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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

🌹xo Tess

#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

🌹xo Tess

#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 when shared with feminine practice, 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 when shared with feminine practice, 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

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 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
• deepen 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—

As women we have a gift in learning in resonance with other women— through our body, energy and heart

And so, I will kffer an on-going practice circle for women to learn and embody the practices of yogic intimacy, energetics and embodied love

a feminine embodiment circle to liberate love

monthly
in amsterdam
Fridays

next ones
• nov 7, 2025
• dec 5, 2025
• jan 9, 2026

link in bio to join

✨

in gratitude the ongoing years of study with dear teachers, thank you dear @wayofdevotion, @micboehm77
and the beloved late Sally Kempton 🫶

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 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
• deepen 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—

As women we have a gift in learning in resonance with other women— through our body, energy and heart

And so, I will kffer an on-going practice circle for women to learn and embody the practices of yogic intimacy, energetics and embodied love

a feminine embodiment circle to liberate love

monthly
in amsterdam
Fridays

next ones
• nov 7, 2025
• dec 5, 2025
• jan 9, 2026

link in bio to join

✨

in gratitude the ongoing years of study with dear teachers, thank you dear @wayofdevotion, @micboehm77
and the beloved late Sally Kempton 🫶

“if they look, give them an energy that they will be captivated by”, my father used to say with a smile

This was his loving support when I felt hesitant to enter a new social setting and the stares and looks I knew my face would attract

“it is about your radiance, beyond your appearance”.
We have this word in Dutch, ‘uitstraling’ — it means what you shine out, what light you emit, what you radiate

And radiance… is beyond looks.

From a young age I learned that how I carry my body has an impact
I saw that when I smiled softly, it relaxed the room that was staring at me
It taught me that an open body posture is trusted in confidence
And that the sparkle in my eyes softens the harshness in other eyes

That to embody these qualities is not necessarily to please another, or to avoid the pain that is also there when you attract unwanted attention, or that it is to seduce or perform,

But that it is a choice in how we hold our body, how we want to love the moment through our embodiment

I continue to ask myself
“If I will attract looks for the rest of my life (which I likely will!) then how do I want to be perceived, experienced, felt?”

To embody qualities of openness, of relaxation and lightness brings ME joy, brings me openness, brings me into how I want to experience and be experienced in life.

And this accounts for every woman who attracts attention (we all do, the feminine is captivating by nature, whatever the reason!)

How do you want to bring yourself? To whom do you want to open? How do you want to be felt through how you hold your body?

Our radiance is not to please others, not to impact others or get something we want— that is performance, or seduction at best.

Our radiance is the light with which we live and to embody that to me means having a trust in yourself, feeling a sense of belonging within your own body, and honoring the deeper layer of your beauty that is not only skin deep, but comes from your deep loving heart.

And that, that is magnetic, attractive, open

And you can give your radiance where and to who you want…
To your man, to a lover, to an audience, to yourself when you look in the mirror… that is your choice. 🌹

“if they look, give them an energy that they will be captivated by”, my father used to say with a smile

This was his loving support when I felt hesitant to enter a new social setting and the stares and looks I knew my face would attract

“it is about your radiance, beyond your appearance”.
We have this word in Dutch, ‘uitstraling’ — it means what you shine out, what light you emit, what you radiate

And radiance… is beyond looks.

From a young age I learned that how I carry my body has an impact
I saw that when I smiled softly, it relaxed the room that was staring at me
It taught me that an open body posture is trusted in confidence
And that the sparkle in my eyes softens the harshness in other eyes

That to embody these qualities is not necessarily to please another, or to avoid the pain that is also there when you attract unwanted attention, or that it is to seduce or perform,

But that it is a choice in how we hold our body, how we want to love the moment through our embodiment

I continue to ask myself
“If I will attract looks for the rest of my life (which I likely will!) then how do I want to be perceived, experienced, felt?”

To embody qualities of openness, of relaxation and lightness brings ME joy, brings me openness, brings me into how I want to experience and be experienced in life.

And this accounts for every woman who attracts attention (we all do, the feminine is captivating by nature, whatever the reason!)

How do you want to bring yourself? To whom do you want to open? How do you want to be felt through how you hold your body?

Our radiance is not to please others, not to impact others or get something we want— that is performance, or seduction at best.

Our radiance is the light with which we live and to embody that to me means having a trust in yourself, feeling a sense of belonging within your own body, and honoring the deeper layer of your beauty that is not only skin deep, but comes from your deep loving heart.

And that, that is magnetic, attractive, open

And you can give your radiance where and to who you want…
To your man, to a lover, to an audience, to yourself when you look in the mirror… that is your choice. 🌹

I feel almost guilty for writing this (something I am sitting with) but 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 I love deeply, where I am ecstatically content...

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 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 imagination 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, surrounded by water, amidst city-life. My friends call it Tessa’s temple.

When I inquired and puzzled about my presence on an online platform I have loved yet these days feels less real too, I choose to devote to long-form writing, offering circles offline, and those who long for a deep life, a deep love, are already finding me for private mentorship anyway.

Alongside that, all 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

I feel almost guilty for writing this (something I am sitting with) but 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 I love deeply, where I am ecstatically content...

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 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 imagination 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, surrounded by water, amidst city-life. My friends call it Tessa’s temple.

When I inquired and puzzled about my presence on an online platform I have loved yet these days feels less real too, I choose to devote to long-form writing, offering circles offline, and those who long for a deep life, a deep love, are already finding me for private mentorship anyway.

Alongside that, all 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

“What does everything you just spoke of feel like?”, I asked her.

As my client and I were exploring a relational moment with her partner, I inquired what the felt sense of the boundary was within her body.

Because I see many bodies clenched that haven’t really felt boundaries in the body. Yet there is wisdom when we come up against something in our lives as a wall.

“Setting-boundaries” requires deep, honest inquiry.

Boundaries are actually there to create more intimacy, not less.
More connection, rather than disconnection.

There is something about cutting everybody off who does not align with your boundaries, or to ‘protect your energy’. Which in a way is good, yet can create a lot of disconnection, because there is no promise to safety through separation.

Yes, you can remove yourself – AND how willing are you to look deeper, inquire, engage?

I’ve seen it, and I’ve been a part of a relational context where the ‘protecting of energy’ meant the cost of a meaningful relationship altogether.

Embodied boundaries do not come from a place of vigilance, avoidance or explaining.
They come through the expression of your body. Embodied boundaries are shown before spoken, felt before thought. They are somatic, relational realities living in the body rather than cognitive constructs.

