Thijs Bulters

For the first part of my life I lived inside a closed shell. Disconnected. Absent. Not suddenly broken. Just, gradually and quietly cut off from the world and myself.

It did not open suddenly. It melted. Slowly. With stumbles along the way.

Along the way: depression, burnout, addiction, unemployment, homelessness, social isolation. A journey that brought me to literal edges. To places I wasn't sure I would come back from - or wanted to come back from.

Travelling, not as a holiday or an escape, but as a last attempt to find something worth staying for.

What I found wasn't a method.
It was the act of noticing itself.

Formally, it started with a 10-day Vipassana retreat. Ten days. Meditating fourteen hours a day. No communication with other participants. What followed was years of deepening. Breathwork, active rest, trauma-aware teaching, yoga teacher training, meditation techniques, reiki — from teachers across Europe, India, and Nepal. Trying to find what was missing.

I packed warehouse orders, built websites for small businesses, assisted a metal artist, performed fire shows, worked on film sets, built festival stages, moved people across countries. Flew as a loadmaster on cargo aircraft, trained weight & balance, wrote operational manuals and standard operating procedures, conducted internal audits. Developed software, optimised systems, drove culture changes. Indoor, outdoor, on the road, in an office, and on international ground.

Working with and learning from different cultures, different nationalities, different people. Humanity in its full glory.

Now I work with teams and individuals. Helping each person to notice what is already there. Not as wellness. Not for comfort, nor as relaxation. But as a skill they can take anywhere. Noticing what they notice. Present. In the moment.

Access to yourself should not depend on your budget. Behind Your Self therefore has free tools. Developed and accessible for anyone who needs them.

Through Pontaro, I work with organisations on burnout and absence prevention. Stopping invisible things from surfacing as problems. Shifting culture. Opening communication. Making visible what is already there.

A strong team is not a goal. It is a consequence.