Bendyminds

Coaching I Yoga I Somatic Work Hey there, it’s Elena. Isn't this a crazy world? Does it have to be that complicated to be happy?!

I am a Yoga teacher, Architect, Writer, Conscious Entrepreneur, part-time Nomad and am joyously working on figuring out the human dilemma. Why do we stay stuck in jobs, relationships, live situations that feel bad or outdated, when we do know better? I am here to share with you what works for me on this never ending journey to be less stressed, less worried and more authentic. I'd like to inspire you to dream big, and take up the responsibility to make those big changes happen for you. Bendyminds is a channel created to provide transformational insights and tools in form of educational Yoga sessions, Somatic approaches, Neuroscientific Mind hacks and Life philosophies. This is your safe space to build your inner strength, ask the right questions, and then take what you learn from the mat into your life to make it a place that you don't just survive, but thrive in!

09/09/2025

You’re not done just because you quit your job.

I’m 5 years in after my proverbial leap of faith from a classic office existence full of dreams and cravings for a more purposeful, self-led, integrous way of working.

I’ve lept because I wanted my freedom so badly, was anxiety-ridden, and so desperate for a substantial CHANGE in my life.

I lept to become my own boss, to do my own thing.

And I do.

I’m now a coach,a teacher,a bodyworker,a writer,a course creator,a retreat leader. I’m not employed anymore by anyone,not operating on anyone else’s time,and I got full agency over what I want to spend my days with, what projects I’d like to take on and what clients I’d like to work with.

I’m as free on paper as I ever was.

You can see it coming, can’t you?

Making the leap when you feel the call,into your self-employment, into your own business, your OWN thing, is maybe the most important of all things you gotta do for yourself.

But it doesn’t end there. You’re not done just because you left.

I am here now, on the other side of things.Out in the wild, where no one tells me what to do, where to be, what to say, or when to wake up. It’s all me and my own creation.

Creating my legacy business, bringing my very best gifts to the table, and finally feeling like I’m adding value to the world.

It’s so thrilling.

And so devastating.

Founding a heart-led business, your very own authentic version of self-expression, is asking you to constantly and repeatedly re-invent yourself.

To create things and then throw them over. Build systems and then deconstruct them.

Always doing and re-doing things. Every iteration of what you offer, what you put out into the world another challenge for you to level up.

Always growing, then crumbling.

Confident AF one day, angry and lost the next.

Would I ever go back? No way.

But sometimes,I need those little reminders that I’m still human, imperfect.Sometimes I do need permission to drop things. Sometimes I need to forgive myself for procrastinating endlessly.

Business creation needs nervous system resilience.

If you want to know how to build it, DM me 'Resilience' and I tell you exactly how I'm doing it.

You got this.
x Elena

07/09/2025

‘Sorry,we don’t promote spiritual fluff’

…said the shop owner to me after she’d taken down my Somatic Yoga flyer from her window.

Exhale.

Promoting new paradigm work can feel so frustrating.

I live in an area that is so saturated with healing modalities that I often don’t get further than saying ‘I’m a Yoga teacher’ before the other person politely fawns a smile,turns away and rolls their eyes.

While I want to say…

‘...and a Somatic Coach. And a Shiatsu practitioner. And so many other things.

in fact, I have over 1000 hours of scientific training in human development, integrative healing, body psychology, trauma safety, TCM, Nervous System resourcing, bodywork, humanistic philosophy, and individual anatomy. In fact, I have spent the last 10 years studying extensively, graduated from 8 recognized schools, and have gained a credential from the International Coaching Federation.

In fact, I’d call my work professional, compassionate process work, not spiritual fluff.’

- but that’s a long sentence for a single breath of response,isn’t it?

Well my dear, that is why we need a longer breath.

Being put into pre-made drawers is part of the reality for paradigm shifters in a world that is still pretty much operating on hustle culture.

Where the attention is still on quick results through performance,on ‘experts’ and methods,on linear success,or else it's 'spiritual fluff' that leads nowhere.

