My name is Kim van Brenk. I am married, have two children and together we have a dog called Sam (a Kooiker).
As a young girl I loved to move and I was atheletic. So I did a lot of sports. My favorite things to do are still martial arts (Krav Maga), yoga, hiking and of course Somatics.
My yoga teacher introduced me to Somatics. After taking a beginning course in Somatics, I learned how the various events in my past caused pain and problems. Somatics helped me to understand, place and let go of these events.
I was also able to release all the emotions and negative mental patterns that accompanied these events and the stress of everyday life that had stored themselves in my body.
Space and thus freedom was created in my body and mind.
My movements became smoother and I can now do more than before.
I have much less pain and in some parts of my body the pain has even disappeared completely.
In my early teens I went through some major growth spurts. This led to all kinds of problems and complaints in my body. In my right shoulder, I developed Thoracic Outlet Syndrome or TOS (a diagnosis not made until many years later) which manifested itself in chronic pain, temporary paralysis, and circulation problems in my right shoulder and arm. I also had back problems. One of the well-intentioned, but wrong advice from doctors and therapists was to stop sports and rest as much as possible.
When I was seventeen I was hit by a car while cycling. I suffered a serious concussion, whiplash and various bruises, including on my right hip. The consequences of the accident included pain and permanent stiffness in my right hip. The trauma of the accident exacerbated the problems in my right shoulder and my body started to exhibit compensatory behaviors (which eventually led to more problems), although I didn’t realize it at the time.
Because of my pregnancies I developed pelvic instability, which aggravated the complaints of the back and hip. For a while I even walked with crutches. Despite the pain, stiffness and limitation in my movements, I decided to start exercising again, walking and doing yoga. Where many therapies and advice from doctors and therapists did not help, I slowly made progress again thanks to moving.