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I wish I could tell him — tell him of the things I experience, the weekend that lies ahead of me, a dream finally becoming a reality, and I wish I could tell him. But loss makes it so that that is no longer an option.

I’ve come to know the reality of missing someone intimately. Grief has served her time long enough to feel the love, the warmth, the ecstasy through the missing.

And that I can love one again, despite the ever present missing of another.

The loss of love has taught me nearly everything imaginable about the ache of longing that permeates the depths of my heart.

Still, after all this time, the years that have gone by, there is a part of me that wishes I could tell him, call him, share. Yet life has unfolding in such a way that that no longer is present, and that what I’ve got is a longing heart.

Loving and loss have probably been the hardest challenges in my life, yet the best that have happened to me too. And isn’t that for all of us?

At the core of every human being there is either the love in their hearts, or the longing for that love.

And it is in these moments I recognize the longing for this love— not because of a lack of love, god life has been full of it this last year — but just because despite it all I still long, long to tell him, as an expression of my love.

And the longing of the heart is precious, it’s what the sufis refer to as the most intimate relationship — the longing for the Beloved — in human form, or as the unseen One — as in every human relationship, there is you and the one you love, yet what if the one you love is tucked away inside your own heart?

As I pack my bag to finally go to dr. joe’s event, as he encouraged me to do for years, I sit with the longing, with the missing, to let it swallow me whole as i become undone by this grand love in my heart that is long gone, yet ever present.

#love #longing #loss #letsgo
📸 moments of recent days.

I wish I could tell him — tell him of the things I experience, the weekend that lies ahead of me, a dream finally becoming a reality, and I wish I could tell him. But loss makes it so that that is no longer an option.

I’ve come to know the reality of missing someone intimately. Grief has served her time long enough to feel the love, the warmth, the ecstasy through the missing.

And that I can love one again, despite the ever present missing of another.

The loss of love has taught me nearly everything imaginable about the ache of longing that permeates the depths of my heart.

Still, after all this time, the years that have gone by, there is a part of me that wishes I could tell him, call him, share. Yet life has unfolding in such a way that that no longer is present, and that what I’ve got is a longing heart.

Loving and loss have probably been the hardest challenges in my life, yet the best that have happened to me too. And isn’t that for all of us?

At the core of every human being there is either the love in their hearts, or the longing for that love.

And it is in these moments I recognize the longing for this love— not because of a lack of love, god life has been full of it this last year — but just because despite it all I still long, long to tell him, as an expression of my love.

And the longing of the heart is precious, it’s what the sufis refer to as the most intimate relationship — the longing for the Beloved — in human form, or as the unseen One — as in every human relationship, there is you and the one you love, yet what if the one you love is tucked away inside your own heart?

As I pack my bag to finally go to dr. joe’s event, as he encouraged me to do for years, I sit with the longing, with the missing, to let it swallow me whole as i become undone by this grand love in my heart that is long gone, yet ever present.

#love #longing #loss #letsgo
📸 moments of recent days.

An ode to the slowest, sensual, soft and very still summer that it was — filled with supporting clients and also friends, chai in the sun, swims in the water, rituals with the sisters, the daily yoga, and especially the gift of 10 days of silent meditation retreat at the most beautiful beloved @hridaya.yoga

Years ago amidst the wildest heartbreak of my life, I feel I lost a passion. My deep love for the jnana and bhakti yoga path — the path of insight, of self-inquiry, wiestioning the fundamental question “who an I?”, in reverence to ramana’s and the vedantic teaching, combined with the yoga of devotion (bhakti) and the enlivening of the spiritual heart and the sacred tremor within that sufism teaches and I am called to no matter how far I stirr.

In the years of reconciling losing and letting go of this someone I deeply loved, I did lose my ability for walking these paths sure-footed, as if my devotional feet had walked right out with him.

Abd despite that being long behind me, and loving again, it did take me time to find my way back onto the paths. I did stirr many ways, and tried many things to support my deep grief and my ability to let go — from cathartic and high intensity experiences, to talk therapy, plants and what not — yet finding slow, meaningful, deeply loving reverence for what I experience and for what this nystery of life beholds remains my path.

I grieved this summer how I could have ever forgotten the path that brings me home onto myself.
Yet these paths never let me go.

Because, despite that I never say I ‘teach’ yoga, meditation, classical tantra, or ayurvedic living, my work and life is deeply infused by yoga, tantra, sufism, and ayurveda since I was 17. These paths have saved my life quite literally, physically with the challenged of my body, and emotionally with a heart that always longs for truth and to live from the essence which is Love.

#love

An ode to the slowest, sensual, soft and very still summer that it was — filled with supporting clients and also friends, chai in the sun, swims in the water, rituals with the sisters, the daily yoga, and especially the gift of 10 days of silent meditation retreat at the most beautiful beloved @hridaya.yoga

Years ago amidst the wildest heartbreak of my life, I feel I lost a passion. My deep love for the jnana and bhakti yoga path — the path of insight, of self-inquiry, wiestioning the fundamental question “who an I?”, in reverence to ramana’s and the vedantic teaching, combined with the yoga of devotion (bhakti) and the enlivening of the spiritual heart and the sacred tremor within that sufism teaches and I am called to no matter how far I stirr.

In the years of reconciling losing and letting go of this someone I deeply loved, I did lose my ability for walking these paths sure-footed, as if my devotional feet had walked right out with him.

Abd despite that being long behind me, and loving again, it did take me time to find my way back onto the paths. I did stirr many ways, and tried many things to support my deep grief and my ability to let go — from cathartic and high intensity experiences, to talk therapy, plants and what not — yet finding slow, meaningful, deeply loving reverence for what I experience and for what this nystery of life beholds remains my path.

I grieved this summer how I could have ever forgotten the path that brings me home onto myself.
Yet these paths never let me go.

Because, despite that I never say I ‘teach’ yoga, meditation, classical tantra, or ayurvedic living, my work and life is deeply infused by yoga, tantra, sufism, and ayurveda since I was 17. These paths have saved my life quite literally, physically with the challenged of my body, and emotionally with a heart that always longs for truth and to live from the essence which is Love.

#love

your thoughest initiations become rich compost for the soil of your being. If there’s anything I can hold as truth than it is this.

The unseen nutrients in challenging experience imbue your life in unspeakable ways. You are the metabolizer of your blessings, you are the conduit. Because a person who consistently turns towards Life, not away from it, one who dares to open rather than close, feel rather than numb, with courage, with curiosity, with creativity, is a person with little need to prove themselves. For they are filled, humbled, nourished by who they are through being molded, being emptied out by Life’s assignments.

So your walk can become your talk, and your talk is your willingness to share your embodiment in whichever way you are called. When life humbles you enough to get this, showing up in Life, is not a task, nor a chore. It is a prayer, a prayer to your existence

—
soft summer dresses on endless summer nights. 🌺

#livesaslove #embodiment #lifeline #spiritualpsychology
transforming pain into beauty.

your thoughest initiations become rich compost for the soil of your being. If there’s anything I can hold as truth than it is this.

The unseen nutrients in challenging experience imbue your life in unspeakable ways. You are the metabolizer of your blessings, you are the conduit. Because a person who consistently turns towards Life, not away from it, one who dares to open rather than close, feel rather than numb, with courage, with curiosity, with creativity, is a person with little need to prove themselves. For they are filled, humbled, nourished by who they are through being molded, being emptied out by Life’s assignments.

So your walk can become your talk, and your talk is your willingness to share your embodiment in whichever way you are called. When life humbles you enough to get this, showing up in Life, is not a task, nor a chore. It is a prayer, a prayer to your existence

—
soft summer dresses on endless summer nights. 🌺

#livesaslove #embodiment #lifeline #spiritualpsychology
transforming pain into beauty.

sweet yet deep insights under the full Scorpio moon and Beltabe magic🌹—

cycles completing (rd. 2), tea ceremonies, last sunsets in portugal, enchanted by spring and smelling flowers, birthday blessings, ready for opening to even more beauty unfolding into summer and feeling so grateful closing a cycle of what feels like 6 years and welcoming a new sense of commitment, home, worth, love, joy, devotion and living •

#april

sweet yet deep insights under the full Scorpio moon and Beltabe magic🌹—

cycles completing (rd. 2), tea ceremonies, last sunsets in portugal, enchanted by spring and smelling flowers, birthday blessings, ready for opening to even more beauty unfolding into summer and feeling so grateful closing a cycle of what feels like 6 years and welcoming a new sense of commitment, home, worth, love, joy, devotion and living •

#april

Rumi wrote that the wound is where the light enters. I love the work of the great mystics, and the feminine principle of devotion that shines through their art, poetry, and writing. I also love the psycho-spiritual orientation that suffering, loss, and longing can become gateways into a deeper relationship with the self, with others, with the body you inhabit, and with the world you live in — and into the reverence for life you embody.

If anything, to “have the light enter the wound” is not to bypass the pain, but to move through it so that you become more whole, more beautiful.

As Rumi is often quoted for the light, the longing, and the softness, there is also an aspect of turning the wound into light that requires you to face the darkness. To face an annihilation of the self, a complete dissolution of the self into something larger than yourself.

To have known loss, to have had your heart broken into a million pieces, to have faced defeat, to have met your limitations — all of this holds the possibility for you to become more beautiful, more deeply rooted in who you uniquely are.

This is not the self you optimize toward; it is the divine spark in the darkness that undoes you entirely.

To become so undone by facing the challenge, by surrendering to it, that the part of you which holds on, optimizes, fixates, and manages dissolves entirely. And this dissolution is not rational; it is a holy intoxication — the dissolution of the self into something far greater.

Facing annihilation — the annihilation of the self in any form, through any challenge — is rooted in longing.

Longing, which is integral to Rumi’s writing, is not a path toward success, achievement, or balance as a fixed state. It is a path that dissolves the boundary between the human and the sacred within you, so that you become fuller in who you are by allowing the wound to be entered by the light. 💛

#rumi #longing #divineintoxication #livingaslove #embodiment

Rumi wrote that the wound is where the light enters. I love the work of the great mystics, and the feminine principle of devotion that shines through their art, poetry, and writing. I also love the psycho-spiritual orientation that suffering, loss, and longing can become gateways into a deeper relationship with the self, with others, with the body you inhabit, and with the world you live in — and into the reverence for life you embody.

If anything, to “have the light enter the wound” is not to bypass the pain, but to move through it so that you become more whole, more beautiful.

As Rumi is often quoted for the light, the longing, and the softness, there is also an aspect of turning the wound into light that requires you to face the darkness. To face an annihilation of the self, a complete dissolution of the self into something larger than yourself.

To have known loss, to have had your heart broken into a million pieces, to have faced defeat, to have met your limitations — all of this holds the possibility for you to become more beautiful, more deeply rooted in who you uniquely are.

