Research & Development
Unveiling the Unseen… is Less About Collecting Data, and More About Discovering the Process…
Our minds and bodies, extending into social spheres, serve as canvases onto which our experiences unfold, all at once reflecting personally and collectively.
In today’s increasingly complex and interconnected world, many communities face challenges related to emotional disconnect, stress, and miscommunication. Traditional educational and mental health services often overlook the importance of emotional literacy in driving effective interpersonal communication and social cohesion. Research indicates that improved self-awareness and empathy are critical for reducing misunderstandings and fostering collaborative, resilient communities.
The Human Experience Augmenting Language (HEAL) was developed in response to these challenges, over the course of 25 years. By focusing on experiential learning and guided self-reflection, the program provides participants with practical tools to:
Recognize and articulate their inner emotional landscapes.
Map and understand their emotional triggers and patterns.
Develop empathy to enhance authentic and meaningful interactions.
HEAL is uniquely positioned at the intersection of digital innovation, educational transformation, and community wellness, and it offers a scalable model for addressing social disconnect in diverse settings.
On this page, we will explore:
Theoretical Modeling
The Transformative Power of HEAL
HEAL’s Atomic View of Experience
Healing Our Emotional Wounds and Uncovering Potential
The Natural Flow of Experience
Promoting the Affirming Methodologies
Views and Perspectives
Building on Bohmian Mechanics to Experience the Whole
HEAL and Curriculum Design
HEAL The Hard Problem of Consciousness
Research & Development
New Paradigm Education
Holistic Education Research
Testimonials
Next Developments
Are You Interested In Joining
Meet Our Team
Abstract
Theoretical Modeling
The Transformative Power of HEAL: A Holistic Language Framework and Process.
In a world where communication often remains superficial, HEAL stands as a beacon of profound connection and self-awareness. Rooted in over two decades of action learning, this groundbreaking language framework and process have demonstrated their immense potential to create lasting, meaningful change. By merging the emotional, physical, and mental realms, HEAL provides a unique lens through which individuals can navigate their experiences, fostering personal growth and collective transformation.
A Quantum Perspective on Experiences
HEAL moves beyond the mechanistic view of experiences, embracing a quantum, non-classical perspective. In this holistic approach, physical sensations are not merely byproducts of unresolved experiences, but the very dimension in which these experiences manifest. By recognizing the co-occurrence of past thoughts, present feelings, and physical sensations, HEAL allows individuals to discern and process their internal and external worlds with greater clarity.
HEAL’s Atomic View of Experience: A Fractal Perspective
Introduction
Imagine if we could break down our experiences into different functions, similar to how we describe atoms in physics or neurons in the brain. HEAL (Human Experience Augmenting Language) proposes an “atomic view” of experience, drawing analogies with quantum theory. This view uses a framework known as the eXperience Matrix, which presents experience as existing in discrete energy levels: n=1,2, and 3 (Figure 1). Just like fractals, which are self-similar patterns repeated at different scales, HEAL suggests that experiences are self-similar across various contexts and scales. We are going to delve into this fascinating idea, explaining how thinking and feeling operate at different energy levels within this framework.
Understanding Self-Similarity and Fractals
A fractal is a complex geometric pattern made up of parts that are miniature versions of the whole, regardless of the scale. This property is called self-similarity. Examples of fractals include snowflakes, fern leaves, and coastlines. In the context of HEAL, experiences are considered fractal-like because they exhibit similar patterns and behaviors at different levels of analysis—from individual thoughts and emotions to complex social interactions.
Discrete Energy Levels
HEAL's eXperience Matrix posits that experiences can be categorized into discrete energy levels, denoted as n=1,2, and 3. Each level represents a distinct type of attention and energy expenditure:
Feeling: This level – n=1 - has the least energy. Feelings are non-selective, open, receptive, and lack specific direction. This can be compared to a scalar field in physics, characterized by waves and vibrations (frequency). Feelings are subtle, involving an awareness of one’s internal state and the environment without focusing on specific details. We appreciate our feelings with open attention.
Embodying: This intermediate level – n=2 - combines or superposes aspects of both feeling and thinking. In quantum theory, superposition allows particles to exist in multiple states simultaneously. Similarly, n=2 facilitates a seamless transformation between the tangible (thinking) and intangible (feeling). It integrates both fields, providing a natural balance where experiences are embodied and fluid. This is our body’s perspective, wherein everything happens simultaneously.
