I laugh.
I love.
I am alive.
About Barbara.
Hello, I am glad you have found me and my services in this ocean of endless wonderful methods and services offered by extraordinary people.
I am Barbara (she/her), a professional Somatic Coach, trained in the Grinberg Method, Yoga, Reiki, Ayurveda, Trauma Sensitive Yoga as well as a professional educator.
I am a passionate traveler who loves to cook. I am the mother of Noë Mana, a dear friend to many wonderful people around this globe, a lifelong student of wonderful teachers, and the partner of my soulmate and daily source of inspiration, professional artist Kay Walkowiak.
My base is Vienna, the beautiful capital of Austria, the city where I was born and raised. In my travels I have found that I can feel at home in many places, including India, which I would call my second home. As time went 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 when I suffered from chronic bronchitis and asthma. It got to the point where I had to stay in the hospital for several weeks due to a critical condition.
Thanks to my parents' love and a doctor's wise decision to treat my symptoms holistically with natural remedies and methods, my body was able to fully recover over time. The traumatic part of being separated from my parents, experiencing this immense loneliness and helplessness as a small child in the hospital, was later able to heal 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. I immersed myself in the path of yoga at that time. I found a wonderful teacher who taught us the basic concepts and philosophy while doing asana and pranayama classes. Each class felt like a deep relief. I loved the time and space one had for oneself, along with that calm, happy, attentive feeling after each class. His classes encouraged my desire to travel to India and learn more about the culture from which yoga originated.
Coming home.
In 2002, I wanted to deal with this deep feeling of loneliness (from my past) that was still not fully digested and healed. Following my intuition, I ended up in India, expecting to cry a lot and feel that deep, familiar pain of being far away from the people I loved.
To my surprise, I found friends and laughter along the way. Throughout my journey, I was never alone. Even when I tried very hard to be alone, it seemed almost impossible. Life sent me someone who was always around me. I had to let go of my old belief that I was alone, because I realized that was not the truth. And there is so much joy and ease if I would go with the flow.
India was and is a great teacher, a mother who always takes care of me when I am searching for answers and solutions. The connection 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.
As a child, I enjoyed anything where I could spend hours immersed in an almost meditative state, such as playing the piano, painting, or making jewelry.
I remember being completely absorbed in the activity without being distracted by any thought. I feel very blessed that this feeling of "timelessness" is something that has never disappeared and continues to be a place of rest, healing and clarity for me today.
During my student years, life sent me inspiring teachers and wonderful soul mates who opened up the possibility of passing on what I had experienced myself, while remaining in the zone of constant learning.
On my third trip to India in 2005, I learned of an Ayurvedic doctor who opened his clinic in the lush green mountains of the Himalayas in Dharamsala. Under the guidance of Dr. Sibichen George, I was trained as an Ayurvedic masseuse.
It was there that I first came into contact with a holistic system that looks at and treats symptoms from the root, including issues of lifestyle, eating and sleeping habits, and knowledge of a person's basic potential. In Ayurveda they are called the 3 Doshas.
Go with the flow.
One thing led to another, and soon I found myself in my first Vipassana meditation course, followed by many 10- to 20-day courses in various countries around the globe over the past decades.
Immersed in yoga and meditation, with a little insight into Ayurvedic massage therapy, the desire to follow this professional path and become a holistic therapist grew.
I was fortunate to have a few in my circle of friends who were also attracted to India and its powerful healing methods. So it happened that we had a Russian Sharman - who was actually based in India - as a guest in Vienna for a few months. It was him, Kalidas, who trained me in Reiki. A new world opened up for me: Healing the symptoms we suffer from through the subtle anatomy of our body and mind. I am so grateful for his teaching and his big heart.
Working with the body and mind.
When I was introduced to music therapy and holotropic breathing during my college years, I knew that working with and through the body would be my career path. The deep healing I experienced during these sessions was of such intensity that I immediately began to look for ways to learn more about healing through the body.
I decided to change my studies to pedagogy with a focus on "psychoanalytic pedagogy" in order to complete one of the "official" basic trainings to become a therapist here in Austria.
But ... life had other plans for me. I didn't even sign up for a training position as a therapist. I experienced a burn-out while writing my very ambitious master thesis for university. At that time, I found a fantastic body coach who helped me with all the scary stress symptoms I was facing during those months.
I am forever grateful to her and owe her so much. She was also the one who suggested that I train to become a Somatic Coach using the Grinberg Method, which I started right after I graduated.
Space and time.
I was intensively trained for 4 years to work as a practitioner of the Grinberg Method. After quitting my job as a children's group trainer and graduating from the International School of the Grinberg Method, I opened a space in Vienna with my colleague Daniela Razocher.
Since 2010 I have been working daily with clients from all over the world. In my work with my clients, we process, resolve and alleviate physical symptoms, patterns, pain and anxiety arising from past trauma or stressful experiences such as surgeries, accidents, separations, neglect or abuse.
I am incredibly grateful and proud of every person who begins a process to step out of this vicious cycle. I believe that every hour spent digesting and resolving the distressing memories stored in our bodies allows us to draw larger circles of "awareness, conscious letting go, and healing" within ourselves and therefore our society.
