Intro
I am native of the Netherlands. While growing up my parents emphasized the importance of cultivating an appreciation for other cultures and languages. They exposed me to the French culture of living, which basically became the way of living at home. All of my childhood and adolescence holidays were spent at the Belgium and French coast. My life has been infused with a lot of international travel, for personal inspiration, study and for my work as a teacher.
Nursing my own father until he died was a pivotal moment in early life. I would describe it as a tangible experience of awakening to the omnipresence of Spirit. This experience has never left me and has shaped all of my life in the most miraculous and profound ways.
I immigrated to the USA in 2009 and spend fifteen years in California, expanding in my career and personal life path. What started as a 'love quest' new life chapter with Mukunda, turned into a deeply personal, unexpected and profound understanding of dying.
The four year process of nursing my beloved - turned everything upside down and made me understand three important things we learn through life: surviving, thriving and letting go. The following years, I expanded in my professional career as an international āyurvedic yoga therapy faculty teacher and wisdom mentor for many.
July 2023 I decided it was time to go back home and initiate a new life chapter, and realize a longtime dream of living at the ocean in the South of France.
I continue to teach professionals and mentor individuals both from the USA and Europe from my new hometown Collioure. I speak Dutch, English and French. I am a lifelong student of the ancient wisdom teachings of yoga, āyurveda, tantra and jyotisha.
Gifts
My awareness of healing has been ever present since I was nine and my father felt the healing touch flowing through him as I put my hand on a painful spot on his leg. Even at that young age healing came naturally to me. Initially, I followed this calling as an intensive care pediatric nurse, caring for the young patients and guiding their stressed and grieving parents. This role took a personal turn when in my twenties my father became terminally ill. I used all my training and experience to care for him each day as he moved toward the end of his life in body form. It was during this transition to death of my father, that I experienced a Presence which continues to guide me to this day.
Spiritual path
I began my spiritual journey with Vaidya Baba Kanhai Mishra in the Netherlands, a yogi and āyurvedic physician. He ignited in me the courage to stay close to the Truth and the passion to serve humanity from the heart. I studied the holistic science and medicine of āyurveda with Vaidya Baj Rathod who introduced me to Kiran Vyas, the director of Tapovan, the most respected Āyurvedic and Yogic retreat center in Europe. I was mentored by Kiran in the classical art and wisdom of Āyurveda for eight years. I continued to train interns and became a team member, offering specialized pañcha karma and kayakalpa treatments. I met and studied with many wise elders, most of them native Indian physicians. While Western medicine taught me how to work with the physical structure, Eastern medicine deepened my understanding of the subtle body, and how to help people deal with difficulty, prevent illness, and live an harmonious , inspirited life. I received a thorough four year classical hatha yoga training with extra curriculum of Eastern & Western Philosophy, Chakra Psychology, Pranayama, Āyurveda in the Netherlands. After having served as a yoga teacher for several years, I deepened my yoga therapy path with Mukunda Stiles. I studied, assisted, taught and wrote together with Mukunda a total of 10 years deepening my experience in the Vedas - Structural Yoga Therapy Āyurvedic Yoga Therapy and Tantra Yoga Secrets.
Love
Throughout my life I longed to find someone with whom I could share both worldly and spiritual life as one. When I met Mukunda, there was no doubt that I had met my soulmate. The first time we laid eyes on each other in Switzerland, there was an inner knowing, a pause, and a merging in the heart. He turned to me and said, ‘Finally you have come.’ Our relationship was of tantrik nature, meaning that our dedication was to support each others spiritual path and live our authentic nature. We started teaching side by side, which was a merging of two souls effortlessly coming together.
Three months after taking our sacred vows of marriage, Mukunda’s illness began to reveal itself. This became the highest spiritual teaching for both of us as we soon realized he was not going to live long. We had to learn how to die and let go of that which we had just found - each other. We learned to accept the inevitable and moved through a difficult and yet deeply insightful four final years until his last breath. On February 18, 2014, Mukunda transitioned in my arms. While I was holding him in utter love in that very moment, I felt him moving into the arms of the great Mother, and witnessed expansion beyond the last breath.
