About Me
1960 I was born in Preetz near Kiel in Northern Germany. After High School graduation (Abitur) in 1980 I went on a quest to find an alternative community, which in 1982 lead me to Scotland to the Tibetan Buddhist monastery and centre Kagyu Samye Ling. This is where I would remain for 15 years. I worked in the print shop, fundraising office, vegetable garden and kitchen, studied Buddhism with many excellent teachers and learned to meditate and apply Buddhist principles in everyday life.
1993-1997 I took part in a traditional Three Year Retreat, where groups of around 12-20 men or women live in cloistered retreat in order to dedicate themselves to the manifold aspects of Tibetan methods of meditation and ritual. After completion of this retreat I received the permission to teach from my teacher Akong Rinpoche.
1997-2002 I worked in the Buddhist Centre Theksum Tashi Chöling in Hamburg, as translator into German for Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen, as well as teacher and main organizer of the centre. I also accompanied Lama Tenpa to other centres in Germany as translator.
From Lama Tenpa I learned a lot about the contemporary transmission of traditional content. During this time I also took part in the three year Nitartha study program with Dzogchen Ponlob Rinpoche and two intensive courses of two months in Pullahari, Nepal, where I studied the philosophical views, logic and debate, as well as some Tibetan language.
During this time I also became interested in the integral theorie of Ken Wilber, which combines the spiritual path with psychological development and political activism.
1997 I also met Ralf Heymann, whom I married in 2012.
2002-2006 I took part in a second Three Year Retreat, this time on the Scottish Island Holy Isle off Arran. I was able to deepen my knowledge and experience and support the leader in looking
after the participants.
From April 1st 2006 until her death on May 27th 2017 I looked after my mother Ilse Rendtorff, founder of the association for healing the earth "Fountain of Peace" in Kronshagen.
During this time I soon began leading a weekly meditation group. Together with the German nun Ani Semchi I developed a three year study program, which we took turns to teach in
Samye Dzong Kirchheim near Stuttgart. I taught the same program in four cycles in Kiel and
other German speaking centres.
From 2013-2019 I took part in the yearly intensive Meditation Retreat with Drupön Khenpo Karma Labü in Samye Ling. In Juli 2019 I also took teachings and guidance from Dan Brown, who sadly passed away a few years later.
2006 I also continued reading books by Ken Wilber and from 2008-2012 I lead an integral salon in Kronshagen. Frp, 2009-2016 I got a lot of inspiration from the yearly
conferences of Integralen Forum, and from 2019 in the integral summer meetings in Gorenzen. In the integral movement of
I found my new sangha oder „tribe“.
2010 I took part in a weekend training in the Big Mind Process with Andreas Schröder, in April 2011 "Train the Trainer Integral" with Michael Habecker and Rolf Lutterbeck and in
February 2012 an introduction to Holacracy with Brian Robertson.
Since 2014 I am a core team member of the Integral European Conference, which takes place every two years in Hungary.
Since 2017 I am translating English<->German both online and in presence, for example for the Celebrate Life Festival, and since 2022 the Summer Intensive with Thomas Hübl, 2018 und 2019 for „STAGES“ workshops in Berlin für Terri o Fallon, for the Nalandabodhi study program, for Lama Kelsang im Bodhicharya Zentrum in Berlin, and the book tour for "Living Dharma" by Angela McCabe 2023.
In June 2011 I started this company, so that the Buddhist and integral courses, groups and coaching sessions became my main occupation, alongside caring for my mum. After the death of my mother the beautiful seminar rooms in Kronshagen were no longer available. Privately I now live in Warder near Kiel, for a living I mostly work in the gardening firm of my husband Ralf Heymann. On demand I give guidance to individuals in their own homes or online.
In April 2020 during the Corona Crisis I began offering group meditations online, which I still do occasionally.