Richard Jacobsen practising with a participant with the jo, a wooden staff, during a training in the dojo

Richard Jacobsen · Trainer & coach

What you do in interaction says more than what you say.

Does collaboration in your team feel stuck, does the same pattern keep coming back, or do you talk a lot about working together without anything changing? Then I first look at what is really going on and choose an intervention to match. On the mat, with exercises from Aikido and Qi Gong. Within fifteen minutes you see how you respond to each other.

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” Henry S. Haskins
1st Dan Aikido International Qi Gong teacher 35+ years of practice Teams, leaders and individuals

Starting point

Less explanation. More experience.

You can't read how a team works together from a report. You see it when one person pushes and the other pushes back. Or looks away. Or goes quiet. In the dojo exactly the same thing happens as in the meeting room, only faster and more clearly.

  1. You see it as it happens

    Who speaks up and who waits for the silence. On the mat you see that within a few minutes.

  2. Your body is more honest than your story

    That is why every session starts with breath and posture. Talking comes later.

  3. From resistance to collaboration

    In Aikido you meet the other person's force by moving with it and redirecting it. That is a skill every team can use.

So I start by asking what is going on for you and what needs to change. Only then do I choose an intervention.

That makes this something quite different from a team outing, or a training booked because there was budget left over. This way of working suits people and organisations who want to experience something, explore it and then actually do things differently.

35+ years of working with people in hospitality, the dojo and organisations
5 interventions to get things moving, from a single day to a full programme
12 recommendations from participants, from a programme manager at Ahold Delhaize to an aikido sensei in Prague

Interventions

All rates

Five interventions. None of them around a table.

Also one-to-one: Sensitive Leadership. Discover the power of sensitive leadership, in single sessions or a programme of 4 to 8 sessions.

Sensitive Leadership
Richard laughing during a jo exercise with a participant
Richard during a Flow Motion training. He works on the mat himself, right in the middle of it.

For teams · Flow Motion

From resistance to collaboration.

A day in which your team works together on the mat and sees what happens. We practise with principles from Aikido and Qi Gong: receiving force, moving with it, giving direction. After one day you know how you react when a colleague pushes through, and what you can do differently.

  • Exercises in pairs and with the whole group, no role play
  • You see who pushes through, who gives way and who waits
  • Coordination and roles as they emerge in real life
  • No sportswear or experience needed
€2,500 per group, full dayUp to 12 participants, excl. VAT. Half day €1,350. Larger groups with additional senior trainers.

Approach

How an intervention works

From challenge to change.

Whether it's a day of Flow Motion or a Sensitive Leadership programme, the line is always the same: from your challenge to something you actually do differently afterwards.

  1. A challenge

    Stiff collaboration, a pattern that keeps coming back, tension that won't go away.

  2. Explore

    What is really happening here, and what needs to change?

  3. Intervention

    Then I choose a form to match. Never the other way round.

  4. Experience

    In a circle, on the mat. Doing instead of talking about it.

  5. Insight

    You see yourself and each other react. That is hard to deny.

  6. Space

    Try again, with a different choice. This is often where people laugh.

  7. Change

    What you have felt, you take with you. It sticks better than a handout.

Arrive

In a circle, standing or seated, with breath and attention. Within ten minutes you see who is already present and who is still in the previous meeting.

Experience and explore

Exercises in pairs and with the whole group, sometimes with a wooden staff. The group experiences, responds and explores. Whatever is going on between you at the office is going on here too. Only now you can see it.

Insight and another try

We briefly name what you saw and felt, then you do the exercise again with a different choice. That second version is what you take back to work.

“In his classes he approaches everybody as equal so you can get a step further and your level does not matter to him.”

Ruud Martijn
Acupuncturist Ruud Martijn Acupunctuur
Discuss your challenge
Richard Jacobsen in keikogi and hakama in the dojo, eyes closed, hands open in front of him
Richard Jacobsen · 1st Dan Aikido · Dao Heart Qi Gong teacher

About Richard

More than 35 years of watching what people really do.

I'm Richard Jacobsen. I started out in hospitality, where on a busy Saturday night you can tell within a minute which team works and which doesn't. Alongside the kitchen came Aikido, later Qi Gong and bodywork. I have now spent more than 35 years among people who need to get something done together, on the mat and in organisations.

Participants describe me as playful and decisive, and there is plenty of laughter. I do get straight to the point, though. Non-violence is the foundation, taken from Aikido: you don't have to knock anyone over to get somewhere. I work from Apeldoorn and am a member of the Beweeg Alliance.

  1. Aikido

    1st Dan, internationally recognised

    Years of dojo experience in the Netherlands and abroad. Aikido as a metaphor and as a method.

  2. Qi Gong

    International Qi Gong teacher

    Teacher training and a long personal practice, focused on regulation and recovery.

  3. Body

    Play Fight, somatic movement, Enneagram

    Body-oriented and systemic work, applied in teams and under pressure.

What participants say

All 12 testimonials

In their own words.

“Ries is een uitgelezen persoon als het gaat om het aangaan en ontwikkelen van transformatieprocessen, waarbij je niet schroomt om je schaduwkanten te ontmoeten. Zijn aanpak is speels, doortastend, persoonlijk, liefdevol en altijd voorzien van humor.”

Janet Kunst
Communicatie trainer bij GA-JA Coaching&Training

“Je weet dan in korte tijd hoeveel er schuil gaat achter Qigong. (…) Met zijn Qigong uitleg heeft hij ons zo enthousiast gemaakt dat nu 2 maanden later we er nog steeds een keer of 3 per week mee bezig zijn.”

Pieter van Bijnen PMP MSP
Global ahold delhaize program manager

“Richard is met hart en ziel een Aikido Master en dat merk je in de sessies met hem samen.”

Gilbert Bookelman
Owner at Centalis

“I warmly recommend Richard Jacobsen's work with AikiFlow, which is practical, fun, flowing and enriching.”

Sebastien Martineau
Aikido Sensei, Prague

Meet & try

Experience it first.

Interested in an introduction, a trial class or a session? Get in touch directly and we'll discuss what's possible. A trial class by appointment can take place almost anywhere in the Netherlands. On regular training days you are welcome to join in free of charge.

A wooden jo and a folded hakama on the edge of the tatami in a shaft of light

A first phone call is always free of charge. For a trial class on location I charge an introductory rate plus travel time and travel costs. If you live far away, I'm happy to recommend a dojo and teacher near you.

Books

Three books, one path.

What I do in the dojo, I have also written down. About the nine Enneagram types in the body, about the question you would most like to avoid (what do you really want?), and, in late 2026, about my own search for what works in healing.

Contact

Start with a conversation.

A free half-hour conversation is enough to hear what is going on in your team or with you. I'll tell you honestly whether I think I can help and which format would fit. Sometimes the answer is that someone else is a better fit.

Book an introduction
Based in Apeldoorn, across the Netherlands