This is not the self you optimize toward; it is the divine spark in the darkness that undoes you entirely.

To become so undone by facing the challenge, by surrendering to it, that the part of you which holds on, optimizes, fixates, and manages dissolves entirely. And this dissolution is not rational; it is a holy intoxication — the dissolution of the self into something far greater.

Facing annihilation — the annihilation of the self in any form, through any challenge — is rooted in longing.

Longing, which is integral to Rumi’s writing, is not a path toward success, achievement, or balance as a fixed state. It is a path that dissolves the boundary between the human and the sacred within you, so that you become fuller in who you are by allowing the wound to be entered by the light. 💛

#rumi #longing #divineintoxication #livingaslove #embodiment

Life is meant to be lived and life often feels like a grand mirror, a reflection of the internal in the external.

I love the traditions and psychology lineages that see our internal microcosm as a resenblance, a mirror, a smaller entity of the external macrocosm, and that when you see life in specific ways, when you face the world from the inside out, the external can reflect you some of your internal — its pain, ánd its beauty.

It does unfurl the other way too —where your internal can be reflected in the external.

I strongly felt that this weekend. As I celebrated my birthday and the women I gathered around me these past years, and even decades..

— reflecting me how I truly found my tribe and the depth of my relationship to the feminine that I feel so at home within

women I so love, who I feel so seen by, heard and held and loved by. Women who love to sit on the carpet, drink tea, spent time in circle and ritual together as much as I do. Those who love to be in their body as much as I do, who love presence, beauty, and truth, who are real, vulnerable and specific. And who love craft, creativity and cute outfits too. And who love men as much as I do 💛

There is a time for wintering, and there’s truly a time for blooming, for spring, for a bedding of nourishment, and for butterflies! (lots of them in many ways) — its never been súch a celebration being back within spring 🌸

#spring #love #beauty #sisterhood #blooming

Life is meant to be lived and life often feels like a grand mirror, a reflection of the internal in the external.

I love the traditions and psychology lineages that see our internal microcosm as a resenblance, a mirror, a smaller entity of the external macrocosm, and that when you see life in specific ways, when you face the world from the inside out, the external can reflect you some of your internal — its pain, ánd its beauty.

It does unfurl the other way too —where your internal can be reflected in the external.

I strongly felt that this weekend. As I celebrated my birthday and the women I gathered around me these past years, and even decades..

— reflecting me how I truly found my tribe and the depth of my relationship to the feminine that I feel so at home within

women I so love, who I feel so seen by, heard and held and loved by. Women who love to sit on the carpet, drink tea, spent time in circle and ritual together as much as I do. Those who love to be in their body as much as I do, who love presence, beauty, and truth, who are real, vulnerable and specific. And who love craft, creativity and cute outfits too. And who love men as much as I do 💛

There is a time for wintering, and there’s truly a time for blooming, for spring, for a bedding of nourishment, and for butterflies! (lots of them in many ways) — its never been súch a celebration being back within spring 🌸

#spring #love #beauty #sisterhood #blooming

Longing is a concept I resonate with deeply

All the great mystics write about it, especially the sufis. Mystics and poets like rumi, hafiz, mirabai, rab’ia, and one of my favorite of more recent times, rabindranath tagore… they were all deeply devoted and wrote on their longing for the Beloved.

Often they describe the Beloved as just slightly out of reach, but never to be grasped fully, creating a lifelong devotion to seek the Beloved, a path of longing that is ever unfolding

The very seperaration is the inspiration to seek, to devote, to walk the path of longing, the quest for the Beloved. The longing inspires the journey for an ever-deepening inquiry into the mystery of life.

The spiritual aspect of longing is to transmute the suffering of longing into ever-deepening states of ecstasy and divine intoxication. Or as I like to call it— transforming your pain into beauty.

This is longing. It is holy.
And it is an inherent feminine path to spiritual depth and opening.

It is a feminine longing to be filled by life, to be entered, to seek ever more fullness, physically, emotionally, spiritually and s*xually.

And I love the intersection of the spiritual with the s*xual — the way the feminine experiences arousal is by a longing to be filled, entered. The very bodily sensation to be filled is longing. To completely surrender to the Beloved is one of the greatest feminine turn ons.

Longing is not a gift, eventhough it can feel overwhelming at times, but there is such immense beauty and rapture along this path.

The path and practice is to fully feel your longing, in life, in love. And to deepen in how to hold the intensity of your longing and transmute it into beauty, into (spiritual) opening in your life.

💛

#longing #embodiment #livingaslove

Longing is a concept I resonate with deeply

All the great mystics write about it, especially the sufis. Mystics and poets like rumi, hafiz, mirabai, rab’ia, and one of my favorite of more recent times, rabindranath tagore… they were all deeply devoted and wrote on their longing for the Beloved.

Often they describe the Beloved as just slightly out of reach, but never to be grasped fully, creating a lifelong devotion to seek the Beloved, a path of longing that is ever unfolding

The very seperaration is the inspiration to seek, to devote, to walk the path of longing, the quest for the Beloved. The longing inspires the journey for an ever-deepening inquiry into the mystery of life.

The spiritual aspect of longing is to transmute the suffering of longing into ever-deepening states of ecstasy and divine intoxication. Or as I like to call it— transforming your pain into beauty.

This is longing. It is holy.
And it is an inherent feminine path to spiritual depth and opening.

It is a feminine longing to be filled by life, to be entered, to seek ever more fullness, physically, emotionally, spiritually and s*xually.

And I love the intersection of the spiritual with the s*xual — the way the feminine experiences arousal is by a longing to be filled, entered. The very bodily sensation to be filled is longing. To completely surrender to the Beloved is one of the greatest feminine turn ons.

Longing is not a gift, eventhough it can feel overwhelming at times, but there is such immense beauty and rapture along this path.

The path and practice is to fully feel your longing, in life, in love. And to deepen in how to hold the intensity of your longing and transmute it into beauty, into (spiritual) opening in your life.

💛

#longing #embodiment #livingaslove

‘what to reveal and what to conceal?’ — this is a question I offen sit with

The last 2 months have been a whirlwind of amazing projects, eye treatment, resting the body and feeling the fullness of magic, joy, beauty, love and the deep work of the path of love process @pathretreats

As someone who is quite a hermit, an introvert, a homely girl in floaty garments on fluffy blankets, in front of altars and simply being in my practices in the sacred mundane, finding much richness in the interior of my being rather than the rush of outward experiences, it continues to be a stretch to reveal rather than conceal my gifts here.

My community still giggles at me being the one who built a business originally based in sharing myself, ‘showing my self’.

In my life, and definitely with my bodily visibility, I am incredibly precise in what the world gets to see, and what I keep private. I love privacy. With a body that is always seen, i have practiced energetic agility in concealing myself. My inner most being is only for some. And I have always felt to conceal my intimate relationship, to jeep my love unseen, away from the interwebs.

But there is a place for revealing, revealing my gifts. I have volumes and documents full of writing, unshared words, wisdom that lies in the dark. The raw, real, no ai.

It continues to be devotion to reveal that. To be seen for my creativity, depths, and love is far more daring to me than the visibility of the surface of my skin ever could (without diminishing the daily vulnerability out in the world that that takes!).

I’ve learned early on that the pain of not sharing your gifts far exceeds the pain of fear or failure ever could. The pain of not living your gift, your truth, your love, is far worse than living it, with trembling knees and a humbled heart but with a soul alive!

It is time again for a little more revealing.
So here is to a slow spring season of a little more social sharing again 💛

#love #gifts

‘what to reveal and what to conceal?’ — this is a question I offen sit with

The last 2 months have been a whirlwind of amazing projects, eye treatment, resting the body and feeling the fullness of magic, joy, beauty, love and the deep work of the path of love process @pathretreats

As someone who is quite a hermit, an introvert, a homely girl in floaty garments on fluffy blankets, in front of altars and simply being in my practices in the sacred mundane, finding much richness in the interior of my being rather than the rush of outward experiences, it continues to be a stretch to reveal rather than conceal my gifts here.

My community still giggles at me being the one who built a business originally based in sharing myself, ‘showing my self’.

In my life, and definitely with my bodily visibility, I am incredibly precise in what the world gets to see, and what I keep private. I love privacy. With a body that is always seen, i have practiced energetic agility in concealing myself. My inner most being is only for some. And I have always felt to conceal my intimate relationship, to jeep my love unseen, away from the interwebs.

But there is a place for revealing, revealing my gifts. I have volumes and documents full of writing, unshared words, wisdom that lies in the dark. The raw, real, no ai.

It continues to be devotion to reveal that. To be seen for my creativity, depths, and love is far more daring to me than the visibility of the surface of my skin ever could (without diminishing the daily vulnerability out in the world that that takes!).

I’ve learned early on that the pain of not sharing your gifts far exceeds the pain of fear or failure ever could. The pain of not living your gift, your truth, your love, is far worse than living it, with trembling knees and a humbled heart but with a soul alive!

It is time again for a little more revealing.
So here is to a slow spring season of a little more social sharing again 💛

#love #gifts

Here I am, hip-deep in winter, having found the most unlikely sense of salvation in winter’s grip.

Never have I wintered so beautifully.
I have loved winter more than ever these past months. I love spending my winters in Asia. Yet somehow this winter my seasonal preferences have shifter entirely.

Once I spent a winter on my carpet in total heartbreak. That is where I came to find ecstasy in the dark. And then this winter was one full of nourishment, love, iconic coats, sexy wool, a whole renewed devotion to my ashtanga practice, surrounded by candles, and honestly, so much warmth.

To think that I used to fear the cold. To feel that I used to hold a lot of (medical) trauma in my body around the cold, is a long gone experience.

I never knew about the lightness that winter can carry too. The purity of it. The crispy cleanliness that comes with it, as wool breathes, flakes drift, and days float.

In a way it has felt like things are easier to see. Body feels opened, somatic practices has deepened, reflection has given clarity, myths and story have inspired, and wonderfully so, doctors have said eyesight has become better, which with such a rare condition is nothing but wonder-ful.

This winter was an honoring of the barren truths within – to look at the barren things that are left after blossoming, after letting go, and then letting it cool and settle into stillness for a while.

In opening my heart to new love, I have loved this winter metaphor the most:

“It is easier to spot a fox in a white barren field than it would be to find her in a lush summer forest. She stops her walking to look at me, and I stop my walking to look at her. Our hearts settle for a moment, and cool.”

And I’ve come to see that this beautiful metaphor, perhaps, is what it means to love someone from a respectful distance.

And that seeing, that has been the most beautifully purifying feeling this winter for me to open into a new season of life to unfold

📸 of welcoming some warm airy warmth in marrakech and many beloved winter moments ❄️

Here I am, hip-deep in winter, having found the most unlikely sense of salvation in winter’s grip.

