About

About Martine

I'm Martine Wieten. Forever curious and student. I've studied Languages at the University of Groningen and the Free University of Amsterdam.

Alongside my love for verbal language, I've always been fascinated with the way our bodies speak. By the way they hold, and are formed by stories and experiences.

I've studied yoga, meditation and breathwork since 2008 with many different teachers, such as Shirley Woods, Lino Miele, Petri Räisänen, David Swenson, Richard Freeman, Gregor Maehle, Katiza Ivulic and Kevin Woods.

My main teachers have been Claudia Pradella and Eva Ugolini, who guided me since 2012 on the path of ashtanga yoga. This practice has offered me a practical, embodied way to explore my heart and mind, and my connection to the world around me.

Exploring embodiment, I discovered the effortless power that lies in the pelvis. Through my own inner research, and through the stories of others, I found that this subtle yet fierce potential oftentimes seemed to be blocked or repressed by tension stored within this place.

I learned that many women experience feelings which are often taboo and not spoken of when connecting to their pelvis; feelings of pain, shame, grief and guilt. These feelings might stem from personal painful or traumatic experiences, but also from intergenerational, and collective, historical experience. History has been violent toward sexuality, and female sexuality in particular. And history does not remain in the past. Its effects quite literally live on in the present. We carry history with us, and we store it in our bodies.

Coming to know about this pain and repression broke my heart, and made me want to do something about it. Despite, and also exactly because of seeing my own taboo around sexuality and the pelvis, I decided to study Integral Pelvic Therapy ®. I'm fortunate to have had Daphne van der Putten and Mariëtte Frits as my teachers, and am thankful for the tools and knowledge I received during this training, which enabled me to look at my own pain with compassion, and allow it to soften.

With a quality of warmth and a pinch of humour, I love to work towards facing these taboos and hopefully break them.

In my work as an IPT practitioner, I genuinely wish to offer the space for women to meet their own pain and grief with clarity and kindness, and set it free.

Vision

Juniper's Ground. This name came to me in the form of several stories.

Firstly, the name refers to the Juniper tree, which has strong roots, standing its ground, protecting the soil from erosion. It also has an incredible capacity to restore and revitalise eco-systems and lands that have been disrupted.

In a similar way, Juniper's Ground was founded as a place to offer guidance for our inner ground to be nourished, revitalized, and free.

Secondly, the name refers to one of my favourite childhood books: Juniper, by Monica Furlong.

Juniper is raised to be a doran, a wise woman. She defines this to be :

“... someone who loves all the creatures of the world, the animals, birds, plants, trees, and people, and who cannot bear to do any of them any harm. It is someone who believes that they are all linked together and that therefore everything can be used to heal the pain and suffering of the world. It is someone who does not hate anybody and who is not frightened of anyone or anything.”

With the creation of Juniper's Ground, I wish to offer you the space, tools and guidance to let you be your own doran, to find your own path, voice, and authority.