The world is still arriving at recognizing hustle-free healing as a grounded reality.Healing that’s based on resource, not fixing.That’s working with the body, not against it.That takes time and can’t be rushed.

The mainstream still needs much more detangling from outdated delusions of control,re-learning the value of listening to our bodies, of taking our human nature seriously, rather than pushing against it.

Us, in the meantime, need to hold our pose.Need to build our backbone, as coaches, healers, teachers, spaceholders.Need to keep educating.

Need to speak up.

I am holding a free Somatic circle for new paradigm healers craving to strengthen their voice in a world full of noise.

Comment NEW and I’ll send you the link.
x Elena

06/09/2025

For my sweet sensitive souls.

For the quiet healer who doesn’t speak unless she is asked to.

For the subtle, deeply attuned coach who is expert in holding space for her clients but can’t seem to hold her own ground in the wellness industry.

For the generous, humble yoga teacher who guides her students gracefully into self-acceptance, but doesn’t listen to her own need of financial safety.

The ones who understand but don’t express.

The ones who see but don’t show.

The ones who listen but don’t speak.

I have a special Somatic circle for all those who crave to fully step into their visibility but feel muffled by all the noise out there. Who want to hold a business that sustains them fully, seriously, PROFOUNDLY, but refuse to fall into sleazy tactics of false promises, over-simplification, and pretense for the sake of profit.

Those of us who feel deeply, and have a strong vision for our work, but are often overlooked in the crowd. Those who have a lot to say, but don’t stand in the first row shouting.

If that is you, you probably know how frustrating and infuriating it is to be brushed over, to be misunderstood, underestimated, just because we are not as loud, and not as shiny as our ‘competitors’.

I hear you.

I’ve been there myself for the longest time since transitioning into my full-time business as a Somatic Coach and Yoga guide, down here in my little cave, watching the big voices of the healing industry shouting out quick fixes and dubious promises. Brewing my soup in silence, waiting until it is my turn to speak.

I almost believed the ingrained messages of nowadays hustle culture that only the loudest, fastest, and boldest make it as coaches and business owners, especially in the competitive online world.

But I am here now to call Bu****it on that.

And I am inviting you into a space where you can hear your own voice again.Where you can feel your power. Taste your unique flavour.

Where we invite our bodies into a play with Fire and Earth, re-awakening and remembering our truth, our power as creators, and our depth as humans.

🔥 RAISE YOUR VOICE I Thurs 11 Sep I 6pm UK/ 1pm EST

DM 'VOICE' to join.

x Elena

29/08/2025

This one is for the quiet voices.

The gentle healers. The humble guides. The candid coaches.

Who don’t speak unless they’re asked to.

Who don’t object unless they’re pushed.

Who don’t make a fuss about themselves unless they’re really really hurting.

We don’t always add our two cents to any conversation.We don’t always shout out when we see the lie.

Sometimes we don’t even flinch when we’re shoved to the side.

But we feel it all.
We feel it so deeply.

The sensitive souls in a mindless world.

We hear you when you shout too loudly.

We taste it when you get too bitter.

We smell it when you're full of bu****it.

We sense it when you're uncomfortable.

We see it when you hold up a facade.

We see a world of healing business that is so full of pretense, false expertism, empty promises.

And we feel there's something terribly wrong with that.

But we keep silent. And we watch. We wait.

Because we have so much patience.So much capacity.

Because we don't want to interrupt, disturb, or annoy anyone.

We’re so good at playing small.

Way too good.

I say ENOUGH.

Enough of storing your anger, your frustration, your exhaustion of enduring to be brushed over while the loudest one gets to speak.

Enough of quietly standing in the dark corner watching the brightest one take the spotlight.

I see you in the dark.I hear you in the noise.

And I know you are holding a deep, candid truth for the world.Your medicine.Your contribution.

I'd like to hear you speak it louder.

I'd like you to understand your sensitivity as a gift that not everyone has access to.That the world is desperately in need of.