Never have I wintered so beautifully.
I have loved winter more than ever these past months. I love spending my winters in Asia. Yet somehow this winter my seasonal preferences have shifter entirely.

Once I spent a winter on my carpet in total heartbreak. That is where I came to find ecstasy in the dark. And then this winter was one full of nourishment, love, iconic coats, sexy wool, a whole renewed devotion to my ashtanga practice, surrounded by candles, and honestly, so much warmth.

To think that I used to fear the cold. To feel that I used to hold a lot of (medical) trauma in my body around the cold, is a long gone experience.

I never knew about the lightness that winter can carry too. The purity of it. The crispy cleanliness that comes with it, as wool breathes, flakes drift, and days float.

In a way it has felt like things are easier to see. Body feels opened, somatic practices has deepened, reflection has given clarity, myths and story have inspired, and wonderfully so, doctors have said eyesight has become better, which with such a rare condition is nothing but wonder-ful.

This winter was an honoring of the barren truths within – to look at the barren things that are left after blossoming, after letting go, and then letting it cool and settle into stillness for a while.

In opening my heart to new love, I have loved this winter metaphor the most:

“It is easier to spot a fox in a white barren field than it would be to find her in a lush summer forest. She stops her walking to look at me, and I stop my walking to look at her. Our hearts settle for a moment, and cool.”

And I’ve come to see that this beautiful metaphor, perhaps, is what it means to love someone from a respectful distance.

And that seeing, that has been the most beautifully purifying feeling this winter for me to open into a new season of life to unfold

📸 of welcoming some warm airy warmth in marrakech and many beloved winter moments ❄️

One of the intersections I love most, is the intersection between longing, loving and loss.

There is nothing that has brought me deeper in relation to life than these three.

Love, longing and loss have given me a sense of living that feel true, real, and meaningful.

Since I opened my wide eyes to this wild world, I have looked for where and how people carry love, loss and longing in their being. In their faces, in their voice, in the flickers of loss, love and longing in their eyes. I may not see many things with my eyesight, but I read a heart like a map, feel the hidden currents beneath a person’s words, see the way they hold their body because of love, because of loss, because of longing.

In sitting with clients daily in private practice, I am constantly amazed by how resilient our hearts are. There is something in our hearts that makes us humans so incredibly strong in holding our hearts. I believe it is exactly this intersection that does it– our capacity to love, to lose and to long

I have longed to understand the human psyche, to give language to the heart’s capacities, to become fluent in the nuances of its range. This is why somatics & embodied practice are important to me, because the heart expresses where words fall short. The heart’s language of love exists in feeling, in sensing, in emoting.

In my own loss, love and longing, I began to understand both the heart’s complexity and the unyielding reach of my heart’s devotion.

Life will have us meet the intersection of love, loss, and longing in many ways and shapes. Love comes in many forms– some as a revealing mirror, some in the loss of love, sometimes in the deep longing for it. Sometimes in the form where it shows us where we do not love ourselves yet.

Our heart and body are the vessels to initiate deep feeling. This capacity to hold the heart in this intersection is what I am devoted to continuously, because I know that our heart’s capacity to feel gives us the meaning in living life.

:: psychosomatic therapy & relational mentorship is opening in Feb - some slots available for 6 months container :: info + intake in bio ::

One of the intersections I love most, is the intersection between longing, loving and loss.

There is nothing that has brought me deeper in relation to life than these three.

Love, longing and loss have given me a sense of living that feel true, real, and meaningful.

Since I opened my wide eyes to this wild world, I have looked for where and how people carry love, loss and longing in their being. In their faces, in their voice, in the flickers of loss, love and longing in their eyes. I may not see many things with my eyesight, but I read a heart like a map, feel the hidden currents beneath a person’s words, see the way they hold their body because of love, because of loss, because of longing.

In sitting with clients daily in private practice, I am constantly amazed by how resilient our hearts are. There is something in our hearts that makes us humans so incredibly strong in holding our hearts. I believe it is exactly this intersection that does it– our capacity to love, to lose and to long

I have longed to understand the human psyche, to give language to the heart’s capacities, to become fluent in the nuances of its range. This is why somatics & embodied practice are important to me, because the heart expresses where words fall short. The heart’s language of love exists in feeling, in sensing, in emoting.

In my own loss, love and longing, I began to understand both the heart’s complexity and the unyielding reach of my heart’s devotion.

Life will have us meet the intersection of love, loss, and longing in many ways and shapes. Love comes in many forms– some as a revealing mirror, some in the loss of love, sometimes in the deep longing for it. Sometimes in the form where it shows us where we do not love ourselves yet.

Our heart and body are the vessels to initiate deep feeling. This capacity to hold the heart in this intersection is what I am devoted to continuously, because I know that our heart’s capacity to feel gives us the meaning in living life.

:: psychosomatic therapy & relational mentorship is opening in Feb - some slots available for 6 months container :: info + intake in bio ::

this one has been about beauty; about enchantment, about being in awe and in love in a way that is simple

this year’s cycle taught me that to find enchantment, shedding is needed.

above all, beauty, growth and love end up being worth shedding many skins for— just as the snake knows.

this one taught me again how grief fuels joy too, how pain can transform into beauty and spiral you down to a renewed perspective of what enchants you in life.

may my life be a testimony for this truth •

where clarity opened the way for things that turned out to be so undeniably right & clearly só meant in life.

the invitation sometimes is to compromise the comfortable for the actual truth of things.

that sometimes you have to shed in order to save your soul

moving from the old, the disintegration, to the new only just forming is no easy task— that is where you shed, where you’re broken open in a state of humility I have seen this year in so many.

that space is holy. it is where you can touch the divine through your own form

with a heart opened, I have seen again that love and beauty can be found in the most enchanting ways.

I circled back to old held loves with renewed perspective, some of it to shed, to let go,

most of it to be enchanted by through refreshed eyes. to circle back to who I love deeply, and what I love deeply, like lands to feel home to, men to behold, friendships, and coming back to old mythology, to tales, to my love for anthropology, and to dress, to sit with grandmothers, and deepen ayurvedic wisdom, yogic discipline, find new and old tradition, to moving beauty through my body, to ballet, and to clay.

to be enchanted by the beauty of life does include the inevitable pains to face, but to see too how beauty does safe the world.
how life does enchant, in its spirals, cycles, rhythms and oppositions.

the shedding, then the bedding, the enchantment, the home-coming— that is what I am enchanted by, and what I hope to be captured by.

🌹

📸 lastest 2025 capture by @photography_by_naline ✨

#embodiment #enchantment #beauty

this one has been about beauty; about enchantment, about being in awe and in love in a way that is simple

this year’s cycle taught me that to find enchantment, shedding is needed.

above all, beauty, growth and love end up being worth shedding many skins for— just as the snake knows.

this one taught me again how grief fuels joy too, how pain can transform into beauty and spiral you down to a renewed perspective of what enchants you in life.

may my life be a testimony for this truth •

where clarity opened the way for things that turned out to be so undeniably right & clearly só meant in life.

the invitation sometimes is to compromise the comfortable for the actual truth of things.

that sometimes you have to shed in order to save your soul

moving from the old, the disintegration, to the new only just forming is no easy task— that is where you shed, where you’re broken open in a state of humility I have seen this year in so many.

that space is holy. it is where you can touch the divine through your own form

with a heart opened, I have seen again that love and beauty can be found in the most enchanting ways.

I circled back to old held loves with renewed perspective, some of it to shed, to let go,

most of it to be enchanted by through refreshed eyes. to circle back to who I love deeply, and what I love deeply, like lands to feel home to, men to behold, friendships, and coming back to old mythology, to tales, to my love for anthropology, and to dress, to sit with grandmothers, and deepen ayurvedic wisdom, yogic discipline, find new and old tradition, to moving beauty through my body, to ballet, and to clay.

to be enchanted by the beauty of life does include the inevitable pains to face, but to see too how beauty does safe the world.
how life does enchant, in its spirals, cycles, rhythms and oppositions.

the shedding, then the bedding, the enchantment, the home-coming— that is what I am enchanted by, and what I hope to be captured by.

🌹

📸 lastest 2025 capture by @photography_by_naline ✨

#embodiment #enchantment #beauty

I never thought I’d write this 5 years ago
but winter has become my fave season of this year.

Back then, I was on all fours, on the carpet, feeling through deep grief, loss & the biggest heartbreak of my life thus far. The winters since never felt the same.

I think of that winter of heartbreak with a lot of love. Of a girl begged by life to feel it all. It was one of the most special & revealing times. In lockdown, crying every night, giving it to my candles and altar, while endlessly reading books on love, on devotion.

With a heart open, letting burn away what was never meant to stay. I treasure the depth of feeling that made me meet myself so truthfully.
It shifted how I live, love and relate today.

The phase that came after that quiet, aching winter was one of the most beautiful and expansive times.

Some mystics say it is that way— that where your heart breaks deeply, it is also where spiritual longing resides. Heartbreak holds the potency of breaking you open, shifting your entire world.

It did for me then– in meeting the man who initiated me into womanhood, a lot of business expansion, s’xual liberation, a book deal, and a writing season in Portugal

This summer felt like that winter back then. Breaking open. Quietly moving through it. Now, in winter, I feel the opening. And feeling love more deeply, feeling warmth, while the cold has always taught me incredible lessons.

I’ve recently been exploring the ritual phases of Advent: hope, peace, joy, love.
The 4 weeks leading up to the end of year. A time of soft anticipation, inward attunement, and honestly I am so ready for what feels like is going to be an ICONIC year ahead.

I may always long for places that hold my heart, like India, Indonesia, the tropics, colors, the spice there, yet it is right here those 4 ritual advent aspects are closer to heart now, and it’s SO cozy and candle-lit here too.

📷 of winter moments ✨
ps. love frieda’s words on nr 2!!

+ offering an end of your circle in Ams DEC 30th— calling in the new year: an embodied way of setting intentions :: link in bio

#love #intimacy #artofrelating #embodiment

I never thought I’d write this 5 years ago
but winter has become my fave season of this year.

Back then, I was on all fours, on the carpet, feeling through deep grief, loss & the biggest heartbreak of my life thus far. The winters since never felt the same.

I think of that winter of heartbreak with a lot of love. Of a girl begged by life to feel it all. It was one of the most special & revealing times. In lockdown, crying every night, giving it to my candles and altar, while endlessly reading books on love, on devotion.

With a heart open, letting burn away what was never meant to stay. I treasure the depth of feeling that made me meet myself so truthfully.
It shifted how I live, love and relate today.

The phase that came after that quiet, aching winter was one of the most beautiful and expansive times.