Thinking: This level – n=3 - has the most energy and involves selective, externally-focused attention. Thinking or cognition at this level creates a vector field that orients toward objectivity and analysis. Thinking is deliberate, structured, and aims to solve problems or achieve specific goals. We observe our thoughts with focused attention.
Witnessing: From our nucleus, we witness, as a zero-reference, what we observe and think, appreciate and feel, and embody through superposition, dynamically orchestrating a symphony of different states and processes.
Emotional Wounds Confuse and Disrupt
Emotional wounds can severely disrupt the natural fluidity and balance within us, leading to an excessive expenditure of energy. These wounds often force us into a constant state of adaptation to the pain that is triggered by various situations. In an effort to keep this pain from surfacing, many people resort to repression and suppression, which demands significant cognitive and emotional energy. This seemingly perpetual struggle prevents a smooth transformation between the tangible (thinking) and intangible (feeling), making it challenging to maintain a harmonious superposition (n=2).
Our sense of survival keeps us from remaining present within our most authentic self, our “nucleus,” and as we grow up, a blind spot forms, created by unresolved emotional pain, hindering our ability to understand what is genuinely happening within us. Instead of addressing the root cause, we project our internal states onto social spheres, affecting our interactions and relationships. Consequently, the energy that could be used for creative thinking and emotional growth is instead consumed by efforts to manage and conceal the pain, leading to a less integrated and more fragmented experience, often bringing about conflict.
Figure 1: This eXperience Matrix (XM) atomic view of experience shows different energy levels n=1,2, …3 and how these are driven by respectively appreciating, superposing (embodying), and observing. Witnessing is a zero-reference, relative to which attention converges, diverges, or superposes. An important discovery has been that attention is fundamentally multimodal, meaning it can be [selective AND/OR non-selective]. This determines whether attention is either concentrated AND/OR open. When we are in survival mode, attention is mostly selective or concentrated. Relative to the witness perspective, the zero-reference, the different modes of attention and all the experiences that these activate and deactivate, will co-occur. We say that all of these experiences are in a superposition of states.
The “eXperience Matrix” serves as a holistic model that unifies various ancient and contemporary approaches, emphasizing an integrative perspective. It interconnects diverse theories and practices, offering a comprehensive framework through which the intricacies of different traditions can be understood. For example, modern linguistic principles, scientific models of the brain, humoral theories in Indian health systems (AYUSH), Jungian typology, Gestalt principles, body-centered and contemplative practices, and social-emotional learning (S.E.L.), can all be understood from a greater connection (as a whole) through the eXperience Matrix. This model weaves together these time-honored concepts and understandings, facilitating a deeper appreciation of how historical insights can inform contemporary practices. By acknowledging the wisdom inherent in diverse systems and juxtaposing it with present-day knowledge, the eXperience Matrix seeks to transcend temporal boundaries, fostering a more integrative and transdisciplinary understanding of human experience and health.
HEAL: Healing Our Emotional Wounds and Uncovering Potential
Using the eXperience Matrix and Body Matrix
Central to HEAL are the eXperience Matrix and Body Matrix, visual representations that help map and understand, among other things, mental tendencies, emotional responses, bodily sensations, and how these are produced through adaptations: repression, suppression, and expression (Figure 2). These matrices serve as references, enabling individuals to translate their experiences into meaningful insights. By identifying patterns and integrating co-occurring experiences, both from the past and present, HEAL fosters a more profound understanding of your inner and outer realities in a seamlessly interconnected way.
A Language Accessed Within
One of the most empowering aspects of HEAL is that it is a language accessed within yourself. Unlike healing approaches that rely on external intervention, HEAL empowers individuals to navigate and resolve their experiences independently by internally accessing their own process. This intrinsic potential to understand and “metabolize” your own experiences, including healing your emotional wounds, is accessible to individuals of all ages, making HEAL an inclusive and transformative process for individuals and groups.
The HEAL Process
The HEAL process involves several key aspects:
Mapping Sensations: Register and map patterns of physical sensations in the body, recognizing them as meaningful expressions that connect you with unresolved experiences.
