Claudia van Zuiden Personal Coaching

08/08/2026

Lion’s Gate 🦁✨

Today, in meditation,
I was taken back to the white lions of Timbavati.

Their quiet power.
Their presence.
The way they simply ‘are’.

And I heard:

“Have a lion-heart.”

Not a heart that fights.
Not a heart that builds walls.

A heart that remembers.

No ‘Power Over’.
No hierarchy.
No fear.

Only connection.

I saw the three spirals of my triskelion tattoo
reaching towards Sirius, Orion’s Belt and the Sun…

meeting in the Centre.

And from that Centre,
a vortex spiralled through the white lions
and down towards Earth.

Then, slowly,
it spiralled outward.

Perhaps this is the invitation:
‘Return to the Centre. Remember Oneness. And expand from there.’

No fence.
No gate.

Just a lion-heart,
open to life. 🦁🤍🌀

With love,
Claudia 🙏✨

07/08/2026

I love it so much when I asked to sign one of my books so it can be given as a personal gift 🎁

Not because it will have my name on it, but because it touched someone’s heart and they want to give it forward. This time it was (again) my son who asked, which is a huge compliment for me.

And I must say, every time I open the book again to sign it, it puts a huge smile on my face to see the drawings from Ben Duncan Higgins and to read the feedback from all the children who read the book 📖🐻‍❄️from different schools and beyond, with all the great teachers like Gillian Cruickshank - Wellbeing for All Beings & Lorna Lees 💕

Thank you Daniel and thank you everyone who read the book over years 💕

I am thinking of writing one about sea turtles next… 🐢

04/08/2026

We loved our time in Italy with family ❤️

Lovely places to visit, great conversations, beautiful food and enjoying the gorgeous sea.

It was a honeymoon for us, and the Full Moon shining above us reflecting in the sea was such a beautiful gift.

On our journeys we were very touched to witness the work people are doing to protect the sea turtles and to inspire others to join.

We will do our part as well. We feel very strong about protecting the turtles, and all endangered animals, for that matter, so we are exploring how to get involved more. We gave lots of Reiki to the wounded turtles and hopefully that will support their healing.

Of course, we were aware about all the fires going on in so many countries, and our hearts were aching to see the devastating impact. Such gratitude for every one who helped to bring the fires to an end.

On our travels to one of the most beautiful places, we saw the Merkabah symbol on top of one of the Trulli houses, which has been a strong symbol for me for many years, I actually had one as a pendant on my necklace for years.

Seeing this symbol again, felt like a gift. Like a reminder that we all have been given a certain amount of time on this planet and to be the best version of ourselves in that time. Having said that, our best today can be different than yesterday, depending on how we feel. I have to remind myself of that every day.

It also reminded me about taking good care of the planet, all that lives on the planet, including ourselves. To be kind and respectful, to be present with love in our hearts. So that is still my path forward, one step at the time.

What a special journey again. Super grateful 🙏

‘The best is yet to come’ ( says - Van Morrison)

Thank you Antoinette Aris and family for your hospitality and all the fun ❤️

With Arturo Massaro-van Zuiden

26/07/2026

So looking forward to this weekend ❤️

Cultivating a Compassionate and Meaningful Life - 25 - 27 September 2026 in Aberdeenshire, Scotland

We are delighted to be welcoming our dear friend, Claudia Massaro-van Zuiden, as one of our facilitators for the weekend. Her session is going to be much appreciated, a topic that is rarely fully addressed:

'Grief, Grace & Gratitude'

A two-hour experiential workshop with Claudia Massaro-van Zuiden

Grief is something we all experience, yet many of us have never been taught how to meet it with compassion. Whether we are grieving the loss of a loved one, a relationship, our health, a dream, or simply a chapter of our lives, grief invites us to slow down and listen deeply to our hearts.