Some mystics say it is that way— that where your heart breaks deeply, it is also where spiritual longing resides. Heartbreak holds the potency of breaking you open, shifting your entire world.

It did for me then– in meeting the man who initiated me into womanhood, a lot of business expansion, s’xual liberation, a book deal, and a writing season in Portugal

This summer felt like that winter back then. Breaking open. Quietly moving through it. Now, in winter, I feel the opening. And feeling love more deeply, feeling warmth, while the cold has always taught me incredible lessons.

I’ve recently been exploring the ritual phases of Advent: hope, peace, joy, love.
The 4 weeks leading up to the end of year. A time of soft anticipation, inward attunement, and honestly I am so ready for what feels like is going to be an ICONIC year ahead.

I may always long for places that hold my heart, like India, Indonesia, the tropics, colors, the spice there, yet it is right here those 4 ritual advent aspects are closer to heart now, and it’s SO cozy and candle-lit here too.

📷 of winter moments ✨
ps. love frieda’s words on nr 2!!

+ offering an end of your circle in Ams DEC 30th— calling in the new year: an embodied way of setting intentions :: link in bio

#love #intimacy #artofrelating #embodiment

In a way, intimate relationship is like musicians jamming. The music is uniquely played because your love is uniquely played by you. You love in unique ways as universal love moves through your body. Like universal sound moves different through different instruments. Its all sound played in different ways. Just like love comes in different forms.

We can move love through our bodied in unique ways.

Love as a force, as energy, is universal, pulsing through our blood, as light moving from our eyes. Love is your openness, through body, through breath, through your energetic openness—

Often, we think getting love will fulfill us. But it is more fulfilling when love comes alive through our body.

We constrict the flow of love in many ways.

Physical examples are furrowing our brows, our chest clenched, our jaw tight. The openness of lifting your sternum, allows you to feel more open. This widens and opens your heart. And love naturally blooms through the body more easily.

Practicing to open the body is not new. Because you were born open. Children cry openly. Not clenched. They allow love to come through in different emotions. There is no hiding of the cry or the anger.

Open jaw, breath open. The sound coming through on the breath. That’s resonant.

With opened eyes, there is a light shining through. That is love. Opened love. Softened gaze pours love through eyes.

Feel your own body and feel how you are habitually clenching and constricting love’s flow through your body. Not to make yourself wrong but to become lovingly aware of it. That awareness will naturally relax it.

www.tessaschiethart.com/mentorship

#embodiment #living #loving #relating #somatictherapy #relationship #yogicintimacy

In a way, intimate relationship is like musicians jamming. The music is uniquely played because your love is uniquely played by you. You love in unique ways as universal love moves through your body. Like universal sound moves different through different instruments. Its all sound played in different ways. Just like love comes in different forms.

We can move love through our bodied in unique ways.

Love as a force, as energy, is universal, pulsing through our blood, as light moving from our eyes. Love is your openness, through body, through breath, through your energetic openness—

Often, we think getting love will fulfill us. But it is more fulfilling when love comes alive through our body.

We constrict the flow of love in many ways.

Physical examples are furrowing our brows, our chest clenched, our jaw tight. The openness of lifting your sternum, allows you to feel more open. This widens and opens your heart. And love naturally blooms through the body more easily.

Practicing to open the body is not new. Because you were born open. Children cry openly. Not clenched. They allow love to come through in different emotions. There is no hiding of the cry or the anger.

Open jaw, breath open. The sound coming through on the breath. That’s resonant.

With opened eyes, there is a light shining through. That is love. Opened love. Softened gaze pours love through eyes.

Feel your own body and feel how you are habitually clenching and constricting love’s flow through your body. Not to make yourself wrong but to become lovingly aware of it. That awareness will naturally relax it.

www.tessaschiethart.com/mentorship

#embodiment #living #loving #relating #somatictherapy #relationship #yogicintimacy

To place your feeling awareness fully within your own energy, body and being, and then with another, is your gift as a woman.

Coming back to the gift of your own energy. Of feeling, of relating, of loving.

It isn’t more strategies.
It is more depth.
It is being more relaxed.
More relational.
More open.
It is more capacity to feel, love and relate and live as that.

To feel people and love them into wholeness and into love.

The openness of your body and heart have a rippling effect on the world around you, the people near you, and the places you enter.

We need this capacity to feel, deepen and relate in our culture.

We need it in relationships.
In leadership.
The medical world needs this. Education needs this.
Systems need it.
The corporate world is desperately deprived of feeling capacity, of depth and relational skill.

Of skill that deepens rather than widens. Of skill that is relational, more than directional.

How can you take responsibility for bringing this?

How can you feel more deeply that who you are being in this moment matters?

What stands in the way of fully resting within your own energy, being, body as a gift to the world you live in?

—
www.tessaschiethart.com/mentorship
—
#relationlifetherapy #somatictherapy #mentorship #embodiment #love #theartofrelating #embodiedliving

To place your feeling awareness fully within your own energy, body and being, and then with another, is your gift as a woman.

Coming back to the gift of your own energy. Of feeling, of relating, of loving.

It isn’t more strategies.
It is more depth.
It is being more relaxed.
More relational.
More open.
It is more capacity to feel, love and relate and live as that.

To feel people and love them into wholeness and into love.

The openness of your body and heart have a rippling effect on the world around you, the people near you, and the places you enter.

We need this capacity to feel, deepen and relate in our culture.

We need it in relationships.
In leadership.
The medical world needs this. Education needs this.
Systems need it.
The corporate world is desperately deprived of feeling capacity, of depth and relational skill.

Of skill that deepens rather than widens. Of skill that is relational, more than directional.

How can you take responsibility for bringing this?

How can you feel more deeply that who you are being in this moment matters?

What stands in the way of fully resting within your own energy, being, body as a gift to the world you live in?

—
www.tessaschiethart.com/mentorship
—
#relationlifetherapy #somatictherapy #mentorship #embodiment #love #theartofrelating #embodiedliving

Pain can transform into beauty if we so choose to face the challenges between pain and beauty. My lived experience is my testimony to this.

I believe living & feeling come with a spectrum— the extent to which you can feel your grief, face the challenge, be with pain, is proportionate to your capacity to feel joy, see beauty and love deeply.

Beauty and grief lie close to one another. Pleasure and pain too.

Maybe we aren’t meant to ‘overcome’ every life challenge — some things only change by how we relate to them, not by them actually changing, whether it be partner, person, the situation, the challenge.

Often transformation asks for integration. The invitation is to relate deeper, see differently, to live more inclusively of all that we are, and to love more freely.

My heartbreaks have broken me open, multiple times. It has brought me true lessons in my capacity to love, my relational patterning, and the tenderness that comes with pain. My heart’s capacity to love enriched, revealed its depth, and I see beauty because of it.

My physical pain taught me to enjoy the movement I get to do every day. It defines my capacity to move pleasure through my body.

In limitation I have found some freedom too.

The losses let me hold dear the ones closest around me.

Fear teaches me to feel faith.

Sickness has taught me to take responsibility for my health, take no thing for granted in living.

Losing sight lets me love my sensual aliveness, deepens my taste for life, and fuels the sights of overwhelming beauty that surrounds me in the littlest ways.

Loving and relating to a man has been the most revealing mirror in where I hold back, and lean in unencumbered.

Life is inherently relational.
Life has a spectrum, a dance between polarities. And a harmony as we learn to relate deeply, to live that dance between opposites, to love the polarities with grace

and as we do, become more whole in living, more full with both the pains and beauty

🌹

#embodiment #beauty #pleasure #pain #relationalliving #somatictherapy

Pain can transform into beauty if we so choose to face the challenges between pain and beauty. My lived experience is my testimony to this.

I believe living & feeling come with a spectrum— the extent to which you can feel your grief, face the challenge, be with pain, is proportionate to your capacity to feel joy, see beauty and love deeply.

Beauty and grief lie close to one another. Pleasure and pain too.

Maybe we aren’t meant to ‘overcome’ every life challenge — some things only change by how we relate to them, not by them actually changing, whether it be partner, person, the situation, the challenge.

Often transformation asks for integration. The invitation is to relate deeper, see differently, to live more inclusively of all that we are, and to love more freely.

My heartbreaks have broken me open, multiple times. It has brought me true lessons in my capacity to love, my relational patterning, and the tenderness that comes with pain. My heart’s capacity to love enriched, revealed its depth, and I see beauty because of it.

My physical pain taught me to enjoy the movement I get to do every day. It defines my capacity to move pleasure through my body.

In limitation I have found some freedom too.

The losses let me hold dear the ones closest around me.

Fear teaches me to feel faith.

Sickness has taught me to take responsibility for my health, take no thing for granted in living.

Losing sight lets me love my sensual aliveness, deepens my taste for life, and fuels the sights of overwhelming beauty that surrounds me in the littlest ways.

Loving and relating to a man has been the most revealing mirror in where I hold back, and lean in unencumbered.

Life is inherently relational.
Life has a spectrum, a dance between polarities. And a harmony as we learn to relate deeply, to live that dance between opposites, to love the polarities with grace

and as we do, become more whole in living, more full with both the pains and beauty

🌹

#embodiment #beauty #pleasure #pain #relationalliving #somatictherapy

when I was 19, and first travelled to India by myself to study with a renowned yoga master in the south, I stayed with a family with 3 daughters. Staying there, among a women’s household, I received so many deep teaching. Sure, I stood on my mat in front of the master at 5 am 6 days a week and absolutely adored the practice. But those women? I shared so many giggles with them. They showed me the art of making chai— stirring the pot with such devotion, they showed me how they devoted to lakshmi, tk draw yantras at the front door, they showed me daily devotion. They showed me life as a ceremony. They showed me descendence into my body, rather than transcendence out of it. And that was so valuable for a girl who all her life had heard her body was doing wrong things no doctor or professional knew what to do with.

Still, every year, the mother sends me a message on my birthday, “girlyji, enjoy the flowers, bird, your heart on face and you living!!!” Its amazing.

From then on, ayurveda has been a path I have held more sacred than any, and that healed my body in ways I sometimes still cannot fathom. And over time the feminine path became home. As much as I still love my mat for practice, loving and living deepens for me in feminine practice, in relationship, and with women around me. I’ve sat in circle for many years in many different constellations of women. And it has been like that for many women for ages. To be around each other, create rituals, sit in circle, giggle about the men, relate deeper, drink tea, stir a pot, relax, soften, cry our tears, hold each other in grief and reflect each other in truth.

Yesterday was a first of the feminine embodiment circle I monthly host in Amsterdam now. It was simply beautiful. So nourishing, deepening, opening, softening and feeling the power we each hold within as women too. 🌹

Each circle has a theme orienting to liberating love through the body, releasing patterns of closure, and to relate more deeply in living and loving. ✨

the next one is December 5th :: link in bio.

