About Sensuelse
I would like to meet you. Exactly as you are now.
I am someone who likes to take a conversation deeper. Who wants to know what you really want, what moves you, why something touches you and leaves someone else untouched.
I’m Els. I like to stop at the questions that touch life: what drives people, why they act as they do, what living is about. For a long time that stayed implicit, woven into who I am and into the conversations I have. Gradually it took explicit shape, and became more and more my work.
I guide people back towards their own core. Towards coming loose from the conditioning and the expectations — of society, your family, the people around you, your work — that perhaps never really fitted you. Towards a life that is freer, and more real. More yours.
My path
How I got here
Early in life I came into contact with the darker sides of living. For a long time I let that steer me without noticing. Always distracted, always moving on, so as not to have to feel. Until I dared to stand still. When I gave room to what was there, I noticed that I could choose: to feel things through, to follow my own path, to find rest. Instead of distraction, and running from parts of myself. I learned to carry those experiences and turn them into strength. By looking at both the light and the dark layers and feeling them through, I discovered how healing and growth go hand in hand. That is where my curiosity lies: in the depth, in what lives below the surface and wants to be felt. At the same time I always felt at home in the world of thinking, analysing and observing. I studied communication and business administration, and I work as a board adviser. I am in boardrooms and know that world from the inside. I also think along about strategy, governance and the dynamics between people who carry an organisation. That is where the themes that move me came back: sensitivity, collaboration, wellbeing. In different organisations and roles I have stood close to leaders, at work and in private. Sometimes in their careers, sometimes in their path as a person. At a leadership programme at Nyenrode the subject was leading from inner connection, and there what I had always been doing finally got words: connecting people with their core, with what they really want and who they are in essence. Along the way I went further and further into body-based work, among other things as a spaceholder and facilitator at retreats and ceremonies. When I began to share my mission more actively, things started to move and new paths appeared, all from that same place. The business, rational world and the feeling, the body, flowed more and more into one another, and came together. Out of that connection Sensuelse grew, where I give shape to this in my own way.
How I work
We talk, and we experience
The conversation goes deep. With open, sometimes bold questions, the kind you might walk around in daily life. And alongside that we look for the way inwards: towards what your body is telling you, towards what lives underneath your words. Because in your head you can reason endlessly about why something is not that bad, or why you had better keep quiet. Your body does not play along. It is often there, in what you feel, that you find the truth your thinking tries to smooth over. That is why I work through the body, and take you with me into it. Without you having to know the way yourself.
Whatever comes up, I keep bringing it back to you. Not to the blame lying with someone else, not to what happens outside you, but to what it touches in you and where that comes from. That is how you come loose from old patterns, and room appears to choose differently. Safety comes first: room to say anything, with care for where you are right now. Everything is an invitation, nothing is required. That is what lets you sink to a deeper layer.
I am a many-sided person by nature. You can see that in what I draw on.
In mindfulness, body work, systemic and energetic work. Much of that came together in my coaching training at ITIP. And in what I bring from the world of communication, business administration, leadership and organisations. All those sides serve the same thing: guiding you back to yourself, to what is really alive in you.
Experience
Guiding people in different settings
I have been guiding people and groups for ten years, in different forms over the years. From light workshops as a student to deep personal work. In a range of settings: in intimate circles, retreats and ceremonies, in one-to-one programmes, and within teams and organisations.
Training and background
- Master’s in Business Administration (entrepreneurship, innovation & strategy)
- Bachelor’s and Master’s in Communication Studies (organisational communication & reputation)
- Leadership Development Programme, Nyenrode
- Coaching training at ITIP (mindfulness, systemic and energetic work, dream analysis)
- Various further trainings in tantra and body work
My working experience runs from board advice and organisational dynamics to guiding retreats and ceremonies.
Where the name comes from
Sense · U · Else.
Feeling, you, and the other, or something else in yourself. Together it becomes Sensuelse: closer to yourself, and to the other.
And in “Else” there is also a nod to my own name: Els.
About sensuality
Words carry associations
That is simply what language does. So I would rather say something about it.
For me, sensuality is about sensory and physical connection. Literally hearing, seeing, tasting, feeling, smelling in the moment. So that you can come down out of your head, settle into your body, and really be present with what is there. It touches on body awareness and on life energy. On allowing in everything there is to feel, in your body. And on the strength that gives: being present with yourself and in the moment, consciously and with care.
Team
At some events I work together with others
People I trust, and with whom the work can go deeper.
Roan
Spaceholder & mirror
Roan is my life partner, and a calm, attentive presence. His open gaze and his steadiness create room in which people can settle into themselves. He lives closely connected to nature and moves mindfully through life, with care for whatever turns up in the moment. In his role as spaceholder he senses intuitively what is alive; he is fully there for what is brought in and felt, and he brings himself in honestly too. He gives room to everything that wants to emerge. With gentleness, respect and without judgement.
Behind the scenes Roan is also a sounding board in Sensuelse. He holds up a mirror, and looks critically at whether what I do fits my mission and the people I do this work for.
Denise
Breathwork & systemic work
At some retreats and events I work together with Denise. The power of the breath and the body is central to her work. With more than fifteen years of experience in fast-moving settings, she weaves her background in start-ups together with a deep passion for personal change. She guides people on journeys inwards. With breathwork, systemic work and personal guidance. She makes room for rest, clarity and real connection.
Alongside Sensuelse
Where I feel freedom and pleasure
You can find me in all sorts of places: dancing at a festival, walking in nature, slowing down in the sauna. Painting, reading in a small café, or deep in a good conversation with friends. Making music with my family, playing with my nieces and nephews, or experimenting in the kitchen.
They are the places where I feel freedom, pleasure and connection. And I keep feeding myself through my own inner work, and I am glad to take you along on that road.
What I stand for
Five values
realness
Coming home to who you really are, in every layer of yourself.
presence
Being fully here, with attention. With yourself, and with whatever is there in the moment.
connection
With yourself and with the other person, built on realness and presence.
safety
A ground where everything may be seen and is welcome, including what you would rather hide.
clarity
Grounded and explained, so it makes sense even if this work is new to you.
These values are at the heart of my work — for the people I guide, and in myself.
Vision
I work towards a world where people feel safe enough to be fully themselves, in their body, their feeling and their expression.
Where we dare to know and embrace ourselves, including the sides we would rather hide, instead of striving for perfection. And from where, more connected to ourselves, we also treat each other more kindly.
- Because we get to know our triggers, and project them less onto the other person.
- Because we dare to make room for what we really want, trusting that what is good for us also serves the people around us.
- Because we are more rooted in our own strength, and from there can mean more to others.
That is what I contribute to with my work.
Shall we meet?
Whether you are looking at a retreat, at a one-to-one programme, or at something deeper within your team or organisation: I would be glad to talk. A chance to explore, and to feel whether there is a click.
Would you rather look around first? Have a look at Sacred Retreats, One-to-One Coaching or the work with organisations.