Maxime Willems - Therapy & Training

18/08/2025

This week I was chatting with a couple of my fellow Gestalt psychotherapy students, and two quotes came up in our conversation: one from Alan Watts, and one from Mt. Wolf.

Reading but especially listening to them brought tears to my eyes. ✨

I’d love to share them with you, not just as words on a page, but as an invitation to let you be impacted by them.

How do these quotes land for you? What happens when you read them? What happens when you read them out loud? What happens when you listen to them?

Quote 1: Mt. Wolf - Burgs

Our mind is so messy
We don’t keep it simple
And we end up making the life that we are living, so in-ordinarily complicated
Completely unnecessarily, and it’s such a shame to end up feeling, in a real muddle
When actually, you ought to be having the time of your lives.

Quote 2:

The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.

15/08/2025

These days, I feel like I’m in a wild river. The current so strong all I can do is surrender and wait for a calmer moment.

When I really sit with this, a memory pops up from years ago: A two-week kayak and hike trip through Sweden. We ended up in big storms, surrendered to the water, and then drifted into a still lake with five or six channels ahead, not knowing which way to go. A feeling of being lost. Of not knowing. Connecting to our intuitive gut feeling.

This year I committed to fortnightly Gestalt Psychotherapy sessions as part of my Master in Gestalt Psychotherapy.

Threads of my life are weaving together: improvisation, theatre, dance, dressage, equine assisted therapy and yoga.

Lately I’ve been exploring stuckness with tiny, gentle shifts rather than big leaps. Like opening a bottle of kombucha slowly, letting the fizz release in small bursts. Feeling into what B or C might be like before rushing to Z.

What helps me feel grounded in the not knowing? Practicing yoga. And being with our herd of horses in a mindful, calm, attentive way.

At we offer sessions combining Equine Assisted Therapy and half an hour of Yoga Assisted Therapy. A space to soften, ground, and explore your own stuckness with gentle, somatic guidance.

Come experience it for yourself. Message us to book your first session, or email info@mwtherapyandtraining.com.au 🧘🏼🐴🙏🏼

13/08/2025

Why Parents Choose Equine Assisted Therapy & Yoga Therapy for Their Teenage Girls 🐴✨

We often hear from parents that they want their daughters to:
🌱 Build confidence & self-esteem
🌱 Feel truly heard and seen
🌱 Reconnect with themselves through nature, animals, and a young female practitioner they resonate with
🌱 Have a safe space to explore and express what’s on their hearts

In a world where many teenage girls feel disconnected from their peers, these sessions offer a space for genuine connection, with themselves, with nature, and with the gentle presence of our horses.

20/07/2025

🌱✨ In yesterday’s session, a participant had a powerful insight: if she commits to improving just 1% every day toward her values and goals, by the end of the year she’ll have grown over 365%!

This simple approach helped her release the pressure of having to do it all at once, while staying focused on what truly matters.

Small steps, big changes. Consistency is everything. 💪💫

What’s one small thing you can do today to honour your values or meet a deeper need?

🐴 The beautiful Zulu

19/07/2025

🌿 Therapeutic Yoga is back! 🧘‍♀️

Trauma-Informed, and inspired by Yoga Therapy.

Join our warm and welcoming weekly community sessions — every Monday at 6pm in the Rainbow Room (Wardell NSW) Neighbourhood Centre

✨ All welcome
💵 $15 casual / $100 for 10 classes.
🎟️ Book online: https://events.humanitix.com/therapeutic-yoga-with-maxime-willems-weekly-community-sessions
or pay cash at the door.

Come as you are. We’d love to have you there!

Trauma-informed hatha yoga in Wardell NSW with Maxime Willems. Inspired by yoga therapy. All levels welcome. Mondays 6pm. Breathe, move, connect.

18/07/2025

This week one of our participants said that for the first 20min, all she needed was someone to “actually just listen”.

Somebody who was not her partner or somebody who wasn't particularly close to her. She would fear feeling judged or rejected by them.

She felt that there was “so so much” that she had been holding to herself. It had become too heavy to carry.

And all she needed right now was someone to listen, actively, without judgement, with curiosity and compassion.

12/07/2025

🌿 We’re officially back from maternity leave! 🌿

It feels so special to reopen our space, both with the horses and on the mat 🧘🏼‍♂️.

☀️A few spots are now available for one-on-one counselling and Equine Assisted Therapy on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Sessions are held at our peaceful outdoor setting, supported by our therapy herd. 🐴

🧘‍♀️ I’m also returning to teaching Trauma-Informed Yoga at both and .yoga , blending Hatha Yoga and Yoga Therapy.

Feel free to reach out if you’re curious or would like to book in. I can’t wait to reconnect 🩵.

21/06/2025

Think of a person, animal, pet in your past or present by whom you have felt fully accepted.

How did this make a difference to you in your life?

How does it still make a difference in your life?

How does the absence of it affect you?

18/06/2025

Becoming a mother changes more than your routines: it shifts your whole sense of self.

You may find yourself wondering: Who is this version of me? Where did the old one go? Am I still in there somewhere?

In Gestalt Therapy, we don’t see identity as fixed.
You are someone constantly becoming, shaped by your world, your connections, the entire “field” around you.

And while it can feel like losing yourself…
It can also be an invitation to meet yourself again,
in new, tender, and courageous ways.

💛
This photo is me with my newborn.
Not as a therapist, just as a mum, in my own unfolding.

If you’re quietly asking “who am I now?”
There’s space for you here 💛.

We’re here when you’re ready. 🐴

17/06/2025

🌿 Who are you beneath the noise?
What are you ready to clear, not to fix or improve yourself — but to make space for what’s already true?

We often seek answers by doing more, fixing more, achieving more. But what if your becoming isn’t about adding — but clearing?

May these words by Martha Postlethwaite guide you gently home:

Do not try to save
the whole world
or do anything grandiose.
Instead, create
a clearing
in the dense forest
of your life
and wait there
patiently,
until the song
that is your life
falls into your own cupped hands
and you recognize and greet it.
Only then will you know
how to give yourself to this world
so worthy of rescue.

— Martha Postlethwaite

💛
What might you intend to start clearing today, to come closer to who you truly are?

16/06/2025

🌿 “Who am I, in relation to you?” 🐴

In Gestalt Therapy, and in our equine-assisted counselling sessions, we often explore not just who we are, but how we show up in the presence of others.

Whether it’s in a herd or in a group of humans, each of us has an impact.

✨ We reflect on:
Who am I?
How do I impact you?
How am I impacted by you?

Often, we carry fixed gestalts, rigid patterns of perception or behaviour formed from past experiences.

These fixed ways of seeing or reacting can limit how we relate to others or respond in the present moment.

But horses respond to who you are right now. In their presence, we can begin to notice these patterns and find more flexible, authentic ways of being in connection.

🐴 Curious how this plays out with a horse? You might be surprised what they reflect back to you...