Embodied boundaries express in how you move through space, how you respond to an approach, and how you naturally create distance or closeness.

Embodying boundaries requires the slow, messy, uncomfortable work of actually feeling what’s happening in your body. It requires staying present with discomfort long enough to understand what it’s telling you.

It requires the capacity to distinguish between discomfort and danger, between growth edges and genuine threats.

A boundary is alive. It can soften when safety is present, firm up when protection is needed, in relation to the environment.

Avoidance, over-explaining, or vigilance keeps everything out—the bad, yes, but also the good. The pain, but also the joy. The difficulty, but also the growth.

🌹 #embodiment #somatics #relationalliving

“What does everything you just spoke of feel like?”, I asked her.

As my client and I were exploring a relational moment with her partner, I inquired what the felt sense of the boundary was within her body.

Because I see many bodies clenched that haven’t really felt boundaries in the body. Yet there is wisdom when we come up against something in our lives as a wall.

“Setting-boundaries” requires deep, honest inquiry.

Boundaries are actually there to create more intimacy, not less.
More connection, rather than disconnection.

There is something about cutting everybody off who does not align with your boundaries, or to ‘protect your energy’. Which in a way is good, yet can create a lot of disconnection, because there is no promise to safety through separation.

Yes, you can remove yourself – AND how willing are you to look deeper, inquire, engage?

I’ve seen it, and I’ve been a part of a relational context where the ‘protecting of energy’ meant the cost of a meaningful relationship altogether.

Embodied boundaries do not come from a place of vigilance, avoidance or explaining.
They come through the expression of your body. Embodied boundaries are shown before spoken, felt before thought. They are somatic, relational realities living in the body rather than cognitive constructs.

Embodied boundaries express in how you move through space, how you respond to an approach, and how you naturally create distance or closeness.

Embodying boundaries requires the slow, messy, uncomfortable work of actually feeling what’s happening in your body. It requires staying present with discomfort long enough to understand what it’s telling you.

It requires the capacity to distinguish between discomfort and danger, between growth edges and genuine threats.

A boundary is alive. It can soften when safety is present, firm up when protection is needed, in relation to the environment.

Avoidance, over-explaining, or vigilance keeps everything out—the bad, yes, but also the good. The pain, but also the joy. The difficulty, but also the growth.

🌹 #embodiment #somatics #relationalliving

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 of @templeofradiance has deepened my love for this path •

Although I am not fully in this field, and my own journey and teachings are 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 such a special place in my heart for the t’tric spaces that are held in devotion & integrity.

For 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 distortions too, like there are to any field, path, culture or community. Yet, in integral t’tric 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 of @templeofradiance has deepened my love for this path •

Although I am not fully in this field, and my own journey and teachings are 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 such a special place in my heart for the t’tric spaces that are held in devotion & integrity.

For 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 distortions too, like there are to any field, path, culture or community. Yet, in integral t’tric 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.

🌹

There’s a slokah in the bhagavad gita that says something like “from fullness comes fullness, and when you take from fullness only fullness remains”.

I’ve read it many times. Applied it many times too.
I love how this slokah describes a way of bringing the darkness alive as a profound expression of Love.

Like in challenging relational moments, to try and anchor in my fullness and keep love alive

Or, for me, in more public situations, like being stared at, and remaining open in my fullness

To stay open, to remain connected to yourself, is by sourcing yourself in your own fullness.

So that there is nothing in reality that someone can say or do that can take away from the innate fullness that you are– whatever happens, you can remain rooted in your inner seat, stay in your body, stay anchored, embodied.

– that is wholeness to me.

It is magnetic, attractive, and pulses in radiance. It emits light from your being

—

There is something in trusting yourself so deeply in your fullness, that it impacts your environment, because fullness creates more fullness.

💛
#embodiment #radiance #fulless #slokah #gita #love #theartofrelating

There’s a slokah in the bhagavad gita that says something like “from fullness comes fullness, and when you take from fullness only fullness remains”.

I’ve read it many times. Applied it many times too.
I love how this slokah describes a way of bringing the darkness alive as a profound expression of Love.

Like in challenging relational moments, to try and anchor in my fullness and keep love alive

Or, for me, in more public situations, like being stared at, and remaining open in my fullness

To stay open, to remain connected to yourself, is by sourcing yourself in your own fullness.

So that there is nothing in reality that someone can say or do that can take away from the innate fullness that you are– whatever happens, you can remain rooted in your inner seat, stay in your body, stay anchored, embodied.

– that is wholeness to me.

It is magnetic, attractive, and pulses in radiance. It emits light from your being

—

There is something in trusting yourself so deeply in your fullness, that it impacts your environment, because fullness creates more fullness.

💛
#embodiment #radiance #fulless #slokah #gita #love #theartofrelating

He has kept asking me this question for years— this man that is a muse, mentor, past lover, and mostly a life ally.

He kept bringing me back to the same question when I cutely looped back to a connection I actually didn’t feel much of myself in

– ‘Do you feel more of yourself or less around him?’

To uncover what makes you feel ‘more’ of you in relationship— whole, nourished, and calm within— can be a journey. 
And in a way relationship reflects us where we are at in relation to ourselves. Especially the romantic kind has an uncanny way of reflecting us.

To attune to what actually feels good in our bodies rather than what we think to be good from our mind’s perspectives.

Because regulation—feeling a sense of calm, peace, wholeness inside—lives in the body more so than the mind.

Attraction shifts with our own rooting in our inner wholeness.

For me, what feels wholesome now looks a little lot different from what I once thought it to be.

These days, it is a steady earthy man who heightens my light, soft, wholesome parts—while my giggly inner 5 y/o feels more alive + safe too.

I see it as personal, inner wisdom to feel who roots you in your joy, calm & radiance— the ‘more’ of you.

It doesn’t mean those who do not are wrong, dangerous or at fault. We impact each other as humans & sometimes unspoken truths, unresolved emotions, or old parts stand in the way of feeling more of each other in relationship. Every relationship will meet these parts or untruths as life has her currents and storms.

However, the undercurrent, the foundation of feeling more of yourself around someone, is what I have come to see says simply everything and is what this question points to— beautifully simply so.

This question has become an intimate part of my life, and I bring it to many aspects of how I live, love and relate

& explore the depths of the question often with clients in relational mentoring.

because it is simple, feeling-based, and soothes many inquiries on self in the art of living, loving and relating

— does this or that make me feel more or less of …?

And this man? He still asks me this question too, and often.

— 🙌

He has kept asking me this question for years— this man that is a muse, mentor, past lover, and mostly a life ally.