In this two-hour workshop, Claudia gently explores how grief, grace and gratitude are intimately connected. Rather than trying to "move on" from our grief, we discover how embracing it with kindness can become a doorway to healing, wisdom and a deeper appreciation for life.

Drawing on personal experience, timeless wisdom, reflective practices and insights from her book, Claudia creates a safe and nurturing space where participants are invited to explore:

Understanding grief as a natural expression of love
Finding grace in moments of uncertainty and change
Cultivating gratitude without denying our pain
Practical mindfulness and reflection practices that support healing
Transforming loss into a deeper connection with ourselves and others
Instead of talking about fixing grief, this workshop is about learning how to walk beside it with courage, compassion and an open heart.

Participants will leave with practical tools, renewed hope and a gentle reminder that even in life's most difficult moments, gratitude can become a quiet light that guides us forward.

Claudia is an international leadership training consultant, executive coach, author, artist and facilitator with more than thirty years of experience supporting people to live and lead with greater awareness, compassion and purpose.

Her workshops weave together wisdom, storytelling and practical experience, inviting participants to reconnect with their own resilience, humanity and capacity for joy.

23/06/2026

Once a week, I still teach yoga online and love the group of people who have a genuine interest in ta***ic yoga and actually live it, not just on the mat, but in real life.

My yoga teacher in India always told me, that it is easy to teach those who are already on the Path. He told me that I should also teach those who struggle with life and its challenges.
So for nearly 30 years, I share what I was taught and my own experiences with it.

Tonight we explore the ancient yogic understanding of the two fundamental energies that exist within all of life and within each of us.
In yoga these energies are often represented as Shiva and Shakti.
Shiva is pure consciousness. He represents stillness, awareness, presence, clarity, structure, and the witnessing mind. Shiva is often associated with the masculine principle, not as male, but as the quality of stillness and direction.
Shakti is the life force itself. She is movement, creativity, intuition, emotion, transformation, and the power that brings life into form. She represents the feminine principle, not as female, but as the energy of flow and creation.
Neither exists without the other.

Neither exists without the other.
Without Shiva, Shakti becomes scattered energy without direction.
Without Shakti, Shiva remains potential without expression.
You might also recognise these as Sun and Moon energies.

Besides asanas etc, the questions we will be reflecting on are:
Where am I overusing effort?
Where am I needing more presence, receptivity, or trust?

What would you answer to those?

16/06/2026

Then there is the day that I bestand together with the most beautiful man who held me in his arms when I was a baby and he was 4 years old, who was my first love & boyfriend and gave me the first kiss at the birthday party of my dear friend Marjoleine.

And then, in the presence of our beloved family and friends, with open heart and every part of who we truly are, the same Marjoleine marries us.

Too many emotions to write now, too many family and friends still here to celebrate with us to spend to much time on the phone, but want to share how immensely grateful and happy we are for all this Divine Love 💕🙏

Meet Mr. & Mrs. Massaro - van Zuiden 💕💝🎉❤️🙏

23/05/2026

It is Pinksteren and beautifully warm here in the Netherlands. I’m sitting by the water, cooling down and re-reading a book that was gifted to me by my colleagues after I left my job at the maternity hospital in Torphins, Scotland, back in 2004. What a wonderful team of women I had the privilege of working with there.

The work itself was deeply rewarding and humbling, and I look back with great gratitude on those 8 years.

The book is about a woman’s path to enlightenment, with many women sharing their stories and experiences from a Buddhist perspective. Having studied and applied Buddhist principles for more than four decades, I become increasingly aware of how profoundly they have shaped my life.

More and more, I see how important it is to create spaces where people can realise they have a choice: to live from a reactive mindset or from a creative and conscious one. The moment we become aware of this, we begin to uncover the full potential of our consciousness.

This is rarely a straight path, I know that from my own life experiences. But it is a path towards freedom. A path that helps us recover from being trapped in old patterns, fears and conditioned reactions.