Decoding Experiences: Use the eXperience Matrix and Body Matrix to translate these sensations into patterns of feelings and reactions, upon recognition of which you connect with the experiences of which they’re an expression.
Receiving and Feeling: Hold space for these sensations and the feelings that they represent, opening yourself to fully receiving and going through these experiences.
Integrating the Past: Allow unresolved (past) challenges to surface and integrate into the present experience.
Transformative Realization: Achieve realizations about what is expressing through the body, leading to the resolution of inner barriers.
Completion and Expansion: Navigate through the body to expand beyond felt barriers, resulting in a sense of expansion, flow, peace, and tranquility.
Awakened Potential: With clarity, you open up to uncertainty, possibility, and as you feel more connected with the world around you, a deeply transforming will ensue over awakening your inborn potential.
Figure 2. This eXperience Matrix visualizes the ways in which our brain is conditioned to disintegrate our experiences. Look at the blue arrow at the top left of the diagram, where our cognition flows outward, creating a tunnel vision that disconnects us from everyone and everything, searching for anticipated outcomes. On the other hand, this same cognitive flow, blue arrow bottom right, internally represses triggered frustration and disappointment. Upon being overly triggered, our pain expresses explosively; sadness (yellow arrow at the top right); anger (via blue arrow, top left); frustration and disappointment express internally. What goes on in the center of our being, outwardly, is a blind spot beyond which we have no access. Such are the effects of growing up with emotional wounds, including trauma. This is what survival mode looks like from inside ourselves. The basis on which our society has developed over the course of centuries. The time has come for a collective transformation.
By recognizing the co-occurrence of past thoughts, present feelings, and physical sensations, HEAL allows individuals to discern and process their internal and external worlds with greater clarity.
Figure 3. This eXperience Matrix (XM) models when all our experiences are integrated from our heart-pinealis outwardly. This is when life occurs most naturally, unfolding experiences, transforming upon completion, and integrating upon resolution. Through the practice of HEAL, you can experience the lifting of the blind spot, the awakening of witness. Witnessing lets you experience integration, which gently opens to and allows the distress to heal, from the inside out.
HEAL: The Natural Flow of Experience
Experiencing HEAL
We learn HEAL through an immersive process of action learning. It’s about what happens collectively and acknowledging these shared experiences through a common language of words, themes, meanings, and pointers that bridge the internal and external. When the facilitator and practitioner come together, they create a dynamic of describing, offering feedback, resonating, feeling, and opening up. By visualizing triggers and barriers through the eXperience Matrix and Body Matrix, individuals are inspired to delve deeper into their experiences. Through profound recognition, known as discernment, they are instantly stimulated to process their experiences. Resolution follows naturally upon completion.
The Role of the Facilitator
A crucial aspect of HEAL is the role of the facilitator, who guides practitioners through the process of augmenting language and exploring their experiences. The facilitator creates a safe and supportive environment where individuals feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and emotions. Through active listening, feedback, and resonance, the facilitator helps practitioners navigate their experiences and uncover new insights.
Empowerment Through HEAL
The objective of HEAL is to share its transformative capabilities with as many people as possible, fostering self-aware communities worldwide. By engaging with the group or individualized HEAL journeys, individuals can unlock their inner capacities, achieving balance, clarity, growth, and contribute to social transformation. This holistic approach not only transforms individual lives but also builds a foundation for tackling real-life issues and fostering collective well-being.
Our Mission
HEAL is more than just a language framework—it is an inner path to self-discovery, healing, and transformation. By embracing its whole person perspective and utilizing the eXperience Matrix and Body Matrix, you can navigate your inner and outer worlds with greater clarity and understanding. HEAL empowers you to access your intrinsic potential, fostering personal growth and building stronger, more connected communities. As we continue to share HEAL with the world, we embark on a journey of profound transformation, unlocking the power within ourselves and those around us.
With over two decades of immersive action learning and research, we've demonstrated HEAL's profound potential to catalyze lasting, meaningful change. Our journey is just beginning, and we are dedicated to making HEAL's groundbreaking transformational capabilities accessible to individuals, communities, institutions, and organizations worldwide through education and technology.
Contact us here if you’re interested in the potential of HEAL.