He kept bringing me back to the same question when I cutely looped back to a connection I actually didn’t feel much of myself in

– ‘Do you feel more of yourself or less around him?’

To uncover what makes you feel ‘more’ of you in relationship— whole, nourished, and calm within— can be a journey. 
And in a way relationship reflects us where we are at in relation to ourselves. Especially the romantic kind has an uncanny way of reflecting us.

To attune to what actually feels good in our bodies rather than what we think to be good from our mind’s perspectives.

Because regulation—feeling a sense of calm, peace, wholeness inside—lives in the body more so than the mind.

Attraction shifts with our own rooting in our inner wholeness.

For me, what feels wholesome now looks a little lot different from what I once thought it to be.

These days, it is a steady earthy man who heightens my light, soft, wholesome parts—while my giggly inner 5 y/o feels more alive + safe too.

I see it as personal, inner wisdom to feel who roots you in your joy, calm & radiance— the ‘more’ of you.

It doesn’t mean those who do not are wrong, dangerous or at fault. We impact each other as humans & sometimes unspoken truths, unresolved emotions, or old parts stand in the way of feeling more of each other in relationship. Every relationship will meet these parts or untruths as life has her currents and storms.

However, the undercurrent, the foundation of feeling more of yourself around someone, is what I have come to see says simply everything and is what this question points to— beautifully simply so.

This question has become an intimate part of my life, and I bring it to many aspects of how I live, love and relate

& explore the depths of the question often with clients in relational mentoring.

because it is simple, feeling-based, and soothes many inquiries on self in the art of living, loving and relating

— does this or that make me feel more or less of …?

And this man? He still asks me this question too, and often.

— 🙌

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 is partly a choice. And when you choose to love you don’t need to be a martyr and prove to yourself that you need to continue to love those who don’t reciprocate. Sometimes continuing to love someone means doing so from a loving distance.

Loving someone unconditoonally means 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.” —

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. 🕊️

to the support of men as a woman, to 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 is partly a choice. And when you choose to love you don’t need to be a martyr and prove to yourself that you need to continue to love those who don’t reciprocate. Sometimes continuing to love someone means doing so from a loving distance.

Loving someone unconditoonally means 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.” —

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. 🕊️

to the support of men as a woman, to 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

somatic therapy — it returns your body to its true essence and expression. It relaxes the patterns of tension within you, so you can come home to your wholeness— your openness, radiance, relaxation.

The patterns we hold hostage in our bodies open us when we release them.

Release the tension in your jaw, your belly, your thighs, your abdomen, and you will walk differently through this world.

And release can look gentle, doesn’t need to be cathartic at all.
Different somatic practices serve different patterns of the body.

Face your pain.
Transform it into beauty.

This is what the work does— it brings you from your pattern to your power.

Softness and openness come from being willing to go through the mud to return back home.

And so yes, the world will reflect you your openness as you have released patterns in the body. Your glow, your eyes that open, your sparkle.

The openness and changed disposition to and in life is what my clients start to see in themselves, what their partners starts to see, what the world starts to resonate with and reflect back to them, as they step into the world, wholly and in the fullness of who they are.

💛 www.tessaschiethart.com/somatictherapy

#somatictherapy #embodiment #openness #relaxation #dearmouring #sacreddearmouring #somatics #radiance

somatic therapy — it returns your body to its true essence and expression. It relaxes the patterns of tension within you, so you can come home to your wholeness— your openness, radiance, relaxation.

The patterns we hold hostage in our bodies open us when we release them.

Release the tension in your jaw, your belly, your thighs, your abdomen, and you will walk differently through this world.

And release can look gentle, doesn’t need to be cathartic at all.
Different somatic practices serve different patterns of the body.

Face your pain.
Transform it into beauty.

This is what the work does— it brings you from your pattern to your power.

Softness and openness come from being willing to go through the mud to return back home.

And so yes, the world will reflect you your openness as you have released patterns in the body. Your glow, your eyes that open, your sparkle.

The openness and changed disposition to and in life is what my clients start to see in themselves, what their partners starts to see, what the world starts to resonate with and reflect back to them, as they step into the world, wholly and in the fullness of who they are.

💛 www.tessaschiethart.com/somatictherapy

#somatictherapy #embodiment #openness #relaxation #dearmouring #sacreddearmouring #somatics #radiance

light-hearted and with joyful ease returning home from the desert of Sedona, Arizona, from a journey that was a vortex of release and a beautiful return to nourishment and feeling opened —

I likely have not been more grateful for anything this year than as I am for the man I was with there— the purest love, presence, witnessing, and fun, depth, joy, just being and deep work I get to experience with and through him is just something I simply have no words for. It is beyond.

this man that has known me as deep as can be for the last 4 years, who has held me in my pain, my beauty, my BS and my truth.

gifting his magic of sacred dearmouring, of healing ceremony and the deepest (t•ntric) massage I have experienced.

to transform pain into beauty through the healing depths of somatics, so as to return to the embodied expression that lies underneath patterns of closure —

to open to life, to release all that may stand in the way of experiencing essence —

to face challenges so as the transform and to embody the love that you are with presence. 💛

this nourishment, support, and care that is there along the journey to help to become more aware.

now loving summer at home more than ever, appreciating all kinds of little and big beauty and pleasure.

ready for a chapter of feminine power and even more love allowing :)

—
#love #depth #beauty #presence #embodiment #relating #transformaton #feminineembodiment #sacredearmouring

light-hearted and with joyful ease returning home from the desert of Sedona, Arizona, from a journey that was a vortex of release and a beautiful return to nourishment and feeling opened —

I likely have not been more grateful for anything this year than as I am for the man I was with there— the purest love, presence, witnessing, and fun, depth, joy, just being and deep work I get to experience with and through him is just something I simply have no words for. It is beyond.

this man that has known me as deep as can be for the last 4 years, who has held me in my pain, my beauty, my BS and my truth.

gifting his magic of sacred dearmouring, of healing ceremony and the deepest (t•ntric) massage I have experienced.

to transform pain into beauty through the healing depths of somatics, so as to return to the embodied expression that lies underneath patterns of closure —

to open to life, to release all that may stand in the way of experiencing essence —

to face challenges so as the transform and to embody the love that you are with presence. 💛

this nourishment, support, and care that is there along the journey to help to become more aware.

now loving summer at home more than ever, appreciating all kinds of little and big beauty and pleasure.

ready for a chapter of feminine power and even more love allowing :)

—
#love #depth #beauty #presence #embodiment #relating #transformaton #feminineembodiment #sacredearmouring

At some point, you just will forget. Forget you haven’t thought about that person or problem. It will pass you by. And only minutes, hours, days or weeks later you realize you haven’t thought of them, of it.

