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Testimonials

M.N.

Dear Natasja,

Holiday time is always a great occasion for me to express my gratitude to the ones who bring great support and tools to go forward in life. I’m proud and glad to count you in. I would never imagine so much progress would flourish when I picked up my phone to dial your number one year ago. It’s been a nourishing and healing journey since. Thank you so much.

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K.S.

Natasja Paskas’s practice was recommended to me by a close friend, and I’ve also found complete information on the internet about her approach and the different treatments she provides. I remembered arriving at the practice in a high state of confusion and feelings of emptiness, this after a damaging relationship. Those feelings were already existing before, but more or less intense depending on the event that I would go through. I was a bit reluctant to go back to a therapy and dig into difficult feelings. But Natasja’s holistic approach had nothing close to what I’ve experienced before.

Everything went really smoothly and according to my rhythm from the beginning. Scheduling an appointment didn’t take too long. I also really appreciated her flexibility to schedule physical or online sessions. She was definitely not pushing or influencing to schedule more sessions. Also, she is not encouraging dependency to therapy. We would plan things organically and accordingly to each others calendar. And this was actually a big part of my healing and growing process. I don’t recall missing or cancelling sessions, as I was committed and respectful toward this process and the time Natasja and I would devote to it. It was important to me to cover the therapy fees myself, as I believe this took also an important part in my healing process.

Back in January 2020, a change was necessary. I wanted to get a stronger grasp on my wellbeing and understand the abuse and the trauma I was dealing with. Before each session, I would usually prepare by writing down the emotion/thoughts/behavior that I would not understand or trigger self-harming/damaging thoughts. I was proactive without realizing it in this therapy, and Natasja was really supportive toward my behavior. She would also trigger my attention to other positive changes she would notice over the months, for instance the changes in my body language. It was really encouraging for me to hear the inner change was visible. During our sessions, I would also take notes. Being active by taking notes was also a way for me to acknowledge and process the information, the tools and the guidance I would receive during our sessions. I filled two note books during the 2 years this therapy lasted. I wasn’t realizing that those notebooks would encompass a really precious knowledge, a sort of guide that I could refer to later on.

First important development with Natasja, that felt like an awakening and revealing what would follow, spot the inner child’s emotional response and from there develop the adequate adult’s response to emotions. A common concept that we can read almost everywhere, but the way Natasja brought this basic knowledge to my attention in her clear, non-apologetic and direct way was a milestone in the work we did. I got the tools to take responsibility for my emotions and develop an adult response to it. I really appreciate Natasja’s straight forward and fair way of talking. She also directs the focus on common sense for private or professional struggle in order to avoid confusion.

Looking for clarity, developing my own value system was definitely reducing the excessive, intense thoughts or emotions that would lead my behavior/reaction.  My appreciation of the world has subtly shifted to a more healthy way, making more space for positive things like quietness, small daily joys and warm and reassuring self talk. From there, I felt actually able to deal with responsibilities and emotions in a fair and gentle way. It was a hard battle, to keep the behavior adequate. Specially in moments when facing unknown situations. Specially when I couldn’t grasp or get a sense of control on specific unknown situations. I was able to develop a healthy relation toward those moments and get used to this feeling in an open way and fulfilling manner.

From there, my sense of self became more clear and broader, less limiting myself, self-harming or sabotaging. This allows me to integrate another concept I’ve learned with Natasja, boundaries. The limit between myself and the other was always confusing. I remember it was really hard for me to recognize positive aspects or qualities of mine as I would often valorize other’s value system or priorities first. I was self-diminishing myself without realizing it. In consequence, I also realized that I often feel unheard, this leaving me frustrated and sad. Toward the work we did in therapy I was able to recognize my responsibilities fairly I would say. Meaning recognizing my mistakes my weakness as much as my qualities and my success, and own them. I learned how to stand for myself in my own specific way. Fairness and respect toward others being is the core of my values today.

Those boundaries led to define my own value system and open the path toward a more grounded self. As I’ve mentioned, it was really hard for me to own my successes and moments of pleasure and love. In short, acknowledging positive extraordinary or daily achievement. Valuing myself is a work in progress, and owning a sense of achievement even though I’m successful professionally (in a highly competitive field) and surrounded by loving friends and supportive family members, is a learning curve and still in progress.

In complement to the therapy, I’ve asked Natasja to introduce me to Mindfulness, in order for me to grasp tools to develop a grounded and autonomous relation to the world. After ‘this training’ we naturally came toward a closure. We worked and devoted few sessions to prepare myself to this closure on December 2022.

The guidance Natasja provided helped me significantly to heal and grow. Her straight forward, always fair and non-apologetic way of communicating was really efficient for me. This way she helped me to position myself and get my own opinion on things. I grasped the necessary tools for my reconstruction, and to continue to grow as the woman I aspire to be. Among the palette of skills Natasja owns, we would eventually shift from therapy to professional or life coaching. When so, Natasja would always make this shift really clear for me to understand what we were doing. I really appreciate the freedom and the creativity she displays during our sessions, it felt really organic and natural flow. She would often remind me that she/therapists also are human, which was important for me to stay autonomous and independent in this process. I’ll be forever grateful towards Natasja for the fantastic work we did together, thank you!

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D.T

Thank you and thank you for the conversation yesterday. It was very helpful and I feel empowered that I am doing what I need to do to help my child.

