Beauty that begins within.

I have been searching for most of my life. Not restlessly — with genuine curiosity. Over twenty years I lived in Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Slovenia, Portugal, Poland, and the Netherlands. I traveled in a van. I lived in a self-sufficient eco community. I spent time in a Buddhist centre in the mountains of Portugal. I met the love of my life. I got pregnant. I lost my baby. And through all of it, I kept asking the same question: what does it really mean to be beautiful?

“I have seen so many people — perfect jaw lines, no wrinkles — and something was still missing. Beauty is not a shape. It is a feeling.”

My background is in massage therapy and body work. My grandparents and my father are doctors, and I always dreamed of becoming one myself. Instead I fell completely in love with the body — its anatomy, its fascia, its nervous system, its hormones. I studied anthropology — the knowledge of humans — and everything connected. How we see ourselves, what we believe, who we spend time with, how we breathe. It all shows up on our skin.

My deepest current fascination is fascia — not merely connective tissue, but an organ in its own right. The body’s most expansive organ, reaching further than skin, deeper than muscle. Like mycelium underground, fascia holds our posture, our history, our tension, and our freedom. Understanding fascia changed how I see aging, how I see skincare, and how I approach every treatment.

I love music. I love drumming and dancing. I play the didgeridoo — one of the oldest instruments on earth — for its resonance, its vibration, its way of calming the nervous system from the inside out. I walk barefoot whenever I can. In the forest when possible — to ground myself, to connect, to come back to something true. Every morning I walk through the forest with my dog Diuna — sometimes along the water, always among the trees. That walk is where everything begins.

I became increasingly conscious of everything that touches my body — what I wear, what I eat, what water I drink, what I put on my face. That awareness led me to start making my own cosmetics: 100% natural, organic, and honest. Pure Joy is the product line that came from that practice. Every jar carries the intention of those morning walks.

I am also an artist. I graduated from a craft university in the Polish mountains — and that education lives in everything I make. I knit. I sew. I make my own clothes, my own candles, my own soaps. Nothing mass-produced, nothing generic. I love working with my hands, and I see making creams the same way I see any other craft: it is art. Each batch is made with intention, by hand, for a purpose. Visit my shop at marialena.shop

That is also how I see my treatments. Every session is tailored to the individual in front of me. No two are the same. Like a piece of clothing made to fit one body perfectly — my treatments are designed exactly for your needs, your tension, your skin, your story. I am still learning every day. Still searching. Still in love with what humans are capable of — inside and out.

“I am the guide, not the hero. My role is to walk with you toward the beauty that was always already yours.”

I am owner of Maria Elena Natural Beauty and the my Little Spa in Koolwijk, Noord-Brabant. I offer treatments, workshops, and a personal program about supporting aging gracefully — not as something to be ashamed of, but as a map of a life fully lived. Because wrinkles are not flaws. They are your story.