home to our bodies, to be truly in relationship to our bodies.

The journey towards our empowerment and towards our embodiment is about uncovering how we are affected by external forces, to see how we are coping and responding to external forces in ways that do not necessarily benefit the relationship to our body, and to learn to take personal responsibility for some of the societal imprinting we were not necessarily solely responsible for receiving.

Undoing shame, stigma and mistrust gives an opportunity to come home to our body, heal, and integrate and relate to our body as our most beautiful vehicle— because she is; a portal of your wisdom, haven for truth, an agent for insight and a unique expression of being + so much more, which I hope and wish you see and feel.

✨

—
#womanhood #healing #empowerment #embodiment

For women, the body can be kind of a battlefield– societally, and culturally, our looks, hormones, the pressures of what to do with our bodies, to conceive & birth… it all can lend itself to see the body as an enemy, based on how we relate to our body,

We have been heavily conditioned in how we relate to the body.

There are many complexities synthesized in our body, from which we create behavioural patterns in response to our bodies.

There are the traumas of our grandmothers and mothers of whom many grew up in times of conflict which has an imprint on the ancestral lines we belong to and that continue to live on in our bodies (epigenetics, generational traumas).

Having maladaptive (eating) patterns, ways of relating & dealing with the way we look, the way we dress, and have learned to (dis)connect to our sensuality & sec.suality are all influenced by conditioning as women, societal messaging about our bodies and the overculture that wants us to be, look and behave certain ways.

It is important to acknowledge & destigmatize that the shame, mistrust and rejection of our body is something we all carry as women, to varying degrees, to be able to come home to our bodies, to be truly in relationship to our bodies.

The journey towards our empowerment and towards our embodiment is about uncovering how we are affected by external forces, to see how we are coping and responding to external forces in ways that do not necessarily benefit the relationship to our body, and to learn to take personal responsibility for some of the societal imprinting we were not necessarily solely responsible for receiving.

Undoing shame, stigma and mistrust gives an opportunity to come home to our body, heal, and integrate and relate to our body as our most beautiful vehicle— because she is; a portal of your wisdom, haven for truth, an agent for insight and a unique expression of being + so much more, which I hope and wish you see and feel.

✨

—
#womanhood #healing #empowerment #embodiment

it may be quite the buzzword, embodiment —

for the beautiful reasons that embodiment and embodied practice is a true process of a home-coming to the body.

We are never not in our bodies, yet it does not mean we are in feeling connection to our bodies. Our psyches also can move away from connection to our body due to life experiences, traumas and disconnection through lifestyle choices. Embodiment is then the process of reconnection & becoming aware of the signals of the body, and learning to cognitively interpret these messages — a unique language to learn about ourselves.

The process of embodiment is taking the body as a gateway of wisdom to know ourselves deeper in all arrays of who we are.

somatic therapies and embodied practice can bring immense awareness to how emotional and mental events affect the body and how the body stores the stories of our experiences, and how our psyches move away from the body until the stored material is examined, released and integrated.

embodiment practice, in the forms of unstructured movement, artful therapies, and many body-based modalities and practices help move the psyche back towards the body, towards feeling, sensations, sensory awareness, to wholesome being and towards our ability to engage in life, socially, relationally, towards trusting ourselves, towards balanced self-management and experiences of pleasure of all sorts in life.

such a beautiful process of healing, practice and therapeutics to engage our selves deeply in

🌹www.tessaschiethart.com/support
#embodiment #somatictherapy #healing #wholesomely

it may be quite the buzzword, embodiment —

for the beautiful reasons that embodiment and embodied practice is a true process of a home-coming to the body.

We are never not in our bodies, yet it does not mean we are in feeling connection to our bodies. Our psyches also can move away from connection to our body due to life experiences, traumas and disconnection through lifestyle choices. Embodiment is then the process of reconnection & becoming aware of the signals of the body, and learning to cognitively interpret these messages — a unique language to learn about ourselves.

