This week, Mystic Mag had the opportunity to interview Tilke Platteel-Deur, Breathwor Therapist. We discussed her beginnings, what can a person expect from her sessions, and what she loves most about her profession.
When did you first know that being a Breathworker was your calling and how did it come about?
In 1978, I went with my family to Findhorn in North Scotland. Meeting people who did Breathwork, brought me into contact with a feeling of aliveness, freedom, presence, and joy, which I thought I had lost. I definitely wanted more of that!
Arriving back home, we contacted a Dutch breathworker living in the US, Hans de Leyser, who was on holiday in Amsterdam. The next day he came to our house. My husband, myself and the 2 kids got our first session. I was in cramps most of that session. The paralysis lifted when a thought “fell” into my head. “This is going to be your next career!” Since then, I have never stopped using the conscious connected breath.
What services do you offer?
Since 1978, I have been -and still am- working with private clients.
For 43 years now, together with a colleague, I have been offering a three-year training program. I give supervision groups in Germany and Holland.
For some years now, I have been offering small two-day group work sessions, in my own house in Naarden, for 2 or 3 people. Doing intensive work in a small group, being present and observing all the sessions during our time together, is truly deepening and satisfying for all of us.
How would you define Breathwork?
Breathwork is the art of being able to breathe through whatever happens in life. Combined with using conscious thought, knowing how to redirect our thoughts in moments where we otherwise might drown in emotions. Integrative Breathwork is about letting off our judgmental thinking. It is thriving for inner Peace and joy.
What can a person expect from your sessions?
Over the years, I have seen people become more grounded inside themselves. They discover who they are meant to be. As their true inner being begins to shine more and more, their original gentleness, their strength, their inspiration, and joy for life become more visible. Through contacting their vulnerability, their power becomes a safe inner strength.
What is the most important detail in maintaining a relationship of mutual trust with Clients?
The therapeutic relationship is a special relationship, which has to be permeated by respect and support. Any kind of therapeutic relationship is based on building an authentic connection with a person, trusting that every human being carries deep within himself the necessary resources to live a creative and spiritually fulfilled life.
There is a very fine line between loving attention for a client and trespassing – even in the slightest way – into sexual transgression. Because the relationship between a therapist and his client is not only very special, but also very intimate, the danger of sliding into a sexually the tinted atmosphere is often very close. For a breathwork therapist, this danger is even more present because the way we work is very physical and the use of the breath often creates an intimacy that brings people extremely close together. It is a whole and a holy relationship.
What do you love most about your profession?
Leonard Orr always said to me ”You do the work first and foremost for yourself. That others profit from it… that’s the free drink!”
The work with my clients and students still gives me the chance to listen to the words I need to hear myself. It is an occupational hazard that the inner development of a therapist always has to go on. We cannot allow ourselves the luxury of lying back, believing that our personal development is finished. We have to be completely dedicated to our further inner growth. I have to be completely present in the here and now. I must breathe consciously while guiding my clients’ breath.
This work supports my own inner growth.
This work is enormously satisfying, I am doing what I love, what I am really good at, it pays my bills, and fills me with love and joy.
