About Rose
I am Rose (Rosanne), born and raised in the Netherlands and trained as a clinical psychologist. I studied at the VU Amsterdam and, at 26, I began my career as a military psychologist.
My life as a psychologist and aerobics instructor looked solid and “together,” but inside there was a quiet and deep ache, a sense of loneliness, and feelings of “not belonging” and being “not good enough”.
Being sensitive and used to always adapting to others, I was naturally trained to tune in to people, a trait that is now one of my finer qualities.
At 28, life invited me into a deep inner initiation that came in the form of depression. Looking back, I see those years as a strong medicine that helped me release what was not truly mine and led me closer to who I am.
It stripped away everything I thought I was and had—old identities, roles, and beliefs about myself,
until only what was true remained.
Instead of seeing myself as broken, I began to dive.
I released layer after layer of old beliefs, met my own shadows and pain,
and discovered the pearls hidden beneath.
From this deep inner work, my practice in Sexual Healing for Women was born,
a place where women could meet their own truth, sensitivity, feminine power,
and feminine energies in a safe, embodied way.
When I was 42, I came to Hawaiʻi for the first time.
The unexpected happened: I fell in love with an Englishman
who had already lived here for more than 20 years.
We married, lived together with five cats and a dog, and built a life on the island.
After many years, our togetherness shifted into friendship.
We are now happily divorced and best friends.
Still connected, but in a different form.
I live in Captain Cook (South Kona), together with my dog Kala,
who accompanies me almost everywhere.
Kala is two and a half years old and a special soul with three legs.
When she gets tired on walks, she rests in her doggy backpack.
She is a rescue, continuously learning to relax, feeling safe, and be herself.
Kala has made it very clear that she wants to be part of future retreats.
She is a happy girl and a healing dog. You’ll love her.
Hawaiʻi is an intense island to live on. Life flows or not. There is no in between.
In Hawai’i we believe that Fire Goddess Pele’s energy and activities have a say in it :) and that she tests people when they come to the island.
When I just moved here, Pele decide to test me when in need of a car.
I lost four thousand dollars in half a year on shitty cars,
after which she granted me with a very good car, a steal of a deal.
The test was over.
For me, living on Hawaiʻi Island meant a release of more layers
(this time in a gentle way), more honesty, more surrender, more listening, more remembering of who I am in my essence.
I deeply know I have lived lives in Hawaiʻi,
which makes it a humbling experience to return now as a haole (stranger/foreigner), with no remembrance of the language or ways.
Here, surrounded by the immense beauty of nature,
my essence and authentic nature came fully to light.
The land, ocean, lava, trees, plants, flowers, forests, and mountains
showed me depths, strength, love, and clarity in myself
that I had never experienced before.
Now, I hold space for others to do the same,
to let their authenticity and essence come to light.
Welcome to AlohaRose Retreats on Hawaiʻi Island!
Aloha nō, Rose
