announcement
We cherish each and every aspect of co-creating and shaping Yohaku. At the same time, we have recently found out that this is the right moment for us to wrap it up and move on. The final newsletter exploring what Yohaku means/meant to us will be send out before the end of 2023.
We are extremely grateful for your presence, support, and kindness in the past couple of years. Please note that this website will be still available until the end of this year.
Yohaku is our inclusive art space for wellbeing and it is open to all of you. In this space, we focus on using expressive arts therapy methods to facilitate positive, nourishing, and sustainable change in individuals, groups, and communities. Learn more
Our art space for wellbeing opens up to the empty space of yohaku , which is one of the six elements of Japanese beauty. It represents a pause, a margin, or a blank space between words or design elements and implies meaning. Learn more
At Yohaku, we intentionally leave a blank space for playful art explorations, a face-to-face encounter with your true needs and longings, and active participation in building awareness through the experience of art-making. In our work, we focus on your specific needs and invite you to co-create an inclusive space, where dialogue with various art forms becomes possible. Learn more
Currently, we support personal, professional, and collective growth in the form of exploratory expressive arts sessions, workshops, and trainings both face-to-face and virtually. In our work, we use various art-based tools suitable for anyone, as your wellbeing is our priority. Learn more
POPULAR EVENTS
Monthly Dialogues with Arts [virtual]
This community circle has a long tradition in our online schedule and celebrates the value of togetherness. Here, you can find a place to belong, make art, and share reflections about your being in this world. It is a space to let go of stiffness, loosen up and connect. Learn more
art-based Discovery LAB [virtual]
In this series of experimental sessions, we keep playing with the arts to discover new and exciting tools and techniques. Please join us to cultivate a playful attitude, upgrade your creative & therapeutic skills, and connect with wonderful people from around the world. Learn more
art-based INTERVISION [virtual]
Starting from November 2020, we offer a group intervision for art therapists, expressive arts practitioners, coaches, and art-based facilitators. It can become a great addition to your supervision. Connect with us and let’s shape this community together! Learn more
individual EXPRESSIVE ARTS sessions
We now offer individual expressive arts sessions both in a form of a virtual video call and face-to-face in Antwerp, Belgium. Whatever form of therapy, coaching, or mentoring you choose, we will hold the space for you in a gentle and non-judgemental manner. Learn more
HIGHLIGHTED STORIES
The Founding Story of Yohaku
The artistic process was at the centre of every step we took in exploring and shaping our business and our collaboration. Learn more
What Can Art Sharing Teach Us?
Sharing art is meaningful, can have unexpected results, and bring joy, so let your artworks be seen! Learn more
EXPRESSIVE ARTS THERAPY
World Health Organization (WHO) confirms the importance of the arts in healing and maintaining overall wellbeing. In recent years, expressive arts therapy has become more and more popular. It is an excellent way of supporting healthy expression and restoring both mental and physical health using imagination, movement, sound, storytelling, relaxation, and play.
Expressive arts therapy is an integrative art-based practice combining therapeutic approaches with the creative process. In the expressive arts settings, different forms of expression come into play (e.g. mark-making, painting, music, movement, performative arts, experimental writing, clay work, photography, video-making, and more) to stimulate imagination, help people to find new resources, allow them to expand their horizons, and discover new restorative qualities of working with the arts.
The practice of expressive arts promotes overall wellbeing and can set us on the right track to healthier expression and more efficient emotional regulation. As a result, we can gradually build more self-awareness, develop better communication skills, create more fulfilling relationships, better understand each other, and experience a quicker recovery from difficult life experiences including conflict, burn-out, neglect, or trauma.
Read more…
MEET OUR FACILITATORS
Joanna Wróblewska and Ineke Hulselmans
Founders of Yohaku | the art space for wellbeing
WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY ABOUT US?
I have participated in several sessions with Ineke and Joanna and I have enjoyed all of them. Through them, I have discovered an unknown creative potential in myself as well as discovered a new self-learning… it’s fun, it’s serious, it’s deep, it’s light, and it’s an absolute pleasure to experience yourself! – Lucia Fetzer, 2020
Yohaku has managed to create a safe space online. A safe place where everyone is welcome, with their own story, backgrounds, fears, hope and dreams. (…) – Julia Engels Rochat, 2020
(…) The professionalism, as well as the deep belief in the process, the openness, the trustful atmosphere, the fun and the seriousness, the curiosity and the faith in what they practice, is perceptible in everything they do. (…) – Claudia Blacha, 2020
I love working with Joanna. It is more like playing with art and materials (a.k.a. my happy place!) and before I realized it, deeply personal insights came to the surface! (…) – Nelden, 2020
(…) I have to say, working with Joanna is a life-changing experience! No matter which areas in your life you‘re looking to create healing, growth or breakthroughs – you’ll be coming out of your sessions and with a deeper sense of clarity, awareness & self-trust. Truly powerful! – Nathalie Sommer, Relationship Coach, 2020
Ineke and Joanna invite you to make contact with your deeper self, with those images, sensations, and words that want to be seen but do not find their way out (…). – Xenia Orgielewski, 2020
(…) By the end of the session, I was able to feel a greater sense of calm in both my mind and body and I had also written a really beautiful poem! Joanna has a warm, caring and nurturing energy and I appreciated her ability to hold space and guide me through this new experience. I look forward to working with her again in the future. – Ainslie Young, 2020
After discussing my question, Ineke suggested working with music and singing. It surprised me how quickly my emotions came and how intensely I experienced everything, even for the first session. Ineke knows how to offer the right words and atmosphere to create a safe space for self-investigation (…). – Katrien, 2019
I was delighted to see my research group thriving during an amazing EXA workshop organized by Yohaku. Joanna and Ineke led us through engaging activities that made the team members get to know each other better and sparked tons of new energy (…). – dr Michal P. Heller, Albert Einstein Institute, 2019
Joanna with a really great workshop script helped me and my friend to find the best way to cooperate, find ourselves in the project we run, and create a concrete plan for its future. Her expertise, creativity and patience in helping us understand and interpret hidden mind gems were priceless. (…). – Magda, Move Your Thoughts, 2019
The prototyping weekend was not really what I expected and at the same time: it matched my best expectation, to live the experience. (…) Ineke and Joanna created a safe space where all of this was possible. – Joke Jonckiere, U-Lab Prototyping Weekend, 2018