SCHOORL, THE NETHERLANDS – A small Dutch coastal village might seem like an unlikely place for a global movement to begin. Yet it is here that coach and speaker Sander de Zwart and his co-founders have launched the School for Authentic Wisdom, with a mission so audacious it’s almost poetic: “By 2064, everyone soulfully happy. From the inside out.”
After years in the banking industry, De Zwart left behind corporate life and followed a calling. A deep one. “I realized that real fulfillment doesn’t come from career titles or achievements. It comes from alignment, from living in tune with your inner world,” he says.
Since 2016, he’s worked as an inner leadership coach. In late 2024, together with partners Richard and Nico, he officially launched the School for Authentic Wisdom (School voor Eigen Wijsheid): an organization aiming to train people in emotional awareness, ownership, and soul-level transformation.
Their approach? Practical, nature-based, and deeply experiential. “We don’t teach people what to think. We help them feel who they are,” says De Zwart. “Our work takes place in forests, dunes, and natural spaces. Nature reflects the unconscious. It accelerates learning in ways classrooms simply can’t.”
The organization has international ambitions. “We’re preparing to bring our work to Japan, Germany, the U.S., wherever people are open to reconnecting with their inner truth.”
This fall, the team will host their first large-scale event: ‘Spirituality on Flip-Flops’, a festival-style gathering blending deep inner work with fun, accessibility, and lightness. “We want to show that soulful growth doesn’t have to be heavy. It can be simple. It can be joyful.”
De Zwart’s ultimate hope?
“A world where we don’t chase happiness, we start from it.’
