How did you come to coaching – and what drives you today?
I studied psychology and have spent the last twenty years pursuing every training that genuinely interested me. I’ve completed training in positive psychology, systemic therapy, sports and mental coaching, yoga teaching, and hypnotherapy. Before I set up my own practice as a psychotherapeutic practitioner, I worked internationally as a leadership consultant, running executive coaching sessions and international workshops. Alongside that, I lectured at several universities. Then I decided to go deeper into the clinical side and spent four years working at various psychosomatic clinics.
All of that experience gives me a more nuanced perspective today. Above all, I’ve realised I’m good at offering an impulse in this direction: I’m building the most beautiful, coherent, authentic life I can have. I’m there to give you a nudge so that you can make it your life again and play to your strengths, rather than circling around your weaknesses. That simply suits me better.
I’d say my aim is to offer you complete presence without reservation, and a genuine counterpart, far from the “psychologist” stereotype. Instead of being put in a box, you get a protected space in which you can come closer to yourself again.
I’m building the most beautiful, coherent, authentic life I can have.
Who are the people you meet in your sessions? Are there people you would particularly recommend psychological coaching to?
I notice that I attract a lot of sensitive people who have lost touch with their intuition and are looking to find it again. I’m very sensitive myself and can feel what’s happening in another person’s body; I can mirror back what they often no longer notice in themselves. That’s valuable, because I can act as a bridge and help them recognise the feeling on their own again. I’m also a very good sparring partner when someone wants to sort out their thoughts, break out of a loop of rumination, or add an outside perspective to an important decision.
At the Tannerhof, all the guests fit my approach very well. I believe it always does you good to seek an impulse, a different perspective, from outside. I go to supervision regularly myself. It doesn’t have to be a big issue – sometimes it’s enough to have someone who sees it differently and understands what’s happening in your mind, and why you’re getting in your own way.
How do you approach your sessions?
I often begin by asking how the person would know that our conversation had been worthwhile for them. In my sessions, I assume that we meet as equals. It’s a conversation between experts, with the client being the expert on their own concerns and their own world. We look for solutions together. I come from positive psychology and systemic psychotherapy. Positive psychology doesn’t only ask, ‚What was hard?‘ but also, ‚How did that make you stronger?‘ It combines self-compassion with a focus on strengths. Then there’s the systemic view: like a mobile – if I change one point, the whole thing moves. I see this especially clearly with parents: when they work on themselves, their children’s lives become easier – and the effect carries on, into the next generation.
It’s a conversation between experts – and the client is the expert on their own world.
Are there particular methods or rituals you especially value?
I use my range of methods flexibly: depending on what’s needed, I work with systemic constellations, with ropes (to make boundaries or connections visible, for example), or I draw on classic coaching tools. I never use role-play.
I like to bring in neuropsychology to explain what’s driving a behaviour – how dopamine steers us, for instance, or why someone develops certain behavioural patterns during menopause or with hormonal deficiencies.
And very often it’s about how to build a routine that helps you behave in a way that works with your brain – and so makes life easier. I find this enormously valuable in my own life. Often the question is: how can I take the Tannerhof home with me, because I feel so good here? Which routine serves me in everyday life so that I stay this well connected to myself? Here I also like to reach into the biohacking toolbox.
And on request, sessions can also take place spontaneously outdoors, in the sun with a mountain view, or during a walk – that often creates a different quality, because movement and nature support the process.
Are there moments that come up often?
Very often, guests unknowingly give themselves the answer to their own question. They tell me something, and there it is – the answer is already in there. Then I say, “Did you just listen to yourself?” – and I repeat what they said.
Because they’re sitting across from someone who doesn’t judge, they can be authentic. And because they speak with me so authentically, at some point they stop paying attention to their words or, say, to how they’re behaving non-verbally. That creates the space to let out what needs to be heard – and so they often catch themselves in the act.
How does your coaching approach complement the Tannerhof as a place?
Psychological coaching is the best fasting companion there is. When you fast, you come into much deeper contact with yourself, and to have someone alongside you who brings an outside perspective and helps you sort through your thoughts – that’s a real gift.
Many people initially wonder, “What can one hour do?” But thanks to the particular atmosphere at the Tannerhof – taken out of everyday life, with room to let the experience settle – even one or two sessions can achieve an incredible amount. I often hear that this support did more than therapy at home, squeezed in between everyday obligations. Another big difference is that here it’s not just the head but the whole body that’s involved.
Guests often give themselves the answer. Then I ask: did you just listen to yourself?
When clients come to me, I often suggest, “Craniosacral therapy would be a good idea” – and they go along to do some physical clearing-out as well. The combination with yin yoga is also wonderful, especially for people with a very agitated, sympathetically driven nervous system. Then I can say, “Try a yin yoga session and watch what happens. Or try the breath therapy and see what it does for you.”
Others bring along paintings they made in art therapy with Nele, and we talk about the art, or about how they can regulate their own expectations of themselves. I find the combination of art therapy and psychological coaching especially valuable.
You created the “Heldinnenzeit” format here at the Tannerhof – a four-day coaching retreat. How did this special offering come about, and what makes it so special?
The format grew out of my work as a positive psychology trainer, teaching this material to participants over several days of training. The executive workshops were also always full-day events – very long workshop days with a lot of input, a lot of sitting, and little room for yourself. I saw what that did to participants, how they left feeling lighter, grown, and strengthened.
At the same time, I learned from systemic therapy how much you discover about yourself within a group. Since I’m introverted myself and have no appetite for classic group exercises, let alone role-play, all of this led to “Heldinnenzeit” becoming a very introvert-friendly group experience: eight to twelve heroines who eat together and share an hour and a half of workshop a day – and the rest of the time is free. That creates a very appreciative, strengthening space, with an invitation to shape the time so that it does you real good as an individual.
The moment we stop punishing ourselves – that’s the tailwind.
How did you arrive at the term “hero/heroine”?
It’s the feeling I wish for people when they leave: that they become the hero or heroine of their own life – and a little more at peace with themselves.
You describe your coaching as a “palpable tailwind.” Where does that image come from, and what does it mean to you?
I notice that we’re all very hard on ourselves. Something isn’t working, and our first instinct is to blame ourselves. But the moment I understand why I behave the way I do – because my brain wants dopamine, say, or because I’m protecting myself from intrusion through excess weight – I begin to develop more self-compassion. The moment we stop punishing ourselves and instead ask, ‚How did that make me into the person I am today, and what abilities does that give me now?‘ – that’s the tailwind. Suddenly everything softens, and intuition returns.
I want to give people a space in which they can meet themselves again. That’s my goal. What I really offer is a resonant space, where you come a little closer to yourself in connection – and get to experience that authentic contact is something deeply nourishing.