The process of embodiment is taking the body as a gateway of wisdom to know ourselves deeper in all arrays of who we are.

somatic therapies and embodied practice can bring immense awareness to how emotional and mental events affect the body and how the body stores the stories of our experiences, and how our psyches move away from the body until the stored material is examined, released and integrated.

embodiment practice, in the forms of unstructured movement, artful therapies, and many body-based modalities and practices help move the psyche back towards the body, towards feeling, sensations, sensory awareness, to wholesome being and towards our ability to engage in life, socially, relationally, towards trusting ourselves, towards balanced self-management and experiences of pleasure of all sorts in life.

such a beautiful process of healing, practice and therapeutics to engage our selves deeply in

🌹www.tessaschiethart.com/support
#embodiment #somatictherapy #healing #wholesomely

| my hope is that life teaches you to see the beauty in resilience. In my own journey and within the journeys of my clients, I see over and over that truth lies within sitting with the pain, to honor the beauty in the struggle, to see how adversity can become art — if we want to, choose to, let it, when we dare to say ‘yes’ to all that life brings, with the willingness to weave all of it into the story of our lives. Not necessarily knowing how to— yet opening to finding out. Resilience to me is not just survival—it is transformation. It is beauty born from breaking, hope rising from hardship, and it holds the quiet poetry of a human life.

✨
#resilience #empowerment #embodiment #healing #somatics

| my hope is that life teaches you to see the beauty in resilience. In my own journey and within the journeys of my clients, I see over and over that truth lies within sitting with the pain, to honor the beauty in the struggle, to see how adversity can become art — if we want to, choose to, let it, when we dare to say ‘yes’ to all that life brings, with the willingness to weave all of it into the story of our lives. Not necessarily knowing how to— yet opening to finding out. Resilience to me is not just survival—it is transformation. It is beauty born from breaking, hope rising from hardship, and it holds the quiet poetry of a human life.

✨
#resilience #empowerment #embodiment #healing #somatics

| being born with a heart-shaped birthmark taught me a few things about the nature of Beauty.

As an anthropologist, I was schooled and interested in the cultural meaning of beauty. I have found beauty to be an aspect of every culture, exhibited in ceremony, ritual and traditions, through dress, religion, rites, ritual, through application of products to bodies, through a wide range of meaning-making practices. I graduated on women’s bodily veiling practices and the deeper notion of beauty within it.

Beauty has been an important path in so many ways for me — academically, surely personally.

And I learned that there is a fundamental misunderstanding of the deeper nature of Beauty.

Why? Beauty can be seen as perceived from the inside out, where it can be mistaken for glamour, which is perceived from the outside in.

Glamour relies on external adornments, artifice, and fleeting qualities like fashion, fame, or glittering allure. It invites fantasy, drawing attention to an idealized or unattainable image, often shaped by societal or cultural constructs. And it’s ephemeral: glamour fades with time, context, or proximity, often leaving little lasting impression.

Beauty arises from authenticity, harmony, and resonance, often reflecting something deeper, like truth, vitality, or connection. Beauty is deeply relational – It’s not just seen but felt—it invites a sense of presence and appreciation rather than projection, it is timeless, is rooted in essence rather than trends or enhancement.

Beauty, I feel, is a way of experiencing life, it is a felt experience, it is lived, it is an inherent pulse that lives within your body. It is light that radiates through your eyes, your unclenched, open body.

Nothing wrong with glamour — yet I feel, the subconscious question is not whether you fit the standards, it is whether you are able to see the deeper nature of Beauty too.

Being intimate with Beauty is a matter of seeing – to see through the collective interpretations in our mind’s eye (and the actual mirror too!) by taking an honest deep look at ourselves and others.

The practice of discerning beauty from glamour is an ever-deepening practice in this world..

🌹

| being born with a heart-shaped birthmark taught me a few things about the nature of Beauty.

As an anthropologist, I was schooled and interested in the cultural meaning of beauty. I have found beauty to be an aspect of every culture, exhibited in ceremony, ritual and traditions, through dress, religion, rites, ritual, through application of products to bodies, through a wide range of meaning-making practices. I graduated on women’s bodily veiling practices and the deeper notion of beauty within it.

Beauty has been an important path in so many ways for me — academically, surely personally.

