My name is Nicholas. I’m a mindset coach, clinical hypnotherapist, spiritual navigator, and avid unraveler of human potential.

I help people transform mental suffer into self-mastery, reconnect them to their existential purpose and become who they truly are, creating the platform upon which they can build the life they are destined to live.

Presenting myself didn’t always sound that cool however. In my early twenties I experienced a massive burnout that left me dealing with clinical depression, crippling anxiety and living on pharmaceuticals for several years.

My quest for healing began when I left the psychiatric ER in a wheelchair. Unable to walk, my blood pressure dropping with every attempt to stand. My teeth clappering. A constant state of imminent panic attack had become my new normal. I hit rock bottom. An existential crisis so severe, I could no longer bear reality as we know it.

I went on to see 7 therapists. Trained multiple healing modalities. All to no avail. Intuitively, I felt that what I needed wasn’t going to be found in this go-to corner of our modern day society. As if something in the standard approach was defaulting the very machinery designed to make us well. Important components felt missing, and I could sense it.

I felt desperate and let down by the system. My loved ones didn’t know what to do with me. I longed to find a spiritually inclusive yet practical approach as opposed to the staleness of the clinical one offered anywhere I turned.

At some point, I found the teachings I had been looking for, serving as a gateway to the healing I was in need of at the time, and the teachings I was still to discover later down the road.

Determined to overcome this nightmare of the mind, my perseverance eventually led to the breakthroughs that allowed me to transcend those suffer conditions and bullet-proof myself against them.

RECENT PAST

Fast forward some years and there I was in my early 30s. I had transformed myself and survived my dark twenties with seeming success. From the outside looking in, you would think I had it all. A gorgeous girlfriend who loved me deeply, pristine health and awesome friends. Lived in a beautiful rental appartment, owned several cars and ran my own business. A seemingly perfect life with people inspired by my breakthroughs and our love story.

What people didn’t know however, was that deep inside I felt tormented, unfulfilled and completely out of place. As if somehow I took a wrong turn and ended up in a story different to the one I was intended to live. Like I didn’t really know myself, and it was slowly eating away at me. An essential part of me somehow wasn’t being expressed in the story I had built. My business felt unaligned, and wasn’t running as it should. I was afraid for it to succeed, worried I’d be stuck forever. So I held back, instead working odd jobs to make ends meet.

“I was on the run, unaware it was myself I was running from”

When I looked in the mirror all I could feel was shame. Ashamed as I felt I was letting down the woman I loved, she who stood by me through dark times. Notwithstanding, something inescapable was slowly building inside of me.

Intuitively, I felt a part of me was uncharted, undiscovered. In need of a challenge to make that discovery. And I knew that wasn’t going to happen from within the comfort of this loving relationship. If I was to discover who I truly was and what I was capable of, I knew I had to go. In the end, some roads can only be walked alone.
Slowly but surely, the relationship began to crumble. Then, at some point, everything erupted at a fast pace.

“When she drove off I made a pact with myself”

There’s something about letting go of the woman you love after 11 years of being together.
All for the sake of an inner calling that had become so loud I could no longer ignore it.
I humbly admit I was a broken man. True love truly is a vulnerable experience.

On the night that she drove off, I made a pact with myself. I was going to give myself one year to turn my life around and transform myself completely. Remove all sources of disruption, both inner and outer, and replace it with absolute and total alignment. Starting out, this meant getting rid of everything I owned, everything I knew. From clothes to furniture and everything in between, I sold what I could and donated what remained. Next on the list were the cars & the business. Everything had to go.

One night I came home to my near empty apartment that held nothing but a bed, a chair and a tank with a goldfish in it. I sat down surrounded by the void of this place where love once lived.

I stared at the open envelope laying on the floor. It was the brochure I ordered from a hypnotherapy school in San Francisco. It triggered me to reminisce over my past decisions in life. How they were made in the name of safety and playing it small, how I had been hiding from myself for the longest time. I asked myself if I was going to repeat here what I had done with everything before it—reject what feels right in my heart and take the safe route, or decide once and for all to make a change and step into the unknown. With inner guidance as my ally and see what gives.