This quiet anger you're feeling.Your fire.Your heat.Your voice.

That's your power.

And you have a choice to keep it in, and keep enduring.

Or to transmute it into your brightest gift.Your unique expression in the world.

You know I am talking to you.

And I am inviting you to my gathering, for sensitive coaches, yoga teachers, space holders, who are ready to emerge from the dark, and breathe FIRE into their business.

We are meeting in the vulcano, down in your body, extracting your unique flavour, your voice,freeing it from the precautions.

Free

Dm FIRE to join.

05/08/2025

You know the truth.

Even though you may not believe it at this moment.

Even though you may have been trained to ignore it, to ridicule it, to brush over it.

You blurt it out, sometimes, then cover it with a nervous laugh, looking down.

I’m talking about the universal truths we all carry in ourselves.

You’re free inside. You’re connected to everything.

And yet you’re sovereign. True to yourself.

You know what you really want.
You know what you need to say No to.
You know what’s real and what’s bullsh*t.

You know your why.
You know your way.

And it doesn’t matter if you’ve been distracted.

If you’ve been blinded, if you’ve been shamed, told off, scared into pretending.

You still know it.

Your truth will never abandon you, never betray you, and never forget you.

As long as you choose to remember.

This is my Why for the somatic spaces I’m holding. Creating the right conditions so you can find your way back to this truth of yours.

Simply. Calmly. Through your body.

💫 Sovereign Body is the space where we shed the layers that have kept you disconnected from your own wisdom and check back in to what’s real, and what’s true.

In community, remembering together.

🔥 DM me ‘Truth’ if you want to be in and I’ll share the roadmap with you.

Love,
Elena

02/06/2025

Somatic Yoga and the 5 elements of Ki - June edition 🌼
Self-reflection through the lens of your water, wood, fire, earth, and metal energy - Soulful Vinyasa movements with a little bit of Yin.
An opportunity to bring to the mat what is really present in your life right now, and find ease on a physical, mental, and emotional level.
June is here, and I’d like to use the freshness of the new month to initiate my next thematic cycle of Somatic Yoga sessions, dedicated to the elements found in Traditional Chinese medicine, and how we can use them on the mat to bring back balance to our body, mind and heart.
💧 We will start with, in my eyes, the most needed energies in us in these times - Water.
Water stands for the calm, the flow, the depth that is available underneath the surface of things. 💙
Caring for your water energy means practicing to breathe with ease, move smoothly, and learn how to resource yourself, even in the presence of turmoil and stress.
It’s about tapping into your full well, the spot where the river meets the ocean, where the mundane lands in your inner depth. Where you find the deeper meaning of things.
In practice terms, we’ll dedicate our sessions to a slow-flowing Somatic Vinyasa style, that allows you to fully feel yourself in the movement, inviting little moments of Yin-pause to tune in and go deeper.
My Somatic Yoga sessions are an invitation to all soul-searchers who want to go to the next, deeper layer of their practice (no matter if you’re new to Yoga or have been into it for a while), and create real moments of self-connection and care.
Feel free to bring your journal to class!
We meet every tuesday, 10-11:30am in Vale da Telha, close to Arrifana (Aljezur).
Classes are offered on a sliding scale: 12/15/18€ depending on your genuine capacity.
We have mats, props, and free tea and water ready in our lovely studio for you.
💫 Spots are limited, so please sign up with me before:
+351 9 123 88 0 44
See you on the mat!
Elena

22/04/2025

"You can say No."

When I heard this statement during my first Somatic Coaching session throughout my training, I had a whole array of visceral reactions.

A stumble in my breath.
Eyes widening.
Brows narrowing.

Surprise. Disbelief. Suspicion.

Really?

We are so used to follow whatever is asked of us that we forget that we have a choice.

And while we are being asked questions all day long, we often don’t even pause to check if the answer is really Yes.

We are trained to fulfil expectations. Especially at work.

But what if saying ‘No’ is not as rude as we believe?

What if a ‘No’ to someone else is a ‘Yes’ to yourself?

