Hi, I am Kerstin Pilz & this is my story:
I help people experience the transformative joy of creative self-expression and the healing power of writing.
I am a writer, a former academic with a PhD in literature and 20 years university teaching experience. I am also a keen photographer, a 200hr RYT yoga teacher and a life-long traveler.
I am passionate about sharing the tools that helped me become whole again and transform into a better version of myself after hitting my personal rock bottom.
When a natural disaster destroyed my idyllic beach-side haven in Australia’s tropical Far North, three short weeks after the death of my brand-new husband from cancer, I realized that the most important lessons are not learned in a university classroom.
It was time to turn a page and write a new chapter. I left my tenured university position in search of a new life with a deeper sense of purpose and connectedness.
It was a long and lonely journey that eventually led me to a new partner and a new home in Hoi An, a small coastal town in central Vietnam, where I created this website and now teach writing, meditation and yoga, online and on retreat.
Every life is a story. You are the author of that story.
Let me help you slow down and connect with your voice so that you can write the next chapter.
Here’s what I know:
- Life can end before you’ve figured out what to do with it. Don’t waste it doing what you don’t love!
- Overcoming adversity can be a path to growth and transformation.
- When we crash hard, we CAN rise strong!
- Writing can heal and guide us through a difficult time.
- Mindfulness meditation can bring calm and clarity amid the storm.
- There is light after darkness.
- You are more resilient than you think.
- Follow your calling. Believe in yourself.
- Dare to turn a page and write a new chapter for yourself!
Loss and grief have been my most honoured teachers.
My meditation cushion and my journal are still my most effective therapists.
10 FACTS ABOUT ME
1. Born in a German coal mining town, I grew up roaming the forests where the Brothers Grimm recorded their fairytales…which might explain my ongoing sense of wonder and curiosity.
2. I dropped out of highschool after my English teacher declared I would never be able to speak English.
3. I finished my education on my own dime, caring for the dying in a hospice, waiting tables and shaking cocktails, driving a delivery van, modelling in Tokyo and selling jewellery at markets.
4. I discovered yoga by accident doing a headstand in order to stay awake to finish a university assignment. That was more than 30 years ago.
5. Dark chocolate and red wine, yes and yes!
6. I’ve never been a confident driver of four wheels (despite my job as a delivery van driver) and I am much more comfortable navigating the chaotic traffic of Vietnam on a scooter.
7. I’ve backpacked solo across the world and I’ve visited more countries than I am years old (hint, I am over 55). My last trip, pre-covid-19, took me to Iran. It was epic.
8. I believe we make our own luck.
9. I’ve sat in meditation next to Richard Gere listening to HH the Dalai Lama (yep, I am bragging).
10. I am finishing the second draft of my memoir “Falling Apart Gracefully: the Hard Road to Happiness.” Nothing to brag about here, it feels like it’s taking forever…
The official CV
I am a cross-disciplinary thinker with a PhD in Italian Studies that explored the relationship between literature and the history & philosophy of science.
I am a published author in English, German and Italian. My publications include an academic monograph (Mapping Complexity), book chapters for Oxford University Press, peer-reviewed academic articles as well as travel features including for The New York Times, The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald, and for travel industry magazines in the Maldives.
The fun parts of my academic career include sailing around the world on a floating university campus; leading students on experiential study tours to 12 different countries and learning to scuba dive whilst developing the curriculum for the first ever Bachelor of Visual Arts at the Maldives National University.
I bring to my online courses and retreats the academic rigor I developed during 20 years as university lecturer and education manager, and the deep truths life taught me the hard way.
I know what it’s like to grieve, to struggle and to negotiate a major life change.
I also know that we are more resilient than we think. I am here to help you negotiate the roller coaster of life with creative personal writing and mindfulness.
FREE Writing Prompts
Download my favorite 10 writing prompts & a guided singing bowl meditation and start writing today.
Also includes our monthly newsletter which will bring you fresh writing prompts each month.