—
📸 by dearest @project.radiance assisting during last September’s Initiatress training in Portugal with @templeofradiance

when I was 19, and first travelled to India by myself to study with a renowned yoga master in the south, I stayed with a family with 3 daughters. Staying there, among a women’s household, I received so many deep teaching. Sure, I stood on my mat in front of the master at 5 am 6 days a week and absolutely adored the practice. But those women? I shared so many giggles with them. They showed me the art of making chai— stirring the pot with such devotion, they showed me how they devoted to lakshmi, tk draw yantras at the front door, they showed me daily devotion. They showed me life as a ceremony. They showed me descendence into my body, rather than transcendence out of it. And that was so valuable for a girl who all her life had heard her body was doing wrong things no doctor or professional knew what to do with.

Still, every year, the mother sends me a message on my birthday, “girlyji, enjoy the flowers, bird, your heart on face and you living!!!” Its amazing.

From then on, ayurveda has been a path I have held more sacred than any, and that healed my body in ways I sometimes still cannot fathom. And over time the feminine path became home. As much as I still love my mat for practice, loving and living deepens for me in feminine practice, in relationship, and with women around me. I’ve sat in circle for many years in many different constellations of women. And it has been like that for many women for ages. To be around each other, create rituals, sit in circle, giggle about the men, relate deeper, drink tea, stir a pot, relax, soften, cry our tears, hold each other in grief and reflect each other in truth.

Yesterday was a first of the feminine embodiment circle I monthly host in Amsterdam now. It was simply beautiful. So nourishing, deepening, opening, softening and feeling the power we each hold within as women too. 🌹

Each circle has a theme orienting to liberating love through the body, releasing patterns of closure, and to relate more deeply in living and loving. ✨

the next one is December 5th :: link in bio.

—
📸 by dearest @project.radiance assisting during last September’s Initiatress training in Portugal with @templeofradiance

When I speak of the ‘feminine’ with the women & men I work with, I speak of the aspect of reality that is existence, experience, everything we feel know, touch, think, intuit.

The ‘feminine’ is the content and stuff of life. We are inhabiting the feminine, in a body, in experience.

For the western mind the word ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’ is often hard to grasp as the terms get interpreted as male and female instead of energetics in all of life. These terms get deflated easily.

In Vedic and T•ntric scripture and in Taoist tradition these terms are described as shakti/shiva (experience/awareness) or yin/yang. I love the translation of ‘go and flow’ too.

The way we relate to the feminine is the way we relate to our own body, our emotions, thoughts, feelings, the earth.

This relationship is very disconnected for many.

I’ve learned to refer to this feminine aspect of exstince, of evolution, as Love. The pulse of love. And the way we feel the energy of love is very severed.

When I speak of feminine embodiment I speak of deepening your relationship with this energy within, and learning to live the energy of love through your body, expression, energy, in living, loving and relating.

a feminine embodiment practice brings
— a balance to our conditioned capacity to think with our innate capacity for feeling, which creates a depth in being
— inhabiting our body and caring for our body, emotions, feeling and being more nourishingly
* feeling the connection between our body and another body in relationships, including the earth

Embodiment creates a deeper relationship to aspects of ourselves.

Feminine embodiment creates a deeper relationship to feminine aspects of us, whatever body we inhabit. It creates a richness within us as we learn to live more from this energy.

✨ as this work is very potent for a woman’s body, im offering a monthly feminine embodiment circle — in amsterdam, for women — next one is Nov 7 :: link in bio, or comment ‘circle’

#embodiment #feminineenergy #polarity #energetics #deeperrelating

When I speak of the ‘feminine’ with the women & men I work with, I speak of the aspect of reality that is existence, experience, everything we feel know, touch, think, intuit.

The ‘feminine’ is the content and stuff of life. We are inhabiting the feminine, in a body, in experience.

For the western mind the word ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’ is often hard to grasp as the terms get interpreted as male and female instead of energetics in all of life. These terms get deflated easily.

In Vedic and T•ntric scripture and in Taoist tradition these terms are described as shakti/shiva (experience/awareness) or yin/yang. I love the translation of ‘go and flow’ too.

The way we relate to the feminine is the way we relate to our own body, our emotions, thoughts, feelings, the earth.

This relationship is very disconnected for many.

I’ve learned to refer to this feminine aspect of exstince, of evolution, as Love. The pulse of love. And the way we feel the energy of love is very severed.

When I speak of feminine embodiment I speak of deepening your relationship with this energy within, and learning to live the energy of love through your body, expression, energy, in living, loving and relating.

a feminine embodiment practice brings
— a balance to our conditioned capacity to think with our innate capacity for feeling, which creates a depth in being
— inhabiting our body and caring for our body, emotions, feeling and being more nourishingly
* feeling the connection between our body and another body in relationships, including the earth

Embodiment creates a deeper relationship to aspects of ourselves.

Feminine embodiment creates a deeper relationship to feminine aspects of us, whatever body we inhabit. It creates a richness within us as we learn to live more from this energy.

✨ as this work is very potent for a woman’s body, im offering a monthly feminine embodiment circle — in amsterdam, for women — next one is Nov 7 :: link in bio, or comment ‘circle’

#embodiment #feminineenergy #polarity #energetics #deeperrelating

🌺 NEW DATES for FALL + WINTER SEASON 26-27!!

I’m guiding an embodiment circle monthly

This is for women who long to connect deeper to their feminine energy and their body in living, loving and relating.

This path of embodiment and feminine energy has brought me expression, awareness, the meeting of relational edges, the healing of relational wounds, the safety in my body, connection to my energy and intimacy with a man, a beautiful connection to the women around me, and a liberation of the love that is held within my body, heart and soul.

It teaches to be the embodiment of Love itself, in the many expressions that it comes in

This practice and circle is for
• deepening your relationship to the part of you that is constantly changing
• feeling, sensing, intuiting & enlivening your sensuality
• connecting to your heart, deepest longings, creative energy, and your relaxation
• deepening intimacy, eros, flow and love in your body and for your intimate relationship

There is so much beauty in deepening our embodied practice in a group of women—

new dates | season ‘26 - ‘27
• september 4
• october 2
• november 6
• december 4
• january 8
• february 5
• march 5

monthly
in amsterdam

link in bio to join full season, half season, or one circle

✨

in gratitude to the ongoing years of study with dear teachers 🫶

🌺 NEW DATES for FALL + WINTER SEASON 26-27!!

I’m guiding an embodiment circle monthly

This is for women who long to connect deeper to their feminine energy and their body in living, loving and relating.

This path of embodiment and feminine energy has brought me expression, awareness, the meeting of relational edges, the healing of relational wounds, the safety in my body, connection to my energy and intimacy with a man, a beautiful connection to the women around me, and a liberation of the love that is held within my body, heart and soul.

It teaches to be the embodiment of Love itself, in the many expressions that it comes in

This practice and circle is for
• deepening your relationship to the part of you that is constantly changing
• feeling, sensing, intuiting & enlivening your sensuality
• connecting to your heart, deepest longings, creative energy, and your relaxation
• deepening intimacy, eros, flow and love in your body and for your intimate relationship

There is so much beauty in deepening our embodied practice in a group of women—

new dates | season ‘26 - ‘27
• september 4
• october 2
• november 6
• december 4
• january 8
• february 5
• march 5

monthly
in amsterdam

link in bio to join full season, half season, or one circle

✨

in gratitude to the ongoing years of study with dear teachers 🫶

after 5 years of a life with many particular challenges and extraversion, of my parents divorcing, of my eye sight challenged yet (miraculously?) unchanged, after loving someone so deeply and losing love over and over, mending heartbreak 3 times, I have landed for now in a phase of life where I am ecstatically content and in love...

I’ve been in introversion for over a year. Embodying a new way in giving my gifts, while honoring the deep yearning for the unseen, for deepening my relationship with life and love even more, and a phase for welcoming motherhood.

Over the last year my private practice has run almost entirely through word of mouth, something which I always longed for. I love the imagery of sitting in a forest hut and people knocking on my door for guidance while I brew some tea. In a way, I live that. My home has been a sanctuary for rest, restoration, transformation, surrounded by water, amidst city-life. My friends call it Tessa’s temple.

When I inquired about my presence on an online platform like this, I choose to devote to long-form writing, offering circles offline, and those who long for a deep life, a deep love, are finding me for private mentorship.

Alongside that, what I long to do is write my heart out, and share just a little of it here. I’ve always longed for a simple yet deep life. For a feeling life. A private life, infused with the wisdom of body, heart and spirit. I have longed for this autumn, and winter— which is not only all around me in splendor and colour. But so alive within me.

I currently relish in curling up next to a beloved on the couch. Living together. Waking up to the candles already lit. My Ayurvedic apothecary and kitchen. The quiet and peace. I meditate more than in the last 5 years.

This is what life is for now. So in love.

x t

ps:: loving the words on the last slide ❤️‍🔥

#embodiment #deeperliving #deeperrelating #deeperloving #autumn #lifephases

after 5 years of a life with many particular challenges and extraversion, of my parents divorcing, of my eye sight challenged yet (miraculously?) unchanged, after loving someone so deeply and losing love over and over, mending heartbreak 3 times, I have landed for now in a phase of life where I am ecstatically content and in love...

I’ve been in introversion for over a year. Embodying a new way in giving my gifts, while honoring the deep yearning for the unseen, for deepening my relationship with life and love even more, and a phase for welcoming motherhood.

Over the last year my private practice has run almost entirely through word of mouth, something which I always longed for. I love the imagery of sitting in a forest hut and people knocking on my door for guidance while I brew some tea. In a way, I live that. My home has been a sanctuary for rest, restoration, transformation, surrounded by water, amidst city-life. My friends call it Tessa’s temple.

When I inquired about my presence on an online platform like this, I choose to devote to long-form writing, offering circles offline, and those who long for a deep life, a deep love, are finding me for private mentorship.

Alongside that, what I long to do is write my heart out, and share just a little of it here. I’ve always longed for a simple yet deep life. For a feeling life. A private life, infused with the wisdom of body, heart and spirit. I have longed for this autumn, and winter— which is not only all around me in splendor and colour. But so alive within me.

I currently relish in curling up next to a beloved on the couch. Living together. Waking up to the candles already lit. My Ayurvedic apothecary and kitchen. The quiet and peace. I meditate more than in the last 5 years.

This is what life is for now. So in love.

x t

ps:: loving the words on the last slide ❤️‍🔥

#embodiment #deeperliving #deeperrelating #deeperloving #autumn #lifephases

For all my life, sensitivity has been a theme. First, it was about finding my way in a world where everything seemed to be made to desensitize me.