Letting go is an entire different thing than moving on.

I’ve come to see that letting go is a choice. Just like surrender, it is active. Often, it comes naturally when our bodies forget the imprint, when we undo the patterns that kept us holding on somatically.

Moving on happens naturally as a result, and you might not even realize it. You might not realize it was the last time you thought of them. Or worried about the very things you kept holding onto. It will dissolve.

Life will take you on a different ride when you truly choose to let go.

Life can shift in the blink of an eye. There is choice to that.

I hope you choose it when life asks you to, for I know the loops life will let you spiral in if you don’t.

I hope that when you realize you are ready to let go, you choose it with abandon, with love and wholesome reverence for your becoming.

And when you do, you might find that what once kept you up at night, does not demand you away from your sleep anymore.

What you once feared may have crystalized into trust.

What you once held onto dissolves into a fond memory or a deep exhale.

At some point, you notice your feelings have shifted.
That you no longer ride deep waves of grief or despair.
That there is contentment, and room for joy, while keeping the pieces of your heart that were touched with tender care for you know you have felt deeply.

That, like love, letting go and moving on, happens slowly, and then all at once when the time is right.

It will when all of you is ready.
Not only your mind.
Or your heart.
Or your soul.
No, your whole entire body and being.

To choose your wholeness beyond all you ever thought was possible for you in living, in loving.

In embodying, in relating deeply to who you are, in all your beauty. 🌹

—
www.tessaschiethart.com | somatic therapy | relational mentoring

#theartofrelating #embodiment #lettinggo #relationalhealing

At some point, you just will forget. Forget you haven’t thought about that person or problem. It will pass you by. And only minutes, hours, days or weeks later you realize you haven’t thought of them, of it.

Letting go is an entire different thing than moving on.

I’ve come to see that letting go is a choice. Just like surrender, it is active. Often, it comes naturally when our bodies forget the imprint, when we undo the patterns that kept us holding on somatically.

Moving on happens naturally as a result, and you might not even realize it. You might not realize it was the last time you thought of them. Or worried about the very things you kept holding onto. It will dissolve.

Life will take you on a different ride when you truly choose to let go.

Life can shift in the blink of an eye. There is choice to that.

I hope you choose it when life asks you to, for I know the loops life will let you spiral in if you don’t.

I hope that when you realize you are ready to let go, you choose it with abandon, with love and wholesome reverence for your becoming.

And when you do, you might find that what once kept you up at night, does not demand you away from your sleep anymore.

What you once feared may have crystalized into trust.

What you once held onto dissolves into a fond memory or a deep exhale.

At some point, you notice your feelings have shifted.
That you no longer ride deep waves of grief or despair.
That there is contentment, and room for joy, while keeping the pieces of your heart that were touched with tender care for you know you have felt deeply.

That, like love, letting go and moving on, happens slowly, and then all at once when the time is right.

It will when all of you is ready.
Not only your mind.
Or your heart.
Or your soul.
No, your whole entire body and being.

To choose your wholeness beyond all you ever thought was possible for you in living, in loving.

In embodying, in relating deeply to who you are, in all your beauty. 🌹

—
www.tessaschiethart.com | somatic therapy | relational mentoring

#theartofrelating #embodiment #lettinggo #relationalhealing

I speak with women who often dream of things, have fantasies they are afraid to live out fully… they tell me things they’ve never put words to out loud, never have voiced, and so never have fully felt.

When a woman’s voice is silenced, her voice turns inwards. She has stories held deep within her psyche.

When a woman is not free to speak openly, she often expresses it quietly. Often a woman’s expression is covered by societal, religious, familial, and relational conditioning.

This hiding, veiling, and sneaking in a secret life of her own plays out in the psyches of many women. She innocently sneaks in a secret life inwardly, and sometimes in the shadows of her psyche.

This sneaking can be seen as a sign of the imprisoned soul trying to survive. But the silencing only fuels repression and an internal splitting— being one woman inside, expressing another version of herself outwardly.

Women crave expression, crave creation, birthing. Reclaiming our wildness (meaning our most natural expression) comes with finding our unique expression, and with voicing, speaking, writing…

In expression is where we find our innate feminine power, resilience and soulfulness.

For me, my most dearly held practice of expression is writing. Since I was 13 & coming out of 3 months of nearly no eyesight, I’ve written. I have 38 journals full. I can safely say I write every day. It’s a practice accessible every day regardless of energy accept for eyesight capacity.

I write for myself, journalling in a diary, giving words to parts of my self. And eventually I started writing to share publicly, in the forms of inspiration, publishing and books.

Giving expression to dreams, stories, myth and words is a powerful way to come into closer communion with yourself, your nature, soulfulness, the world around you, your perspectives, your creative ability, your word and your innate wild wisdom.

💛

— ps. a weekly on-going women’s creative writing, expression and embodiment circle is commencing starting September on Wednesdays 7pm cest :: join by sending a dm with ‘wisdom’ to be on the waitlist! • donation-based

#creativewriting #embodiedliving #somatics #expression #wisdom

I speak with women who often dream of things, have fantasies they are afraid to live out fully… they tell me things they’ve never put words to out loud, never have voiced, and so never have fully felt.

When a woman’s voice is silenced, her voice turns inwards. She has stories held deep within her psyche.

When a woman is not free to speak openly, she often expresses it quietly. Often a woman’s expression is covered by societal, religious, familial, and relational conditioning.

This hiding, veiling, and sneaking in a secret life of her own plays out in the psyches of many women. She innocently sneaks in a secret life inwardly, and sometimes in the shadows of her psyche.

This sneaking can be seen as a sign of the imprisoned soul trying to survive. But the silencing only fuels repression and an internal splitting— being one woman inside, expressing another version of herself outwardly.

Women crave expression, crave creation, birthing. Reclaiming our wildness (meaning our most natural expression) comes with finding our unique expression, and with voicing, speaking, writing…

In expression is where we find our innate feminine power, resilience and soulfulness.

For me, my most dearly held practice of expression is writing. Since I was 13 & coming out of 3 months of nearly no eyesight, I’ve written. I have 38 journals full. I can safely say I write every day. It’s a practice accessible every day regardless of energy accept for eyesight capacity.

I write for myself, journalling in a diary, giving words to parts of my self. And eventually I started writing to share publicly, in the forms of inspiration, publishing and books.

Giving expression to dreams, stories, myth and words is a powerful way to come into closer communion with yourself, your nature, soulfulness, the world around you, your perspectives, your creative ability, your word and your innate wild wisdom.

