Make sense with the senses

Who we are

Bastes is a platform for crafting connections and creating experiences, nurturing mind, body, and soul.

We offer developing workshops and unique retreats focused on health, creativity, leadership, and organizational skills, fostering personal and collective growth.

In summer, we operate in Swedens first Marine National Park, Kosterhavet, on the island North of Koster with our Café and Wine Bar.

In autumn, we move to Stockholm, arranging retreats, producing performing arts, and hosting workshops.

Our deep love for the ocean and coastal nature inspires everything we do. Named after Basteviken beach, Bastes is a ”harbor” for creative souls to gather and flourish.

The coastal area are known for its strong, women, who managed life and business with resilience. Women who kept the home fires burning while their fishermen partners braved the oceans. This spirit of community and empowerment is foundational to our platform.

 

Navigating Life: The Story Behind

Hi, Im Mette

When I was just ten years old, I had my own boat. Navigating the ocean, feeling the salty sea breeze on my face, I was on top of the world. Surfing my own waves, I felt a profound sense of flow and freedom. The independence and control I experienced out there on the water was exhilarating. It was a time of pure joy and living in the moment.

The Struggle: Losing and finding my way as I grew up, life took a different turn. I found myself in a stressful job situation, burdened with anxiety and chronic pain from tight muscles and overstrained bones. The pressures of everyday life weighed heavily on me, to the point where I could barely manage to walk slowly in nature. My body and mind were in a state of constant overload. Then, something changed. I returned to the ocean, spending two blissful months every summer in Koster. Lying on the rocks like a seal, gazing into the vast open ocean, I found solace and a sense of connection. It was here that I began my journey of healing.

The Transformation: From healing to helping I sought therapy and immersed myself in learning about holistic health practices that aligned with my values. Embracing a theoretically humanistic, existential, holistic, bio-psycho-social, hermeneutical, and phenomenological approach Integrative therapy  – grounded in France and Germany in the 60`s, I discovered a new way of navigating life. I learned the true essence of flow and how to incorporate it into every aspect of my life and work.

The Mission: Empowering others today, this transformative journey is at the heart of my service company. We believe in empowering individuals to become the captains of their own lives. Our approach is rooted in the principles I learned and lived through—finding balance, embracing moments of flow, and navigating life’s challenges with grace and confidence.

Do you want to learn more about how to navigate your own life and become your own captain? Join us, and let’s embark on this journey together.

Love,

Mette Aakerholm

Mette Aakerholm, the founder and Creative Director, is an entrepreneur with a multidisciplinary approach. She is deeply driven by the creation of ”spaces” that foster interaction, communication, exploration, learning, development, and co-creation between human beings.

With 27 years of experience in the documentary film industry, she leverages her extensive training in integrative therapy, supervision, and coaching, along with her personal experiences overcoming health challenges, as life-saving and highly effective tools for navigating life and find meaning and moments of flow and true happiness.

Growing up on a Norwegian island, Mette had her own boat at age ten and learned how to navigate the ocean.

Her sense of flow and freedom on the water serves as both her inspiration and the foundation for everything she creates.