I grew up being told I may lose my sight, with a medical journey aimed to save it, while impacting the rest of my body and my sensitivity with needed needles in the process.

With a feeling heart, my sensitivity became part of my teenage rebellion. At 17 I rebelled by refusing to drink coffee, alcohol or any stimulant— refusing anything I could become ‘dependent’ on, or that I deemed ‘unnatural’ to my body, or altered my senses.

Ayurveda eased my rebellion, and gave more depth of insight into my senses and nature, while still remaining without stimulants.

Finding embodiment practice, it was sensitization practice that gave me the ground to the sensitivity I felt. It deepened my relationship to my senses and enlivened my body.

To taste, slowly, fully,
To see, deeply, lovingly
To feel, pulsation, emotion, skin
To hear, song, breath, rhythm
To smell, fragrances, flowers…

I’ve seen many struggle with sensitivity. Some become identified with what some call hsp, others become burnt out or numb— to no fault necessarily yet not knowing how to relate to the beauty of sensitivity.

Sensitivity is a gift & I know it is not always easy to relate to its gifts in this world. Just like many, I feel, deeply. And my body partly needs that, because my sight is less. A part of sensitivity is survival. Yet beyond identity or survival, it is powerful, natural, instinctual, and a way to become deeply attuned to yourself, to others, and the beauty of the world.

Every time when my clients tell me my work is incredible, I attribute it to sensitivity and a sensitized body.

Sensitivity and sensual aliveness in the body make others feel safe and seen in your presence, make you magnetic, energetically agile, trustworthy, and relaxed, open and alive because you are daring to feel.

Sensitivity has an uncanny beauty of opening your heart wider in life— to both the pain, challenge, ecstasy and bliss, to let yourself be touched by Life deeply.

🌹www.tessaschiethart.com
#embodiment #relationalliving #intimacy #sensitivity #sensitization

For all my life, sensitivity has been a theme. First, it was about finding my way in a world where everything seemed to be made to desensitize me.

I grew up being told I may lose my sight, with a medical journey aimed to save it, while impacting the rest of my body and my sensitivity with needed needles in the process.

With a feeling heart, my sensitivity became part of my teenage rebellion. At 17 I rebelled by refusing to drink coffee, alcohol or any stimulant— refusing anything I could become ‘dependent’ on, or that I deemed ‘unnatural’ to my body, or altered my senses.

Ayurveda eased my rebellion, and gave more depth of insight into my senses and nature, while still remaining without stimulants.

Finding embodiment practice, it was sensitization practice that gave me the ground to the sensitivity I felt. It deepened my relationship to my senses and enlivened my body.

To taste, slowly, fully,
To see, deeply, lovingly
To feel, pulsation, emotion, skin
To hear, song, breath, rhythm
To smell, fragrances, flowers…

I’ve seen many struggle with sensitivity. Some become identified with what some call hsp, others become burnt out or numb— to no fault necessarily yet not knowing how to relate to the beauty of sensitivity.

Sensitivity is a gift & I know it is not always easy to relate to its gifts in this world. Just like many, I feel, deeply. And my body partly needs that, because my sight is less. A part of sensitivity is survival. Yet beyond identity or survival, it is powerful, natural, instinctual, and a way to become deeply attuned to yourself, to others, and the beauty of the world.

Every time when my clients tell me my work is incredible, I attribute it to sensitivity and a sensitized body.

Sensitivity and sensual aliveness in the body make others feel safe and seen in your presence, make you magnetic, energetically agile, trustworthy, and relaxed, open and alive because you are daring to feel.

Sensitivity has an uncanny beauty of opening your heart wider in life— to both the pain, challenge, ecstasy and bliss, to let yourself be touched by Life deeply.

🌹www.tessaschiethart.com
#embodiment #relationalliving #intimacy #sensitivity #sensitization

One of Love’s most essential and beautiful aspects to me

is the sense of being with someone where you feel like it is the most mundane, while at the same time the most exquisitely eclectic cosmic.

where being with them feels ordinary and extraordinary at the same time, where there is a true sense of grounding, with at the same time a fulfilling energy that encapsulates your heart so fully.

This is one of the gifts of life I treasure most— to meet someone.

Someone that may be another someone to many, yet is so incredibly unique to your heart. That there may be only a few in a lifetime that can touch you deeply, as deeply and as fully as you have met your own capacity to love.

Love is the deepest ache & longing of many hearts—

I love Love for this reason. Not only the romantic kind, but the kind of Love that encapsulates us in both pain and beauty, in ache and in ecstasy, in longing and in letting go.

I often remind myself of the moments I felt this all-encompassing feeling. To hold dear and treasure the incredible love stories and deep relating that unfolded from meeting love…

It truly amazes me how love has the power to make a complete stranger our most intimate companion. Yet, also, how our most trusted and intimate companion can become a stranger again as love changes, as we let them go, as lifepaths divert and love transmutes the form of relating.

The potency of what we can learn from love is incredible, if we so choose— how our deepest loving, our heartbreak, our letting go holds such wisdom about who we are, about the pain and beauty we hold within our hearts, about that whole spectrum that the force of Love has us feel.

A deep lesson in love personally has been letting go. Letting go of that one I loved so fully used to be an unnatural, counter-intuitive process.
It once took years to fully let go, and that process still holds some of my most treasured life lessons.

Loving has become more unencumbered, more real, more true to essence because of it.

How we meet love, how we let go of love, and how we relate not only IN love but AS the embodiment of Love, is perhaps one of life’s finest teachings, and one I do love.

🌹

One of Love’s most essential and beautiful aspects to me

is the sense of being with someone where you feel like it is the most mundane, while at the same time the most exquisitely eclectic cosmic.

where being with them feels ordinary and extraordinary at the same time, where there is a true sense of grounding, with at the same time a fulfilling energy that encapsulates your heart so fully.

This is one of the gifts of life I treasure most— to meet someone.

Someone that may be another someone to many, yet is so incredibly unique to your heart. That there may be only a few in a lifetime that can touch you deeply, as deeply and as fully as you have met your own capacity to love.

Love is the deepest ache & longing of many hearts—

I love Love for this reason. Not only the romantic kind, but the kind of Love that encapsulates us in both pain and beauty, in ache and in ecstasy, in longing and in letting go.

I often remind myself of the moments I felt this all-encompassing feeling. To hold dear and treasure the incredible love stories and deep relating that unfolded from meeting love…

It truly amazes me how love has the power to make a complete stranger our most intimate companion. Yet, also, how our most trusted and intimate companion can become a stranger again as love changes, as we let them go, as lifepaths divert and love transmutes the form of relating.

The potency of what we can learn from love is incredible, if we so choose— how our deepest loving, our heartbreak, our letting go holds such wisdom about who we are, about the pain and beauty we hold within our hearts, about that whole spectrum that the force of Love has us feel.

A deep lesson in love personally has been letting go. Letting go of that one I loved so fully used to be an unnatural, counter-intuitive process.
It once took years to fully let go, and that process still holds some of my most treasured life lessons.

Loving has become more unencumbered, more real, more true to essence because of it.

How we meet love, how we let go of love, and how we relate not only IN love but AS the embodiment of Love, is perhaps one of life’s finest teachings, and one I do love.

🌹

the path of embodied tan•tra is one I am immensely grateful for in my life

this last week of assisting the Initiatress x Rites of Passage training with 85 men and wonen by @templeofradiance has reaffirmed my love for this path •

My own journey and teachings is more rooted in deida’s yogic intimacy and liberating love within devotional relationship (my clients’ and my own), tan’tra has undoubtedly deepened my life for the last 5+ years

There’s a lot I can say about this path. I hold reverence for the t’tric spaces that are held in devotion & integrity.

The humans I meet on it devote to integrating all parts of who they are— shadow, light & dark. Masculine, feminine energies, and beyond duality. I love being among those devoted to enliven their life force, their eros, love, depth, rawness, their communications, ways of relating, and bringing playfulness, trust and their deep yes to life.

I love how this path welcomes the transmutation of our pain into beauty in an embodied way.

There is no community that has welcomed me with my looks, my limitations in sight, while this path has so deeply and beautifully invited me to feel my gifts and see myself beyond it all.

Sure, as an anthropologist, I see deep distortions too, like there are to any field, path, culture or community. Yet, in integral spaces, these tender pieces are brought in, included instead of repressed.

Last week assisting the amazing training, where men and women train alongside to then come together in a beautiful devotional field of love, presence and depth, has shown me yet again how deeply needed this world needs humans in their bodies, in their hearts and in ecstasy with life.

I’m in awe and in deep gratitude for this work.

And for spending 2 days integrating this week in my old home town near the ocean, ericeira 🫶

Now on the way to Amsterdam, to my clients in private practice, to teaching at university

— because if tan•tra taught me a thing or two, it is embracing the paradox of life, of wild while grounded in all of life, and to transmute any pain into beauty.

✨

the path of embodied tan•tra is one I am immensely grateful for in my life

this last week of assisting the Initiatress x Rites of Passage training with 85 men and wonen by @templeofradiance has reaffirmed my love for this path •

My own journey and teachings is more rooted in deida’s yogic intimacy and liberating love within devotional relationship (my clients’ and my own), tan’tra has undoubtedly deepened my life for the last 5+ years

There’s a lot I can say about this path. I hold reverence for the t’tric spaces that are held in devotion & integrity.

The humans I meet on it devote to integrating all parts of who they are— shadow, light & dark. Masculine, feminine energies, and beyond duality. I love being among those devoted to enliven their life force, their eros, love, depth, rawness, their communications, ways of relating, and bringing playfulness, trust and their deep yes to life.

I love how this path welcomes the transmutation of our pain into beauty in an embodied way.

There is no community that has welcomed me with my looks, my limitations in sight, while this path has so deeply and beautifully invited me to feel my gifts and see myself beyond it all.

Sure, as an anthropologist, I see deep distortions too, like there are to any field, path, culture or community. Yet, in integral spaces, these tender pieces are brought in, included instead of repressed.

Last week assisting the amazing training, where men and women train alongside to then come together in a beautiful devotional field of love, presence and depth, has shown me yet again how deeply needed this world needs humans in their bodies, in their hearts and in ecstasy with life.

I’m in awe and in deep gratitude for this work.

And for spending 2 days integrating this week in my old home town near the ocean, ericeira 🫶

Now on the way to Amsterdam, to my clients in private practice, to teaching at university

— because if tan•tra taught me a thing or two, it is embracing the paradox of life, of wild while grounded in all of life, and to transmute any pain into beauty.

✨

When I was in uni studying women’s bodyism, I studied the links between the repression of women’s bodies, and the role of desire in institutionalised religions.
I came to see that sometimes the purity of our longings wither and turn toxic.