And I learned that there is a fundamental misunderstanding of the deeper nature of Beauty.

Why? Beauty can be seen as perceived from the inside out, where it can be mistaken for glamour, which is perceived from the outside in.

Glamour relies on external adornments, artifice, and fleeting qualities like fashion, fame, or glittering allure. It invites fantasy, drawing attention to an idealized or unattainable image, often shaped by societal or cultural constructs. And it’s ephemeral: glamour fades with time, context, or proximity, often leaving little lasting impression.

Beauty arises from authenticity, harmony, and resonance, often reflecting something deeper, like truth, vitality, or connection. Beauty is deeply relational – It’s not just seen but felt—it invites a sense of presence and appreciation rather than projection, it is timeless, is rooted in essence rather than trends or enhancement.

Beauty, I feel, is a way of experiencing life, it is a felt experience, it is lived, it is an inherent pulse that lives within your body. It is light that radiates through your eyes, your unclenched, open body.

Nothing wrong with glamour — yet I feel, the subconscious question is not whether you fit the standards, it is whether you are able to see the deeper nature of Beauty too.

Being intimate with Beauty is a matter of seeing – to see through the collective interpretations in our mind’s eye (and the actual mirror too!) by taking an honest deep look at ourselves and others.

The practice of discerning beauty from glamour is an ever-deepening practice in this world..

🌹

i often get the question what exactly somatic therapy entails — how it differs from more traditional talk therapy and what the specific benefits are

Somatic therapy is sensation-based therapeutic paradigm of relating and awareness, aiming to learning the language of the body, a language that comes through sensations, revealed through breath, sound, movement and felt sensations.

Sensation is ‘heavy heart’, ‘tingle in belly’, ‘tight throat’ etc. Often these sensations tell us another part of the stories we have uncovered in talk therapy. Our bodies hold stories our midns are sometimes not even aware of anymore. And so our bodies hold the wisdom of many aspects of our lives.

Walking a medical path myself since I was very young, has gave me all the reverance to the body’s wisdom, and showed me very young I wanted to live life in support of the body.

Somatic therapy holds the potential for us to discover much beauty and wisdom within us, as we connect to sensation, our senses, it holds the potential for a changed embodiment, released tension, emotion, and relaxation, to free up more expression and more intimacy with our senses as we can feel, see, hear, taste and touch more of Life through a relaxed, open, receptive, attuned and feeling body.

It is what this world needs I believe 🌹

#somatictherapy #embodiment #sensation #beauty #wisdom #relaxation

i often get the question what exactly somatic therapy entails — how it differs from more traditional talk therapy and what the specific benefits are

Somatic therapy is sensation-based therapeutic paradigm of relating and awareness, aiming to learning the language of the body, a language that comes through sensations, revealed through breath, sound, movement and felt sensations.

Sensation is ‘heavy heart’, ‘tingle in belly’, ‘tight throat’ etc. Often these sensations tell us another part of the stories we have uncovered in talk therapy. Our bodies hold stories our midns are sometimes not even aware of anymore. And so our bodies hold the wisdom of many aspects of our lives.

Walking a medical path myself since I was very young, has gave me all the reverance to the body’s wisdom, and showed me very young I wanted to live life in support of the body.

Somatic therapy holds the potential for us to discover much beauty and wisdom within us, as we connect to sensation, our senses, it holds the potential for a changed embodiment, released tension, emotion, and relaxation, to free up more expression and more intimacy with our senses as we can feel, see, hear, taste and touch more of Life through a relaxed, open, receptive, attuned and feeling body.

It is what this world needs I believe 🌹

#somatictherapy #embodiment #sensation #beauty #wisdom #relaxation

I love the wisdom that lies in our living, feeling body and the insight into ourselves that comes with undoing numbness in our body..

As (western) women, we’ve never had more choice, opportunity, and more freedom. There is of course still a long way to go, but compared to other times in history, we have tremendous options to choose our own lives and paths. New challenges arise with this. The demands of life have created increased levels of stress, pressure, discomfort, dis-ease and disconnect from our bodies. As women, we are able to have the careers we want, but what is the cost when it comes to our living, feeling body?

