Hello, I'm Isabel.
I'm a psychologist, yoga teacher and Bodynamic Practitioner in Training. But what probably tells you more about me is that I've always been curious about why people do what they do.
I believe that most behaviour makes sense when we understand the person, their experiences and the context behind it. That curiosity is what first brought me to psychology — and it still shapes the way I work today.
I started with psychology
Studying psychology wasn't quite what I expected at first.
I was fascinated by human experience and behaviour, but suddenly found myself surrounded by statistics, questionnaires, diagnostic criteria and categories. I struggled with the idea of reducing something as complex and individual as a person to a score or a label.
Over time, my relationship with psychology became more nuanced. Research, assessment and diagnosis can give us valuable information. But they are tools — they never tell us everything there is to know about a person.
That distinction still matters to me today.
I originally found yoga because of back pain. It helped, and I kept practising. But its role in my life changed after university. After years of studying and working towards the next goal, I suddenly found myself in a period where things felt surprisingly empty. I experienced for myself what it can be like when your mental health changes — and yoga and meditation became important resources during that time.
For the first time, I experienced very directly how much movement, breath and meditation could influence not only how I felt physically, but how I experienced myself more broadly. It sparked a curiosity that went beyond practising yoga as something that simply made me feel better.
I travelled to Rishikesh for my yoga teacher training and returned to India many times afterwards to continue learning and practising. Later, in Sri Lanka, I completed a ten-day Vipassana meditation retreat. I also trained as a Somatic Release Breathwork Practitioner, exploring more directly how conscious breathing can influence our physical and emotional experience.
Then things became more personal
Bringing the pieces together
The more I worked with psychology, yoga, meditation and breath, the more interested I became in what happens when we stop treating the body as something separate from psychological experience.
That eventually led me to Bodynamic, where I am currently training as a Practitioner. It gave me a framework for many of the questions I had already been exploring: how our development is reflected in the body, how we experience boundaries and support, which resources are available to us and how greater awareness can create more choice.
Today, psychology remains the foundation of my work. Body-oriented practice has expanded the way I understand it.
I grew up in Germany, but curiosity about other cultures was part of my life long before I started travelling myself. My grandparents' home was full of people, stories and objects from different parts of the world, and they taught me to approach other ways of living with curiosity rather than assuming that my own is the right one.
That curiosity eventually turned into a fairly serious case of wanderlust. Today, I live in Sri Lanka and regularly return to India to learn, practise and spend time in a culture that has shaped much of my relationship with yoga and meditation.
When I'm not working, you'll most likely find me near the ocean, reading, surfing, practising yoga or trying to convince myself that learning something slightly intimidating is a good idea. Kitesurfing and getting my motorcycle licence both started that way.
And a lesser-known fact: before becoming a psychologist, I trained as a bookseller. My relationship with books has survived every career change since.
A few things beyond psychology
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Photographer: Shakya Medagedara
Creative Consulting: Gihan Mackay