Vision
I feel passionate about collective care and causes that focus on humanitarian support. This flame was ignited through my own pain, making me a more compassionate person with a deep longing for others to be happy and free. My professional life has always been one of continued study and deepening my understanding of the body, mind and Spirit through the Vedas. The Vedas, originating from India, are the oldest, most comprehensive philosophical teaching available to mankind. The Vedas ( veda means wisdom) encompass many limbs, such as yoga, āyurveda, vastu, tantra, jyotisha. These are intricate scientific, medicinal, artistic, philosophical approaches to understand oneself and support a holistic meaningful way of living.
I started this quest into Eastern Philosophy in my late twenties during the last years transitioning out of a twelve year career as a Pediatric Intensive Care nurse. I felt something was lacking in my life. I was dry, exhausted and was looking for answers to the pain and conflict I experienced, both in my physical body and beyond the physical.
As I am becoming older, my vision of a meaningful life is simplifying. There is sheer joy in the experience of no longer feeling the need to perform, or perfect anything. Yet to know that you are already there. That, to me is living yoga.
I arrived at a point in life where it is natural and truly fulfilling to take on the role of a mentor and pass on experience to those who are just getting started in their career, love life, having children. I have been studying Jyotisha - now since 2018 and am in awe how this science of astronomy and astrology weaves so beautifully with yoga, āyurveda and tantra. It is all coming together and because of my life long love affair with the Vedas, Jyotisha is a natural next step in my career.
Initiation
I received Shaktipat into the lineage of Baghavan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri through Mukunda. Shaktipat also happened spontaneously, through meditation on the image of Bhagavan given to me by my āyurvedic physician teacher Baba Biharilal. That image would literally come alive and lead me into tantrik experiences. Mukunda gave me the name ‘Chinnamasta’ - one of the ten tantrik wisdom Goddesses. This deity represents the embodiment of the Goddess of Benevolence and the attribute of transformation of the ego by surrendering to the Divine heart.
In 2014, I met Baba Harihar Ramji. Babaji belongs to a tantrik aghori lineage dating back to Baba Kinaramji from Varanasi. Aghor implies a state that transcends the inevitable fears and sorrows we all encounter. Aghor is a simple and natural state of consciousness. This aghor tradition embraces a non-dogmatic, fluid sacred way of life , with deep respect to the Divine Mother and with a great sense of social responsibility.
Babaji welcomed me in Sonoma ashram and supported me through the most difficult period of grief. It felt like a homecoming, as my personal practice had forever been centered around devotion to the Divine Mother. Ever since our first encounter he has been my spiritual mentor.
Credentials
I am the editor of the book Tantra Yoga Secrets by Mukunda Stiles.
We co-wrote the chapter Structural & Āyurvedic Yoga Therapy in the comprehensive book Yoga Therapy and Integrative Medicine.
I have has published several articles on nutrition in the Light of Ayurveda magazine, USA and The International Yoga Therapy Light magazine, Australia.
I presented several times at the NAMA conference - National Āyurvedic Medical Association, the IAYT conference - the International Association of Yoga Therapists and at the Accessible Yoga Conference
C-IAYT, NAMA-CAYT, PK, LMT, PCPN-AC, AHC, JYOTISHA
General Nursing & Intensive Care Pediatric Nursing 900 hrs, Classical hatha yoga 750 hrs TT, 1200 hrs Āyurveda & Pañcha Karma, 250 hrs End of Life Counseling, SYT 800 hrs, AYT 200 hrs, 150 hrs QRA Health Analysis, 800 hrs AHC, JYOTISHA 3 years - 6 levels program with Steven Highburger. Medical Astrology level I & II, Vedic Psychology Astrology with Steven Highburger.
I am on the faculty of the 800 hours Inner Peace Yoga Therapy program and I offer professional therapeutic teachings for yoga therapists combining Āyurveda, Yoga and Tantra in a multi-dimensional approach to health and well-being.
I am native of the Netherlands. While growing up my parents emphasized the importance of cultivating an appreciation for other cultures and languages. They exposed me to the French culture of living, which basically became the way of living at home. All of my childhood and adolescence holidays were spent at the Belgium and French coast. My life has been infused with a lot of international travel, for personal inspiration, study and for my work as a teacher.
Nursing my own father until he died was a pivotal moment in early life. I would describe it as a tangible experience of awakening to the omnipresence of Spirit. This experience has never left me and has shaped all of my life in the most miraculous and profound ways.
I immigrated to the USA in 2009 and spend fifteen years in California, expanding in my career and personal life path. What started as a 'love quest' new life chapter with Mukunda, turned into a deeply personal, unexpected and profound understanding of dying.