The beauty in having choice is choosing what resonates with us, the shadow is that having all the options can be confusing.

We often find ourselves stressed, overwhelmed, de-sensitized, and unsure of what to do, how to be, and what to choose in our lives amidst the pressures of society and the fast pace of modern life.

Beyond appearance or looks, our body can guide our decisions in our lives, can reveal our longings and holds a well of healing.

There are plenty of beautiful, and quite simple ways to reconnect and rewild ourselves to the wisdom of our body — accessible no matter your daily schedules. Reconnection to bodily wisdom is actually simple because it is very natural for a woman to be connected to her innate bodily wisdom. It takes practice; discipline and devotion. And the orientation of the practice lies in remembering that our body is not a vehicle to be maintained, controlled, pushed or extracted from— our body is our source of power, feeling, intuition, and pleasure. Feeling is our birthright as my teachers have taught me. We can rewild ourselves back to our feeling capacity before it was layered with doing, pushing, and socialization.

🌸 somatic therapy and relational mentoring — www.tessaschiethart.com/support

#embodiment #feeling #sensitization #somatictherapy #fwnininepractice #somatics #womensempowerment

I love the wisdom that lies in our living, feeling body and the insight into ourselves that comes with undoing numbness in our body..

As (western) women, we’ve never had more choice, opportunity, and more freedom. There is of course still a long way to go, but compared to other times in history, we have tremendous options to choose our own lives and paths. New challenges arise with this. The demands of life have created increased levels of stress, pressure, discomfort, dis-ease and disconnect from our bodies. As women, we are able to have the careers we want, but what is the cost when it comes to our living, feeling body?

The beauty in having choice is choosing what resonates with us, the shadow is that having all the options can be confusing.

We often find ourselves stressed, overwhelmed, de-sensitized, and unsure of what to do, how to be, and what to choose in our lives amidst the pressures of society and the fast pace of modern life.

Beyond appearance or looks, our body can guide our decisions in our lives, can reveal our longings and holds a well of healing.

There are plenty of beautiful, and quite simple ways to reconnect and rewild ourselves to the wisdom of our body — accessible no matter your daily schedules. Reconnection to bodily wisdom is actually simple because it is very natural for a woman to be connected to her innate bodily wisdom. It takes practice; discipline and devotion. And the orientation of the practice lies in remembering that our body is not a vehicle to be maintained, controlled, pushed or extracted from— our body is our source of power, feeling, intuition, and pleasure. Feeling is our birthright as my teachers have taught me. We can rewild ourselves back to our feeling capacity before it was layered with doing, pushing, and socialization.

🌸 somatic therapy and relational mentoring — www.tessaschiethart.com/support

#embodiment #feeling #sensitization #somatictherapy #fwnininepractice #somatics #womensempowerment

Intimate relationship — is the place I feel the deepest parts of us surface, as well as hold the potential for those parts to transmute, transform and heal.

I’ve come to find that relating (& the practice of becoming Love itself) as the truest revelatory path of uncovering who we are at our depths.

To be with a partner is a very deep human desire.

I know I am not the only one that by times feels challenged in togetherness, and at times more at ease and peace in my own individuality, no matter how much I love being in intimate relationship.

Although easily being able to spend weeks mostly by myself, my deeper desire and the place I love to be in, lies in togetherness, in union, in uncovering who I am in relation to another.

Relating has as much to do with attachment as it has with individuation — with a balance between togetherness vs. individuality.

Intimate relating requires skill — a skill in cultivating this balance, a skill we have not been taught necessarily.

As one of my Ayurvedic teachers always said ‘the school of life is relationship’.
— its an art of intimately relating.

& so it is healing to do the work around where we feel unease, discomfort and challenged in relating, finding balance between attachment and individuation, to learn to practice love through intimately relating —

The work I serve, with women and men and couples too now, around love & relationship, around unease, discomfort and challenges in relating, the deepest of feelings that surface, pieces of attachment and individuation & the embodiment and empowerment within relating is incredibly beautiful and revelatory ✨

Its a gift to witness intimate love flourish, with more skill, ease and balance — both in my own life, and in the lives of the beautiful people I support.

