“Fall in love with all of life as it is & from that love, transform it into all it can be” –EM
Born in Madrid, Spain in 1972 & immigrated to Sydney, Australia when I was 8 years old. Given that I feel most at home in nature & that I love wildlife, moving to Australia was a priceless gift. Second daughter of 4 girls to Spanish parents, however my mum’s side of the family being spread all over the world, was more ‘international’ than traditionally Spanish. I met my Dutch husband whilst travelling through Africa in 2007, and moved from Australia to the Netherlands in 2009, where I instantly became a step-mum to a 4 year old girl, & mother of a baby boy 3 years later.
From a very young age i had a passionate interest in human behavior & spirituality, a longing to know who & what we were, how we came to be who we were, and if there was a purpose to us being here. I was also a non-conformist, feminist (before I even knew that word existed) & highly inquisitive creature for as far back as i can recall. I somehow always knew that what was, did not define what could be. It’s likely that my heartfelt drive to understand human behavior & help humanity heal, came from growing up with a father with a mental illness. It was through the relationship with my father that my fierce love of Truth & unbreakable spirit was forged. My unconditional love for him also unearthed in me a deep compassion & empathy for human suffering, as well as an insatiable longing to discover the root causes of mental/emotional illness & find a ‘cure’, or better still, prevention!
My power & resilience however, came mostly from the Feminine influences in my life, igniting my passion to work together with women in this field. There are too many to name here, but the most obvious are my grandmother, mother, 4 sisters, an abundance of real friends, & a host of female mentors that showed up like guardian angels on my path. I have experienced first-hand how being part of a community of wise, endlessly loving, real and resilient women (each one carrying their own unique gifts), can create an embrace of safety so vast that our hearts can stay open & grow through all of life’s challenges and pain. I am blessed beyond words to know that in a community of women, situations that may have broken us had we been alone, instead become the seeds for growth, wisdom, compassion & boundless love.
Travel & exploration has always been a normal part of my life, and it’s the ‘hobby’ I most enjoy. Born in Spain, with an international family, a father working for an airline whilst training as a pilot, immigrating to the other side of the world at the age of 8, & back again to live in Europe more recently, world travel has been a constant. I’ve also invested in travelling the world full time for 2 years of my life, but mostly it’s been shorter trips, both overseas & locally. I love exploring, carving out my own path, & am most drawn to travelling “off the beaten track”, discovering natures hidden treasures & getting to know local people/cultures authentically. My love of travel can easily be likened to my love of 'inner work'. Both inner & outer exploration have been chosen constants in my life. I long to know both the inner & outer worlds we inhabit as completely, honestly, and intimately as possible. To fall in love with all of life as it is & from that love, transform it into all it can be.
Music & dancing are my inspiration, & combined, my favorite form of meditation. Writing & poetry are the forms of art I most treasure.
Whilst I’ve definitely always been drawn by all things ‘soulful’, I’ve never had a guru or been called to join one particular religion. Even though I have, and still do, recognize the simple Truth in what some ‘Guru’s’ say & have been blessed by the living example of a variety of mentors along my path. I also definitely see the purity & beauty that underlines and unites the world’s greatest religions. Yet for me, Nature & Life have always been my greatest teachers. Maybe I’ve always inherently known that the Truth lies within, that, combined with an inborn aversion to give away my power & authority to an external someone or something (needless to say I was not an ‘easy’ child) …. well, it’s no surprise I have been drawn to all wisdoms, practices & methods that point us inwards, to discover the Truth for ourselves. To have a personal experience of the Divine, and of our inherent beauty, creative power, & life-force …. as a real, visceral experience …. not as a mental concept or spiritual dogma.
I deeply believe we are all here to contribute one line to the divine poem of humanity we are all writing together. We all hope to leave this world that little bit (or big bit!) better than we found it & to be proud of the part we played in creating a better NOW for our loved ones, children, the earth we inhabit & generations to follow. So in alignment with this inherent motivation, I am committed primarily to being an example. An example that inspires those whose lives I have the privilege of touching to live true to themselves, to reclaim the confidence to walk their own unique path, to remember how to listen deeply to the Voice within, & to trust that Inner Voice as the ultimate authority. I am a passionate stand for us all to do the ‘Inner work’ so we can hear our soul speaking to us amidst the inner & outer ‘noise’, and so we can reclaim the courage to ‘stay the course’ grounded in a deeper Truth, no matter what’s happening on the surface or around us.
“If you simply do what you love and dedicate yourself to doing it well, you will be abundantly rewarded" -EM
I am working as a Life Coach, Journey Method practitioner & workshop facilitator with over 20 years experience in the field of Human Potential & EQ (Emotional Intelligence). I started my own business as a breathwork practitioner in 1999, when I also started running workshops at a health center I was managing at the time. I have been a Journey Method practitioner & Accredited Coach for over 15 years. Whilst it's heartening that hiring a coach has finally become common place & society is wisely seeing the value of doing the inner work, we have also recently seen the rise of ‘overnight coaches’ & ‘Instant authorities/experts’ which I see as the down side of it’s growing popularity.
