Skip to main content

About the founder - Bernadette Laermans

From Pressure to Presence. That is my personal and professional journey.

For years, I lived the way so many live today. Always on the move. Always taking responsibility. Always keeping at it.

As an entrepreneur, manager, and mother, I combined ambition with a life that seemed to move faster and faster. Even my yoga classes were mostly power yoga. Slowing down felt like wasting time.

Until, during my training as a Yoga Therapist, I discovered that true resilience doesn’t start with doing more, but with understanding how our body and nervous system function. For the first time, I learned the science behind what we often intuitively feel: our body reacts to stress long before our mind is aware of it. That discovery didn’t just change the way I work.

It changed my perspective on leadership, well-being, and human development.

Why I developed The Corporate Pilgrim®

During more than twenty years of experience in training, coaching, leadership, and organizational development, I saw the same pattern every time. People have sufficient knowledge. They often know perfectly well what they “should do.” And yet, they don’t manage to sustain long-term change.

Not because they aren’t motivated enough. But because their nervous system is constantly under pressure. I felt a methodology was missing that bridged the gap between science and daily practice. A method that translates complex insights from neurobiology, stress physiology, psychology, and body awareness into simple interventions that people can apply immediately.

That is how The Corporate Pilgrim Method® was born. A scientifically grounded and trauma-informed methodology that helps people regulate themselves better, make more conscious choices, and live and work with more peace, clarity, and resilience.

My expertise

More than twenty years of experience in training, coaching, leadership, and organizational development form the foundation of the Corporate Pilgrim Method® today.

My expertise combines insights from neuroscience, stress physiology, psychology, bodywork, and trauma-informed guidance into one integrated approach that is immediately applicable in organizations and individual coaching.

Including:

  • +20 years of experience in training, coaching, and organizational development
  • 10 years of leadership experience within the corporate world
  • Certified Stress & Burn-out Coach
  • Internationally certified Yoga Therapist
  • Trauma-informed facilitator (TCTSY)
  • Expertise in breathing, somatic work, and self-regulation
  • Trainer for organizations including How’s Work and RiseSmart

My way of working

I don’t see myself as a traditional trainer. Nor as someone who comes to provide all the answers. I see myself as the developer of a methodology and as a guide who helps people reconnect with the intelligence of their body.

My style is clear, no-nonsense, and scientifically grounded. I translate complex insights into simple tools that people can use immediately. No models that end up forgotten in a folder. But insights that remain felt, change behavior, and have a lasting impact. Because ultimately, sustainable change is not about knowing more. It’s about learning to function differently.

That is the essence of The Corporate Pilgrim®. From Pressure to Presence®.

Would you like to get started right away? Check the Spotify account.

The journey that The Corporate Pilgrim takes themselves

A lifelong ongoing process:

  • Certified Stress & Burn-out Coach, HRD academy – 2019
  • The Yoga Therapy Institute – since 2022:
    • Foundation Course, 100h
    • Releasing tension and creating safety in the body, embodiment 50h
    • Safety in Yoga Nidra & Relaxation for Yoga Therapy, 35h
    • Stress and Burn-out Yoga Therapy tools
    • Yoga Therapy tools for panic attacks
    • YT for Musculoskeletal Issues & Lower Back Pain 100h
    • Yoga Therapy for the Nervous System, Degenerative Disease and pain management, 50h
    • Yoga Therapy for the endocrine system and immune system disorders, 50h
    • Yoga Therapy Applications of Asana, Pranayama & Restorative Yoga, 50h
    • Applied Somatic Counseling Skills for Yoga Therapists, 50h
    • Yoga Therapy for Digestive Issues & The Gut Link, 50h
    • Yoga Therapy for the cardiovascular & respiratory System, 50h
    • Yoga Therapy for the reproductive system, family dynamics and the aging process, 50h
    • Yoga Therapy for menopause
    • Yoga Therapy for sleep health issues
    • Ayurvedic principles for Yoga Therapy, 50h
  • TCTSY Trauma Informed Yoga Facilitator
  • Restorative Yoga, 25h
  • Yoga Alliance certified Yoga Teacher 200h, Joachim Meire – 2019
  • The basic principles of Yoga, Center for Evening Education – 2018
  • Physical Coach, Center for Evening Education – 2015