Simon van der Els

In 2008 I started studying biology in university, which means being a student of life. Although the study was initially broad in scope, I soon started specialising in a specific branch of life: microbes and their genetics. This specialisation further deepened during a PhD project at the Wageningen University on the subject of molecular organisms that live inside bacterial cells. In 2019, when it became time for me to surface from the invisible realm and start writing up my research, the larger living world came knocking on my door. I started investigating climate change and biodiversity loss, and how our global predicament was unfolding. What I read put a heavy strain on my system, as I was unaware how much heartbreak I was feeling at the time. Under the weight of my insights and worries about our living planet, I was forced to sit with my broken heart and listen to what it was telling me. After a period of contemplative practices (nature therapy, meditation, plant-medicine and a lot of reading) it told me to broaden my interests and care about the natural world and all its denizens. I became interested in facilitating healing of individuals, communities and systems. The word "Healing" means to "make whole, sound and well". The world is already whole, healing to my mind is more about developing humanity's fragmented perception to better perceive that whole. I facilitate this for my own perception, that of individual clients and for groups. For the purpose of whole-ing I devote my being and the skills I've acquired and are in the process of developing. These include: academic reasoning and clarity, nature coaching and therapy, shamanic spiritual practices and insights.