Rubem Joy Fockink – Member of the KuschelRaum Leadership & Training Team
Rubem is a trauma-informed Cuddle Therapist, massage therapist, yoga teacher, and mindfulness trainer.
Known for his warmth, empathy, and gentle presence, he is passionate about supporting people on their personal journey. Through his work, he helps others cultivate emotional healing, self-empowerment, and deeper, more conscious human connection.
Helping people has always been a natural part of who I am.
Over the years, I have come to understand that the language of the body and the heart is often the most powerful way to support another person. Everything we experience is reflected in the body and stored there. Through new, positive experiences that include the body, old wounds can begin to heal, allowing more ease, joy, and pleasure to emerge.
That is why I believe that reconnecting with the body’s innate wisdom and vitality is one of the keys to personal growth and lasting transformation.
I grew up in Brazil, where physical closeness is a natural part of everyday life. I loved that warmth and affection, yet at times it also felt overwhelming. Later, after moving to Sweden, I discovered the opposite experience. Although I had an active social life and felt well integrated, I rarely experienced warm, unconditional touch. Over time, I realized how deeply I missed it. The physical distance that had initially felt liberating—after growing up with the almost constant closeness of South American culture—eventually became one of the factors contributing to a period of depression. I discovered that I needed both: nurturing touch and the ability to set clear boundaries.
My path of healing led me through yoga, psychotherapy, and bodywork, and ultimately to a completely new career. I left academic life behind to work directly with people—first as a yoga teacher, later as a massage therapist. While this work was deeply fulfilling, I still felt that something was missing: an approach in which loving presence is more important than technique; a space where safe intimacy becomes possible because personal boundaries are communicated clearly and respected fully; a place where these skills can be practiced and learned, and where deeper connection with ourselves and others is not just a welcome side effect but the very purpose of the work. When I discovered KuschelRaum, I immediately knew that I had found exactly that place.
Today, in my individual sessions, workshops, professional trainings, and retreats, I combine yoga, massage, and Cuddle Therapy to create spaces where people feel genuinely safe, welcomed, and supported in their personal growth.
I have always been a generalist, and my professional path reflects that.
I was born and raised in the Brazilian countryside, in a unique cultural landscape between vibrant cities and the rainforest—between social challenges and remarkable warmth, openness, and human connection.
For more than twenty-five years, I have explored different forms of embodied practice and personal development. My journey began with Asian martial arts, where I first discovered Buddhist meditation and the experience of flow through movement. From there, I immersed myself in a wide range of approaches that integrate body and mind, particularly various traditions of yoga.
Alongside this, I pursued an international academic career in Brazil, France, Sweden, and Germany, giving me the opportunity to explore the human body and mind from both scientific and philosophical perspectives.
Today, my work brings these worlds together. As a trainer, group facilitator, Cuddle Therapist, yoga teacher, and massage therapist, I combine practical experience, theoretical knowledge, and deep emotional sensitivity to create spaces where people can discover themselves, reconnect with their bodies, and experience their own capacity for growth and healing. My greatest aspiration is to encourage people to continue growing while discovering that many of the resources they seek already exist within themselves.
My Greatest Teachers and Inspirations
Among those who have most deeply influenced my work are Max Strom, Dr. Betty Martin, Krishnatakis & Kerys, David Swenson, Richard Freeman & Mary Taylor, and Dami Charf.
Cuddle Therapy & Conscious Cuddle Experiences
- Professional Experience (since 2020)
- Professional Cuddle Therapist
- Conscious Cuddle Experience Facilitator
- Member of the KuschelRaum Training Team alongside Angeline Heilfort
- Professional training in Cuddle Therapy and Cuddle Party Facilitation
- International retreats and professional trainings
- Online and in-person workshops
Continuing Education
- Advanced training with Angeline Heilfort (2020–2021), including Cuddle Therapy, Cuddle Party Facilitation, Process-Oriented Cuddle Therapy, and related approaches
- Workshops with Dr. Betty Martin (2021), including Waking Up the Hands, Listening Turns, and The Three-Minute Game
- Somatic Coaching, Psychology & Trauma Work
Professional Experience (since 2021)
- Somatic Coach
- Process-Oriented Cuddle Therapist
Continuing Education
- Somatic Emotional Integration (Trauma Therapy) with Dami Charf (ongoing since 2022)
- Breath to Heal with Max Strom – integrating yoga, breathwork, and trauma-informed approaches (ongoing since 2020)
- Healing the Father Wound with Omer Schonfeld (2022)
- Trauma-Informed Bodywork with Pascal Beaumart (2021)
- Somatic Regulation Coaching Tools with Lucas Forstemeyer (2020)
Additional studies include:
- Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
- Yoga Psychology
- Psychology, Behavioral Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, and Neuropsychology at Lund University, Sweden
- Massage, Bodywork & Energy Work
Professional Experience (since 2018)
- Massage Therapist
- Workshop Facilitator
- Assistant Trainer in the Intuitive Thai Meridian Massage training program at the Somatic Academy Berlin
Training
- Wellness Oil Massage & Slow Touch Massage
- Dynamic Thai Massage
- Therapeutic Flying & Thai Massage
- Reiki
- Intuitive Thai Meridian Massage
- Yoga
Professional Experience (since 2014)
- Yoga Teacher
- Individual sessions, group classes, workshops, and retreats
- Member of the Professional Association of Yoga Teachers in Germany (BDY)
Four-Year Professional Yoga Teacher Training
- Ashtanga & Vinyasa Yoga
- Pranayama & Meditation
- Sanskrit & Classical Yoga Texts
- Yoga Philosophy & Psychology
- Anatomy & Medical Foundations
- Teaching Methodology & Group Facilitation
Further studies with teachers including David Swenson, Richard Freeman, Katrin Knauth, Wolfgang Riedl, Eckard Wolz-Gottwald, and Anna Trökes.
Martial Arts & Self-Defense
- Practice since 1993
- Qi Gong
- Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
- Shotokan Karate
- Shaolin Kung Fu
- Shorinji Kempo
- Aikido
- Krav Maga
- San Jian
