I'm Louise Nygaard-Petersen, the host of Sensory Academy. Though originally born and raised in Denmark, Arctic nature and lifestyle has attracted me since I first set foot on Greenland for work in 2013. Since relocating to Northern Norway in 2014, I've spent more time surrounded by nature in rural remoteness, than by people in urban settings. Nature is my greatest teacher of sensory awareness, embodied cognition & connectedness, and the art of senscaping.

My background

Ever since my early worklife as an occupational therapist, I've felt compelled to explore and apply multisensory awareness to my own worklife and private life. Harnessing the strengths of multisensory awareness, elevates the potential for designing and creating experiences, so much more purposeful, meaningful, satisfying, empowering... and healthy.

I recognize the call in contemporary society, to move steadfast beyond the rigid, conventional five-sensory perspective, into the truly MULTI sensory age. So, for my master's degree in Tourism Management, I delved further into the crossdisciplinary territory of multisensory experience.

I dedicated my thesis (icon link below) to innovative, exploratory research on the "Art of Senscaping" and the multisensory dimension of commercial hospitality and experience design in the experience economy. A number of unexpected, interesting discoveries revealed themselves, on how professional experience designers conventionally understand and miss out on the opportunity to harness the multisensory dimension, for greater value creation.

Therefore, I am passionately dedicated to the vision of introducing the "Art of Senscaping" beyond the conventional approach. I draw on interdisciplinary, science-backed, holistic knowledge, both when hosting guests on my homestead in the Arctic, and when assisting leaders and staff become the groundbreaking "Yodas of senscaping" in their own organisations.

Our environments and experience products can be customized much better to individual sensory capacity and needs, by profiling core sensory caracteristics in

  • ourselves,
  • activities we engage in, and
  • space surrounding us.

I teach courses in the basic principles of eight-sensory senscaping, to give private people as well as professionals better insight in the dynamics of experience design and co-creation.

I have dedicated several years and ressources to the development and professionalisation of an efficient, easily applicable management tool for the strategic:

  • analysis
  • assessment
  • profiling
  • design &
  • execution

of activities for enhanced experiences.

Human cairns of inspiration

Deep underneath my approach to work and life, are some ideas and values for me to flag. These are conveyed, sometimes through theory, science and casestudies, other times through philosophy, fiction, poetry, music and visual art.

Understanding humanity

Viktor E. Frankl,

for his ability to portray human's search (and need) for meaning and our innate, creative life force.

Paulo Cuelho,

for portraying life's big existential challenge and infinite potential, in the shape of a little boy on a grand journey.

Richard Bach,

for conveying the human potential and group dynamics, through the eyes of an extraordinary seagull.

Pema Chodron,

for daring to delve into the darkness of fear and destruction, in order to give nutrition to courage, forgiveness and development.

Mihalyi Cshiksentmihalyi,

for his ignition of a whole movement of positive psychology with theories on the peak experience, and for his coining the very important concept of FLOW.

People applying sensory neuroscience for the good of humanity and societal impact, are ultimately what made me enter this multisensory universe to begin with... For their perpetual inspiration, I draw on contemporary wizzards such as

Bessel van der Kolk

A genuine lighttower in the roam of embodied cognition, who to this day continues to inspire, is Bessel van der Kolk.

Gabor Maté

A legendary pioneer in the roam of trauma healing, who perpetually insists that everything is connected, and thus is worthy of a healing mindset, is Gabor Maté. Gabor is the reason why I think we need to expand the healing mindset from institutionalized health profession settings and apply it to all that we engage in.

Peter Levine

An early pioneer in the roam of somatic experiencing is Peter A. Levine. His early book, Waking the Tiger, sparked a worldwide revolution in connecting body and mind.

Understanding nature

Nature in us, us in nature... the most vital aspect of life.

Arne Næss,

for allways insisting on understanding this world and humankind through a biocentric telescope, rather than choosing a blurred antropocentric, etnocentric or egocentric caleidoscope.