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By T.E.

Thank you so much for the sessions! I found it to be extremely helpful and feel that you understand me and have a very compassionate approach to your work. 🙂 I am so grateful for your time and the resources you sent to me.

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By M.P.

For more than ten years I had been experiencing a very distressing, recurring dream which disrupted my sleep and caused me to wake up feeling confused and anxious. 

Those feelings would continue to be with me for a good part of the following day. The frequency of it increased to the point where I decided I finally had to find a way to free myself of it. After suffering from various levels of depression for a large part of my life, I was eventually diagnosed with Bipolar II disorder. I went through all types of treatment, therapies and medications and eventually became able to manage my condition, although the dream persisted. One day, after a particularly bad night, I started researching dream therapy. A lot of what I found had to do with interpreting dreams.

This wasn’t really what I was looking for because I was well aware of the meaning and origin of the dream. Due to my Bipolar II disorder, I had lost my job of 30 years under very unfortunate circumstances. The dream was basically a nightmare scenario of all of the things related to that, except much worse than the actual reality of it.

Later that day I decided to look into things that were currently being offered in ‘De Roos Spiritual Centrum’ in Amsterdam where I had previously attended various lectures, workshops and information sessions. I saw that on that same afternoon Natasja would be there holding walk-in consultations for a reduced fee, where she performed Iris Scans and explained holistic healing techniques she uses in her practice. So I went. She did an Iris Scan, which was very interesting, and then I began to explain my situation that I was seeking help for. After listening to my story, she suggested that Emotional Freedom Training (EFT, also known as Tapping) might be a technique that would be beneficial to me. EFT, which is more fully explained on Natasja’s website, is essentially quite simple. It involves lightly tapping with your fingerson particular spots on your body, and the same time, making simple statements out loud to yourself that express your feelings, worries, hopes. In doing so, you try to formulate your (negative) thoughts in a more neutral, even positive way, which of course can be very difficult at first. 

I decided to give it a try and immediately made an appointment with Natasja at her practice a few days later where Natasja warmly welcomed me. I was right away impressed with the surroundings. A calm, comforting space with a beautiful view on a canal in Amsterdam Zuid. Once again, Natasja put me right at ease, served me a cup of herbal tea and gave me her full attention. I had already told her about my dream at our meeting at De Roos and was very impressed at how she could recall everything I had said. Not being a particularly open person, within minutes I found myself going beyond the dream and talking about other aspects of my life in far more detail than I had planned. She had a very calming effect on me and made me feel safe and able to express things that were often very difficult for me to talk about. It was a lot of information and she is a great listener, allows you to take the time you need, asks all the right questions, and in my case, was able to take it all in without even having to make notes.

Once we had gone through all of that, we got right down to trying out EFT. As I said, it’s really quite simple and takes only a few minutes to go through the routine but requires the type of guidance that Natasja gives so well. With a little practice it can become very easy to integrate into your daily life. Natasja began to teach me the technique and walk me through the routine. The tapping part is easy and can be learned quickly. The more challenging part is to learn how to formulate your thoughts and put them into words. Natasja helped me with this every step of the way. Because she had listened and processed my story so well, she was able to express the very thoughts that were giving me such trouble to verbalize. So, we tapped together, she spoke in short, clear sentences which I repeated after her. Took a little getting used to but I very quickly felt comfortable with it and started to get the hang of it. (She’s also an excellent teacher, extremely knowledgeable and experienced, very aware of your needs, empathetic, involved and patient.) I left my first session feeling unusually relaxed and relieved by the thought that I had found someone who might really make a difference for me.

In the days leading up to my first session with Natasja, my dream had become more and more frequent and increasingly disturbing. That evening after my first session, I tried to practice what I had learned from Natasja that afternoon. Giving yourself the freedom to say things that affect you deeply can be quite challenging, not to mention listening to yourself talk to yourself out loud. I went to bed that night feeling more peaceful than usual and curious about how the night would go. In the morning I quickly realized there had been no dream! Coincidence? The effect of tapping so soon?

Hmmm, definitely worth carrying on with. It’s been over six months now. No dream.

Amazing, after all those years it had let go of me! I had a couple of follow up sessions with Natasja to refine my newly learned EFT skills. Although I have lived in Amsterdam for many years, speak Dutch and had been doing the sessions in Dutch, it remains a second language for me and thought it might be better for me to practice some more with Natasja, but in English. Natasja speaks perfect English and was able to switch over effortlessly and further guide me through EFT in my own language.

Following her example, I began to feel more comfortable with it and became able to express my thoughts not only less negatively, more neutrally and positive, and eventually in the form of affirmations to myself as Natasja had been teaching me.

Natasja is highly experienced and knowledgeable in her field and, aside from EFT, employs a wide variety of treatment techniques and is very well versed in a wide range of emotional issues/disorders and possesses a personality with all the right traits for working successfully with her clients. I am very grateful to her for the care, attention, understanding and expertise she gave to me to help me resolve something that had been plaguing me for such a long time.

I would highly recommend to anyone who has unresolved emotional issues, feels unable to progress and create the life they want, to seek contact with Natasja.

As she says on her website, ‘Take the first step…’ to healing/recovery. 

Like me, you might find that it can be a life-changing experience.

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