Like with old clergy men and boys, and especially the repression of women’s bodies in some religions— while a woman’s deepest longing & desire is a superpower that defies patriarchal systems and empowers to create life.

It isn’t hard to see that when our deepest and most beautiful yearnings, desires and longings are covered by ambiguity, all sorts of aberrations and addictions start cropping up.

Desire is pure, whether it is our s’ual desires, or any human desire in life.

Sure, abstinence has its function, but forever?

Nothing unbalanced brings balance.

So I pondered ever since, what if we do not put desire in the dark, but bring presence to it?

What if we welcome all desire, not shame it?
What if we make love-making a holy action within our human capacity?

What happens when we caress our lover’s skin, as we become so intentionally curious about the nuance of the contact between our fingers and their body?

What if our lover treats all of our lips with complete attention?

I’ve seen how the power of presence softens the lines between self and other, between external cultural norms and authentic inner feelings and between awareness of pure desire vs. detached lustfulness.

It is difficult to objectify and abuse someone with whom you are fully present, with whom you completely slow down.

And in whose face you come to see the face of the divine by the presence you bring…

When we truly, deeply connect with our own desire, longing and yearning first, and then bring that with love and presence into the connection with another, that is where we welcome the divine in.

This, to me, is the dance of conscious intimacy, welcoming holy longing, deep desire and ecstatic yearning and is what deepens Love through presence, and what is one of the most sacred yet daring practices in Life

It’s what I love pondering over, in the light of cultural conditioning and the wellspring of wisdom that lives in our body.

💛

When I was in uni studying women’s bodyism, I studied the links between the repression of women’s bodies, and the role of desire in institutionalised religions.
I came to see that sometimes the purity of our longings wither and turn toxic.

Like with old clergy men and boys, and especially the repression of women’s bodies in some religions— while a woman’s deepest longing & desire is a superpower that defies patriarchal systems and empowers to create life.

It isn’t hard to see that when our deepest and most beautiful yearnings, desires and longings are covered by ambiguity, all sorts of aberrations and addictions start cropping up.

Desire is pure, whether it is our s’ual desires, or any human desire in life.

Sure, abstinence has its function, but forever?

Nothing unbalanced brings balance.

So I pondered ever since, what if we do not put desire in the dark, but bring presence to it?

What if we welcome all desire, not shame it?
What if we make love-making a holy action within our human capacity?

What happens when we caress our lover’s skin, as we become so intentionally curious about the nuance of the contact between our fingers and their body?

What if our lover treats all of our lips with complete attention?

I’ve seen how the power of presence softens the lines between self and other, between external cultural norms and authentic inner feelings and between awareness of pure desire vs. detached lustfulness.

It is difficult to objectify and abuse someone with whom you are fully present, with whom you completely slow down.

And in whose face you come to see the face of the divine by the presence you bring…

When we truly, deeply connect with our own desire, longing and yearning first, and then bring that with love and presence into the connection with another, that is where we welcome the divine in.

This, to me, is the dance of conscious intimacy, welcoming holy longing, deep desire and ecstatic yearning and is what deepens Love through presence, and what is one of the most sacred yet daring practices in Life

It’s what I love pondering over, in the light of cultural conditioning and the wellspring of wisdom that lives in our body.

💛

I’ve been quiet about this…

One of my dreams as a girl was to become a sexologist.

I never really shared my dream with many— sx to some is shameful, and I carried shame wanting to work in the realms of s.xuality.

But love-making has always touched my heart, and interested my mind.

To me, our s.xual energy is our creative energy, our life force, our vitality, one of the most potent forces in this universe.

I grew up with a quantum mathematician dad who taught me about the dance between consciousness and energy. With studying yoga, I saw and felt the polarities that exist in each human, translated into the western understandings of ‘masculine & feminine energies’, and how they come together to create Life– creatively, biologically…

By the time I was 18 & choosing a uni path, psychology was not for me. Labels, ‘dysfunction’, and systemic analysis of humanness– it did not appeal to a girl who was immensely challenged in her body at the time.

I wanted to study the bodymind, one whole— the energetics, the spiritual, the se.ual body, as described as ‘koshas’, or ‘bodies’ in ayurveda. I wanted somatics, embodiment. To include pleasure, pain, aliveness, attraction.

It took a journey to come here. I studied anthropology of human flourishing, female bodyism, lookism, alongside (ayurvedic) health & vitality, embodiment, somatics, relationship for fifteen years, then found the t.ntric tradition, and then come to the path of yogic intimacy to practice love through.

And over a year ago, I completed my formal training in somatic s.xuality, and became a s.xologist like I dreamt of.

Mostly, what moves me, is how we make love.

I believe the essence of our s.xuality is our return to the awareness that we are the embodiment of Love itself, and that our deepest yearning is to create life, feel alive, to flourish in life, while honoring pain and challenge too.

I know the beauty of flourishing in my own way in life, like with this work. This is the work I have been blooming towards, and I love and feel loved by this work— I feel alive and flourishing in serving the art of living, loving and relating with awareness and as the embodiment of Love.

🌹

I’ve been quiet about this…

One of my dreams as a girl was to become a sexologist.

I never really shared my dream with many— sx to some is shameful, and I carried shame wanting to work in the realms of s.xuality.

But love-making has always touched my heart, and interested my mind.

To me, our s.xual energy is our creative energy, our life force, our vitality, one of the most potent forces in this universe.

I grew up with a quantum mathematician dad who taught me about the dance between consciousness and energy. With studying yoga, I saw and felt the polarities that exist in each human, translated into the western understandings of ‘masculine & feminine energies’, and how they come together to create Life– creatively, biologically…

By the time I was 18 & choosing a uni path, psychology was not for me. Labels, ‘dysfunction’, and systemic analysis of humanness– it did not appeal to a girl who was immensely challenged in her body at the time.

I wanted to study the bodymind, one whole— the energetics, the spiritual, the se.ual body, as described as ‘koshas’, or ‘bodies’ in ayurveda. I wanted somatics, embodiment. To include pleasure, pain, aliveness, attraction.

It took a journey to come here. I studied anthropology of human flourishing, female bodyism, lookism, alongside (ayurvedic) health & vitality, embodiment, somatics, relationship for fifteen years, then found the t.ntric tradition, and then come to the path of yogic intimacy to practice love through.

And over a year ago, I completed my formal training in somatic s.xuality, and became a s.xologist like I dreamt of.

Mostly, what moves me, is how we make love.

I believe the essence of our s.xuality is our return to the awareness that we are the embodiment of Love itself, and that our deepest yearning is to create life, feel alive, to flourish in life, while honoring pain and challenge too.

I know the beauty of flourishing in my own way in life, like with this work. This is the work I have been blooming towards, and I love and feel loved by this work— I feel alive and flourishing in serving the art of living, loving and relating with awareness and as the embodiment of Love.

🌹

the work I do with men is one of the most beautiful aspects of my work

The men I work with are deeply monogamous, often high performing men who simply want to love their woman as deeply as they lead in business.

Most Fridays I have dedicated to sessions with men

It’s the day I love for it.

Venus-day, as we say in vedic and yogic traditions— the day for softening, nourishment, love, and, relating.

These sessions are infused with unfurling the dynamics of love, se.ual polarity, inner masculine vs. feminine energy, leadership, and caring for old patterns or wounded parts of the male psyche.

Jungian analysis, depth psychology and t-ntric philosophy and deida’s yogic intimacy work are my threads to draw from

And it shows— because the women tell me

And it heals me too.

It softens me to see how much love men have for the women in their lives, how much they really want her to shine, how they wánt to be the best for her despite the hiccups of daily life, family life or business life

Truly— most men want to see us shine. Want us happy, unbothered, relaxed, open.. not as a way to tell us how to be, but because they want to support, want to be there for us emotionally, do care to give us that sense of safety with them, and want to lead, and be present with us

It serves to remember this as women— beyond all our pains with men and the masculine.

And mostly these sessions with the men are so human— filled with little and big personal pains, real insecurities, old doubts, and what is at the heart of every human:

— the longing and yearning for the union with the Beloved, whether this is in the form of another human, whether in the form of the divine, or whether in fulfillment and an experience of fullness in the most sacred part of being alive— in Love

🍒 www.tessaschiethart.com/mentorship

—
#somatictherapy #depthpsychology #theartofrelating #embodiment #polarity #eros #somatics #yogicintimacy

the work I do with men is one of the most beautiful aspects of my work

The men I work with are deeply monogamous, often high performing men who simply want to love their woman as deeply as they lead in business.

Most Fridays I have dedicated to sessions with men

It’s the day I love for it.

Venus-day, as we say in vedic and yogic traditions— the day for softening, nourishment, love, and, relating.

These sessions are infused with unfurling the dynamics of love, se.ual polarity, inner masculine vs. feminine energy, leadership, and caring for old patterns or wounded parts of the male psyche.

Jungian analysis, depth psychology and t-ntric philosophy and deida’s yogic intimacy work are my threads to draw from

And it shows— because the women tell me

And it heals me too.

It softens me to see how much love men have for the women in their lives, how much they really want her to shine, how they wánt to be the best for her despite the hiccups of daily life, family life or business life

Truly— most men want to see us shine. Want us happy, unbothered, relaxed, open.. not as a way to tell us how to be, but because they want to support, want to be there for us emotionally, do care to give us that sense of safety with them, and want to lead, and be present with us

It serves to remember this as women— beyond all our pains with men and the masculine.

And mostly these sessions with the men are so human— filled with little and big personal pains, real insecurities, old doubts, and what is at the heart of every human:

— the longing and yearning for the union with the Beloved, whether this is in the form of another human, whether in the form of the divine, or whether in fulfillment and an experience of fullness in the most sacred part of being alive— in Love

🍒 www.tessaschiethart.com/mentorship

—
#somatictherapy #depthpsychology #theartofrelating #embodiment #polarity #eros #somatics #yogicintimacy

Life may not necessarily be about becoming happy, maybe more so, it is for you to become conscious. 🌹

One of the reasons most of us struggle so much with pain, with mental health, or emotional wellbeing is because somehow we’ve been taught to believe we need to be happy continuously, and that life is about highs, happiness and perhaps glamour.

And because we are taught this, we have not built capacity or skill to be with pain and hardship.

Yet life is about pain too.

About going through hard times

As often through it, you see what life is worth, truly.

What is meaningful, and what is beautiful to you.

Pain is inherently necessary to become a fully embodied human. And one of the most valuable questions I like to ask? — “can you be with it?”

Easier said than embodied for many.

— can you have panic, be emotional, grief-stricken to the bone and not need to fix it immediately? Not need to get rid of it, or override it with something?

— can you see that all that too is part of life?

That sometimes we find ourselves in phases where it may all feel too much, that you’ll doubt yourself, that your heart will be broken into a million pieces, or that the state of the world scares you, and that sometimes, you simply don’t know what to do.

