English bio
Petra is the founder of SoulFlow Yoga, based in Hummelo, in the middle-east part of the Netherlands. Through mindfulness meditation, yoga and training, she invites people to live life from within and to hold the balance between inner and outer world.
Her love for spirituality and a holistic approach on wellbeing and health awakened during her late teens and while studying Health Sciences at Maastricht University. Since that time she went on discovering bodywork and energetic healing and became a massage and shiatsu therapist.
In 2007, Petra got the chance to attend a mindfulness meditation workshop and course, based on the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn. This opened a whole new way of self-exploration and reflection. She discovered that mindfulness is all about staying in contact with yourself and be open, aware and centered to whatever you encounter in the present moment. Inside or outside yourself.
After giving birth to her second daughter in 2010, Petra suffered from pain in her back which made her go to her first yoga class. She thought it might help release some of the pain, but surprisingly something else happened. Not only did she really love to practice. Beyond expectation yoga fluently joined the path of meditation. It was very clear that yoga was there to stay. While she became a mindfulness trainer herself, she also felt a growing desire to learn more of the backgrounds and philosophy of yoga. Ultimately she decided to sign up for a teacher training in 2013 with Kenny Graham and Tony Giuliano, finding yoga in all its aspects resonating deeply to her heart, mind and overall view on life.
In all that she offers, Petra brings challenge and a gentle approach together. From an open heart she works intuitively with the people coming her way. In trainings and yoga classes she likes to combine metaphors and philosophy, mixed with music and singing a mantra now and then. She believes that yoga is a good way of taking care of your body, but also considers it as a beautiful portal to heal mind, heart and soul. Just like in meditation, working with the body can create greater awareness, which is key to change and a more conscious lifestyle.
In daily life, Petra is happily living together with her partner and their three young girls. She loves to travel and meet new people. Her background includes a master’s degree in Health Sciences with a specialisation in clinical psychology and she has worked for over ten years as a psychologist and group trainer in an organisation for mental health care.
Petra deeply values the right to shine our own light, therefore striving to let her heart and soul be the guide to flow with life while she creates space for others to do the same.
Her main teachers in yoga are Kenny Graham, Tony Giuliano, Lizzie Lasater, Judith Hanson Lasater, Mary Richards, Kathryn Budig, Elena Brower, Noah Maze, Rod Stryker and Amy Ippolitti.