Affirming Methodlogies
We wish to promote the following publication and research methodology. Please follow the link below to visit the author’s website.
“Research and Education in the Caribbean centers local and indigenous ways of knowing in research and education praxis in the Caribbean. The research methodologies and pedagogies are presented in this book within an Affirming Methodologies framework. They bring forward localized epistemologies whereby Caribbean ways of being and knowing are affirmed, and the expected western hierarchies between researcher and researched are removed.”
Nakhid, C., Nakhid-Chatoor, M., Santana, A.F., & Wilson-Scott, S. (2022). Affirming Methodologies.
Views and Perspectives
HEAL: Building on Bohmian Mechanics to Experience the Whole
HEAL expands on Bohmian Mechanics, David Bohm’s interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, presenting reality as a sum of all scales and contexts, both tangible and intangible. It highlights the interconnectedness of objective and subjective experiences.
In HEAL, objective reality emerges from observing (center: Figure 1) through focused attention, which clarifies certain aspects of reality. Subjective reality, on the other hand, is shaped by appreciating (center: Figure 1) through open (mindful) attention, broadening the perception of reality. Embodying, which merges the dynamic of observing and appreciating (center: Figure 1), facilitates a harmonious blend of both.
The foundational principles of HEAL extend beyond the particle-centric view of traditional quantum mechanics, emphasizing the interconnectedness of all existence. From a witness perspective, we experience the co-occurrence (superposition) of multiple intertwined dimensions, including our thoughts, memories, perceptions of the current situation, transformations, feelings, and sensations, to name a few.
This idea of interconnectedness aligns with the concepts that David Bohm highlighted in the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in his seminal work "Wholeness and the Implicate Order." In this work, Bohm also introduced an experimental language that he had co-developed called Rheomode (derived from the Greek word “rheo” meaning “to flow”). This was his attempt to create a new mode of language use that could better describe the dynamic and interconnected nature of reality. Similarly, HEAL seeks to encapsulate the same view, and has the same purpose, but in practice it approaches this differently.
HEAL’s experiential approach accesses this “witness” through a grounding process to integrate observing, appreciating, embodying, and other dimensions, including the conscious and unconscious, and the past and future. Its practice invites one to recognize the intricate interplay between what is happening in the world around us and the subjective elements and dimensions in our experience, holding all of these in a superposition.
HEAL and Curriculum Design
HEAL redefines traditional curriculum design by integrating learners' inner processes with the learning environment. This approach emphasizes learning knowledge and skills from the integration of thoughts, feelings, and sensations for an experiential understanding.
Traditional curriculum often overlooks personal growth, focusing instead on structured course design. HEAL, however, guides learners toward adopting a witness perspective, from which they can experience the learning process without judgment. This fosters a deeper connection with the subject, integrating concrete thoughts and ideas with their emotional connection with the same.
By promoting a witness perspective, HEAL not only enhances individual learning, but it also awakens a deep sense of connection among fellow learners, fostering a sense of community. This shared experience creates an inclusive and supportive environment where learners connect with each other's journeys, making the learning process truly whole person oriented.
HEAL's rich framework and experiential approach to curriculum design can also revolutionize social-emotional learning (SEL), making it the golden thread that interconnects all educational processes. Through SEL, internally led through the HEAL process, learners can develop emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and interpersonal skills, enhancing their understanding of their inner and outer landscapes, including others.
In conclusion, HEAL offers access to a rich framework and learning process, enabling learners to understand their thoughts in relation to their feelings and bodies as a completely integrated experience. This experiential approach enhances individual growth and strengthens the sense of community, making SEL central to education within the institution. An example of a 9-week HEAL Journey: here
HEAL The Hard Problem of Consciousness
“The hard problem of consciousness is the problem of explaining why any physical state is conscious rather than nonconscious, and it may mark the limits of what science can explain.”
Our discovery that attention can be defined as [selective AND/OR non-selective] relative to a witness (zero-reference) W(0) (see Figure 1) is a simple formulation with enormous implications.
We posit, and we have verified this through observations in our action research, that:
Selective-Activation: Any activation in the body pulls selective (focused) attention toward it to manifest a specific objective state. Then it releases that state into a superposition of selective and non-selective attention.
