The person behind the practice
I did not find this work because I was curious. I found it because I needed it.
Isabel Maria Jeworski. Founder of Monkey Mind Retreats. 850h+ Certified Yoga Teacher, Somatic Facilitator and Social Anthropologist based in Lisbon, Portugal.
Credentials
- · 850h+ Certified Yoga Teacher
- · Somatic Facilitator
- · EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) Practitioner
- · Breathwork Facilitator
- · Qigong Teacher
- · Ayurveda Practitioner
- · Eastern Psychology Programme, India
- · MSc Innovation Management & Entrepreneurship
- · Social Anthropologist
"I know first-hand how it feels to be constantly stressed, disconnected, and unable to process what is actually happening. I tried everything. None of it reached the root. That is why I built Monkey Mind Retreats."
Isabel started teaching yoga in 2020, after years of deep study in Social Anthropology and a personal journey through burnout and nervous system dysregulation. She founded Monkey Mind Retreats that same year, working full-time in corporate while quietly building something that mattered. In 2023, she went full-time.
Since then she has guided more than 500 people across 13 retreats and two yoga teacher trainings, in Sesimbra, the Alentejo, Ericeira and the Himalayas. She has facilitated corporate wellness programmes for teams at Rydoo and Fidelidade across Europe.
Her approach is rooted in the body-based trauma research of Bessel van der Kolk: the insight that stress, trauma and emotional patterns are not stored in the mind. They are stored in the nervous system, the tissue, the breath. Which means you cannot think your way out. You have to move through it.
Before going full-time with Monkey Mind, Isabel spent three years in international software sales at Deltek Inc, working across Europe. She knows what performance pressure actually feels like from the inside. That is where much of her corporate work comes from. As founder of Monkey Mind Retreats, over 70% of her role is in sales, marketing and personal branding.
Monkey Mind Retreats is her answer to a gap she experienced herself. A combination of yoga, somatic therapy, EFT, breathwork, qigong and Ayurveda, held in small groups, in Portugal, with the kind of depth and care that cannot be found in a weekend workshop.
In the room
Where the work actually happens.
What we believe
Three principles. Everything builds from here.
The body is not the problem. It is the solution.
Stress, trauma and emotional pain are held in the nervous system, not in your thoughts. Healing begins when we stop trying to manage symptoms and start working with the root.
Science and spirit are not enemies.
Everything we do is grounded in neuroscience: polyvagal theory, the research of Bessel van der Kolk, Somatic Experiencing. Ancient wisdom and modern research point to the same truth.
Transformation requires community.
You cannot witness yourself in isolation. Small groups, held carefully, create the conditions for real change. Some guests leave as lifelong friends.
The approach
Why your mind cannot think its way out.
"The body keeps the score."
Bessel Van Der Kolk, PTSD researcher, Harvard Medical School
Chronic stress, burnout, anxiety and emotional patterns that won't shift are not stored in your thoughts. They are stored in your nervous system, in the muscle tension you carry in your shoulders, the shallow breathing you don't notice, the hypervigilance that has become your baseline.
No amount of thinking about the problem will resolve it. You can understand your patterns completely, have years of insight from therapy, read all the books and still feel stuck. Because the stress is not a cognitive pattern. It is a physiological state.
The body is not the problem. The body is the solution.
The toolkit
Six methods. One integrated approach.
Yoga
Not as exercise but as a technology for nervous system regulation. Every session is sequenced intentionally to move the body from fight/flight into rest-and-digest. Hatha and Vinyasa, adapted to where the group is each day.
Breathwork
The breath is the only autonomic function we can consciously control, and it is a direct line to the nervous system. Specific breathwork patterns can shift a dysregulated state in minutes. A tool for life.
EFT — Emotional Freedom Technique
A science-backed method of tapping specific acupressure points while holding a thought or emotion in mind. Clinical trials show EFT reduces cortisol by up to 43% and resolves emotional charges that have been stuck for years.
Somatic Therapy
Body-based therapy inspired by Somatic Experiencing (Peter Levine) and the research of Bessel Van Der Kolk. We work with sensation, movement and the body's own impulses to release what has been held in the nervous system.
Inner Work
Structured, facilitated journaling designed to surface what is underneath the day-to-day noise. Not free writing. Each prompt is built to move something. Followed by integration and sharing in a held group container.
Qigong & Ayurveda
Qigong cultivates life-force energy and teaches the body to move without effort or force. Ayurveda provides a seasonal, daily rhythm of food, sleep and practice that supports the nervous system's natural capacity to regulate.
The research
Not woo. Not faith. Science you can read.
Bessel Van Der Kolk
The Body Keeps the Score
Trauma and chronic stress are held in the body, not as memories, but as physiological states. Healing requires working with the body directly.
Stephen Porges
Polyvagal Theory
The vagus nerve is the body's master regulator. Practices that activate the ventral vagal state, including yoga, breathwork and community, create the conditions for healing.
Peter Levine
Somatic Experiencing
Animals in the wild recover from traumatic events instinctively through movement. Humans have the same capacity. It just needs the right container.
Dawson Church
EFT Research
Multiple RCTs show EFT reduces cortisol by up to 43% in a single session. One of the fastest evidence-based methods for emotional regulation available.
Certifications
The training behind the work.
Pre and Post Natal Yoga Consultant · Yoga Vidya Gurukul, India
150h Yoga Psychology Programme · Yoga Vidya Gurukul, India · 2024
350h Advanced Teacher Training · Delight Yoga, Amsterdam · 2023
200h Yoga Alliance — Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT200)
Yoga Alliance Registry Card
Additional certifications
Somatic Facilitator Training
EFT Practitioner Certification
Breathwork Facilitator
Qigong Teacher
Ayurveda Practitioner
Eastern Psychology Programme, India
MSc Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship
500+
guests guided
13
retreats facilitated
850h+
teacher training hours
6+
years teaching
Ready to meet Isabel?
Book a free 15-minute call. No pitch, no pressure. An honest conversation about where you are and what might help.
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