I have experience in public speaking, presenting to 100's of participants in one of Sydney’s most successful personal development & wealth education companies. I was the head coach for the company’s directors, employees & participants, and worked there for 5 years. I have designed & delivered workshops at Sydney’s #1 Health retreat, where I also worked for over 5 years. The 5 year theme continues to run through to the number of years I co-ran women’s circles influenced by the work of David Deida.
Because I studied business at University, I started in the business side of the wellness industry. After managing a couple of health centers, I was quickly drawn to working more deeply & intimately with people. So I immediately (after taking a one year break to travel overseas, following my University studies) continued my education to move into the role of practitioner, studies I have continued to deepen in until this day & plan to continue for years to come.
Although I have diplomas in Breathwork, massage, coaching, The Journey Method & have intensive training within Inner-child, NLP techniques, Born-Rich, Landmark Education, & David Deida’s approaches, in my opinion The Journey Method remains the most holistic, deep reaching & results based methodology I have trained in & used personally. Given my life-long search to find the most effective & successful methods available, I have attended countless seminars & personally tried a long list of modalities such as mindfulness, meditation, EMDR, family constellations, yoga, psychology, CBT, kinesiology, rebirthing breathwork, reiki, energetic healing, hypnotherapy, EFT, acupuncture, shiatsu, tapping …. and the list goes on.
My passion for human potential & EQ has been a constant in my career & life, as has been a natural pull to work predominantly with women and delve deeper into the ‘Feminine’. Whilst being heavily encouraged (by a family that highly values the corporate career path), & sometimes even tempted by attractive management offers, to follow a more mainstream corporate career, I have managed to ‘stay the course’ and carve out a career path I’ve truly loved & love. Thank goodness for the somewhat idealistic younger me who always said, ‘If you simply do what you love and dedicate yourself to doing it well, you will be abundantly rewarded for it’. Coupled with some generous opportunities along the way from a number of wonderful people that believed in me, I have been able to consistently follow my ‘Inner Calling’ & to mature in my field of expertise at a young age (well, whilst not everyone will agree, I still find myself young!). I was also blessed to discover my passion early on in life, and along the way I developed the courage & determination to keep following it. Perhaps good things come out of being ‘strong willed & hard-headed’ after all (a humorous note for my beloved mother)!
In 2006 I took a ‘pause’ from my career to visit my dying father in Spain, and after that I travelled a number of countries I had been longing to visit. During this one year trip through Africa & India, I had the opportunity to train teachers & students in a number of remote African schools on The Journey Method. This was part of The Journey Outreach Program & the Pelopepa Train Project, a government initiative that provided free health care services to underprivileged communities through South Africa.
I’ve also had another ‘pause’, this time for 5 years, whilst consciously choosing to parent full-time (I still continued studying, saw the occasional client & created an income part-time by setting up a guest house). It’s safe to say that parenting has been the most important & valuable role I have ever had the privilege of immersing myself into, and it has been the ultimate fertile ground for putting into practice all I know!
I have never been drawn to do the short courses that are so common these days that have one ‘accredited’ in a particular field in a number of weeks or a couple of months. I have always searched for deep teachings, that not only provided solid theory, but more importantly, had an emphasis on practice & personal embodiment of the teachings. I believe this is important information for anyone choosing a practitioner/coach, especially in the current market.
Bachelor of Business degree – Southern Cross University (4 years) achieving a High Distinction for my graduating seminar.
Remedial Massage Diploma – Nature Care College (1 year)
Breathwork Mastery Diploma – Zentium International (3 years)
Life Coaching Certification – OneLife Education (1 year)
Accredited Journey Method practitioner –The Journey (2 years)
Accredited Life Transformation Coach – The Journey (current: 2 years)
The Journey – The Journey Intensive, Healing with Conscious communication, Conscious Abundance, Relationships in Freedom, No-Ego retreat, Life Transformation week, Practitioner Mastery, Business Training, Freedom from Depression for practitioners, Authentic Greatness 1 & 2, Fire of Freedom Pilgrimage (mostly 3-10 day live-in intensive trainings)
David Deida workshops – Michaela Boehm – Intimacy & Polarity, Wild Woman’s Way, Radical Intimacy; Liana Gailand – Living Love; Sophia Diaz – Authentic relating & Feminine practice; Satyen Raja – Awakened Intimacy.
Inner Child Courses – John Bradshaw (I also assisted on these courses for 3 years & ran monthly reconnection workshops for graduates)
One Life Education – Born Rich, Intention for Success, 5+7, Live Trading (Influences: Bob-Proctors ‘Born Rich’ series & Anthony Robbins seminars. I also assisted in the workshops for over 4 years)
Landmark Education – The Forum, Advanced Forum, Communication & Access to Power, Leadership Program.