Returning
Six months postpartum, a phone full of notes, and the practitioners I trust most — finally written down.
Six months postpartum. Six months of being a mother, six months of being parents, six months of care work. And a phone full of notes scribbled down in between nursing, carrying, singing, putting to sleep, being awake in the middle of the night. Nothing finished, everything scattered — and slowly realizing that finishing and organizing thoughts needs space.
But also realizing something else: that I am done waiting for the right moment, the right plan, the right version of myself to begin. For a long time, my strength was exactly that — breaking down complexity, structuring, and analyzing before daring to move. It’s what I was paid for. And I am quietly stepping away from it. What I want, first and above all, is to be human. Not a machine. And to trust the inner clarity that I know always finds its way back to me.
During my pregnancy, I thought I had made space for my new life. Looking back, this was merely the beginning. I made space for our daughter so that we could take care of her. I assumed I’d have space for myself as well. Instead, we seemed to have arrived at a stage of adult life where everything revolves around which friend to visit next or which friend to have over next. Weeks passing by — and it feels like life is too.
So this is me, returning. Trying to bring my notes into some kind of order and share them here. Finding my way back into the rhythm of creating, as I slowly find my way into the rhythm of being a mother.
Some of these notes go back years. Long before I became a mother, I was trying to figure out how to take care of myself. What brought me here, truly, was years of digestive issues, chronic migraines, and depression.
For a long time, I looked outside for help and solutions. Something new to learn. A skill to acquire, a technique to train. I was adding layers instead of removing them — even when they all claimed they would lead me back to my essence. They were just another coping mechanism dressed up as healing.
What I truly learned — slowly, and only recently — is that the people who live in their purpose have so much more to give than just another retreat, healing session, or product. They offer something greater. True authenticity. A space to be listened to, and at the same time, to listen closely to what we tell ourselves.
They are not here to help us function in a life that is not designed for us. Or to treat symptoms that are the product of that life. They are here to open something.
Seeing life as the medicine itself — I used to hate this saying. And then, somewhere in the past two years, I quietly understood it. Every day presents a chance to learn and grow, if we allow ourselves to step outside the current for a moment. Not too close, so you get swept away — but close enough to acknowledge, and choose to respond differently. In a way that is aligned with who you actually are.
We have all heard this before. And yet we keep falling back into our own patterns. Even now, with more awareness, I see on a daily basis how quickly it happens.
Everyone has to find what resonates for themselves. But what I have always loved is being an open book to the people I care about — sharing what helped me when they found themselves in their own difficult stretches.
So that is what this is. A curated, personal, deeply tested list of healers and practitioners across Germany. For every chapter of my life, there were the ones I turned to, the approaches that actually worked. Here are the ones I keep coming back to:
Eike Ahrens OSTEOPATHY & ROLFING · BERLIN
“He’s not a regular osteopath — and I’ve been to many. What sets Eike apart is the depth he works on: tissue, organs, the whole system. You feel the before and after immediately. He brings everything back into flow, back into place. His work is in a category of its own.”
Beckers & Bethge HOLISTIC MEDICINE · BERLIN
“I first came to them for a full health check-up and to get a grip on my chronic migraines. Years later, they are still my most trusted medical alliance — for maintaining my health day-to-day, for emergencies, and for the weeks leading up to giving birth. The kind of doctors you don’t know you’re missing until you find them.”
Anke Wolfert HOLISTIC HAIR, FACE & BODY RITUALS · BERLIN
“I came for a massage and immediately knew this was something else entirely. So much more flows into her work than hands on a body. Her full-body treatments — body gua sha, reiki, facial — feel like a week at a spa condensed into a single afternoon. An incredibly intuitive soul.”
Herr Dipl.-Med. Lay Aung ACUPUNCTURE · BERLIN
“Such an authentic experience.”
Luisa Carla Hartmann ASTROLOGY & ASTROCARTOGRAPHY · BERLIN
“My very first birth chart reading — and so many ‘yes, that’s exactly it’ moments in one session. But the real gift was astrocartography. A tool I hadn’t heard of before, that suddenly helped me understand why my time in New York had felt so uniquely significant. Geography and soul, mapped together.”
Silke Liederbach MEDIUM, MENTOR & CONSCIOUSNESS TEACHER · FRANKFURT
“What Silke does, above all, is show you your own blind spots. She encourages you to live from your essence, to find your calling, and actually inhabit it. Hard to put into words. Easy to feel.”
Friederike Kleinert SOUND BATH HEALING · FRANKFURT
“The most beautiful sound bath healings I have experienced. You travel to places inside yourself you didn’t know existed.”
Louka & Paulo BESPROKE PRIVATE RETREATS · MALLORCA
“They invite you into their beautiful home in a remote corner of Mallorca — a place with a very particular energy. You are the only guest. You are cooked for, treated with bodywork and massage, and the stay is entirely shaped around what you need. A retreat of a completely different kind.”
There are also some I loved deeply who have since retired or moved on — my go-to healer in Berlin Pankow, who worked with bioresonance therapy and Wingwave among other things; the mother of Helen from Yogibar Berlin, who regularly visited and first brought craniosacral therapy into my life; and Cordula in Hamburg, who introduced me to red light therapy long before home panels became a thing.
Some things come to you exactly when they need to. And I hope this does too.
X Marlene