Ciska Matthes

Ciska Matthes is a Zen teacher, mindfulness trainer and yoga teacher based in Amsterdam-Zuid. She runs Het Oog van de Orkaan with her fellow teacher Stef Lauwers. Together they offer Zen meditation, mindfulness, hatha and yin yoga, qigong, individual guidance, and retreats and silent weekends.

She first learned meditation as a teenager in Poona, India. She later graduated in Social Psychology. In 1992 she travelled to Africa as a socially engaged journalist. She came back traumatised and worn out, and felt drawn to turn inward. She learned Zen meditation and then moved to Japan, where she trained in a Zen monastery for six years. Afterwards she trained for many years in the Theravada/Vipassana tradition, always returning to the Zen Way. The Advaita teachers Ramana Maharshi and Sri Moojibaba have also been a great inspiration to her.

In 2019 she completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training in Rishikesh, India, together with Stef. In 2024 the two were officially appointed Zen teachers by Jiun Hogen Roshi of the Noorder Poort Zen center in Drenthe. She leads retreats there, among them Zen & Yoga retreats.

In 2023 she published 'Herinneringen aan Harada Tangen roshi', a book about her Zen training in Japan. It is also available in English as 'Buddha Sees Everything'.

Het Oog van de Orkaan works largely on a donation basis, inspired by the Buddhist principle of dana, or generosity. The aim is that anyone can take part whatever their financial situation. Students describe her mindfulness guidance as caring, sober and with humor.