💛

— ps. a weekly on-going women’s creative writing, expression and embodiment circle is commencing starting September on Wednesdays 7pm cest :: join by sending a dm with ‘wisdom’ to be on the waitlist! • donation-based

#creativewriting #embodiedliving #somatics #expression #wisdom

I’ve seen the strongest ones often are the softest ones, the humbled ones.

The hard things in life surely can toughen and harden us.
But when we truly deepen, relax open and yearn to relate deeper to life, there is something in facing and feeling it all & often we will find that life ultimately humbles us, softens us, or perhaps even tickles us into giggling at it all at times.

Perhaps the humbled ones dared to feel the things the toughest ones are learning to feel

Or the ones that softened did so because they were pushed to face everything— perhaps because toughening up was simply not a choice, pathway or option & softening the grips of control remained the only chance on the path forward in life.

And no one is immune to challenge in this life— for the human experience invites us to feel both pain and beauty.

Feeling, softening, opening is a gateway, experienced through the body.

The body that releases, that faces and relaxes around the hard parts, brings the softening and humbling– whether through the giggle, tear, the clenched fist..

That stiffness in your shoulders, that tightness in your belly.
The hardness and contraction you feel in your body
– often the body tells a deeper story of feeling.

Because the body does not only keep the score— the body keeps the story.
The story of your hurt, pain, grief, tension, and so of your joy, ease and bliss.

And the more you feel, the more you will be humbled and softened to release the grip and the holding in your body.

The more your body softens, the more your psyche is humbled and opened to life— not because softening and opening is some sort of fluffy thing, but because it is your original natural state.

Not because you positivize it away. Not because you are flimsy and ‘love-light’ only.

But because a feeling body, a relaxed body, a humbled psyche, are open to whatever life brings you, deeper into relationship to all life & has you embody more of who you are 🌹

— reflections on embodied living & deeper relating 🌹
#beauty #somatictherapy #embodiment #theartofrelating #somatics #embodiedliving #mentorship

I’ve seen the strongest ones often are the softest ones, the humbled ones.

The hard things in life surely can toughen and harden us.
But when we truly deepen, relax open and yearn to relate deeper to life, there is something in facing and feeling it all & often we will find that life ultimately humbles us, softens us, or perhaps even tickles us into giggling at it all at times.

Perhaps the humbled ones dared to feel the things the toughest ones are learning to feel

Or the ones that softened did so because they were pushed to face everything— perhaps because toughening up was simply not a choice, pathway or option & softening the grips of control remained the only chance on the path forward in life.

And no one is immune to challenge in this life— for the human experience invites us to feel both pain and beauty.

Feeling, softening, opening is a gateway, experienced through the body.

The body that releases, that faces and relaxes around the hard parts, brings the softening and humbling– whether through the giggle, tear, the clenched fist..

That stiffness in your shoulders, that tightness in your belly.
The hardness and contraction you feel in your body
– often the body tells a deeper story of feeling.

Because the body does not only keep the score— the body keeps the story.
The story of your hurt, pain, grief, tension, and so of your joy, ease and bliss.

And the more you feel, the more you will be humbled and softened to release the grip and the holding in your body.

The more your body softens, the more your psyche is humbled and opened to life— not because softening and opening is some sort of fluffy thing, but because it is your original natural state.

Not because you positivize it away. Not because you are flimsy and ‘love-light’ only.

But because a feeling body, a relaxed body, a humbled psyche, are open to whatever life brings you, deeper into relationship to all life & has you embody more of who you are 🌹

— reflections on embodied living & deeper relating 🌹
#beauty #somatictherapy #embodiment #theartofrelating #somatics #embodiedliving #mentorship

last night I came home as it had just been a full moon, an auspicious one, guru purnima in hindu culture. I’d spent the afternoon with one of my dearest ayurvedic teachers, and the evening surrounded by my best girlfriends.

To then come home, lit the candles, kneeled on the carpet, sip of tea, present with the inquiry what I am devoted to in this chapter of life, coming out of such a beautiful one of joy, grace and beauty— its been a deepening of a definition of devotion

Entering a whole new phase, redefining the sense of home within, and around— finding mostly that the world is our entire home, as attachments to one place loosened, remembering all the places of home over the years.

As I sat, I prayed for the eye checkups that would await me in the early morning. These two windows to the soul that have been guiding teachers of changing perspectives, of seeing the world— to see and be seen, to choose to see, to choose perspective, to have vision in more than one way

Praying for visions, always, for perspective, insight, to see another lovingly, to be seen deeply—while trusting the unseen more than ever. To find home there, that is what I devote to.

Trusting in the synchronicities, the magic of the past months that has been nothing short of miraculous when it comes to (in)sight, beauty, grace, love.

The vision clear.

Having remembered pathways to be and belong, in this vessel and this world, to embody and embrace, anchoring home, staying rooted, swastha within, and honoring— honoring the beauty of simply the every day, seeing the light, sitting in the dark, practicing equal reverence to the deliciousness of each moment, and life with all her treasures & gifts, especially the gifts, no matter what they appear like.

A deep exhale, a fresh inhale— choosing, relating & loving to live life as this exquisite wild ride

—-
#belonging #swastha #embodiment #theartofrelating #perspective

last night I came home as it had just been a full moon, an auspicious one, guru purnima in hindu culture. I’d spent the afternoon with one of my dearest ayurvedic teachers, and the evening surrounded by my best girlfriends.

To then come home, lit the candles, kneeled on the carpet, sip of tea, present with the inquiry what I am devoted to in this chapter of life, coming out of such a beautiful one of joy, grace and beauty— its been a deepening of a definition of devotion

Entering a whole new phase, redefining the sense of home within, and around— finding mostly that the world is our entire home, as attachments to one place loosened, remembering all the places of home over the years.

As I sat, I prayed for the eye checkups that would await me in the early morning. These two windows to the soul that have been guiding teachers of changing perspectives, of seeing the world— to see and be seen, to choose to see, to choose perspective, to have vision in more than one way

Praying for visions, always, for perspective, insight, to see another lovingly, to be seen deeply—while trusting the unseen more than ever. To find home there, that is what I devote to.

Trusting in the synchronicities, the magic of the past months that has been nothing short of miraculous when it comes to (in)sight, beauty, grace, love.

The vision clear.

Having remembered pathways to be and belong, in this vessel and this world, to embody and embrace, anchoring home, staying rooted, swastha within, and honoring— honoring the beauty of simply the every day, seeing the light, sitting in the dark, practicing equal reverence to the deliciousness of each moment, and life with all her treasures & gifts, especially the gifts, no matter what they appear like.

