Amihan Zemp
“If life has any meaning at all,
then suffering must also have meaning.”
-Viktor Frankl
The question of the meaning of pain has been with me since childhood. My own deep experiences of suffering gradually turned it into an existential challenge.
How can we find meaning in pain and suffering?
Through intense engagement with my own inner processes, I’ve come to see that the meaning of pain begins to unfold when we turn toward it with sincerity and honesty.
By learning to allow and endure pain — both the parts of us that resist it and those we have suppressed — it becomes a key to discovering deeper aspects within ourselves. Through this conscious turning toward it, we become better able to hold ourselves through painful processes and, at the same time, initiate changes in our inner judgments and in our external lives. Pain can then be experienced not only as a burden, but as a meaningful part of our existence — one that reveals something essential about us and life itself.
This profound process creates space to experience the paradoxical nature of pain — both its darkest depths and its penetrating vitality and unexpected beauty. Time and again, this has allowed me to experience a deep sense of meaning.
By guiding the process, I want to make this experience accessible to others.
My work is grounded in the belief in allowing and acknowledging the unwanted, difficult, and flawed — not to eliminate them, but to use them as raw material for something new.
I work intuitively, combining inquiry and exploration — both compassionate and directly confrontational.
In addition to dialogue, I incorporate creative and expressive approaches, along with the integration of the body — such as movement or body awareness — to engage additional sensory channels and access the unconscious.
Possible Areas of Focus
- Loneliness
- Depression and existential crises of meaning
- Excessive fears and internal blockages
- Anger and suppressed emotions
- Separation and loss
- Unwanted behavior patterns that repeatedly lead to difficulties and conflicts
- Inner conflicts and difficulties in making decisions
My Approach
We explore what is unwanted, disruptive, and resisted. Through targeted questions, I help uncover contradictions that often arise from conflicting, battling, or neglected inner parts.
Carefully, we explore these parts: how does their suffering manifest? What purpose do they serve, and what underlying beliefs are they rooted in? What do these parts specifically need from you and where do they want to lead you?
When we connect with the suffering of these parts, self-compassion can begin to emerge, allowing us to form a new relationship with pain and opening the door to a shift in perspective. We begin to understand it in a new light, recognizing its purpose and what it seeks to reveal. It is soothed, we gain clarity, and find new capacity for action and creativity.
This process unveils new, often unexpected perspectives and gradually strengthens trust in our own path.
That’s how I understand the meaning of pain.
Background and Experience
- Training as a Holistic - Psychological Coach (IKP, Zurich)
- Trauma-sensitive bodywork through yoga (Eve Eichenberger, Zurich)
- Advanced training in process work using creative methods (Marianne Sinner, Zurich)
- Introductory courses in Process - Oriented Psychology (IPA, Zurich)
- Many years of personal process work and self-exploration with Martin Boss (Pfad der Kraft, Oberdiessbach)
- Academic studies in the Study of Religion (University of Fribourg / Mejiro University Tokyo)
Rate & Contact
CHF 160 per hour
A sliding scale is available upon request, depending on financial circumstances. Feel free to get in touch at amihan@amihan.ch