Superposition: When selective (focused) and non-selective (open) attention are in a superposition or co-occur, we open up to uncertainty, wherein we experience choice. Superposition makes it possible that attention flows between being selective AND/OR non-selective states.
Non-Selective-Deactivation: Any deactivation inside the body is allowed through non-selective (open) attention. Hereby, the system’s activity goes back to a baseline and rests.
Survival-Disruption: When we’re in a state of survival, we repeat unconscious reactive patterns. These hijack or pull our focus toward them, and it will seem to us, in our mind’s eye, as though we don’t have any other options. We don’t see any other way than to react in the specific manner that the pattern dictates because we’re hyperfocused and thus disconnected from other possibilities.
Autonomous Activity: Autonomous activity happens under the threshold of day-to-day awareness, which is why we’re not aware that certain activities pull your attention toward them.
During our lifetime, we’ve been conditioned to think, and this is emphasized in how we’re brought up and educated, that concentration is the only way to pay attention. Science has based many neuroscience and psychological theories on this one assumption. The implication of the above practice-based insights is that all activation in our body’s systems, even those activities that take place beneath the threshold of our awareness, at any scale, pull selective (focused) attention toward them and depend on nonselective (open) attention for deactivation. This is the key to defining in a clear and concise way how the mind and body extend into each other, functioning as a single continuum.
“As a child, I was often labeled as “distracted” and, “communicating with the birds.” Looking back, open attention was what kept me connected with everything and everyone around me.”
For example, initiating a real-world activity, makes us selectively focus attention, visualize our goal, analyze, and flow through a sequence of activation and deactivation of our muscles to reach our goal. In this flow of activation and deactivation, the brain flows through different attention networks to selectively focus and non-selectively open attention. Our emotional wounds, including trauma, disrupt this balance, shifting us toward overly activating those attention networks that focus and converge attention. This overly activates the sympathetic nervous system, the hypothalamus pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis, creating higher than normal stress levels. In combination with the constant use of cognition and focus, requiring a higher than normal energy consumption, rapidly depletes our body. Through HEAL practice, we can, within the shortest possible time, bring the current maladapted state in a superposition with the optimal viewpoint witness W(0), which influences all systems toward seamless, effortless integration.
Our answer to the Hard Problem therefore is simple: “Yes,” all physical activity IS conscious! (we will continually collect observational insights to evolve the accuracy of our formulations)
Research & Development
HEAL: New Paradigm Education
Our collaboration with the Laszlo Institute of New Paradigm Research has led to designing, implementing, and completing a preliminary qualitative investigation of the impact of HEAL on twelve (12) participants in a twelve week (3 month) individualized program. The objective was for the participant to report on the impact of HEAL on their quality of life experience. This study concluded on 21 APR 2022.
Description:
Have you ever had a sense that you react to present situations as though you were in the past?
Imagine carrying a backpack filled with unresolved painful experiences from the past, weighing you down and keeping you on high alert. This constant anticipation of danger traps multiple versions of yourself within their incomplete experiences. When triggered, these trapped selves lead to negative, adverse, or disruptive overreactions. Think of the fight, flight, freeze, or stress response – generating immense tension, electric activity, and toxins, which we know as stress. This stress becomes our default response to the world unless we recognize and free ourselves from these trapped selves.
By integrating or resolving these experiences, we unlock more of who we truly are in the present moment. This transformative journey reconnects us deeply with ourselves, others, the microbial world, the planetary ecosystem, and beyond. Such profound integration can significantly enhance our capacity to address current and future global health, economic, and other challenges as a united human species.
This qualitative study was incredibly promising, providing us with invaluable insights that will guide and enhance future practice based and academic research.
Holistic Education and Research
Over the past 25 years, we have conducted action research to observe, decode, and model the cyclic nature of experience, and how trauma interrupts this, as represented in the eXperience Matrix (XM) (Figure 1). This was conducted in Europe, the Caribbean, North, and South America. The continuous evolution of this process, has refined the HEAL framework, process, and practice, enhancing its nuance, detail, and accuracy. The long-term goal of this action research is to continue evolving the HEAL framework, process, and practice. We envision its widespread dissemination and use in institutions and communities around the world.
Description:
What sets our action research apart is the role of program participants. As experts by experience, they are integral to the evolution of the model that aids their growth. This approach expands beyond reductionist, quantitative research design and could revolutionize educational processes, making education and research truly holistic and inclusive. This self-evaluating, integrative process can be practiced regardless of time and place.
