Emotional Release Yoga - how it all started

It all started 11 years ago…

When for the first time in my ashtanga practice I did a deep backbend assisted by a friend, came out of it and started sobbing uncontrollably.

My friend asked me why I cried. I said I did not know. But she persisted.

“Of course you know!”, she exclaimed.

And it was true. When I closed my eyes and asked myself what it really was, a memory from childhood popped in my mind. I was 12, I was stuck with my maths homework and the adult who I asked to help me out - was getting impatient with me not grasping the concept.

Backbends were always my biggest challenge.

No matter how much I worked on them nothing seemed to help. Until one day an energy healer and masseur walked into my Ashtanga Yoga School Amsterdam and offered to give massages to my students. He gave me a complimentary one so that I could familiarise myself with his work.

Robert Henderson was the person who showed me that emotional release and healing could unlock my stiff back. That first massage was incredibly nourishing and healing. I remember how it triggered a whole lot of emotional release and initiated a deeper journey of self-discovery.

As I was slowly dealing with all the stuff that was left unattended for a few decennia, I started noticing my backbends improving! My chest opened, my posture got better.

With that, my confidence, self-worth, and purpose became more vivid and powerful.

Ever since then, I never stopped self-enquiry, investigation, structuring and systematising of this beautiful process I later started calling Emotional Release Yoga.

Emotional Release Yoga is a unique blend of gentle yoga (restorative and yin), myofascial release, essential oils, reiki, mantra, breathwork, mindfulness, cognitive work, and writing.

I teach ERY (Emotional Release Yoga) in two courses you can choose from:

1. Emotional Release Yoga Course is made of two 5-sessions modules that introduce you to bodily, emotional and mental awareness. We use various techniques to identify, locate and release different emotions.

2. Chakras course: subtle energy and emotions is a course based on yogic knowledge of subtle body. Through understanding and balancing chakras we learn about our mental blocks, behavioural pattens and emotions.