A deep exhale, a fresh inhale— choosing, relating & loving to live life as this exquisite wild ride

—-
#belonging #swastha #embodiment #theartofrelating #perspective

It is what the feminine does– to open, to envelop, to welcome in…And once we open, our whole being orients towards that which we open to, no matter if it is bad or good for us.

This happens in all of us, men and women– the feminine aspect of each of us, opens and closes. It translates in how we orient ourselves to substances that aren’t good for us, people who are not good for us, habits that do not serve us…

Once we open to something, and it gives us a (false) sense of fullness, we orient back to it.

Even if it is not safe.

That is why, especially if we are sensitive, it is highly important to value the preciousness of our energy. To protect it. To discern where we open. And where we close. That is why there’s so much talk about boundaries. Because especially for deeply feeling, sensitive feminine women, we need such discernment of who we let in.

Especially as women– our energy opens and closes, our heart opens and closes. And it matters what we let in… physically, emotionally, energetically.

I work on this kind of discernment and energetic agility a lot with women– where to open in life, and where to close consciously, how to feel that in your body, and how to stay in your power, where to walk in our openness, when to close our energy as we step into the world, where to bring ourselves fully, where to zip up our energy, where to lean out a little more…

Who we share our energy with, our bodies with, our emotions with, impacts us.

In relationships, friendship, at work, in dating, in engaging with another’s energy–

Using the power of discernment to be precise with where we put our life force energy helps– to ask; is it worth it to thought-loop here, open me to him, close to her, show this part of me here?

If you truly want to be met in your depth, start deepening your energetic agility to choose where and to what extend you want to bring yourself.

💫
—
#embodiment #energetics #agility #theartofrelating #discernment #love #energy

It is what the feminine does– to open, to envelop, to welcome in…And once we open, our whole being orients towards that which we open to, no matter if it is bad or good for us.

This happens in all of us, men and women– the feminine aspect of each of us, opens and closes. It translates in how we orient ourselves to substances that aren’t good for us, people who are not good for us, habits that do not serve us…

Once we open to something, and it gives us a (false) sense of fullness, we orient back to it.

Even if it is not safe.

That is why, especially if we are sensitive, it is highly important to value the preciousness of our energy. To protect it. To discern where we open. And where we close. That is why there’s so much talk about boundaries. Because especially for deeply feeling, sensitive feminine women, we need such discernment of who we let in.

Especially as women– our energy opens and closes, our heart opens and closes. And it matters what we let in… physically, emotionally, energetically.

I work on this kind of discernment and energetic agility a lot with women– where to open in life, and where to close consciously, how to feel that in your body, and how to stay in your power, where to walk in our openness, when to close our energy as we step into the world, where to bring ourselves fully, where to zip up our energy, where to lean out a little more…

Who we share our energy with, our bodies with, our emotions with, impacts us.

In relationships, friendship, at work, in dating, in engaging with another’s energy–

Using the power of discernment to be precise with where we put our life force energy helps– to ask; is it worth it to thought-loop here, open me to him, close to her, show this part of me here?

If you truly want to be met in your depth, start deepening your energetic agility to choose where and to what extend you want to bring yourself.

💫
—
#embodiment #energetics #agility #theartofrelating #discernment #love #energy

It’s insightful to see how you change by the environments you step into.

That by stepping into a space that is familiar to you, you can all of a sudden be shown how you’ve changed

This is what last week has been– a continuous revelation of change within me, while stepping in the unchanged of my home after months.

You are not separate from your environment, you are intimately connected to the spaces you inhabit, the earth you walk on, where you bring your body.

To see where you have grown can be shown by the spaces, places, situations & relationships you find yourself in.

Environment, beauty, and observation have always been intricately connected for me. As an anthropologist I learned to observe spaces, peoples, and places, and myself in & with them, as well as see how environments impact the psyche.

Whether we find ourselves returning to an environment, a home, a situation, or a person– this can reveal to us who we are now, by being reflected relationally.

Sometimes the familiarity of the reflection showing the actual changes.

Coming home, I am no longer the woman who left months ago; my inner landscapes have changed, as I have visited outer landscapes, while I giggle at the familiarity of it all as I sit here, with my tea, at my altar, on my carpet.

One insight? I am no longer a city girl, and see I likely never was. The reason my home is my haven of tranquility, peace, and quietude is likely because it balances the buzz. I love the city most at 6:30 am, when everyone is asleep & I am on the bike to yoga in the deserted streets. After a year in villages, I recognize my inner village girl more than ever as I live in the coziest neighborhood where I can nourish her within me, while softly setting foot in city life.

I love this interplay between the body and the environments to step into, the situations, and relationships you find yourselves in & how they inform you about life, deepen you in your own embodiment, and invite a sense of equanimity.

To be present and mindful of the environments you inhabit, and the transitions you make in and out of environments as a little rite — to have it show you your state of being — 💫

—
#embodiment #presence

It’s insightful to see how you change by the environments you step into.

That by stepping into a space that is familiar to you, you can all of a sudden be shown how you’ve changed

This is what last week has been– a continuous revelation of change within me, while stepping in the unchanged of my home after months.

You are not separate from your environment, you are intimately connected to the spaces you inhabit, the earth you walk on, where you bring your body.

To see where you have grown can be shown by the spaces, places, situations & relationships you find yourself in.

Environment, beauty, and observation have always been intricately connected for me. As an anthropologist I learned to observe spaces, peoples, and places, and myself in & with them, as well as see how environments impact the psyche.

Whether we find ourselves returning to an environment, a home, a situation, or a person– this can reveal to us who we are now, by being reflected relationally.

Sometimes the familiarity of the reflection showing the actual changes.

Coming home, I am no longer the woman who left months ago; my inner landscapes have changed, as I have visited outer landscapes, while I giggle at the familiarity of it all as I sit here, with my tea, at my altar, on my carpet.

One insight? I am no longer a city girl, and see I likely never was. The reason my home is my haven of tranquility, peace, and quietude is likely because it balances the buzz. I love the city most at 6:30 am, when everyone is asleep & I am on the bike to yoga in the deserted streets. After a year in villages, I recognize my inner village girl more than ever as I live in the coziest neighborhood where I can nourish her within me, while softly setting foot in city life.

I love this interplay between the body and the environments to step into, the situations, and relationships you find yourselves in & how they inform you about life, deepen you in your own embodiment, and invite a sense of equanimity.