And nothing more than a gentle way to express your needs, without making it a burden for the other?

Said softly, it can be a way to protect your own resources, manage your energy, and enable you to work sustainably and with full capacity.

Because you don’t continuously drain yourself.

Boundaries are the foundation of good relationships.

But we got to train them.

When the default answer has always been ‘yes’, your body will give you signals of discomfort when being asked to go against the grain.

Saying Yes is easy when the other expects you to.

Saying No takes some guts, needs you to draw from a deeper truth, integrity, replying from inner intelligence, not conditioned default.

It’s like training a muscle. Start small.

Next time you are asked a Yes/No question, pause before you answer, and feel into your body.

What response can you sense?

Tingles? Warmth? Contraction? Sinking?

And when you answer honestly, and when the answer is No, check in what happens with you.

Stay with the sensation. Hold your pose.

It’s those little moments of growth that build new somatic memory.

🔥 If you’d like to expand your capacity to build embodied boundaries, we train this in my 1:1 Somatic Coaching program ‘HUMANS AT WORK’.

🎉 Special Case Study spots are open right now.

Curious? Comment ‘YES’ in the comments and I’ll get in touch with more info.

And yes, you can say No too 😊

Applications open till 25th April.

Love,
Elena

19/04/2025

Can you be human at work?

It’s a burning dilemma I am trying to solve since my own (almost) burnout in a career I loved but had to leave in order to save my Self.

Talk about work-life-balance.

I myself, a curated Yogi and self-improver, was a master in stretching myself (literally!) between me, the architect who solves problems, keeps deadlines, and keeps functioning under extreme stress -

- and ME, Elena, the human behind the desk who gets up at 6 to get some Ashtanga in before work, who takes power naps in the bathroom, who swallows down tears of frustration in meetings.

It seems like in a work culture where productivity is everything, we have a choice to make between either quitting our job so that we can ‘finally be ourselves again’, or accepting the disassociation and self-neglect that slowly spirals us down until we hit rock-bottom.

But I believe there is a third option.

What if you can work out a concept to keep thriving in your career without sacrificing your Self?

I am currently developing a concept for burnout prevention through Self-Integration.

HUMANS AT WORK -
- a 3-month online SOMATIC COACHING program that holds the space for you to connect with your biggest asset in order to dig into your resources and catalyse weak spots into strengths:

Your somatic intelligence.

Together in a 1:1 focused setting we…

🧘‍♀️ make SPACE

for you to get into your body, learn to read your Nervous System and create micro self-regulation techniques to create pockets of safety during the day (not just after work).

👂LISTEN and PROCESS…

get in touch with your bodymind’s intuitive wisdom, expand your emotional capacity and tend to abandoned aspects of your Self to unblock limiting beliefs and bring to surface a stronger, vital way of being.

🔥 INTEGRATE…

translate your new inner alignment into a gradual strengthening of your human at work: boundaries, perspective changes, and a sustainable work style.

You will learn to transition towards living your life from RESOURCE, not from DEPLETION.

I have limited case study spots. Applications open until 25th April

Curious?

DM me to get all the info or directly book a free Intro call (Link in bio)

Love,
Elena

11/04/2025

Burnout is so creepy.
When it sneaked onto me during my times of overwhelm at work, I did not even know it's happening.
Brainfog. Yes.
Anxiety. Yes!
Despair. Yes.
I felt all those symptoms so clearly, and yet I somehow managed to 'get along'.
Almost too well.
And I talked with many professionals recently who told me the same thing.
'I have my methods to make it through the day.'
Yoga before work.
Running on coffee, skipping meals.
Crying in the bathroom.
And does it help?
For me it didn't.
I got so good at 'regulating' myself that I missed to address the actual root causes of my burnout issue.
Boundaries.
Perspective Changes.
Inner Shifts.
Today, I understand that a complex issue like burnout can't be solved by generic practices.
And I 'll host a free live workshop to introduce you to your most powerful instance, an intelligence that has all the answers to what really needs to change for you to not burn out again:
Your
Self.
That's right, your Self in flesh, and intellect, and emotion, and intuition.
You got the answers.
And I'll show you how to hear them.
14th April I 6pm Lisbon time I GMT+1
If you can't make it, sign up anyway and the recording will be sent to you the day after ❤️
You'll get a chance to first hand feel the presence of your somatic intelligence, learn how to create micro pockets of safety for yourself, and get the opportunity for personal coaching.
Sign up via Link in Bio!
Much Love,
Elena

