From a Student to a Teacher.
In 1995, Vered and I made a significant life shift.
We moved to Holland, where I embarked on a four-year intensive psychotherapist training at the Humaniversity in Egmond aan Zee.
Every month, I dove into weekend-long residential workshops, and each summer, I committed to a grueling month-long workshop.
But honestly, the experience wasn’t what I had envisioned.
I quickly became disillusioned with the program.
The first two years focused heavily on us going through therapy, with only minimal actual training in psychotherapy.
When I voiced my concerns to my course leader, wondering if this program was truly right for me, her blunt response was, “Maybe you’re not right for the program.”
It felt like a dead end.
In that challenging first year, I found an unexpected ally: Christiane, a German dance therapist who shared my reservations.
Our connection was immediate and deep.
She suggested that what I was searching for might be found in a course led by another German therapist named Brigitte.
To my surprise, Brigitte was living right in my neighborhood in Amsterdam Zuidoost.
On Christiane’s recommendation alone, I approached Brigitte, asking her to teach me the “Manifesting Results” course.
I knew nothing about it at the time, but something inside me trusted the process.
Brigitte agreed, and we embarked on a one-on-one, six-week journey.
That course completely blew my mind.
I vividly remember the excitement after the first lesson – I literally ran all the way home, bursting with energy, and insisted to Vered that I had to teach her everything I had just learned.
And so I did.
I became so passionate about the course that I asked Brigitte to teach me how to teach it to others.
Within weeks, I was officially an instructor of the Manifesting Results course.
I started teaching it to people I knew through Vered’s work with the Essence organization in Amsterdam.
Word of me teaching the course quickly spread.
Soon, it reached Frank Natale, the original creator of the course.
At that time, Frank was living in Amsterdam and was already a known and influential figure in the world of personal growth and transformation since the 1960s.
I was both nervous and excited when he invited me to meet him at his home and training center on one of Amsterdam’s beautiful canals.
Meeting Frank was a revelation.
His direct, no-nonsense attitude immediately resonated with me, and he seemed to appreciate my down-to-earth, practical approach – quite a contrast to the “airy-fairy” crowd (his words, not mine) he usually dealt with.
As I delved deeper into Frank’s work, I realized I wanted to absorb everything he had to offer.
The challenge?
I had no money to spare.
So, I got creative.
I proposed a deal to Frank: I would handle all his marketing and sales in exchange for participating in his courses.
Despite Frank’s tough personality and our frequent clashes of wills, the arrangement worked.
I became a sponge, soaking up every bit of knowledge, even if it meant emptying ashtrays and listening to Frank’s endless complaints.
The pinnacle of Frank’s teachings was a week-long residential training called “The One Experience.”
I was so committed to learning from him that I traveled all the way to Germany to attend the training just a few weeks after Thom was born, leaving Vered and our newborn with her mom.
That training was life-changing, but it ended on a sour note.
During the final hour, I made the mistake of portraying Frank in a parody during the closing session.
He was furious and cut me off for life.
Before I left, he told me to take a break for a year, and then maybe we’d see if there was still something between us.
That was June 1997.
Returning to Amsterdam, I felt a deep sense of loss.
I continued teaching “Manifesting Results,” gaining confidence and expertise, but a crucial piece was missing – my teacher.
Then, on my 30th birthday, something magical happened.
At a surprise costume party my friends had thrown for me, I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder.
It was Frank.
He appeared out of nowhere and simply said, “It’s time.”
We spent the rest of the night clearing the air and making plans for the future.
Within weeks, we had set everything up.
Frank, whose health was failing, decided he was retiring to Hawaii to live out his final days.
He wanted me to carry on his legacy and make the teachings my own.
This was the spark I needed.
With renewed purpose, I gathered a group of students that became friends – Peter, Dorien, Rite, Marcel, Tjerd, and Sander – and together, we launched the first phase of Open Circles. It began as a foundation, with everyone volunteering to bring the dream to life.
Their only compensation was participating in the trainings.
For the next two years, I passionately taught Frank’s material – Manifesting Results, The One Experience, the shamanic practices of Trance Dance and Magic, and more.
Sadly, as Frank’s illness progressed, our relationship deteriorated.
He became increasingly paranoid, and eventually, I had to sever ties completely.
By 2000, Vered had quit her job to join me, and together we shifted Open Circles into a more profitable venture.
It became not just our business, but our passion and our life.
In June 2002, during our flagship training “The One Experience,” after a day dedicated to death and dying, I received a late-night phone call from Frank.
He was on his deathbed.
After more than two years of silence, we spent hours acknowledging and thanking each other for the roles we had played in each other’s lives.
On June 16, 2002, Frank Natale passed away peacefully in Hawaii on his 61st birthday.
I will forever be grateful to Frank for trusting me with his legacy and giving us the jump-start we needed to carve out our path in the world, creating the life we cherish today.