🌹 www.tessaschiethart.com/support — intakes for 2025 opening!

#yogicintimacy #relationship #embodiment #theartofrelating #safety #love

Intimate relationship — is the place I feel the deepest parts of us surface, as well as hold the potential for those parts to transmute, transform and heal.

I’ve come to find that relating (& the practice of becoming Love itself) as the truest revelatory path of uncovering who we are at our depths.

To be with a partner is a very deep human desire.

I know I am not the only one that by times feels challenged in togetherness, and at times more at ease and peace in my own individuality, no matter how much I love being in intimate relationship.

Although easily being able to spend weeks mostly by myself, my deeper desire and the place I love to be in, lies in togetherness, in union, in uncovering who I am in relation to another.

Relating has as much to do with attachment as it has with individuation — with a balance between togetherness vs. individuality.

Intimate relating requires skill — a skill in cultivating this balance, a skill we have not been taught necessarily.

As one of my Ayurvedic teachers always said ‘the school of life is relationship’.
— its an art of intimately relating.

& so it is healing to do the work around where we feel unease, discomfort and challenged in relating, finding balance between attachment and individuation, to learn to practice love through intimately relating —

The work I serve, with women and men and couples too now, around love & relationship, around unease, discomfort and challenges in relating, the deepest of feelings that surface, pieces of attachment and individuation & the embodiment and empowerment within relating is incredibly beautiful and revelatory ✨

Its a gift to witness intimate love flourish, with more skill, ease and balance — both in my own life, and in the lives of the beautiful people I support.

🌹 www.tessaschiethart.com/support — intakes for 2025 opening!

#yogicintimacy #relationship #embodiment #theartofrelating #safety #love

they say “this is the path” — life can have us believe we need to live a certain way, be certain things at certain ages, or achieve or succeed in a particular way or form.

time here the last 2 months has reminded me of the unique paths we each walk, the experiences, encounters, trials, triumphs and the people that are there along the way.

That “the path” is unique for us, both to choose as well as to surrender to. equally balanced, with presence and with attention, in beauty and embodiment. and that mostly, it is more cyclical than lineair.

With a heart that is full in numerous ways, I leave this beloved little piece (peace) of earth. words fall short to describe this time here. but it mostly lies in knowing beauty and joy lies in choosing our paths, and the healing that lies in the ways in which we can find reflection, insight and a sinking deeper into the fabric of who we are, uniquely so, when there is a willingness to face it all.

I feel carried by it all, here, now, once again, another cycle.
the ocean, sun, stars and moon, the rocks, the birds, bees — the beauty.

with mostly the special ones that traverse on the path with us. those that cross, carry along, traverse and travel with us.

time to go more east. time for a tropical adventure. time to travel with another special one.

🌸
#ericeira #portugal #home #thepath #cyclicalliving #thebeautyway #embodiment

they say “this is the path” — life can have us believe we need to live a certain way, be certain things at certain ages, or achieve or succeed in a particular way or form.

time here the last 2 months has reminded me of the unique paths we each walk, the experiences, encounters, trials, triumphs and the people that are there along the way.

That “the path” is unique for us, both to choose as well as to surrender to. equally balanced, with presence and with attention, in beauty and embodiment. and that mostly, it is more cyclical than lineair.

With a heart that is full in numerous ways, I leave this beloved little piece (peace) of earth. words fall short to describe this time here. but it mostly lies in knowing beauty and joy lies in choosing our paths, and the healing that lies in the ways in which we can find reflection, insight and a sinking deeper into the fabric of who we are, uniquely so, when there is a willingness to face it all.

I feel carried by it all, here, now, once again, another cycle.
the ocean, sun, stars and moon, the rocks, the birds, bees — the beauty.

with mostly the special ones that traverse on the path with us. those that cross, carry along, traverse and travel with us.

time to go more east. time for a tropical adventure. time to travel with another special one.

🌸
#ericeira #portugal #home #thepath #cyclicalliving #thebeautyway #embodiment

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