About

I'm Niko, a holistically minded transformational coach. I help people get out of their heads, into their bodies and in touch with their hearts so they can enjoy a fulfilling life with better health, greater peace of mind and deeper connections. 

I am a transformational coach, which means that, apart from supporting people in achieving their goals, I am ready to explore their depth with them and hold space for profound, lasting transformation. 

I use the word "holistic" because my philosophy is that in order to heal and become fully integrated humans, we need to bring balance and harmony to all aspects of our being - this includes the mind/psyche, the body, the heart and our s*xual/creative energies. Therefore I work with a variety of tools and practices, such as my three favorite medicines: movement, music and meditation.  

I also love to facilitate cacao ceremonies, ecstatic dances, kirtan/singing circles, active and passive meditations, sharing circles, men's groups and other transformational group experiences. Anything that helps myself and others get out of our heads and open our hearts a little bit more makes me happy and this world a better place, if you ask me. 

I am a trained and certified instructor of both yoga (200+hr Hatha-Vinyasa at Krishna Village, Australia) and Qigong (YOQI Associate Instructor under Marisa Cranfill). I also hold a certification in Transformational Coaching from University of Utrecht. 

My mission is to embody love, compassion and grounded presence in the world. To help and inspire people move towards (self-)acceptance, authenticity, gentleness, open-hearted living, peace and presence. To create and facilitate spaces and moments of healing through connection, love and celebration for myself and as many people as possible while remaining anchored in presence and enjoying the process fully.

I do this 

• through my own self-practice and healing, my essence, presence and being. By holding a high frequency as much as possible. 

• through in-person sessions, events, retreats and workshops

• through thought-inspiring content

• in one-on-one support/coaching sessions.

I draw on knowledge, wisdom and inspiration from diverse traditions, the main ones being Yoga (in the broader sense of the word), Tantra, Qigong, Taoism and Buddhism. Further tools I rely on are my sensitivity and intuition, shadow work and my favorite plant medicine: cacao. 

My vision is:
For myself: I am healed, integrated and balanced, My heart is open and giving and receiving love generously. I am present, grateful and not too focused on future goals. I live in a vibrant, loving community in harmony with and surrounded by beautiful nature. I celebrate life and appreciate or create beauty daily. I continue to be be a force of loving kindness in the world.
For humanity and the planet: We live in peace, love, freedom and harmony. We are awakened and grateful for all the blessings that surround us. We feel connected and as one family, respecting mother earth and every living being. 

My Story

Eight years ago I was pursuing a high status career in Geneva.
I was dreaming of becoming “successful” and having a “positive impact on the world”.

My career was the main focus of my life, and how I thought I would make the world a better place.

Today, I’m living an entirely different dream.

I wear shorts, sandals and am often near or in nature. I meditate, dance and sing a lot. I travel a lot, although slowly, taking months at a time to get a feeling for each place. I host retreats, workshops at festivals and accompany people as a coach.

And, most importantly, I am more focused on maintaining peace and harmony in my INNER world than on the world's dramas, news or changing life circumstances.

So, what happened in those 8 years?

Transformation happened. Slow, gradual, but very real and profound transformation.

First, I realized that the dream I was pursuing wasn’t my own dream. And that the last thing I wanted to do was work a 9-5 job and wear a suit and tie, no matter how prestigious or lucrative.

So in 2017, after a moment of clarity, I took a radical decision to let go of all my previous ambitions and find out what I REALLY want to be doing with my life.

I decided to radically prioritize self-actualization over everything else. I say radical because it meant leaving the “known” path and dropping all the plans I had made for my life.

It felt immensely liberating and right, and it also felt very scary and uncertain.

After all, I had realized what I did NOT want, but I had yet to find out what I DO want.

It was clear to me that I had to embrace that uncertainty and allow myself a long period of exploration if I really wanted to grow and evolve.

You may ask what sparked this shift in me. I am not 100% sure, and I think it was the culmination of several processes, but a few factors played an important role:

• A growing sense that I was missing out on my own life by never really being present (here and now), but rather constantly planning and strategizing about the future. I was in my HEAD (and disconnected from my heart) all the time! Luckily, the book “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle fell into my hands at the right time and put words to this feeling, and helped me understand my mind a little better. It was a realization that I did not want to keep missing out on my own life.

• I discovered Yoga and meditation (I know it sounds cliché, but it’s true… #sorrynotsorry). Those made me turn my attention inwards rather than constantly outwards, which had led to endless cycles of pleasure and pain/suffering in the past. Meditation has been by far the most healing and transformative habit that has come into my life.

• I was finding myself in corporate environments that didn’t feel real, authentic or like I actually wanted to be there. So I started to get a strong sense of what I did NOT want.

• A general desire to live an extra-ordinary, self-chosen, adventurous life (which had, in a way, always been with me - but I hadn't really listened).

After this, may we call it “awakening”, I started working simple jobs to make ends meet and traveling the world, following my genuine curiosity and exploring different ways of living.

I let go of many previously held opinions and perspectives and dove deeper into my inner world. I learned to observe my thoughts and feel my feelings.

I realized that there is so much more in this life than what society had made me believe, and that the most important things for me are connection, community, nature and creativity.

I also found out that the most powerful medicines for me are music, movement and meditation (rather than talking therapy, which I also tried).

I completely changed career paths and ended up doing yoga teacher trainings, and courses on coaching, authentic relating and other things that felt interesting and valuable.

On my journey, I was incredibly lucky to come across people who were living with an open heart, and who were teachers for me just through their way of being and connecting. I learned from them how to hug, be silent together and express myself more authentically.

“What happened to your ambitions to make the world a better place?”, you may ask.

Well, I have a few things to say about that.

When my career was my main focus, I was not happy. I was anxious, stressed and frustrated with the state of the world. I hadn’t explored my own depth let alone learned how to be happy myself yet - how could I pretend to know what’s right for the world?

I needed to allow myself to be selfish first. To focus on making myself happy.

Paradoxically, during that process, I realized that that is the best thing I can do for the world.

Firstly, my own happiness counts towards the happiness of the world. I matter, and I am the one person whose life I can directly, immediately influence for the better.

Secondly, by becoming the best, happiest and healthiest version of myself, I become fit for service.

Only after tripling down on self love was I able to experience real compassion and loving kindness towards others.

Once my own cup is full, that happiness spills over and I start inspiring others, as others inspired me in the past.

But my service to the world will not come so much from the intellect, or from an office in Geneva, Berlin or New York.

It will come from my presence in the world, my being and - call me cheesy - from my heart.

Today, I am super grateful to be able to share my presence and hold space for presence, celebration and transformation for others in many ways that bring me joy and fulfillment.