That you don’t need to immediately fix that, or opinionate it. Override your feelings with analysis.

But to see that you’re invited to feel it. And that is is meant to feel shitty sometimes, that not feeling happy has meaning too.

To learn and trust that what will come through the pain in it is far more whole than the fragmentation you feel in always needing to be well put together, happy and ‘fine’.

Because, that actually feels heaviest.

🌹 www.tessaschiethart.com | somatic therapy & relational mentoring

—
#embodiment #deeperrelating #emotionalwellbeing #theartofrelatinf #bittersweetness #sanguine #psychology

Life may not necessarily be about becoming happy, maybe more so, it is for you to become conscious. 🌹

One of the reasons most of us struggle so much with pain, with mental health, or emotional wellbeing is because somehow we’ve been taught to believe we need to be happy continuously, and that life is about highs, happiness and perhaps glamour.

And because we are taught this, we have not built capacity or skill to be with pain and hardship.

Yet life is about pain too.

About going through hard times

As often through it, you see what life is worth, truly.

What is meaningful, and what is beautiful to you.

Pain is inherently necessary to become a fully embodied human. And one of the most valuable questions I like to ask? — “can you be with it?”

Easier said than embodied for many.

— can you have panic, be emotional, grief-stricken to the bone and not need to fix it immediately? Not need to get rid of it, or override it with something?

— can you see that all that too is part of life?

That sometimes we find ourselves in phases where it may all feel too much, that you’ll doubt yourself, that your heart will be broken into a million pieces, or that the state of the world scares you, and that sometimes, you simply don’t know what to do.

That you don’t need to immediately fix that, or opinionate it. Override your feelings with analysis.

But to see that you’re invited to feel it. And that is is meant to feel shitty sometimes, that not feeling happy has meaning too.

To learn and trust that what will come through the pain in it is far more whole than the fragmentation you feel in always needing to be well put together, happy and ‘fine’.

Because, that actually feels heaviest.

🌹 www.tessaschiethart.com | somatic therapy & relational mentoring

—
#embodiment #deeperrelating #emotionalwellbeing #theartofrelatinf #bittersweetness #sanguine #psychology

summer was here endlessly,

being in the seasons of summer for over 12 months & abroad all year, made landing home here in summer oh so slow and quiet, grounding and full of nourishment.

summer in the city, hot nights reading books while continuing the feeling of the village I’ve had while abroad in Asia and Portugal, but now just remaining firmly put on this little ‘princess’ island I find my house on in Amsterdam.

Feeling it all.
The small pangs. Missing and grieving being a part of this year. And then placing memories in new perspectives. With yoga and my journal, every morning, as usual. Letting my heart crack open, further and further. Embracing little wonders, and small delights.

Surrounded more by love here. With my devotion being with deepening my ayurvedic practices, studying more of sakta tan’tra, growing my home apothecary, and cooking, endlesssss Sundays cooking. And then feeding those I love.

Leaving the door open for loved ones to land here, together on the carpet. For late summer nights with (ice) tea, candles and giggles and rituals.

& now, ‘back to school’, getting ready for a semester teaching at university again— interpersonal skills, human communication, mentoring…

+ embodying another role at an amazing coaching institute, teaching quantum theory on how to embody & live life in effortless ways…

& with my somatic se.xology degree fully completed this summer

and in-person client work in my practice, welcoming somatically, emotionally, relationally.

While just sharing here what is alive, to serve with word and heart

looking forward to fall 🌹

xo

—
#sunmer #embodiment #somatics #teaching #cycles #nourishment

summer was here endlessly,

being in the seasons of summer for over 12 months & abroad all year, made landing home here in summer oh so slow and quiet, grounding and full of nourishment.

summer in the city, hot nights reading books while continuing the feeling of the village I’ve had while abroad in Asia and Portugal, but now just remaining firmly put on this little ‘princess’ island I find my house on in Amsterdam.

Feeling it all.
The small pangs. Missing and grieving being a part of this year. And then placing memories in new perspectives. With yoga and my journal, every morning, as usual. Letting my heart crack open, further and further. Embracing little wonders, and small delights.

Surrounded more by love here. With my devotion being with deepening my ayurvedic practices, studying more of sakta tan’tra, growing my home apothecary, and cooking, endlesssss Sundays cooking. And then feeding those I love.

Leaving the door open for loved ones to land here, together on the carpet. For late summer nights with (ice) tea, candles and giggles and rituals.

& now, ‘back to school’, getting ready for a semester teaching at university again— interpersonal skills, human communication, mentoring…

+ embodying another role at an amazing coaching institute, teaching quantum theory on how to embody & live life in effortless ways…

& with my somatic se.xology degree fully completed this summer

and in-person client work in my practice, welcoming somatically, emotionally, relationally.

While just sharing here what is alive, to serve with word and heart

looking forward to fall 🌹

xo

—
#sunmer #embodiment #somatics #teaching #cycles #nourishment

Resilience, always has been something close to heart— that, even when faced with overwhelming challenges in life, there are ways of flourishing because of those challenges, rather than in spite of them.

I truly believe each and everyone of us will, sooner or later, be faced with pain, heartbreak, and trepidation, it is the nature of life.

Our conditioning away from pain, makes it so that we often fear pain, move away from@it, ignore it, label it, dampen it— despite pain, in all its forms. being such a natural part of Life.

And resilience to me feels like the embodiment of an inner knowing of how to face challenge, how to lovingly navigate pain— a trust in yourself that you know how to steer the storms of your life.

A life well lived, to me, is not by the absence of pain or hardship, but the ability to feel, grow and flourish because of it. Like a tree bending in the wind, resilience feels like the flexibility of the human spirit, bending, not necessarily breaking.

I’ve seen it in myself, in moments of tremendous pain & heartbreak, and in my clients, who courageously open themselves up to face the pain & challenges in their lives so as to transform those into the beauty of their lives— whether the challenge is bodily, emotionally, or relationally.

Resilience, I’ve come to see, is found in moments when life feels insurmountable, yet you choose to look dfferently, somehow believing that the challenge must be good for something, in some way, shape or form.

At the heart of resilience is the power of choice.

While you cannot always control the circumstances you face, you can choose how you respond, how yu relate— it is through response that you cultivate soft strength, self-trust, and wholesome resilience.

Choosing to transform pain into beauty to me is exactly what nourishes your resilience in life.

And it may bring you to being intimately bound to the paradox that is life– both the beauty and pain.

🌸

#resilience #theartofrelating #chooselove #embodiment #somatictherapy #relationallifetherapy

Resilience, always has been something close to heart— that, even when faced with overwhelming challenges in life, there are ways of flourishing because of those challenges, rather than in spite of them.

I truly believe each and everyone of us will, sooner or later, be faced with pain, heartbreak, and trepidation, it is the nature of life.

Our conditioning away from pain, makes it so that we often fear pain, move away from@it, ignore it, label it, dampen it— despite pain, in all its forms. being such a natural part of Life.

And resilience to me feels like the embodiment of an inner knowing of how to face challenge, how to lovingly navigate pain— a trust in yourself that you know how to steer the storms of your life.

A life well lived, to me, is not by the absence of pain or hardship, but the ability to feel, grow and flourish because of it. Like a tree bending in the wind, resilience feels like the flexibility of the human spirit, bending, not necessarily breaking.

I’ve seen it in myself, in moments of tremendous pain & heartbreak, and in my clients, who courageously open themselves up to face the pain & challenges in their lives so as to transform those into the beauty of their lives— whether the challenge is bodily, emotionally, or relationally.

Resilience, I’ve come to see, is found in moments when life feels insurmountable, yet you choose to look dfferently, somehow believing that the challenge must be good for something, in some way, shape or form.

At the heart of resilience is the power of choice.

While you cannot always control the circumstances you face, you can choose how you respond, how yu relate— it is through response that you cultivate soft strength, self-trust, and wholesome resilience.

Choosing to transform pain into beauty to me is exactly what nourishes your resilience in life.

And it may bring you to being intimately bound to the paradox that is life– both the beauty and pain.

🌸

#resilience #theartofrelating #chooselove #embodiment #somatictherapy #relationallifetherapy

“Loving someone unconditionally doesnt mean you will do so forever in their presence. Love can be infinite, while relationship is a choice. And when you love as deeply, it does not mean to open relationally to those who can’t reciprocate. Sometimes continuing to love someone means doing so from a loving distance. You have learned that.”

Midnight conversations with the most loving men in my life, sharing each other reflections in love, life and relating, while summer is blooming open in ways that feel closer to essence than I held possible.

And integrating the lessons in love, that you can love someone so fully, so deeply. It too can mean to accept them wholeheartedly but there may be a point where their actions may be unacceptable to stay present to.

To choose not to be a part of their life or let them be a part of yours can be the most loving thing you ever did for you—

🕊️

These are the deep realizations, the reflections of long ago, the realities of relating now, and then rising beyond all of it together 🙌

#deeperrelating #embodiedliving #beauty #wisdom #love

“Loving someone unconditionally doesnt mean you will do so forever in their presence. Love can be infinite, while relationship is a choice. And when you love as deeply, it does not mean to open relationally to those who can’t reciprocate. Sometimes continuing to love someone means doing so from a loving distance. You have learned that.”

Midnight conversations with the most loving men in my life, sharing each other reflections in love, life and relating, while summer is blooming open in ways that feel closer to essence than I held possible.

And integrating the lessons in love, that you can love someone so fully, so deeply. It too can mean to accept them wholeheartedly but there may be a point where their actions may be unacceptable to stay present to.

To choose not to be a part of their life or let them be a part of yours can be the most loving thing you ever did for you—

🕊️

These are the deep realizations, the reflections of long ago, the realities of relating now, and then rising beyond all of it together 🙌

#deeperrelating #embodiedliving #beauty #wisdom #love

5 little nuggets as a love letter to the beauty of guidance as of late, that came through in work, in sessions, in living, loving, leading, embodying, embracing, experiencing, relating, reflecting and resourcing 🕊️

to artfully relate to all aspects of life, beauty and pain, to face challenge wholeheartedly, flourish from it and ask deeper questions so as to embody more of your essence. 🙌

#embodiment #deeperrelating #relationalliving #feminineembodiment #beauty #writing #wisdom

5 little nuggets as a love letter to the beauty of guidance as of late, that came through in work, in sessions, in living, loving, leading, embodying, embracing, experiencing, relating, reflecting and resourcing 🕊️

to artfully relate to all aspects of life, beauty and pain, to face challenge wholeheartedly, flourish from it and ask deeper questions so as to embody more of your essence. 🙌

#embodiment #deeperrelating #relationalliving #feminineembodiment #beauty #writing #wisdom

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