A courageous journey began..

With not a penny to my name, a bunch of debt and 3 cars in the garage, all in desperate need of repair, I decided then and there to pursue making the impossible happen to get to San Francisco. With classes starting in little over a month, and my apartment lease ending around that same time, I got to work. I did everything I could to gather up cash, rebuild the cars and fix up a temporary place to live after my return from SF. Aside from tuition I needed around 3500 euros for flights, food & a place to sleep.

Signs on the wall.

About a week later, I showed up at a client’s house for an appointment. Waiting at the front door, I briefly scrolled through my emails & opened one from a hardware franchise where I stopped by the week before.
In all red caps I read:
“You are the winner of the grand prize of our summer contest !!!”
—a travel cheque valued at 3500 euros, free to spend as I pleased…

I was nailed to the floor. I couldn’t believe it.
In Belgium, my birthplace, with a population of 11 million people and over 150 of these franchise stores, this cheque managed to find its way to me.
Aligning seamlessly to the amount I had previously calculated !

Amazed by the absurdity of what just happened, I realized I still needed to find a way to cover for tuition & pay off my debt. If I was to get on that plane, it was gonna be with a clean slate.

Energized by the token of universal support I just received, I continued my mission to make the impossible happen. The clock was ticking. I called the school & asked for additional time to pay for tuition. Paid in full by T-10 was the prerequisite, and nearly all spots were taken. Charmed by the story of what I was trying to accomplish, they agreed to keep the final spot they had left for me, with payment due on arrival.

By now I had two cars up and running. And it became clear the last one wasn’t going to happen in time. Now I still needed to get them sold. Several weeks went by. Window shoppers came and went. The cars, however, remained. By now, classes were less than 5 days out. I was running out of time.

Then the phone rang…
Twice.

Two people called. Both of them interested in a car. One for the one, one for the other.
Two families showed up that night, at the same time no less.
I started running back and forth, offering sales pitches, test drives and shared with them my story when they asked why I was selling.
After about an hour of that, both families asked for a couple minutes to discuss their thoughts in private.

I remember the waiting.
I looked up at the sky and knew the moment of truth was upon me.
I knew I had given it my all and accepted that my fate was now in their hands.

When they eventually came back, all I could see were the smiling faces looking back at me.
I had pulled it off. Both cars were sold !

I called the school and shared the wonderful news of what just happened. From the other side of the world they celebrated along with me, filled with joy over the news that came against all odds. I was ready to step into the unknown.

The night came that it was time for me to go. I looked around my apartment for the last time, took a deep breath and left the place I called home for over a decade, along with everything I had ever known, and departed for San Francisco.

On that flight crossing the Atlantic, I thought about everything that happened over the past month. From the many obstacles I faced to the breakthroughs I achieved. Tears ran down my eyes, realizing how the universe somehow conspired in my favor, paving the way for this journey to happen. And even though my whole life was now up in the air, I felt an inner knowing that I was headed to a place I needed to go.

Falling into place.

When I finally got to San Francisco and met the people I was destined to meet, when I got a taste of those first classes, I realized why I was led there. Suddenly it all made sense. The reasons why I went through everything I went through, why I never felt like I fit in anywhere, skills I never found use for, the endless professional wandering, everything that made me feel strange and different, all of it just naturally fell into place. For the very first time in my life, I felt the cathartic relief of a deep sense of alignment, of purpose. Baffled at how this training seamlessly built upon my natural being as well as upon the insights I had acquired throughout my twenties. Everything felt new, yet strangely familiar.

I graduated a Clinical Hypnotherapist and cried tears of gratitude for making it to this point, and for all the wonderful people I had been blessed to meet. My time in San Francisco had come to a close. Aware that another chapter of letting go was still upon me, I returned home to get my hands dirty. I prepared my business for sale and finalized rebuilding the final car. It was then that lockdown hit.

As the entire world shut down, I continued educating myself. Immersing myself into the laws of the universe, the mechanics of manifestation and then some. I learned how I had applied these principles unwittingly prior to my journey, how I ended up experiencing things many deem impossible in this physical realm.

The past catching up.

