I laugh.
I love.
I am alive.
About Barbara.
Hello, I am happy that you have found me and my services within this ocean of endless wonderful methods and services offered by extraordinary people.
I am Barbara, a professional Somatic Coach, trained in the Grinberg Method, Yoga, Reiki, Ayurveda, Trauma Sensitive Yoga as well as a professional Educational Scientist.
I am a passionate traveller who loves cooking. I am the mother of Noë Mana, a dear friend of many wonderful people on this globe, a lifetime student of beautiful teachers and the partner of my soul mate and daily source of inspiration, the professional artist Kay Walkowiak.
My base is Vienna, the beautiful capital of Austria, the city I was born in and where I grew up. On my travels I found out, that I can feel home in many places, like India which I would call my other home. With time passing by,
I came to the conclusion, that my true home is within, while my physical base is interchangeable.
My path of healing.
My journey began at the age of 2,5 years, when I suffered from chronic bronchitis and asthma. It was up to a point where I had to stay in hospital for several weeks, due to a critical condition.
The love of my parents as well as the wise decision by a doctor, to treat my symptoms in a holistic way including natural remedies and methods, allowed my body to fully recover with "time". The traumatic part of being separated from my parents, experiencing this immense loneliness and helplessness as a small child in hospital, could heal later as an adult with the help of wonderful Somatic Coaches, Meditation and Yoga Teachers.
My deep healing began when I started my studies at the university in 2001. Back than I immersed on my path of yoga. I found a wonderful teacher who taught us the basic concepts and philosophy while doing Asana and Pranayama Classes. Every class felt like a deep relief. I loved the time and space given to oneself and this calm, happy and attentive sensation after each class. His teaching strengthened my wish to travel to India and learn more about the culture where Yoga came from.
Coming home.
In 2002 I wanted to confront myself with this deep feeling of loneliness (from my past), that still wasn't completely digested and healed. Following my intuition I landed in India, expecting to cry a lot and feeling this deep familiar pain of being far away from the people that I loved.
To my surprise I found friends and laughter along the way. During my whole journey I never ended up being alone. Even when I tried really hard to be alone, it nearly seemed impossible. Life would send me somebody to be around me always. I had to let go my old belief, that I am alone, as I realized this is not the truth. And there is so much joy and easiness, if I'd go with the flow.
India was and still is a great teacher, a mother who always takes care of me in times when I am looking for answers and solutions. The connection that I find, when my feet are on her ground, feels like coming home. That's why India is my home base for spirituality and healing.
The wish to share.
Already as a child I enjoyed everything where I could delve for hours into a nearly meditative state of mind, like playing the piano, painting or creating jewellery.
I remember being totally absorbed by the activity without being distracted by any thought. I feel very blessed that this sensation of "timelessness" is something that never went away and is still a place of recovery, healing and clarity for me today.
While my student time, life would send me inspiring teachers and wonderful soul mates, that opened up the possibility for sharing what I have experienced myself while staying in the zone of continuous learning.
On my 3rd trip to India, in 2005, I got to know about an Ayurveda Doctor who opened his clinic in the lush green mountain range of the Himalayas, in Dharamsala. Under the guidance of Dr. Sibichen George, I was trained as an Ayurveda Massagist.
There I first came in touch with a holistic system seeing and treating the symptoms (which are visible on the surface) from its roots, including questions about the lifestyle, eating and sleeping habits, and the knowledge about the basic potential of a person. In Ayurveda they are called the 3 Doshas.
Go with the flow.
One thing lead to another and soon I found myself sitting my first Vipassana Meditation Cours, followed by many 10-20day Courses in different countries around the glob, over the past decades.
Immersed in Yoga and Meditation, with a little insight in Ayurveda Massage Therapy, the wish to follow this professional path of becoming a "holistic" therapist was growing.
I was lucky that within my circle of friends some where similarly attracted to India and its powerful methods of "healing". It so came that we had a Russian Sharman - who was actually based in India - as our guest over the period of some month in Vienna. It was him, Kalidas, who trained me in Reiki. Another new world opened up for me: healing the symptoms we suffer from through the subtle anatomy of our body and mind. I am so thankful for his teaching and big heart.
Working with the body and mind.
When I came in contact with music therapy and holotrope breathing during my student days, I knew that working with and through the body will be my professional path. The deep healing effect that I was experiencing during these sessions was from such intensity, that I immediately started looking for ways to learn more about healing through the body.
I decided to change my studies to educational studies with the focus on "Psychoanalytic Pedagogy" in order to have one of the "official" basic studies to become a therapist here in Austria.
But... life had different plans for me. I didn't even subscribe for a place to be trained as a therapist. I experienced a Burn-Out while writing my very ambitious master thesis for university. It was then when I found a fantastic body coach that helped me with all the frightening stress symptoms, that I was facing during these months.
I am forever thankful and owe her so much. It was her who suggested to me to become as well a Somatic Coach, being trained in the Grinberg Method, which I started right after I had finished my studies.
Space and time.
I was intensively trained for 4 years to work as a Grinberg Method practitioner with my own body and patterns, as well as with my clients' bodies and their patterns. After I quit my job as a trainer leading children's groups and received my diploma from the International School of the Grinberg Method, I opened a space in Vienna together with my colleague Daniela Razocher.
Since 2010, I have been working daily with clients from all over the world to process, release and alleviate physical symptoms, patterns, pain and anxiety resulting from past trauma or stressful experiences, such as surgeries, accidents, separations, neglect, abuse.
I am incredibly grateful and in some ways very proud of every person who begins a process to get out of this vicious cycle. There are still an incredible number of harmful and abusive interactions and behaviors in relationships that make it difficult for both victims and abusers to deal with life, their own relationships, or children. I think that every hour we spend digesting and resolving the distressing memories stored in our bodies allows us to draw larger circles of "awareness, conscious letting go and healing" in our society.
For more than 15 years I have dedicated my professional career and time to this very task.
The rest of my story is coming soon...
My story in pictures.
Thank you.
Thank you for being part of my journey through this wonderful life.
Thank you for being my daily inspiration and teacher.
Thank you for your trust, your love and care.
