Your body wants to feel more at home again.
I’m happy to help and be there on the way.
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I’m Katrin Heuser, a bodyworker, Yoga teacher, studio director, business owner, training facilitator and mentor.
The focus of my work is two-fold: I support people who are struggling with things like pain, chronic conditions or anxiety in their individual healing process, and I also train people in what I do, to help them to support others. In both cases, I sometimes get to witness beautiful transformation. It could be that a sense of calm lands back in a client's body, or that somebody's life gets back on track, or a student finding the confidence to take back control of their wellbeing. In those moments I feel so privileged and grateful that I am able to do the work I do. At the root of my work is my belief that:
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How I found my way here
When I was 13, I developed quite severe scoliosis, which meant having to wear an orthopaedic corset and doing a lot of physio-therapy throughout my teenage years. This was probably the beginning of my interest and curiosity in the human body and movement.
I was managing just fine in my 20’s with regular Pilates and dance, however, around when I turned 30, I started to have a lot of discomfort particularly on my right side, and I needed regular massages to ease the pain. Eventually I ended up seeing a cranial osteopath every single week for three months, which was getting very depressing.
I was half-way through my Yoga Teacher Training back then, and luckily had experienced a few workshops on fascial release, had the odd encounter with non-dogmatic teachers, and somehow had the wisdom in my own body, that there was another way. I was about to start teaching Yoga, but nonetheless decided to turn my own personal practice up-side-down and to start again from square one. I took charge of my own wellbeing. Living in London at the time, it was a borderline miracle, that a Scaravelli inspired Yoga teacher was living literally around the corner from my house. The week I started having sessions with her, I never had to go back to the osteopath.
And so my path to working therapeutically was set, I don’t think there was another way for me. Around the same time I also started my Thai Yoga Massage training, which took me on an incredible deep-dive into understanding the body and the endless layers of healing. I will never forget the moment, when I suddenly thought: “Maybe I just found my real gift.”
I guess somewhere inside of me I already knew that, as a year prior to that moment I had already given up my job in Digital Media and had set up my full-time Yoga and bodywork business. This was at the end of 2013, when I was still living in London.
By 2015 I felt London was moving fast and steadily in one direction, and I was pretty much going the opposite direction. So after 16 years in that crazy city (I say this lovingly), it was time for a change and I moved to sunny Lisbon in Portugal, where I was able to fulfil one of my dreams of running my own studio (Little Yoga Space).
My body is now pain-free and my spine has become one of my greatest teachers over the years. But through my continued practice as well as deep study of Osteothai, I am also healing my emotional scars I carry from being stuck in a corset for three years, which I now understand was a quite traumatic experience (the kind of trauma with a medium size ’T’ maybe) and has left behind patterns in my body as well as the narrative of my stories.
I was managing just fine in my 20’s with regular Pilates and dance, however, around when I turned 30, I started to have a lot of discomfort particularly on my right side, and I needed regular massages to ease the pain. Eventually I ended up seeing a cranial osteopath every single week for three months, which was getting very depressing.
I was half-way through my Yoga Teacher Training back then, and luckily had experienced a few workshops on fascial release, had the odd encounter with non-dogmatic teachers, and somehow had the wisdom in my own body, that there was another way. I was about to start teaching Yoga, but nonetheless decided to turn my own personal practice up-side-down and to start again from square one. I took charge of my own wellbeing. Living in London at the time, it was a borderline miracle, that a Scaravelli inspired Yoga teacher was living literally around the corner from my house. The week I started having sessions with her, I never had to go back to the osteopath.
And so my path to working therapeutically was set, I don’t think there was another way for me. Around the same time I also started my Thai Yoga Massage training, which took me on an incredible deep-dive into understanding the body and the endless layers of healing. I will never forget the moment, when I suddenly thought: “Maybe I just found my real gift.”
