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.

Richard Jacobsen · Trainer & coach
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
Starting point
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.
Who speaks up and who waits for the silence. On the mat you see that within a few minutes.
That is why every session starts with breath and posture. Talking comes later.
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.
Interventions
All rates
For teams where collaboration feels stuck, patterns keep returning or there is plenty of talk about working together without anything changing. Makes visible what is happening and lets you practise a different response straight away.
02For teams and leaders who want to understand why the same friction keeps coming back. By embodying the nine Enneagram types you see who takes which role when the pressure rises, and what you can do with that.
03
For professionals who work with people, behaviour, the body and recovery themselves, such as coaches, therapists and bodyworkers. Specialist depth in fascia, breath and the nervous system, starting in your own body.
04
For anyone who wants to reduce stress, recover better and have more energy left at the end of the day. Slow movement, breath and attention, as a single session or as a recurring programme at the office. Prevention that doesn't feel like prevention.
05
For groups who want to come to rest without anyone having to say a word. A journey of gong and sound, lying on a mat or seated on a cushion or chair. An hour and a half with nothing to do, and a clearer head afterwards.
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
For teams · Flow Motion
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.
Approach
How an intervention worksWhether 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.
Stiff collaboration, a pattern that keeps coming back, tension that won't go away.
What is really happening here, and what needs to change?
Then I choose a form to match. Never the other way round.
In a circle, on the mat. Doing instead of talking about it.
You see yourself and each other react. That is hard to deny.
Try again, with a different choice. This is often where people laugh.
What you have felt, you take with you. It sticks better than a handout.
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.
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.
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.
Discuss your challenge“In his classes he approaches everybody as equal so you can get a step further and your level does not matter to him.”

About Richard
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.
Years of dojo experience in the Netherlands and abroad. Aikido as a metaphor and as a method.
Teacher training and a long personal practice, focused on regulation and recovery.
Body-oriented and systemic work, applied in teams and under pressure.
What participants say
All 12 testimonials“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.”
“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.”
“Richard is met hart en ziel een Aikido Master en dat merk je in de sessies met hem samen.”
“I warmly recommend Richard Jacobsen's work with AikiFlow, which is practical, fun, flowing and enriching.”
Rates
Every intervention has a fixed starting price. Longer programmes and in-company series are tailored to your needs, after a short conversation that is free of charge.
Prices per group of up to 12 participants, excl. VAT. Location: at your premises or in the dojo. Larger groups with additional senior trainers.
Meet & try
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 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.
Contact
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