The four year process of nursing my beloved - turned everything upside down and made me understand three important things we learn through life: surviving, thriving and letting go. The following years, I expanded in my professional career as an international āyurvedic yoga therapy faculty teacher and wisdom mentor for many.
July 2023 I decided it was time to go back home and initiate a new life chapter, and realize a longtime dream of living at the ocean in the South of France.
I continue to teach professionals and mentor individuals both from the USA and Europe from my new hometown Collioure. I speak Dutch, English and French. I am a lifelong student of the ancient wisdom teachings of yoga, āyurveda, tantra and jyotisha.
Gifts
My awareness of healing has been ever present since I was nine and my father felt the healing touch flowing through him as I put my hand on a painful spot on his leg. Even at that young age healing came naturally to me. Initially, I followed this calling as an intensive care pediatric nurse, caring for the young patients and guiding their stressed and grieving parents. This role took a personal turn when in my twenties my father became terminally ill. I used all my training and experience to care for him each day as he moved toward the end of his life in body form. It was during this transition to death of my father, that I experienced a Presence which continues to guide me to this day.
Spiritual path
I began my spiritual journey with Vaidya Baba Kanhai Mishra in the Netherlands, a yogi and āyurvedic physician. He ignited in me the courage to stay close to the Truth and the passion to serve humanity from the heart. I studied the holistic science and medicine of āyurveda with Vaidya Baj Rathod who introduced me to Kiran Vyas, the director of Tapovan, the most respected Āyurvedic and Yogic retreat center in Europe. I was mentored by Kiran in the classical art and wisdom of Āyurveda for eight years. I continued to train interns and became a team member, offering specialized pañcha karma and kayakalpa treatments. I met and studied with many wise elders, most of them native Indian physicians. While Western medicine taught me how to work with the physical structure, Eastern medicine deepened my understanding of the subtle body, and how to help people deal with difficulty, prevent illness, and live an harmonious , inspirited life. I received a thorough four year classical hatha yoga training with extra curriculum of Eastern & Western Philosophy, Chakra Psychology, Pranayama, Āyurveda in the Netherlands. After having served as a yoga teacher for several years, I deepened my yoga therapy path with Mukunda Stiles. I studied, assisted, taught and wrote together with Mukunda a total of 10 years deepening my experience in the Vedas - Structural Yoga Therapy Āyurvedic Yoga Therapy and Tantra Yoga Secrets.
Love
Throughout my life I longed to find someone with whom I could share both worldly and spiritual life as one. When I met Mukunda, there was no doubt that I had met my soulmate. The first time we laid eyes on each other in Switzerland, there was an inner knowing, a pause, and a merging in the heart. He turned to me and said, ‘Finally you have come.’ Our relationship was of tantrik nature, meaning that our dedication was to support each others spiritual path and live our authentic nature. We started teaching side by side, which was a merging of two souls effortlessly coming together.
Three months after taking our sacred vows of marriage, Mukunda’s illness began to reveal itself. This became the highest spiritual teaching for both of us as we soon realized he was not going to live long. We had to learn how to die and let go of that which we had just found - each other. We learned to accept the inevitable and moved through a difficult and yet deeply insightful four final years until his last breath. On February 18, 2014, Mukunda transitioned in my arms. While I was holding him in utter love in that very moment, I felt him moving into the arms of the great Mother, and witnessed expansion beyond the last breath.
Vision
I feel passionate about collective care and causes that focus on humanitarian support. This flame was ignited through my own pain, making me a more compassionate person with a deep longing for others to be happy and free. My professional life has always been one of continued study and deepening my understanding of the body, mind and Spirit through the Vedas. The Vedas, originating from India, are the oldest, most comprehensive philosophical teaching available to mankind. The Vedas ( veda means wisdom) encompass many limbs, such as yoga, āyurveda, vastu, tantra, jyotisha. These are intricate scientific, medicinal, artistic, philosophical approaches to understand oneself and support a holistic meaningful way of living.
I started this quest into Eastern Philosophy in my late twenties during the last years transitioning out of a twelve year career as a Pediatric Intensive Care nurse. I felt something was lacking in my life. I was dry, exhausted and was looking for answers to the pain and conflict I experienced, both in my physical body and beyond the physical.
As I am becoming older, my vision of a meaningful life is simplifying. There is sheer joy in the experience of no longer feeling the need to perform, or perfect anything. Yet to know that you are already there. That, to me is living yoga.