In collaboration with academic institutions, which are invested in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research, we wish to produce specific metrics based on empirical studies to evaluate the effectiveness of learner’s application of HEAL in diverse contexts. For such assessments, we need access to participant feedback, case studies, and research data, demonstrating the program's impact. This requires us to seek Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval.
HEAL: Next Developments
HEAL has a wide range of applications in various fields, including education, therapy, and organizational development. In educational settings, HEAL can enhance students’ learning experiences by promoting a more profound understanding of themselves and their peers. In therapeutic contexts, it provides powerful insights for clients to articulate and ‘metabolize’ their experiences, leading to greater self-awareness and healing. Within organizations, HEAL can improve communication and collaboration, fostering a more harmonious and productive work environment.
We believe that we can significantly contribute to social transformation by supporting learners and individuals with mental health issues to integrate their challenges and realize their innate potential. Our approach includes various educational interventions tailored for both individual practitioners and groups, comprehensive facilitator training programs, and the development of cutting-edge conversational educational technology. By partnering with forward-thinking organizations, we aim to create innovative tools that foster individual growth and collective well-being, ultimately leading to a more empathetic and inclusive society.
We invite you to join the HEAL Ecosystem, a pioneering movement dedicated to transforming human experiences through the Human Experience Augmenting Language (HEAL). We are currently seeking alliances and funding to support our research efforts, allowing us to gather detailed information on measurable outcomes and participant experiences.
By joining us, you will help us assess the impact of HEAL across various domains, including education, healthcare, and social innovation. Together, we can unlock new insights, enhance well-being, and foster a more profound understanding of the human experience.
Your support will enable us to create a more integrated and harmonious world. We look forward to partnering with you on this exciting journey.
Warm regards,
HEAL ecosystem team
Let's build a brighter future together. Are you in?
Are you interested in joining us?
Meet Our Team
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Lokesh Agrawal
Research Scholar
Lokesh, a researcher at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) and adjunct professor at UNICAL (Curacao), has an extensive background in cognitive neuroscience, converging technologies, and regenerative medicine. With a master's from the Center for Converging Technologies, UOR, and a doctorate from the University of Tsukuba, his work focuses on neuronal regeneration, serotonin's role in brain development, and the development of personalized 3D-biological implants.
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Angelo B.J. Luidens
Researcher/Mentor
Angelo advances social justice and sustainable change through holistic approaches, integrating Complexity Sciences, Quantum Integrative Medicine, and Truth & Reconciliation efforts. He contributes to HEAL theory and practices Organizational Architecture (OA), which stems from—present, body awareness, emotional intelligence—and the 7 Competencies process. This synergy enhances integration, innovation, and global impact, unlocking human potential at individual and systemic levels.
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Carlo G. Monsanto
Researcher/Mentor
I hold a Bachelor degree in Health Science and a Master of Science in Psychology and contribute to transdisciplinary research. For nearly twenty-five years, I have dedicated to the design of HEAL (Human Experience Augmenting Language) and the development of the HEAL ecosystem. I contribute to healing humanity's wounds by stimulating the use of HEAL’s transparent language. Widespread adoption will cultivate global dialogue, equipping communities with essential knowledge for transformation and growth. My knowledge and experience can advance these conversations and developments.
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Andreea G. Petruse
Researcher/Mentor
Andreea contributes to the development of the HEAL ecosystem and helps design new curricula that, among other things, guide children in learning trauma resolution skills. She offers a framework for internal and external assessment, shaping a new educational paradigm that truly prepares students to face the multiple dimensions of life, enhancing their long-term human experience and bringing out their true potential.
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Eelco Roovers
Researcher/Mentor
After completing my biology degree in 1981, I pursued a 12.5-year dance career with Hans Tuerlings Raz in Tilburg. Since 1999, I've focused on Ayurveda, Yoga, and spirituality, gaining in-depth knowledge and practice in HEAL, Spiritual Therapy, Sattva-Ayurveda, and Transformational Breath Coaching. I have also trained in Western Herbal Medicine and SIVAS Auriculotherapy. I regularly contribute to evolving HEAL theory and practice.
