I trained for eighteen months as a Touch & Awareness facilitator with Schirin Zorriassateiny and have been accredited since 2025. Before that I worked for years with the body through Ayurvedic massage and with sound. Touch & Awareness brought those two together with something I had been missing: words.

This page explains the principles I work by. If you want to know what a session looks like from arrival to closing, that is on the main Touch & Awareness page. If you want to know whether it is for you, read what Touch & Awareness can do for you.

The body keeps what we do not finish

Most of us have learnt to manage stress by holding on. The jaw tightens, the shoulders lift, the breath gets shallow and stays that way. When this happens once it passes. When it happens for years the holding becomes the normal state, and we stop noticing it.

In my experience this is where a lot of chronic tension, poor sleep and unexplained pain lives. Not in a single event, but in the way the body has organised itself around things that were never finished. Touch & Awareness starts from the idea that the body can let go of these patterns when they are met slowly and with attention, rather than pushed through.

Slow touch, not technique

In a massage I work on the tissue. In Touch & Awareness I work with it. My hands rest, follow and wait far more than they press. I pay attention to how you breathe under my hand, where the muscle tone changes, where you hold still and where you move without noticing.

There is no fixed sequence. I am not working through a routine from the feet up. I follow what your body shows me, and I check with you along the way. Slowness is not a style choice. It is what gives the nervous system time to register that nothing is being demanded of it.

Touch and words belong together

What makes this method different from bodywork alone is the conversation. During the session I invite you to say what you notice: a sensation, a feeling, a memory, a thought that came from nowhere. You can also say nothing. Silence is as welcome as speaking, and I will not fill it for you.

Words give shape to what the body is doing. When you name a sensation while it is happening, it becomes something you can relate to instead of something that just happens to you. Often that alone is enough for the holding to shift. I do not interpret for you or tell you what something means. You are the one who knows.

Your pace, always

Nothing in a session is pushed. If something feels like too much, we slow down or stop. If you want a hand to stay where it is, it stays. If you want it to move, it moves. You can say so at any point, in words or by a gesture we agree on at the start.

I would rather do less than you expected than more than you were ready for. The nervous system only settles when it feels it has a choice. Giving you that choice, every time, is the heart of the work.

Clear boundaries

You undress to your underwear and are covered with a blanket for the whole session. I uncover only the area I am working with and cover it again afterwards. I tell you where my hands will go before they go there.

This is not a sensual or pleasure-oriented practice and it is not a tantra session. I prefer to be plain about that, because the words touch and awareness can be read in many ways. It is a structured body-awareness method, and the boundaries are part of what makes it safe enough to let go.

I am not your therapist

I am a bodywork facilitator, not a psychologist or a psychotherapist. What I offer is a body-based way of working with stress, tension and emotions that live in the body. It can sit well alongside therapy or medical care, and several of my clients come on the advice of their therapist.

If you are in acute distress, or living with a condition that needs clinical treatment, it is wise to have that support in place first. We can talk about it before you book, and I will tell you honestly if I think my work is not the right fit right now.

Integration is part of the session

The session does not end when you get off the table. We close with a short conversation, enough to land but not so much that you move straight into analysing. After that I suggest keeping the rest of the day quiet if you can.

Between sessions your body continues to reorganise. That is why I usually suggest around two weeks between appointments, and at least three sessions if you feel the method is for you. The first session is often about arriving. The depth tends to come later, when your system has learnt that it is safe here.

Who taught me

Touch & Awareness as I practise it was developed by Schirin Zorriassateiny. I trained with her for eighteen months and completed the accreditation in 2025. What I bring to it from my own side is many years of Ayurvedic bodywork and sound, and the sensitivity to other people that drew me into this work in the first place.

Sessions in Amsterdam

I see Touch & Awareness clients at my practice in the centre of Amsterdam. If these principles speak to you, read what the method can do for you or book a session. If you are unsure, ask me first. I am happy to talk it through.