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I am Sonja, a meditation and holistic growth instructor (Holistic Counsellor, S.I.A.F/Italy). I have been leading small groups of women since 2017. This year, I will graduate as a practitioner of the Somatic Experiencing method after three years of training. I have studied and gone through my own growth process, including yoga, meditation, family constellation method, various body therapies, breathing exercises and trips, my own SE process and inquiry method over the past 20 years around the world.
My first education is in economics (M. Sc.) and filmmaking (M. Arts), and my second profession is film producer. I have spent most of my adult life making documentaries, hoping they would bring glimmers of hope to the world and increase understanding of ourselves and each other. I continue to work on films, which I love.
In my everyday life, I am a wife and mother of two wonderful, newly grown sons. In my free time, I enjoy our shared moments, for example, cooking, exercising, walking the dog in nature, and culture and art in its various forms. In addition to films, music and singing are especially close to my heart. My ongoing process of self-exploration is also a resource that deepens my relationship not only with myself but also with everyone and everything around me.
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The challenges I have gone through, and facing and working through my own traumas, are the foundation of my self-knowledge. It is the foundation that enables me to create a safe space and have a deep encounter with my clients. I feel great gratitude towards my own teachers and mentors. With their help, I have found my life force and joy and have been able to step into my own life in peace. That gift is what I now want to share from my heart, to you.
MY PREVIOUS TRAINING
HOLISTIC COUNSELLOR -TRAINING
Working with People - A Psychology of Awakening is a unique approach that bridges the individual, as seen through Western Humanistic Psychology, with approaches to spiritual awakening with origins in various Middle Eastern and Eastern traditions.
The training lays a foundation of understanding and self-experiencing for those wanting to work with people in a truly effective way. The perspective is that, to actually help others, we must also work to heal ourselves, understand our own psychodynamics, and maintain a committed spiritual practice that deepens our connection to our own Being.
This 6-part training teaches you to discover and embody different dimensions of your Being. The subjects of those parts represent essential aspects of ourselves, enabling us to support profound transformation in ourselves and others.
This training is EU-recognised and accredited towards being qualified as a Holistic Counsellor through SIAF. Working with People has been approved by the CRKBO as an educational institution that operates in accordance with the quality code and regulations set forth by the Dutch government, as well as the European Union guidelines for quality vocational education.
RELATIONSHIP COUNSELLING TRAINING (2015) / Working with People Institute
OTT (OSHO THERAPIST TRAINING)
This extensive program teaches all the basic skills for working with people from a meditative space. At the same time, it offers a profound, personal transformation on the level of body, emotions and mind, and dissolves lifelong patterns of conditioning. It is based on principles that make it radically different from other psycho-therapeutic educations: it connects therapy to meditation, and it teaches through experiencing.
Some sections of the training are: Pulsation, Primal therapy, Art therapy, Intimate relating, Counselling, Family Constellation, Breath therapy.
In the OSHO approach, healing is understood as a result of awareness and love. The supportive atmosphere of the therapy group fosters relaxation and a letting go of tensions in the body and mind. In meditation, we become aware of the witnessing consciousness beyond the mind, which enables us to disidentify from deep-rooted behaviour patterns.
* In the courses and trainings I have attended over the past 20 years, I have also become familiar with methods such as Gestalt, parts work (Integral Family Systems), and Inner Man Inner Woman, which I use as needed in working with clients.