I guess somewhere inside of me I already knew that, as a year prior to that moment I had already given up my job in Digital Media and had set up my full-time Yoga and bodywork business. This was at the end of 2013, when I was still living in London.
By 2015 I felt London was moving fast and steadily in one direction, and I was pretty much going the opposite direction. So after 16 years in that crazy city (I say this lovingly), it was time for a change and I moved to sunny Lisbon in Portugal, where I was able to fulfil one of my dreams of running my own studio (Little Yoga Space).
My body is now pain-free and my spine has become one of my greatest teachers over the years. But through my continued practice as well as deep study of Osteothai, I am also healing my emotional scars I carry from being stuck in a corset for three years, which I now understand was a quite traumatic experience (the kind of trauma with a medium size ’T’ maybe) and has left behind patterns in my body as well as the narrative of my stories.
Some people like to know these things about me
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From the age of 6, until I was 30, I used to dance. A lot. Mostly African dance. It was my thing. And I certainly didn't like Yoga back then!
My favourite Yoga book is Awakening the Spine by Vanda Scaravelli. Originally I am from Germany. I grew up there and my family still lives there. The reason I left at age 20 was to go to a film/drama school in England for one year. After that I wasn't quite ready to let go of my new friends just yet, so I moved to London as that's where everybody was headed. In London I had a career in Media, and in the end I was the Project Director at an awesome creative web agency. I will always be grateful to them, as they allowed me to go part-time for a much easier transition to build my Yoga and bodywork business. Some of the fun highlights in my life include a tandem skydive at the age of 13 (two in fact), driving in a Volkswagen Golf Convertible from Germany all the way to Barcelona with my best friend when we were 18, sitting almost naked (covered in an Ayurvedic herbal paste) on someone's rooftop in a small village in India, jumping seven waves to welcome the New Year in Brazil. |
And some of you might be more interested in this
- 500h Level 4 NCQ Yoga, Meditation & Pranayama Teaching Qualification
- Level 3 NVQ in Anatomy, Physiology & Pathology
- Yoga teachers I learnt a lot from: Bill Woods, Peter Blackaby, Gary Carter, Marc Woolford, Donna Farhi, Mary Mackie, Sophie Hoare, Fairlie Gibson
- Thai Yoga Massage practitioner & advanced training with Ralf Marzen of the Mudita School of Thai Yoga Massage (+ apprenticeship for becoming a teachers)
- Level 1 Manual Lymph Drainage Qualification with the Dr. Vodder Schule
- Dynamic Thai Yoga Massage training with David Lutt of the Lulyani School of Thai Massage
- Osteothai trainings with David Lutt
- Internal Organs
- Shock and Trauma
- Respiratory System
- Lower back conditions
- Master Osteotthai training with David Lutt and Jörg Schürpf
- The art of touch
- The quality of listening
- The potential of transformation
- The power of potency
- The virtuosity of integration
- Endless hours of lectures with inspirational speakers such as Dr. Scott Lyons, Dr. Gabor Maté, Dr Sará King, Dr, Arielle Schwartz, Chara Caruthers, Dr. Peter Levine, Dr. Judith Blackstone for example
The body is quite a miracle
For me, my work is about the never-ending exploration of the body and mind, and a way of discovering the beauty of life. As we bring the awareness to what is happening inside and where we are in the present moment, the body is encouraged to release where it is holding. Then we can embark on a journey of restoration and transformation.
Some ways we might work together
- 1-2-1 Yoga sessions > why this might be for you
- Classes at Little Yoga Space > check out the schedule
- Osteothai treatments in Lisbon > how can I support you?
- Workshops, immersions and CPD events > coming up soon
- Thai Yoga Massage trainings > how to become a practitioner
- Therapeutic and trauma-informed training for Yoga teachers > let's create change
I also regularly teach modules as a guest tutor on my colleague's trainings. Main topics are:
- Fascia and body memory
- Trauma
- Chronic Pain
- Therapeutic touch
You can get in touch with me HERE.
