Supporting
Change and
Transformation
through
Presencing
I create spaces for
presencing where future impulses
can emerge.
Shift the inner place of listening,
learn to manage discomfort,
be with the not-knowing.
With clients I co-create and
cultivate stillness and
inner wakefulness for
better relationships and a
better world.
Presencing Institute
www.presencing.org
"If you want to affect and impact outer change, you need to culitvate the interior dimension first. That's the leverage which will transform our relationships. And if we transform our relationships, we transform everything."
Otto Scharmer
Co-founder of the Presencing Institute
pause, open,
listen
Opening the mind, the heart, and the will is the gateway to holding space for others and for listening with care, compassion and courage, also to oneself.
What I offer
As facilitator I specialize in providing training courses and practice circles and holding space in one-on-one sessions that support self-awareness. The processes lead to a felt sense of the depth of our connection: with oneself, with potential waiting to be realized, with others, and with the living Earth.
When I suffered burn-out in 2005, early in my teaching career, I discovered that a breakdown can be a break-through. During the years of recovery I found Joseph Jaworski's Synchronicity and Otto Scharmer's Theory U, both dovetailing remarkably with my inquiry into centre-periphery wholeness and the double time-stream in my movement work (as eurythmy teacher), and learning to teach from the heart.
My quest has been to facilitate and support my clients in honing their capacity to listen deeper, also to their essential selves. My ongoing research focuses on the social field, listening modalities, heart-centred leading, and presencing.
In 2020, a few weeks before the global pandemic, I launched the first conversation circles where groups engaged in meaningful dialogue. Lockdown subsequently prevented these meetings from continuing and I spent the ensuing months deepening my inquiry. Since those first beginnings my offerings have transformed and developed into the practice circles and one-on-one sessions that I facilitate currently.
Since 2024 I am enrolled in the Presencing Institute's courses. This study complements the more than two decades in movement classes that have taught me the value of openness, being present, embodying the human experience, and the potency of the quiet moment and stillness. Embodying practices, sensing and presencing are the key components of my facilitating.
And then there is Love.
I facilitate the How to Love course and the Hoe om Lief te Hê kursus. I am a member of the Active Practical Love Initiative, furthering the work of Dr Tessabella Lovemore.
(Visit www.tessabellalovemore.com or click on the arrow in the Contact page.)
Embodied Presence
Eurythmy
Particular eurythmy movements express being present in empathic listening, or help to become centred in the body.
Social Presencing Theatre (SPT)
I use embodying practices in all my courses and sessions to cultivate a felt sense of the social field or the dynamic interplays in listening. The practices of Social Presencing Theatre help to feel the body in the current reality and to sense potential and possibility.
SPT Practitioner Development Program
Please support my campaign to attend the 9-month Social Presencing Theatre Practitioner Development Program: https://www.backabuddy.co.za/campaign/support-cobies-training-in-embodied-presence
Features
Sensing from deeper inner places of knowing, you or your team can develop listening capacity, access grounded clarity and a stronger sense of purpose, learn to connect from the heart, and recognise your authentic contribution to the good in the world.
One-on-One Presencing Sessions
I hold a generative space where you explore and connect with what is emerging in your work or personal life. Find more centred grounding, or clarify intentions and identify your next steps - the space is yours. Each session is like an artwork that comes into being through our co-creating, conversation, and embodying. You choose if you want only 1 session or a series of sessions, each building on the other. We meet in person, in Cape Town, or online on an agreed platform.
Learn MoreListening Practitioner's Circles
In this intensive series of 7 sessions the participants immerse themselves in the Theory U listening framework This framework guides you: - to shift your inner place of listening, - to practice listening in real time, - to learn to hold space for deeper connecting. We cultivate stillness, embody, journal, discuss, explore and experience, and practice the capacity to lead from the heart.
Learn MoreListening Circles in the Workplace
The complex world asks for ever deeper listening to know how to steer through, to make good decisions, and to operate from a stronger sense of connectedness. Teams that bring attention to their listening create the potential for connecting that enhances the quality of relationships, bring care and connection into the workplace, and enable transformative change. The levels of listening framework is a potent framework to facilitate generative decision-making in meetings. I tailor the course to your specific needs.
Learn MoreTestimonials
Alix C.
Participant in a Listening Practitioner's CircleThe listening circle helped me to strengthen the bridge between me and my friends. I have learnt to be more attentive, more observing, more gentle and understanding of others around me. It is amazing what happens when one truly feels heard.
Nadia L.
Participant in a Listening Practitioner's CircleCobie's work had a profound impact on me. I would go as far as saying that meeting her, and embarking on her work, changed my life. I am exploring ways to understand myself and life better and love finding ways to "know thyself", but this gentle and incredible new learning of listening that she teaches is subtly potent and powerful and it will awaken you to things you didn't even consider or know before. I still have much to learn, but I would deeply recommend embarking on this process. It's the biggest gift you could give yourself.
Ebrahim J.
Client who attended a Listening Circle in the WorkplaceCobie helped me unlock a deeper level of communication—adapting how I speak, strengthening how I listen, and improving my relationships at work and at home. Through practical tools and thoughtful guidance, I learned how to navigate difficult conversations, express myself with more clarity and confidence, and understand others on a deeper level. Her approach is insightful, grounded, and immediately applicable, creating lasting positive change both personally and professionally.
Dennis S.
Client in One-on-One Presencing SessionsOver the years I have found that the essence of meaningful wisdom seems typically and consistently to be found in the present moment, experienced with alertness. The one-on-one "Presencing" sessions that I have enjoyed with Cobie Roelvert have been highly distilled experiences, presented with well sharpened tools that I am able to take away and use again and again, in my own time.
Blog
Contact
- Cape Town, South Africa
- In person sessions in Plumstead, Cape Town. Online sessions: Monday to Friday 08.00 to 16.00 SAST or by arrangement. Trainings / circles in your workplace, school, or community.
Let's get in touch. I offer a complimentary 30-minute conversation to get to know your needs and for you to meet me.
thing today