I arrived at a point in life where it is natural and truly fulfilling to take on the role of a mentor and pass on experience to those who are just getting started in their career, love life, having children. I have been studying Jyotisha - now since 2018 and am in awe how this science of astronomy and astrology weaves so beautifully with yoga, āyurveda and tantra. It is all coming together and because of my life long love affair with the Vedas, Jyotisha is a natural next step in my career.
Initiation
I received Shaktipat into the lineage of Baghavan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri through Mukunda. Shaktipat also happened spontaneously, through meditation on the image of Bhagavan given to me by my āyurvedic physician teacher Baba Biharilal. That image would literally come alive and lead me into tantrik experiences. Mukunda gave me the name ‘Chinnamasta’ - one of the ten tantrik wisdom Goddesses. This deity represents the embodiment of the Goddess of Benevolence and the attribute of transformation of the ego by surrendering to the Divine heart.
In 2014, I met Baba Harihar Ramji. Babaji belongs to a tantrik aghori lineage dating back to Baba Kinaramji from Varanasi. Aghor implies a state that transcends the inevitable fears and sorrows we all encounter. Aghor is a simple and natural state of consciousness. This aghor tradition embraces a non-dogmatic, fluid sacred way of life , with deep respect to the Divine Mother and with a great sense of social responsibility.
Babaji welcomed me in Sonoma ashram and supported me through the most difficult period of grief. It felt like a homecoming, as my personal practice had forever been centered around devotion to the Divine Mother. Ever since our first encounter he has been my spiritual mentor.
Credentials
I am the editor of the book Tantra Yoga Secrets by Mukunda Stiles.
We co-wrote the chapter Structural & Āyurvedic Yoga Therapy in the comprehensive book Yoga Therapy and Integrative Medicine.
I have has published several articles on nutrition in the Light of Ayurveda magazine, USA and The International Yoga Therapy Light magazine, Australia.
I presented several times at the NAMA conference - National Āyurvedic Medical Association, the IAYT conference - the International Association of Yoga Therapists and at the Accessible Yoga Conference
C-IAYT, NAMA-CAYT, PK, LMT, PCPN-AC, AHC, JYOTISHA
General Nursing & Intensive Care Pediatric Nursing 900 hrs, Classical hatha yoga 750 hrs TT, 1200 hrs Āyurveda & Pañcha Karma, 250 hrs End of Life Counseling, SYT 800 hrs, AYT 200 hrs, 150 hrs QRA Health Analysis, 800 hrs AHC, JYOTISHA 3 years - 6 levels program with Steven Highburger. Medical Astrology level I & II, Vedic Psychology Astrology with Steven Highburger.
I am on the faculty of the 800 hours Inner Peace Yoga Therapy program and I offer professional therapeutic teachings for yoga therapists combining Āyurveda, Yoga and Tantra in a multi-dimensional approach to health and well-being.
MUKUNDA STILES 2/24/1949 - 2/18/2014
In his life, Mukunda had three profound experiences that would change his life: When he was almost 20- years old, he was in a car accident. The words "God protect me", came quietly to him. For the first time he felt the presence of Spirit. He walked away unharmed and from that day started making changes in his life.
While in the army, a friend shared a book on Yoga. It described how to slow down your breath and leave your body. Mukunda decided to try. He lay down on the floor and slowed his breath. Suddenly he was out of his body, floating just below the ceiling. It felt completely natural. Just as quickly, his mind took over and he was back in his body.
Initiation
After leaving the army, in '74 he returned to California and went to Davis to see Swami Muktananda give Darshan. Mukunda stood at the back of the auditorium that was filled with thousands of people. He felt Muktananda’s eyes upon him, as though they were breathing life into him, a spontaneous Shaktipat experience. “My life was never the same after that,” Mukunda says. Baba gave him the name Mukunda, meaning "compassionate liberator" and authorized him to give spiritual initiation (Dhivya diksha) and spiritual names, and also to transmit Shaktipat (spiritual awakening).
Mukunda received a degree in religious studies with a thesis on Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. Mukunda undertook a year’s graduate study in physical therapy at California State University and in 1978 he developed Structural Yoga Therapy™. Through it he offers a unique approach to yoga therapy that profoundly respects and honors the complete individual from physical to spiritual by integrating Krishnamacharya’s principle of adapting to the individual with a solid foundation of anatomy & kinesiology of the physical body, a well-rounded approach grounded in the eight limbs of traditional Astangha yoga, an Ayurveda framework to health and lifestyle that facilitates a Yoga lifestyle, and a deep experience and understanding of the spiritual and devotional essence of Tantric Yoga.
