Karina

Presence, orientation and embodied work

Inside out is the orientation from which I live and work.

It reflects how I stay connected to the ground beneath me, guided from within rather than driven by external expectations. Inner clarity shapes how I meet people, situations and movement in the world around me.

 

Presence is central to how I work. I am calm, attentive and precise. I take time, listen carefully, and stay close to what is felt rather than what needs to be explained. In my presence, there is space to slow down and arrive fully. What emerges may be unfamiliar at first. Sometimes quiet, sometimes unclear, but from there, sensing can begin.

 

Like a lighthouse, I do not steer, nor do I hurry the pace. I stay steady, so you can feel your own rhythm and find your own compass. The light is not always comfortable, just as entering a harbour rarely is. It offers orientation and a sense of where you are. You don’t have to perform, explain or prove anything here. You are welcome as you are. We are together. We stay with what is until your own light becomes visible.

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How my way of working was shaped

Alongside my work with people, I spent many years working at sea, including on the sailing ship TX-51. It was an intense and formative period in my life. One that brought adventure, responsibility and profound personal growth. Long days, changing conditions, navigating tides, entering harbors, reading light and weather. Working in small teams and carrying responsibility, also when fatigue sets in or when circumstances required calm presence and clear leadership.

 

The sea is a place where nothing can be forced. You cannot control it, convince it or ignore it. It demands tuning, timing and the ability to stay in contact with what is needed, in yourself and in the whole. It was there that I encountered myself on a deeper level. Not through willpower or endurance. In that I was already skilled. But through learning to feel, to regulate naturally and to remain grounded while the outside world keeps moving.

 

This period remains a meaningful and alive part of my life. Not as an identity I carry, but as a source of embodied experience that continues to shape how I work today. 

 

I still sail on the ship from a more grounded position and anchored place within myself. 

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Background and education

My work is grounded in a long-standing relationship with the body. I studied at the Academy for physical Education (ALO) in Amsterdam, with a specialisation in Sports Management. I worked for many years as a sports teacher in schools and as an instructor in outdoor sports environments.

 

Alongside this embodied foundation, I studied Haptonomy at the Academy for Haptonomy in Doorn, where I developed a deep embodied understanding of this therapeutic field. I completed my haptotherapeutic training within a free practice-oriented educational path (School for Free Haptonomy, Utrecht), where learning was closely connected to lived experience, personal integration, and an intensive trajectory of therapeutic work under supervision.

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Mission

My mission is to offer a safe space and a steady presence where people can land.

From there, they can listen again to what they feel and reconnect with their own inner orientation, at their own pace.

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Vision

We often drift away from ourselves when coping takes precedence over listening to what we feel from within. This usually begins early in life, as a natural response to what is needed to endure, adapt, or remain functional.

 

Over time, this affects the body, the nervous system, and our sense of direction. Over time, coping begins to replace listening and the inner compass becomes harder to trust.

 

In a world that is changing rapidly, where external structures and certainties increasingly fall away, this inner misalignment becomes more visible.

 

Therapeutic work can support a return to inner orientation. It can help people listen again to what they feel, trust their inner compass, and stand more firmly in themselves.