In the silence of a world asleep, the neglected grief from the breakup preceeding my journey had returned to the surface in full force. A wall of emotions hit me and propelled me into what became my darkest night of the soul yet. I knew if I was going to make it to the other side of this challenge, my suffering needed to be faced head on. And so, I set sail on a journey into the depths of me. In pursuit of healing wounds more ancient than the emotional bond I shared. Traveling beyond the layers of my mortal identity, leading me straight into the essence of my soul. Driven to make sense of my existence itself.

Piercing the veil.

The intensity of this endeavor went beyond anything I had ever taken on. Over the next 9 months, my deep immersion sensitized me to the point where a stream of insights was tapped that opened a portal for me. It weaved together the architecture of our human condition, interconnection to the universe, existential purpose, the all-encompassing nature of love, and the strange but wonderful fabric connecting it all. It wasn’t long until something deeply transformative happened. A veil was pierced and I witnessed the purest essence of this universe in a way language simply falls short to explain. I had gone beyond the image of me, beyond my persona and the hurt I felt, beyond the wounds that served as the vessel towards this place. I was humbled by the magnificent beauty I witnessed in this cathartic moment. It was then and there, a form of spiritual awakening took place for me. And even though I still looked the same, I knew I was no longer the man I was before it.

My past suffering revealed a deeper meaning that did not pertain to me only. The revelations that came to me, in fact, did not belong to me. There was a reason for the course of my journey and I could see now how everything led up to this. I realized I was not special. That these insights I was fortunate enough to attain, are a birthright to all of humanity. That with this attainment comes a responsibility, to pay it forward and help others achieve the same. Just like those who came before me and appeared as teachers along my way. Those who led me back to my path when the obscuring nature of emotional darkness led me astray. Those who challenged me to keep going when desperation lurked. Evergrateful I hold them in my heart.

Our universal journey.

Support on our journey is imperative if we intend to stay the course. There is purpose and beauty in experiencing life in this place together. To give, to share, to receive. A perpetual cosmic exchange in which we walk each other home. To be both teachers and students for as long as we exist in this reality. Contributing to our collective in whichever way we know best. Embracing our uniqueness and our vital role in the whole. And so, I took on mine with an invigorated sense of purpose.

One morning, not long after, the vision for Through The Navel Gate was born during a deep meditation. Its birth grew out of my innate passion and desire to help others achieve what I did in a decade in a fraction of that time. Because it’s possible. Doing so with the most effective guidance I can provide. The long search for my destined path was at last behind me. Clarity was acquired.

Closure.

On December 30th of 2020, I sold the business I had been running for 6 years, and not too long before, the final car got sold as well. I was a free man. I freed myself from a past that had contained me far too long. Everything I said I’d do, I did. I was ready for a new chapter to begin. A chapter of servitude and alignment, of purpose and fulfillment.

I learned something very important on this decade-long trajectory. Namely, that transcending suffer, achieving self-mastery and becoming who you’re destined to be doesn’t have to take 10 years once you know how.

I looked back on my journey, highlighting the hardships and breakthroughs, distilled everything that moved the needle, trimmed the excess, and reassembled it. Creating a method to expedite your awakening. So that you can shift your focus to what it should be about —the life that awaits beyond that awakening. Becoming who you are destined to be. So that you may spend the rest of your days being that person the world truly needs —the real you. Because you matter. That is the truth. No matter what you believe right now.

We have become victimized by a flaw in our existential framework. Left to our own devices, lacking an understanding of our human condition, of what it means to exist, to be alive. It is where suffer originates. And, paradoxically, also where self-mastery begins —when we use that suffer as a vessel towards the transformation we seek. This is where we become empowered.

This is my dream for you. That you may wake up one day and look back upon everything you’ve endured and know that it was not in vain. Knowing you became who you were destined to be through the courage with which you faced the darkest parts of your journey. That you may walk your path with your head held high. Knowing exactly who you are and what you are capable of.

If you’ve made it this far, then now is the time to think back on the decisions you’ve been making so far and how far they’ve led you.
How many times have you walked down the same old roads, knowing exactly where they lead?
Today, a new road revealed itself to you. Wether you choose to walk it, is up to you.