To be present and mindful of the environments you inhabit, and the transitions you make in and out of environments as a little rite — to have it show you your state of being — 💫

—
#embodiment #presence

10 months i’ve been away from home, yet, in places that feel equally homely. 5 months portugal, 5 months thailand + bali.

— Home has always been deeply valuable to me, the having of a house to call ‘mine’ is a blessing and gift that I am all the more aware of in these times.

As a feminine woman, containment is what I desire in order to flow and deepen in life. And where else to find that in the structure of a home? To have roots that house my being.

Women create homes, in their bodies, in this world.

To create a home is to fill an empty space with love and beauty— its a feminine practice of creation and nourishment.

I see my home as my second most devoured temple (the first is my body— our truest home).

Ive been away from home much, but never left my rooted home this long. This time has been meaningful in many ways.

It has been a year of nourishment & my most beloved thing; beauty

Beauty in landscape, people, craft, culture, texture, nature, practices, love, togetherness.

In the oceans, and the jungles.
Mostly in the mundane. To stay in places long enough to connect with the environmnt, the land, rhythms and seasons, mostly the people, and to create daily ritual. The freedom to live, love & lead from anywhere yet to choose somewhere.

Creating home away from home, to feel home with another, to fill time with deepening connection— with the beloved, with the women in my life, with earthly practices.

A homecoming to tidal waves within me, and the undercurrent beneath those, where feeling is my prayer, to wander into intimate corners of my being, spending much time around water— to cleanse.

as I sit here I whisper ‘thank you’ to this body that houses my being through it all— all of life’s journeys.

The home that is essentially this body, having come home more than I can describe,

while now finding the keys deep down in my large suitcase, to open the doors again to my cute little temple in Amsterdam, where my body, home & roots began, and still come back to — apparently — as the current of life wants me to, for now.

+ 📸 snapshots of some of the beauty, the nourishment & the homely

10 months i’ve been away from home, yet, in places that feel equally homely. 5 months portugal, 5 months thailand + bali.

— Home has always been deeply valuable to me, the having of a house to call ‘mine’ is a blessing and gift that I am all the more aware of in these times.

As a feminine woman, containment is what I desire in order to flow and deepen in life. And where else to find that in the structure of a home? To have roots that house my being.

Women create homes, in their bodies, in this world.

To create a home is to fill an empty space with love and beauty— its a feminine practice of creation and nourishment.

I see my home as my second most devoured temple (the first is my body— our truest home).

Ive been away from home much, but never left my rooted home this long. This time has been meaningful in many ways.

It has been a year of nourishment & my most beloved thing; beauty

Beauty in landscape, people, craft, culture, texture, nature, practices, love, togetherness.

In the oceans, and the jungles.
Mostly in the mundane. To stay in places long enough to connect with the environmnt, the land, rhythms and seasons, mostly the people, and to create daily ritual. The freedom to live, love & lead from anywhere yet to choose somewhere.

Creating home away from home, to feel home with another, to fill time with deepening connection— with the beloved, with the women in my life, with earthly practices.

A homecoming to tidal waves within me, and the undercurrent beneath those, where feeling is my prayer, to wander into intimate corners of my being, spending much time around water— to cleanse.

as I sit here I whisper ‘thank you’ to this body that houses my being through it all— all of life’s journeys.

The home that is essentially this body, having come home more than I can describe,

while now finding the keys deep down in my large suitcase, to open the doors again to my cute little temple in Amsterdam, where my body, home & roots began, and still come back to — apparently — as the current of life wants me to, for now.

+ 📸 snapshots of some of the beauty, the nourishment & the homely

The reason people in my private practice and containers feel incredibly seen, safe and soft, is because within the cells of my body I hold all the experience for what it means for a human to be truly seen, heard, met, witnessed in all of who they are.

Beyond my studies, my lived experience is perhaps the most powerful testament for my work as a mentor and therapist in seeing people in both their pain and their beauty. .

I know what it takes to receive the most horrendous comments on my surface skin, while still holding an unshakeable feeling of fullness within myself.
To hold myself wholesomely in the face of injustice.

I know what it means to stand softly amidst thousands of eyes on me.
To be relaxed amidst exposure.

I know what it feels like in my body to truly be seen with love, met in the depths of my soul.
To have the eyes of a beloved see me deeper than I can see myself.

I know what it feels like to be seen in my pain, my hurt, my grief, my despair.
And I know the deep fulfillment when I am seen in my joy, pleasure, beauty, power and radiance.

I know what kind of seeing creates intimacy, and what kind of seeing creates division & separation.

My eyesight may be diminished in actual sight, but I know what it is to feel energy, o see Beauty in her true ways, to see with my body, to step into the room and know exactly the spheres between people, to feel everything that is unseeable, to go beyond what people tell or show me, and instead trust what their body tells me instead.

Within my cells I hold the visceral wisdom that something rarely is what it looks like
And that is powerful.

Graduating in anthropology and bodyism has only strengthened my understanding of observation, witnessing & cultural patternings within peoples and societies – it taught me about ritual and rites and finding meaning in being witnessed in human relationships.

All in all, truly seeing people at their depths is a passion, and a power, and something we can all cultivate in how we live, love and lead.

Embodiment helps us truly see and be seen.
To see yourself in all of you, inhabit that, and relate deeply from it 💛

—
#embodiment #deeperelating #intimacy #beingseen

The reason people in my private practice and containers feel incredibly seen, safe and soft, is because within the cells of my body I hold all the experience for what it means for a human to be truly seen, heard, met, witnessed in all of who they are.

Beyond my studies, my lived experience is perhaps the most powerful testament for my work as a mentor and therapist in seeing people in both their pain and their beauty. .

I know what it takes to receive the most horrendous comments on my surface skin, while still holding an unshakeable feeling of fullness within myself.
To hold myself wholesomely in the face of injustice.

I know what it means to stand softly amidst thousands of eyes on me.
To be relaxed amidst exposure.

I know what it feels like in my body to truly be seen with love, met in the depths of my soul.
To have the eyes of a beloved see me deeper than I can see myself.

I know what it feels like to be seen in my pain, my hurt, my grief, my despair.
And I know the deep fulfillment when I am seen in my joy, pleasure, beauty, power and radiance.

I know what kind of seeing creates intimacy, and what kind of seeing creates division & separation.

My eyesight may be diminished in actual sight, but I know what it is to feel energy, o see Beauty in her true ways, to see with my body, to step into the room and know exactly the spheres between people, to feel everything that is unseeable, to go beyond what people tell or show me, and instead trust what their body tells me instead.

Within my cells I hold the visceral wisdom that something rarely is what it looks like
And that is powerful.