A teacher and mentor
Mukunda was on the staff of the SYDA ashram in Boston. He taught at the Mind Body Medical Institute for two years. In 1995, with Rama Jyoti Vernon he co-founded the American Yoga College (AYC). Through AYC he gave trainings in Canada, England, Scotland, Russia, Brazil, Argentina and Israel and wrote their course manual Asana Practice and Teacher Training Manual. Mukunda was on the staff of the Rocky Mountain Institute for Yoga and Ayurveda and the International Ayurvedic Institute (IAI), working as the editor of seven books on Ayurveda, Yoga Therapy and a five-volume course manual written by David Frawley.
His teachers and mentors
Among his major hatha yoga teachers are Paul Copeland, BKS Iyengar, Rama Jyoti Vernon and Indra Devi. Following the Mahasamadhi (death) of Swami Muktananda, Babaji Prakashananda of Suptashring Devi became Mukunda’s spiritual teacher. Babaji initiated him into the devotional aspects of Tantric Yoga focused on the Divine Mother. Mukunda transmitted these teachings to Chinnamasta and passed on the torch to her, giving her blessings to continue to spread the teachings of Structural Yoga Therapy, Āyurvedic Yoga Therapy, Tantra Yoga Secrets and Patañjali Yoga Sutra's.
In his life, Mukunda had three profound experiences that would change his life: When he was almost 20- years old, he was in a car accident. The words "God protect me", came quietly to him. For the first time he felt the presence of Spirit. He walked away unharmed and from that day started making changes in his life.
While in the army, a friend shared a book on Yoga. It described how to slow down your breath and leave your body. Mukunda decided to try. He lay down on the floor and slowed his breath. Suddenly he was out of his body, floating just below the ceiling. It felt completely natural. Just as quickly, his mind took over and he was back in his body.
Initiation
After leaving the army, in '74 he returned to California and went to Davis to see Swami Muktananda give Darshan. Mukunda stood at the back of the auditorium that was filled with thousands of people. He felt Muktananda’s eyes upon him, as though they were breathing life into him, a spontaneous Shaktipat experience. “My life was never the same after that,” Mukunda says. Baba gave him the name Mukunda, meaning "compassionate liberator" and authorized him to give spiritual initiation (Dhivya diksha) and spiritual names, and also to transmit Shaktipat (spiritual awakening).
Mukunda received a degree in religious studies with a thesis on Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. Mukunda undertook a year’s graduate study in physical therapy at California State University and in 1978 he developed Structural Yoga Therapy™. Through it he offers a unique approach to yoga therapy that profoundly respects and honors the complete individual from physical to spiritual by integrating Krishnamacharya’s principle of adapting to the individual with a solid foundation of anatomy & kinesiology of the physical body, a well-rounded approach grounded in the eight limbs of traditional Astangha yoga, an Ayurveda framework to health and lifestyle that facilitates a Yoga lifestyle, and a deep experience and understanding of the spiritual and devotional essence of Tantric Yoga.
A teacher and mentor
Mukunda was on the staff of the SYDA ashram in Boston. He taught at the Mind Body Medical Institute for two years. In 1995, with Rama Jyoti Vernon he co-founded the American Yoga College (AYC). Through AYC he gave trainings in Canada, England, Scotland, Russia, Brazil, Argentina and Israel and wrote their course manual Asana Practice and Teacher Training Manual. Mukunda was on the staff of the Rocky Mountain Institute for Yoga and Ayurveda and the International Ayurvedic Institute (IAI), working as the editor of seven books on Ayurveda, Yoga Therapy and a five-volume course manual written by David Frawley.
His teachers and mentors
Among his major hatha yoga teachers are Paul Copeland, BKS Iyengar, Rama Jyoti Vernon and Indra Devi. Following the Mahasamadhi (death) of Swami Muktananda, Babaji Prakashananda of Suptashring Devi became Mukunda’s spiritual teacher. Babaji initiated him into the devotional aspects of Tantric Yoga focused on the Divine Mother. Mukunda transmitted these teachings to Chinnamasta and passed on the torch to her, giving her blessings to continue to spread the teachings of Structural Yoga Therapy, Āyurvedic Yoga Therapy, Tantra Yoga Secrets and Patañjali Yoga Sutra's.