Dag Jørund Lønning

for communicating the need for a regenerative world view and for conveying how we in the current unsustainable growth paradigm (with focus on production and innovation), are not running out of solutions, but must make active, practical choices in order to rather re-create and regenerate.

My perpective on experience creation

I also place great value and thankfullnes in the responsiveness, faith and support of people in the landscape of the contemporary Experience Economy.

Joseph Pine

The most impactful person, validating and challenging my thought processes on the subject of experience economy and progression of economic value creation, is beyond a doubt the applied math wizz, Joe Pine. Joe co-authored "The Experience Economy" with Jim Gilmore. The internationally acclaimed business advisors came first, coining the groundbreaking economical paradigm shift moving us beyond the service economy back in 1998, and are now pioneering the whole new "transformation" perspective on economic value creation. Joe is also a renowned US Fortune 500 advisor and co-founder of Strategic Horizons.

In 2022, Joe kindly allowed me to join him for a two day exclusive walk&talk marathon through the streets of Stockholm. Joe continues to inspire and challenge me, through confidential conversation as well as through his and Jim Gilmore's perpetually developing conceptual ideas on economic value creation. Most importantly, he also keeps encouraging me to bang relentlessly on that seriously hardcore glass ceiling. Cigarillo-smoking or not...

Kristen Albert Ellingsen

In a local arena, I have found immense inspiration and personal support in my back-then student counsellor and later collegue, Kristen Albert Ellingsen (KA). KA found a gentle and patient, yet challenging and progressive pathway to introduce me to a wholesome, sustainable understanding of the commercial roam of service and experience co-creation and marketing. He was the one introducing me to the Nordic School of Marketing and to the emergence of the Service Dominant Logic.

Trond Blindheim

Next to KA stands the external censor of my master's thesis, Norway's "Brand Yoda", Trond Blindheim. Trond welcomed the essential message in my thesis beyond my wildest hopes and expectations, and wholeheartedly embraced my ideas with his ahead-of-time openness, while confidently supporting me in continuing this journey towards promoting sensory awareness in all value creation

Core skills

People work has been my trade for my entire professional life. From teaching experience design and innovation as an associate professor at the Arctic University of Norway, to executing workshops on sensory processing and senscaping within the health sector in Mexico, Denmark, Greenland and Norway. I draw on scientific domains such as neurophysiological, psychological and behavioral dimensions of sensory processing. I have a health professional background and hold a bachelor's degree in occupational therapy since 2008, which has provided me with extensive knowledge from years of therapeutic people work and the leadership role in the public health arena. While practicing occupational therapy, I've spent decades building professional capacity on how embodiment of sensory stimuli affects the experiences, reactions, behaviour, social skills and life satisfaction of people, under different life circumstances.

Today, I decline therapeutic assignments, though still collaborating with stakeholders on the salutogenic (health oriented) dimension of value creation. My main focus today is: experience & event design, customer and patient journey assessments, digital UX:design, sensory marketing, sensory informed environments, rehabilitation and habilitation processes and longterm public health promotion strategies such as public space nudging and adaptations, city planning and architecture.

My additional skills

Collaborative, processual approach

I'm skilled in insight-oriented process facilitation, since 2008 and can draw on elements from "reflecting team", a form of narrative, peer-initiated supervision. Since 2012 I've integrated elements from “forum-theatre”, a more dramaturgic process management tool, which uses roleplay and interactive audience in changemaking as value creation. This method remains highly efficient for guiding teams into gentle, dynamic transformation through immersive experience.

I'm certified MediYoga®-instructor (since 2016), having also health professional competence on contemplative practices, and how these potentially contribute to enhancing reflective, creative, and health promoting processes in individuals and teams.

My recent activities

Recent projects encompass temporary teaching positions as assistant professor at the Arctic University of Norway. Subjects I guided my students through?

innovation, experience production and naturebased tourism.

In a 2022 consultancy job, I assisted the destination company Visit Lyngenfjord with the finalization of a three year long, comprehensive sustainability project (assessment of execution and final report).