And once we truly begin to understand that we are not limited beings, but beings of immense potential, our life experiences themselves can transform into something deeply meaningful and fulfilling.

As I look around me now, children laughing and playing in the water, people enjoying the beauty of this place, I find myself sending love out into the world.

Can we all, just for a moment, meet each other in peace, presence and love?

Perhaps that is where it begins. 🤍💫🪷

And…Next Friday evening, at our home, we have 2 places left for the Wo’moon Circle I will be facilitating. DM me if you want to know more about it or want to be there.

05/05/2026

Dear ones,

Tonight there will be no Hatha Yoga class as we honour Liberation Day here in the Netherlands. Instead, I would love to invite you into a personal practice of reflection and contemplation.

In yoga philosophy, we often speak of the 4 paths of yoga:
✨ Bhakti Yoga — the path of devotion and the heart
✨ Karma Yoga — the path of conscious action and service
✨ Jnana Yoga — the path of wisdom and self-inquiry
✨ Raja Yoga — the path of meditation and inner mastery

Take some quiet time for yourself this evening and reflect on these paths. Which one speaks most deeply to you at this moment in your life? Which path feels most natural to your soul… and why?

And as we remember liberation collectively today, perhaps also reflect on what liberation — moksha — truly means for you personally.

What does freedom feel like within yourself?
What are you ready to release?
What keeps you from fully being who you are?

You may wish to meditate, journal, sit in silence, light a candle or simply walk in nature with these reflections in your heart.

Next week, when we return to class together, we will explore this more deeply as a group.

With love,
Claudia 🌿

01/05/2026

May carries a different rhythm.
Where April often asks us to awaken, May invites us to embody. To root what we have learned into the way we lead, live, speak and connect.

For me, mindfulness in leadership is not simply about being calm or present. It is about becoming deeply aware of the energy we bring into every space we enter. Our thoughts, our reactions, our words, our nervous system… all of it influences the people around us. Leadership begins long before strategy. It begins within.

Nature teaches this so beautifully in May. Nothing in nature rushes, yet everything grows. Trees do not force themselves into bloom. They respond to light, nourishment and timing. Perhaps we are being asked to do the same.

Mindful leadership asks us to slow down enough to truly listen. To notice when we are leading from pressure rather than purpose. To recognise when our bodies are asking for rest while our minds keep pushing. To become aware of whether we are creating fear or safety, contraction or expansion, within ourselves and others.

The older I get, the more I believe that true leadership has very little to do with control and everything to do with presence. Presence creates trust. Presence creates clarity. Presence allows others to feel seen.

May reminds us that growth does not happen through constant force. It happens through alignment. Through staying connected to our values, our heart and our deeper intention.

And perhaps that is the real invitation this month:
To lead like nature grows.
With awareness.
With steadiness.
With openness to continuous learning.
And with the courage to soften where we have become too hard. 🌳

20/04/2026

April is about Alignment.
Action.
Awareness.

But let’s be honest…

How are you ‘really’ doing with that?

Because what I see, even in the most capable, experienced, heart-led leaders, is this:

You’re still making yourself smaller than you are.

Not because you lack vision.
Not because you lack ability.
But because something in you is still holding back from fully opening.

And I get it.

Because living in true alignment isn’t just a mindset shift.
It asks something deeper of you.

It asks you to:
• See clearly where you’re out of alignment
• Take action even when it feels uncomfortable
• Stay aware of the patterns that quietly pull you back

But here’s the truth most people don’t talk about:

When your whole being opens to what is actually possible…
when your nervous system can hold it…
when you are no longer shrinking to stay safe…

Everything changes.

You don’t push harder.
You don’t perform more.

You expand.

So let me ask you:

What is still holding you back from living like that?

And more importantly…

Are you ready to explore ‘how’ to move beyond it?

This is exactly the work I do with leaders who are ready to stop holding back.

Curious what this looks like in practice? I’ll share more soon.