Angelika Rieckmann is an occupational therapist with a wealth of experience in various medical fields. Since 2003, she has been working intensively with the Peter Hess® Sound Massage and has grown into an outstanding sound therapist, sound massage practitioner and instructor. Angelika has made it her heartfelt mission to carry her knowledge out into the world and reach as many people as possible.
Angelika's journey to sound and healing
Her first encounter with the Peter Hess® Sound Massage happened more or less by chance: 22 years ago, a fellow occupational therapist recommended sound therapy to her. At that time, Angelika had been suffering from chronic pain for many years. The sound massage proved to be the key to becoming pain-free. This experience was the beginning of a deep and very special connection with sound. It was not long before she trained as a Peter Hess® Sound Massage Practitioner and sound therapist herself, soaking up all the knowledge she could. Again and again, she experienced in herself and in others how much power lies within sound.
Angelika Rieckmann on the effect of sound
When Angelika talks about working with sound, her deep enthusiasm is immediately noticeable. The subtle, almost invisible, yet extremely beneficial effect of sound is what fascinates and motivates her most. She describes how sound serves as a source of energy, brings people into balance and thus creates the foundation for health. Even after one session, letting go can happen on all levels. For Angelika, there is no other form of therapy that reaches body, mind and soul so deeply and can thereby bring about holistic healing.
“It is enormously important to first experience the effect of sound yourself and to reflect on what sound does to me and to others. Working with sound requires an enormously high level of awareness in every moment. I am fully and consciously present and mindful,” says Angelika Rieckmann.
Even though carrying out a sound session is not difficult in practice, its complexity requires a great deal of experience and sensitivity. The person giving the sound attunes anew to every individual in order to recognize what they really need right now. When strong resonance arises between the sound, the therapist and the person receiving the sound, true wonders are possible.
Developing her own treatment methods and advanced training seminars
With her knowledge and experience from occupational therapy and working with sound, Angelika Rieckmann developed her very own holistic treatment method: “Tonus-Training nach Angelika Rieckmann®”. Her approach is based on transferring the principles of sound to bodywork and on a deep understanding of how illness and health arise in body and mind in the first place, or how health can be preserved. In a session, she sets gentle, ordering impulses to relax muscle tone and stimulate the body's self-healing powers. Occupational therapists and physiotherapists can learn Tonus-Training from Angelika in three modules.
She offers an even broader insight into the possibilities that sound opens up in her advanced training seminars at the Peter Hess® Institute, which will again take place on several dates this year:
- Neurology and psychosomatics I: stabilizing the nervous system with sound massage
- Neurology and psychosomatics II: activating self-healing powers with sound methods
- Neurology and psychosomatics III: more energy and awareness with sound
- Heart coherence: modulating the nervous system with sound
- Trauma-sensitive sound work: accompanying overwhelmed people (PTSD) with sound
Exclusive exercise: parasympathetic pursed-lip breathing
For Angelika Rieckmann, sound has become an indispensable part of her daily life. She begins every day with sound to center herself and connect with her essence. For this blog article, she has shared a special exercise with us that you can easily integrate into your everyday life.
Angelika recommends practicing this simple yet enormously effective exercise at least once a day, giving yourself small moments of calm and relaxation on a regular basis.
- Open your lips very slightly.
- Breathe in normally once, then breathe out slowly and audibly through your slightly parted lips.
- Repeat this one to three times, taking a few normal breaths in between.
- If you like, accompany the exercise with a singing bowl. Angelika recommends the Peter Hess® Pelvic Bowl.
- End the exercise with a smile.
Parasympathetic pursed-lip breathing lengthens the exhalation, allows the autonomic nervous system to regulate itself, and takes us from thinking to feeling, into the here and now. This makes the exercise particularly well suited for times of stress, excitement or restlessness, to restore balance, equanimity, inner calm and serenity. You can do the exercise at any time of day, standing, sitting or lying down. Optionally, accompany the exercise with a singing bowl to find your way into inner harmony and order more easily.
“Sound leads us into harmony with ourselves. When we feel this harmonious state of heart coherence in the here and now, it is precisely this connected BEING that counts for health and has an ordering effect.” (principle of salutogenesis)
The art of perception and empathy
For Angelika, the ability to recognize or sense a person's individual and current, often existential, needs is crucial. Since 2008, she has been self-employed full time in her own private practice and school for mindfulness in Bad Driburg. Here, with her sensitive and trustworthy manner, she gives people plenty of space to show themselves, to let go and be caught, and to find their way to their own essence.
Detailed preliminary conversations and a holistic view of the person show her in which areas balance is needed. She looks beyond physical appearance to get to the bottom of the actual core issue and guide body, mind and soul to a new balance. The energy centers of the human being, the chakras, also give her important clues. Based on this in-depth analysis of the different levels of our being, she chooses the treatment method as well as the sounds she uses in her sessions. For herself and the people who come to her, she uses Peter Hess® Therapy Singing Bowls and Peter Hess® Sangha Meditation Singing Bowls. The Therapy Singing Bowls are used on and around the body, while she uses the Sangha singing bowls when it comes to filling entire rooms.
Angelika Rieckmann as a sound massage instructor and seminar leader
As a seminar leader and instructor, Angelika has found her great passion. Since 2005, she has been passing on the knowledge and experience she has gathered over many years as an occupational therapist, sound massage practitioner and sound therapist, and above all from her own life. When she talks about this work, you can clearly feel what an enormous treasure she shares with people.
“In the Peter Hess® Sound Massage Training, people get ‘all-inclusive’. They not only learn the technique, above all they also receive individual sessions and experience their effect for themselves. Sound touches us. Every sound module is a retreat for body, mind and soul. Nothing else can top this holistic approach.”
In all her years as head instructor of the Peter Hess® Sound Massage, she has experienced it herself: everyone who is able to open up to sound and working with sound benefits to an exceptional degree. Sound flows into every cell of our body, and in every moment we can experience something new. So alongside the practical training, the participants also develop enormously on a personal level: they gain access to their health and have better self-perception, integrity and self-efficacy.
Current events with Angelika Rieckmann
Her deep connection with sound is reflected in her motivation and commitment. This year, too, Angelika is traveling a lot with her training courses and seminars. You can find all dates on her website.
On March 2 and 3, you can meet her in person at our anniversary sound congress and learn more about “trauma-sensitive sound work”. Get your tickets now for this special event.
