HESTER de VRIES
is the founder of Pai Water Temple, a space dedicated to healing and exploration through the qualities of water in the valley of Pai, Northern Thailand.
With a background in behavioral science alongside somatic and aquatic training, Hester works in a grounded, attentive and intuitive way. Since 2021, together with her partner Teun Melis, she has been offering Aquatic Arts education, with a focus on Aquatic Therapy and Waterdance.
Her aquatic work is informed by the ongoing study of movement in water and influences from schools of FlyDeeper, Wataflow, Healing Dance. Her practice is shaped by training in Taoist arts, Breathwork, and Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy. Her journey into bodywork began with Vipassana meditation practice, which continues to anchor her approach.
Hester hosts a weekly Waterdance at Pai Water Temple, creating a consistent space for movement, inquiry, and connection with the water. Her facilitation begins from quiet attention, listening to the body and its natural rhythms.
As a mother of two, Hester brings a gentle, centered way of being into her facilitation. Together with Teun, she has followed a heart-centered path rooted in authenticity for over 15 years.
TEUN MELIS
lives and works in Pai, Northern Thailand. As part of his ongoing research into somatics and embodied living, he founded the Pai Water Temple in 2021 together with his partner, Hester de Vries. Here, therapeutic disciplines and explorations in warm water are facilitated in a natural hot springs pool, creating a unique environment for deep rest, healing, and reconnection.
Teun’s work is rooted in an early fascination with martial arts, which grew into a lifelong curiosity about human potential, body–mind awareness, and somatic intelligence.
His background in Leisure Management and counseling gradually evolved into a spaceholding practice spanning multiple healing disciplines, including Water Therapy, Water Dance, Contact Improvisation, Forest Bathing, Psychedelic Guidance, and Deep Tissue Bodywork.
In addition to one-on-one sessions, Teun offers his experience in hosting groups, leading somatic retreats, water-based workshops, nature immersions, and transformational journeys in both structured and intuitive formats.
His approach is informed by somatic education programs such as Towards Contact Improvisation, FlyDeeper, Wataflow, Healing Dance, Habitat Embryology, and Structural Energy Alignment. These influences shape the grounded, intuitive, and sensitive quality of his current work.