For more than 15 years I have dedicated my professional career and my time to this very task with all my heart.
A new chapter.
In 2020, I became a mother and right after that we experienced our first lockdown due to the Corona Pandemic. This change in my personal and professional life strengthened my desire to focus all my work on this, deep into the sources of stress and trauma at all levels.
Prior to the pandemic, I was trained as a trauma-sensitive yoga teacher and a pre-postnatal yoga teacher. In 2020, I took advantage of maternity leave and limited work time to dive deeper.
I am currently in training to become a Body-Mind Coach under the guidance of Dr. Scott Lyons , Dr. Rae Johnson, Staci K. Hains, Richard Strozzi-Heckler, Kai Cheng Thom, Justin Michael Williams, Michaela Mischke-Reeds, Tesfaye Tekelu, Licia Sky, Phoebe Greenacre. I am a participant in the training "Healing Trauma" with Peter Levin, as well as "Embodied Conflict Resolution" with Kai Cheng Thom. I continue to be a yoga student under the guidance of Prasad Rangnekar and a student of yoga therapy under the supervision of Doug Keller. It is exciting for me to be a student and learn from all these inspiring people. The input grounds my daily work and creates very transformative experiences for my clients.
This summer I am taking over a large co-working space here in Vienna. I am looking forward to this new role and hope to create a fantastic team to work, collaborate and laugh together.
If you are interested in getting to know me, my work, my studio, the team, or if you want to collaborate with me, feel free to contact me anytime.
I will be happy to be in touch with you.
My story in pictures.
My path so far.
2023: BODY-MIND-COACHING Program under the guidance of Dr. Scott Lyons, Dr. Rae Johnson, Manuela Mischke-Reeds, Kai Cheng Thom, Stacy K. Haines, Richard Strozzi Heckler, Licia Sky (ongoing).
2023: EMBODIED CONFLICT RESOLUTION Program under the guidance of Kai Cheng Thom
2023: HEALING TRAUMA by Peter Levine (online program).
2022: HYPOPRESSIVE TRAINING by Trista Zinn. It's a specific training for postnatal gymnastics.
2020: Home birth of my daughter Noë in assistance with my midwife Patricia Schmiedmeier and my partner Kay Walkowiak.
2020: 20-days VIPASSANA Silence Meditation
2020: YOGA - now and then. Course on YOGA HISTORY with Prasad Rangnekar.
2019: THE BHAGAVAD GITA. Immersion Retreat with Prasad Rangnekar.
2019: PANCHA KOSHA Model. YOGA and the MIND. Workshops with Prasad Rangnekar.
2019: TRAUMA SENSITIVE YOGA with Joachim Pfahl, Barbara Rossow-Schneider.
2018: YOGA TEACHER TRAINING (300hr) with Prasad Rangnekar in Nilgiri Hills, India.
2018: THE BAGHAVAD GITA. Immersion Retreat with Prasad Rangnekar.
2018: THE YOGA OF ELEMENTS with Prasad Rangenkar.
2017: PRE + POSTNATAL YOGA TEACHER with Romana Delberg, Tina Nirtl, Katharina Kraindl.
2016: YOGA TEACHER TRAINING (200hr) with Prasad Rangnekar in Nigiri Hills, India.
2015-2016: RECOVERY PROCESS. (2 parts) Specification for Grinberg Method Practitioner with Avi Grinberg .
2015: INTENSIVE PROCESS. Specification for Grinberg Method Practitioner with Avi Grinberg.
2014: Working with the Element of FIRE (Muscles, Activity, Flow in the Body, using oil) Training for Grinberg Method Practitioner.
2013 -2017: Active Member of the IAGMP (International Association of Grinberg Method Practitioner)
2013: OPENING my own working space for BODY WORK and SOMATIC COACHING.
2011-2014: TRAINING as a GRINBERG METHOD PRACTITIONER, International School, Spain, Austria, Germany.
2006-2013: WORING for KINDERBÜRO as a group leader for projects and teams and part of the team for the Kindergarden of the University of Vienna.
2006-2010: STUDIES of EDUCATION STUDIES (Psychoanalytical Pedagogics).
2006-now: VIPASSANA SILENT MEDITATION, many 10-day, 20-day and immersion retreats worldwide.
2005: TRAINING AYURVEDA MASSAG THERAPIST with Sibichen George in Dharamsala, India.
2003-2009: Member of a Group playing the African Djembe and Dunduns.
2001-now: Many journeys worldwide for trekking, immersing into nature, meditation, work and pleasure.
2001-2006: STUDIES of PHILOSOPHY + JOURNALISM, University of Vienna.
2000-2001: LIVING + WORKING in FRANCE, Nizza.
1997-2007: Trainings CONTEMPORARY DANCE, CONTACT IMPROVISATION, AFRO DANCE, BUTHO DANCE and JAZZ DANCE.
2000 - now: Continuous YOGA Student (Hatha Yoga, Partner Yoga, Acro Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Yin Yoga)
1988-2001: Training in IMPRO PIANO and little CLASSICAL PIANO. Member of several Bands.
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.
