About Ela

Touch first

Touch is very important to me. I have always learned through seeing, touching and feeling, and I have always experimented with touch: first with self-massage, then with my family.

A scientist who tests

I have an inquisitive mind that questions conventional knowledge, including my own, and I change my mind when the evidence does.

I am a tester. If I like an idea, concept, or method, I test it extensively and refine it through experience. It is a fast way to build skill and intuition and to keep refining my techniques.

My main path was science. I earned a PhD in data science, on teaching computers to recognise patterns, and I graduated with distinction. I loved it deeply and spent years at universities in the Netherlands and the UK, finding structure in complexity.

When logic was not enough

Then my three children arrived in quick succession, each with health challenges, and I brought my problem-solving mind to helping them become well. It was not enough. Being well turned out to be far harder than any mathematical problem.

The helplessness was overwhelming. I lacked knowledge, understanding and guidance, and I felt deeply alone, trapped in vicious circles of ignorance and stress. Conventional care helped only in part. But I intuitively knew my children could get better, even though I didn't know how, so I set out to find a way.

Learning the hard way

I read widely and took courses. I tested what I learned on myself and my children, largely through trial and error guided by intuition. I tried multiple therapies and paid professionals, learning what worked and what did not. Overall, it was too little to make a breakthrough, and I needed my own way.

Finding Chinese medicine

Chinese medicine, herbs and osteopathy were the most promising directions, and I began to learn and apply them. Over time my children’s health improved greatly, and their learning difficulties eased too. Touch, in the form of Tui Na, paediatric massage, myofascial release and acupressure, and herbal medicine stood out, and I wanted to learn them professionally.

Just as I had understood patterns in data, I slowly began to understand patterns in people. What the body in front of me showed me, what the visual inspection of the tongue, complexion, or ears indicated, how the pulse felt, how the voice sounded—all that mattered. Instead of testing mathematical hypotheses, I explored and tested what bodies presented. I trained in these traditions and, over years of work, watched my children thrive. That experience changed my life's direction. I came to understand how profoundly the body and mind influence each other, and that Western medicine often treats them separately. Real change becomes possible when you integrate approaches that work with the physical body, the emotions and sensations, and the mind.

From scientist to practitioner

As my understanding of wellbeing deepened, I changed course. The shift came when I let my curiosity lead. The joy I once found in research, I now find in helping people feel whole again.

Eighteen years on, I am still studying. I read, take courses and continue to learn from the people I treat. As a practitioner, I remain a scientist at heart: my curiosity now works alongside my hands, and I observe, question and refine what I do, seeking what helps the person in front of me rather than what ought to work in theory. I can work at depth and breadth, and integrate approaches. That combination is what I offer to help you heal.