A Walk of Wonder, Whimsy and Witnessing
Let the streets of Amsterdam be a mirror to your inner life and help you practice the art of noticing things you haven’t before
A guided hour that stays with you
Most of us rush through our neighbourhoods - and our lives - while rarely seeing them. We follow the same routes, carry the same preoccupations, and miss the gnomes winking at us from the heights, the sparkle of light dancing on the canals, the words carved into ordinary doorways. Just like we miss the quieter signals from within: the whispers of what’s actually important to us and not someone else, the pull towards something that we can’t put into words yet, the vague restlessness that’s searching for release.
This walk doesn't ask you to meditate in a studio or journal at a desk. Instead, it uses De Pijp - its whimsical details, its community-tended bursts of colourful flowers, its century-old architecture built as a love letter to the working class - as the stage to an inner journey. You slow down. You practice noticing. You witness the beauty of the world around you, and you are witnessed by others walking alongside you.
Led by a psychologist and art therapy facilitator, each stop carries both an outer invitation (to look, to wonder) and an inner one (to reflect, to recognise). Come as you are, notice what you notice. Open yourself to being delighted and surprised, supported and seen.
What we’ll do
We'll move slowly through some of De Pijp's quieter streets, pausing at five stops - each chosen for what it holds, and what it might reflect back to you.
We'll walk, we'll linger, we'll look closely at things most people walk past.
And in between, we'll turn the same quality of attention inward.
Expect to feel more present than you have been in a while, and to leave with a renewed appreciation - for the world around you, and for yourself.
Why it works
The science and the wisdom behind it
I created this experience out of my love for this part of Amsterdam combined with a deep desire to help you connect - with the world around you, with others, with yourself. But there is a growing body of evidence supporting why experiences like this one work. Here is some of it.
Novelty
The brain is wired to stop registering things it has seen before. That has its benefits, but it can also easily make us feel like we’re stuck in a rut, repeating the same day over and over again, without much joy or excitement. The solution doesn't require big life changes. It just requires a different way of directing our focus, resulting in a greater sense of aliveness and presence.
The research
Novelty activates the dopaminergic reward system, increasing motivation, memory encoding, and positive affect. Research on defamiliarisation - seeing the familiar with new eyes - shows it reliably disrupts habitual thinking patterns and opens new cognitive and emotional perspectives.
Awe
Awe is defined as the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends our current understanding of the world, the feeling of things being bigger than us, which often has a liberating effect. We all experience awe, although most of us don’t go looking for it intentionally, and that’s an untapped resource. The best thing is - we can find it in things both big and small.
The research
Largely led by Dacher Keltner (UC Berkeley) research on regular awe walks suggests reduced daily stress and distress, increased compassion, and, interestingly, a growth of capacity for awe over time. Unlike most pleasures, awe doesn't seem to habituate. The more you practise it, the more available it becomes.
Attention restoration
Most of us spend our days in directed attention - the effortful, draining kind of focus required by screens, decisions, and deadlines. What restores it isn't just regular rest, exactly. It's soft fascination: the kind of effortless attention that doesn’t demand anything from us. Flowers, water, and unexpected details naturally invite this type of soft fascination, even in urban settings.
The research
Kaplan & Kaplan's Attention Restoration Theory shows that natural and softly fascinating environments restore depleted cognitive resources. Studies find measurable improvements in mood, focus, and mental clarity after even brief exposure - sometimes within minutes.
Witnessing
The combination of witnessing and being witnessed fulfils one of our basic, yet often sorely neglected, human needs - to be seen, to have our inner experience (what we notice, what moves us) received by others without judgement or advice. Walking together creates the conditions for it naturally, with gentle guidance helping everyone share only as much as they really want.
The research
Witnessing activates neural pathways that reduce threat response and increase openness to experience. Research shows that sharing positive experiences with others doesn't just feel good; it deepens the memory, strengthens the meaning, and builds connection even between strangers.
Hi, I’m Eva.
A psychologist and trained art therapy facilitator based in Amsterdam, living here joyfully with my husband and two young kids.
Through all the different work I’ve done over the course of the past 9 years as a self-employed psychologist, there’s been a common thread - I love to help other bring more meaning and joy to their lives. And I love to use novel, creative, somewhat unexpected ways of doing so, allowing for the element of surprise and imagination to work its magic.
I offer group workshops and individual sessions, designed to be accessible to anyone regardless of creative background. My approach draws on art therapy, psychology, and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) - but in practice, whatever the form, it mostly feels like a warm, guided space to pause, explore and find answers from within.