Graduating in anthropology and bodyism has only strengthened my understanding of observation, witnessing & cultural patternings within peoples and societies – it taught me about ritual and rites and finding meaning in being witnessed in human relationships.

All in all, truly seeing people at their depths is a passion, and a power, and something we can all cultivate in how we live, love and lead.

Embodiment helps us truly see and be seen.
To see yourself in all of you, inhabit that, and relate deeply from it 💛

—
#embodiment #deeperelating #intimacy #beingseen

He asked, “what are you scared of?”

I told him

I was scared one day I wouldn’t be able to look into his eyes again.

That, sometimes I am so incredibly scared of the dark that I lay awake at night searching for the light, but also too afraid to turn it on, because that would illuminate everything.

Afraid to carry this alone, afraid to let someone in on it too.

I told him I had gone without eye-check ups for nearly 11 months now, and that by the time I will have my next checkup in a month, I have no clue what to expect.

“How can you live with this unknown?”, he asked, eyes filled with tears.

“I still don’t know sometimes”, I whispered.

“But what I do know is that I trust the paradox, of seeing and being seen. Of being witnessed, of being so afraid to lose my eyesight that that directly translates to my deep value of the intimacy that my sight gives me. That I will never take what I get to see for granted. To be able to look into someone’s eyes, as the most precious gift Love ever gave me. And that my ability to be with the pain of not seeing is directly proportionate to my ability to see Beauty”

And so I told him

“If my capacity to see light will fade one day– then I will have mastered how to look with my heart, and feel with my eyes. Until then I practice”

And we sat in a ritual, sharing our biggest fears with each other.
The light in his eyes brighter than I had seen any two eyes before.

Then he whispered into my ear it was time to practice.

He blindfolded me– my biggest edge.
And danced me through the room like his life depended on it.

Freedom, that is what it feels like to surrender to the mystery.

Held in the unknown, that is where I have learned to love more than anywhere else.

In the hands of a man I trust is where I open to feel the depths of all my fears,

where anything that stands in the way of loving the moment fully despite its pain is revealed.

For this is to dance in the unknown that Life is,
between ache and ecstasy,
between beauty and pain,
between love and consciousness,
between energy and awareness.

And I don’t want to be anywhere else then here, in these hands, in this dance of life

—
#theartofrelating

He asked, “what are you scared of?”

I told him

I was scared one day I wouldn’t be able to look into his eyes again.

That, sometimes I am so incredibly scared of the dark that I lay awake at night searching for the light, but also too afraid to turn it on, because that would illuminate everything.

Afraid to carry this alone, afraid to let someone in on it too.

I told him I had gone without eye-check ups for nearly 11 months now, and that by the time I will have my next checkup in a month, I have no clue what to expect.

“How can you live with this unknown?”, he asked, eyes filled with tears.

“I still don’t know sometimes”, I whispered.

“But what I do know is that I trust the paradox, of seeing and being seen. Of being witnessed, of being so afraid to lose my eyesight that that directly translates to my deep value of the intimacy that my sight gives me. That I will never take what I get to see for granted. To be able to look into someone’s eyes, as the most precious gift Love ever gave me. And that my ability to be with the pain of not seeing is directly proportionate to my ability to see Beauty”

And so I told him

“If my capacity to see light will fade one day– then I will have mastered how to look with my heart, and feel with my eyes. Until then I practice”

And we sat in a ritual, sharing our biggest fears with each other.
The light in his eyes brighter than I had seen any two eyes before.

Then he whispered into my ear it was time to practice.

He blindfolded me– my biggest edge.
And danced me through the room like his life depended on it.

Freedom, that is what it feels like to surrender to the mystery.

Held in the unknown, that is where I have learned to love more than anywhere else.

In the hands of a man I trust is where I open to feel the depths of all my fears,

where anything that stands in the way of loving the moment fully despite its pain is revealed.

For this is to dance in the unknown that Life is,
between ache and ecstasy,
between beauty and pain,
between love and consciousness,
between energy and awareness.

And I don’t want to be anywhere else then here, in these hands, in this dance of life

—
#theartofrelating

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bringing strength and fragility together as one.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bringing strength and fragility together as one.

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

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

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

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

And not embody your beauty.

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is where the women I work with are …

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

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

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

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

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

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

—
#embodiment #beauty #relationalaesthetics

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

And not embody your beauty.

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is where the women I work with are …

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

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

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

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

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

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

—
#embodiment #beauty #relationalaesthetics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shiva, shakti, yin and yang.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shiva, shakti, yin and yang.

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

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

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

But data is devoid of depth.

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

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

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

We can track everything.
But what do we trust?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Embodiment is valuable beyond measure 💕

#embodiment #deeperrelating

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

But data is devoid of depth.

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

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

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

We can track everything.
But what do we trust?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Embodiment is valuable beyond measure 💕

#embodiment #deeperrelating

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So, I deepen my relationship to that

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So, I deepen my relationship to that

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sometimes hardness serves us, sometimes it no longer does.

How can you relax tension and turn to joy?

How can you bring more levity in your body?

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

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

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

I have transformed these questions into a little offering;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sometimes hardness serves us, sometimes it no longer does.

How can you relax tension and turn to joy?

How can you bring more levity in your body?

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

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

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

I have transformed these questions into a little offering;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

as sometimes our body knows things we can barely understand.

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

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

And this will teach you, deeply.

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

To learn about pain, and true pleasure

About challenge, and celebration.

About savoring the moment, and slowing it all down.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

as sometimes our body knows things we can barely understand.

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

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

And this will teach you, deeply.

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

To learn about pain, and true pleasure

About challenge, and celebration.

About savoring the moment, and slowing it all down.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

with love,
Tessa

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

with love,
Tessa

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

and it teaches us in many aspects of life

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

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

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

___
#relationship #wrtofrelating #intimacy #connection

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

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

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

and it teaches us in many aspects of life

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

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

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

___
#relationship #wrtofrelating #intimacy #connection

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

to live in deep connection to your body 🌹

#embodiment #sensuality #aliveness #relaxation #somatictherqpy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

to live in deep connection to your body 🌹

#embodiment #sensuality #aliveness #relaxation #somatictherqpy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you bali, until the next dance with essence.

#suksma #swastha

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you bali, until the next dance with essence.

#suksma #swastha

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The right light and right love manifests Life.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

www.tessaschiethart.com/support

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

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

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

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

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

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

The right light and right love manifests Life.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

www.tessaschiethart.com/support

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

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

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

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

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

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

Beauty, more than only seen, is then lived.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Beauty, more than only seen, is then lived.

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

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

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

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

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

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