Claude Acker

About Claude Acker

Claude is passionate about spreading mindfulness in education and created a Dutch branch of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Wake-Up Schools, as well as running his own practice for mindfulness and meditation.

Claude is a member of the Order of Interbeing and a sangha builder in his hometown, The Hague.

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Claude was born in France in 1959 and has been a teacher in the Netherlands for over fifteen years. In 2013 he decided that he needed to follow his deeply felt wish to spread mindfulness in education. Together with Tineke Spruytenburg he created a Dutch branch of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Wake-Up Schools www.Happyteachers.nu

Claude is also passionate about helping spread mindfulness as a way to inspire people to transform their suffering for people of all ages. He is also a Qi Gong teacher and believes physical practice can help calm the mind. He says:

“It’s nearly two thousand years ago that the phrase ‘A healthy mind in a healthy body’ was written down by a Latin Poet, but it’s as accurate today as it was back then. I believe that we need to take care of our body in order to be able to get to know our mind, to free our mind.

Body and mind are communicating vessels and when we invest in a healthy body, there is more space to connect with our mind and descend into the roots of our suffering. It is my conviction that a lot of our physical ailments are caused by the suffering that so easily arises in the human mind.  So to reach balance in our life we need to take care of both our bodies and our minds. Mindfully taking care of our body is an important act of selfcompassion.

When I practice Qi Gong (bamboo stick exercises)  I gently awaken my body and my mind follows in its path. Over the past years I had students report back to me that they were astonished by the powerful effects of these physical exercise. Not only their physical wellbeing approved (for some people the Qi Gong exercises even relieve chronical pain) but they also experience a calmer or more spacious mind, better sleep, a revitalization and many more benefits. Come and discover what Qi Gong can do for you.

Claude also offers trainings and workshops for teachers and other staff in Dutch schools.

He is a member of the Order of Interbeing and long term lay student of Zen Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. Claude believes in the power of community to help support the wellbeing of all.

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