“Knowledge feeds fictions, and fictions set the powers free”The life of Elves, Muriel Barbery I arrived in Brussels in 2019. I was surrounded by high buildings, busy streets and a roundabout full of cars. But […]
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Transforming from the “white crow”
I am from Central Asia, where when I was growing up, I often felt like a “white crow” – I felt I didn’t belong there. In most of the photos, I often noticed that my […]
[Only in Dutch] my new book: “DE WITTE DROOM”
Toen ik in 2013 Pakistan bezocht, leerde ik dat dit land meer gezichten heeft dan de westerse media mij deed geloven. In een restaurant in Lahore gaf ik mezelf een denkoefening: “hoe krijg je een […]
two YEARs OF WOOD WIDE WEB STORIES
Currently I am preparing my first forest bath of the autumn. I plan a series of 7 weekly forest baths, with a retelling of a folkstory or fairytale from my region. It reminds me that […]
Rapunzel’s forest tale: a story of healing
It has been a month ago that I wrote a blog. The last blog was about my grandmother’s death and how I found solace and inspiration through the willow in our garden: My grandmother was a […]
MY grandmother was a willow woman
This weekend, my grandmother died. Early March, I saw her for the last time, to celebrate her 86th birthday. She was already dying a bit for some years, because she suffered dementia and Parkinson. Every […]
Becoming the Frog – retelling my woodwide story of the past 6 months
“The Frog Prince” (German: Der Froschkönig, Dutch: de kikkerkoning) is a fairy tale, best known through the Brothers Grimm’s written version; traditionally it is the first story in their collection. Since some months, I have a […]
Tea tasting: Kumazasa-cha
Originally posted on 茶柱 The Floating Tea Stem:
I was told that Kumazasa (Sasa veitchii) is a specialty of Hokkaido, where it is naturally grown. The kanji characters 熊笹 literally mean ‘bear’s bamboo leaves’ and no…

My tent is still drying in the veranda as I am writing this. This past weekend I got to take part in the event supported and funded by BOS+ (my favourite forest advocate organisation in Flanders) and CM (my favourite health insurance provider in Flanders). The concept of the weekend was to offer people different kinds […]via Thoughts & ideas after BOS+Badweekend —
Forests, Mountains and other therapists
On the last day of August, I reflect what the forests, my ‘soft’ therapists, and the mountains, my ‘raw’ therapists taught me this summer in Japan. Middle of June – Mt Fuji from below Ten […]