Heidy

From a young age, I have been interested in food. First because of my being overweight and my desire to be slim. Later, the health aspects of nutrition became my focal point. A size 38 is nice, but more important are the absence of modern civilization diseases. Nutrition plays an important role in this.

The power of nature

In 2003 (I was 33 at the time) I started my professional training in natural nutrition at the Kraaybeekerhof Academy in Driebergen, the Netherlands. What an amazing experience! I have learned so much about nutrition there. And how, with the help of nature, we can produce food that has resilience and vitality. At the Kraaybeekerhof I learned that we can eat and digest anything as long as it is grown or bred with respect for Mother Nature, prepared with care and attention and eaten in peace and harmony.

After the Kraaybeekerhof, I was trained in basic medical knowledge. Additional schooling included a training in orthomolecular nutrition. What these trainings have in common is that they follow a Western, scientific approach. I learned which food components are beneficial for specific complaints and which are not, as well as how supplements can play a supporting role.

Holistic approach

However, over the years I realized that for me, the holistic aspect was getting lost in this approach. Not only good nutrition contributes to our health. Our mental and emotional balance is at least just as important.

Little by little, as the list of 'forbidden foods’ kept growing longer and longer, nutrition began to lose its appeal for me. Many refresher courses, conferences and lectures added ever more things that we must do to stay healthy: get plenty of exercise, eat well, stay at home more, meditate, take rest… As well as skipping more and more things: turning off the Wi-Fi at night, no screen time after 7 p.m., no sleeping in on Sundays (to prevent social jet lag) and so on.

And then I became ill myself...
In 2009 I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. A huge shock, but without further ado I set to work, implementing all the knowledge I had gained in the field of nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle. I would let my own body solve this! For years, it went reasonably well, and the symptoms remained within limits.

But I found it increasingly difficult to stick to many of the rules I had imposed upon myself, partly due to a strenuous caregiving task on the side. Some of these rules didn't really fit my nature at all. My striving for a healthy lifestyle was causing me stress and formed an extra burden. During this period, I collapsed and suffered a burnout.

A Course in Miracles

Overworked and deprived of my highest good, my health, I discovered that being happy is even more important. Insights and profound realizations dawned on me when I encountered A Course in Miracles… Great spiritual leaders such as Eckhart Tolle and Deepak Chopra refer to ‘The Course’ as their primary source of inspiration.

A Course in Miracles is a spiritual learning path that helps you find your inner teacher. This inner teacher helps you to see the world through the eyes of love, rather than fear. Central themes are love, forgiveness, and non-judgment. This provides inner peace, true happiness. One thing I love about the Course is that health is seen as inner peace and healing therefore as letting go of fear.

Whenever I actively engage with this body of teachings, my complaints decrease. I literally experience less pain and I feel happier and more relaxed. For this reason, I will soon start facilitating an Attitudinal Healing group, mobile from the motorhome.

Synchronicity is one aspect of this non-dual spiritual view: because everything is interconnected, things come your way that you need at that moment. All puzzle pieces fell into place for me when I read a quote from Frans Kok: “As a society and culture, we are extremely busy with healthy living. We want to stay ahead of death. But the question is: do we take care of our bodies out of love, or out of fear?” I realized that I had imposed and denied myself all kinds of things out of fear.

Illness is a message from the body to the soul

I needed to get ill myself to come to these insights. A 'gift in strange disguise’. Not surprisingly, the message for someone suffering from rheumatism is to become less stern, strict, and rigid (according to The Healing Power of Illness: Understanding What Your Symptoms are Telling You by Thorwald Dethlefsen and Rudiger Dahlke). For underneath all my passion and enthusiasm lurked some hidden sternness and a streak of dogmatism in me.

How we see ourselves, our outlook on life and how we shape our lives is often surrounded by judgments, fear, and guilt. That doesn't benefit anyone. Health and happiness, I've learned, begin in our head. It is my pleasure to help you find the message your body is giving you. Then we can start working together on a healthy mindstyle with a relaxed lifestyle.

Your personal remedy

I work with an advanced bio-energetic test system that measures underlying disturbances and thus indicates which form of support is needed. I have built new additional tests myself that indicate what works best for you personally. For some, that means taking a break from social media, for others, it means tapping into their creative abilities. Or maybe it turns out that more exercise is a must, or that more fun and humor will be beneficial. This way we can work even better on your recovery, because: 'True healing comes from within’. Your personal remedy will support your self-healing ability.

My own food for transformation

I am qualified in natural nutrition, orthomolecular medicine, energetic healing, Spagyria and basic medical knowledge. I have also been trained in bio-photon resonance, Positive Health, and Attitudinal Healing.