07/02/2025

I am here for myself.
I am here.
For my Self.
Self care has become more to me than practicing Yoga and eating vegetables.
It all starts with Presence.
Deep down at the core of my existence, where I can feel myself being alive right here, right now, on this planet, in this body.
I am here.
It looks like such a basic statement but whenever I take it to heart, it runs shivers over my spine.
What are the odds of me being here at this very moment, where life happens through the lens of my very own perception, where I can mold my thoughts and craft my reality, where I can see, hear, feel, taste, touch tangible representations of complex energy that has been arranged just for this very moment to be taken in by me.
Me.
When I pause to feel myself, I get in touch with this immense appreciation that I carry for my body, for my heart, for the energy that runs through me.
For my Self.
And then I get to build a new relationship with me, with my Self, from the standpoint of presence and awareness, and I get to listen very deeply to this inner voice that cannot be heard by ears, but must be understood through the channel of the heart, through my felt sense of being.
What can I contribute right now to support this Self of mine, to hold it safely, to move it gently, and to carry it through in this world of distractions, dangers, and illusions?
Oftentimes, it is very simple.
It takes much less than I think, not a strategy, not a checklist, not a regimen.
I am here. For my Self.
And that’s enough.

06/02/2025

Stopping to smell the roses.
Or mushrooms. or coffee. or the fur of your pawbaby.
Or whatever it is that makes your nose tickle, your eyes soften, your ears ring.
So easy to get lost in thought, to walk just to get somewhere, to drown a coffee while typing away, to eat with fixated eyes.
Even in the best of settings, during a day at the spa, a walk in nature, I often catch myself zoning away, thinking in spirals, making shopping lists. When I could as well be there where I am and enjoy all of it.
I‘m reminding myself more and more often to do that, to take - just a moment or two - to take in what is around me.
It‘s a skill I learned during my training with the Somatic School.
We call it Resourcing.
An act of paying attention to the goodness around and in you, and permitting ourselves to let that comfort sink in for a bit. It‘s one of the most regulating tools we all have installed in our bodies, our soma, which is always reaching out to connect with those signals from home.
We have access to it at all times, through all our senses, and yet, it is a skill that needs to be practiced and remembered.
Resourcing is a choice you can make in any moment, a choice of looking for the good instead of dwelling in discomfort.
What is around you right now that feels pleasant to you? Where could you linger your eyes for a moment? What about this present moment feels calm, joyful, or even just neutral, peaceful?
And yes, even the blandest of office rooms has some goodness in it.
The smile of your colleague? The feel of your chair? The smell of your tea? The smoothness of that cup? The airstream through your nose? The beat of your heart?
It‘s not that complicated. It’s there for you. Pick something.
Stay for a moment.
And let it all in.
Much love 💚

27/01/2025

✨SOMATIC YOGA I 28th Jan I INNER ALIGNMENT
This week we will explore how the element water helps us to navigate our inner landscape, and how we can use its principles to orient towards our „True North“.
Drops, Ripples, Waves.
We‘ll practice a flow-inspired, fluid sequence that gives lots of opportunities to orient and align ourselves, from the inside out, sometimes in trial and error, mostly via intuition 😉
Breath moves body moves us.
Tuesday I 10-11:30am in Vale da Telha
Sliding scale 12/15/18€
Mats and free tea ready for you in our cozy studio.
Message me to book your spot ☺️
See you on the mat!
Love,
Elena

Endereço

Aljezur

Website

http://www.bendyminds.com/

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