Writer. Coach. Circle Holder.
Thirty years walking between two worlds
I am founder & steward of Soundfulness and a teacher of essence-based work.
From an early age I knew ordinary school was not my path. That knowing eventually led me out of the conventional world and into thirty years of trainings in Tribal cultures, close to the earth. Sweat lodges, Firewalks, Vision Quests, Ceremonies. The dark sweat lodge that broke me open. The wing that was waiting for me on the rock.
For fifteen years I stood alongside biochemist and music therapist Kees Peters to develop Soundfulness, a method now used in personal development, wellness, education, and healthcare, including with clients with Down syndrome and deep autism. It was there that a woman without words looked me in the eyes with love and gave me the sentence I have carried ever since: Alive Inside, and the labels are wrong.
Six years alongside Frank Middendorp, Nomore Gurus, a Dutch philosopher, thinker and teacher, connected to the Gurdjieff Ouspensky Foundation, whose work moves at the intersection of clarity, personal branding, and the Fourth Way.
I have come to live and work from what I call the deepest place inside, the essence you never lost, only stopped listening to.
I live in the Netherlands. I have six children and two grandchildren. Most mornings I sit in a chair I built for that purpose, in a room I built for that purpose, and let the field say what it has to say.
Two books. One movement...
To the place inside where you were always already home.
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Surrender to Your Essence
A Journey Home to What You Always Were
My first book. Coming in 2027.
Thirty years of listening, worked out in thirteen chapters. At the end of each chapter, a Practice of Remembering — something you can do today, not next year.
The book opens with a red kite laying its prey at my feet on a mountain in Germany, and ends thirty years later on the doorstep in Antwerpen. What lies between is not theory. It is the path most people are looking for without knowing they are walking it.
Read more → surrendertoyouressence.com
(The Dutch translation will follow within six months of the English publication.)
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The Four Rooms. Four Doorways of Coming Home.
The journey back to who you always were.
The second book. Coming in late 2027, in Dutch and English at the same time.
Where the first book teaches surrender, the second teaches how to move in and live there.
Four rooms — earth, water, fire, air. Four doorways. One coming home that is not a destination, but a place you live from from here on.
Earth under your feet. Water that carries. Fire that burns without consuming. Air that fills you. And one doorway that runs through all four at once.
Read more → fourroomsofcominghome.com
Stay in touch
Both books appear in 2027.
In the meantime I share with a small readers' list:
No weekly newsletter. No marketing. Only what there is to share when there is something to share.
Receive the prologue of Surrender to Your Essence right away, plus updates.
The work
Alongside the books I run three programs and practices:
The Inner Leader's Quest: program from essence. The practical companion to my book "Surrender to Your Essence". Starts 2027.
Free Soul Agency: one-on-one and group coaching for coaches, therapists, healers and soul-led entrepreneurs who are ready to stop living two halves.
Soundfulness: the method Kees Peters and I built together over fifteen years. Kees is now retired; I carry the method forward. In use in healthcare, education, wellness, and personal development. The elements teaching that runs through my second book, earth, water, fire, air, ripened in these rooms.
My Story — The Two Worlds
My first sweat lodge was in 1993. I was sure I would die inside it. When we came out, I felt at once totally vulnerable and totally strong, something nothing in my design work or early career had taught me.
I kept coming back. First as a participant, then as an assistant, then as a co-trainer, and eventually as a trainer holding the lodge, the vision quest, and the firewalk myself for other men. No certificates. Fire, sweat, and years.
In 2002 came the second opening. My first ayahuasca ceremony in The Hague. I saw my whole life as one red thread, every job, every failure, every relationship connected to something ancient. I saw the knowledge of my ancestors and who I really was underneath the marketer, the strategist, the designer.
That night I stopped pretending the two worlds belonged apart.
The marketer and the shaman turned out to be sitting at the same table.
Everything I have built since, Tribal Coaching, Tribal Warrior, Tribal Circles, Soundfulness, traces back to those two nights. And to every lodge, quest, firewalk and ceremony since.
Coen Tuerlings
Personal story | 2016
"My voice has grown deeper since then."
Customer Testimonials
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Coen is one of the purest coaches I know. He has found the right balance between empathic attunement and the ability to name things clearly. His methods are marked by a unique combination of conscious embodiment, penetrating resonance, and honest feedback. He is also a kind human being and a beautiful example of how to combine work with care for your family.
Albert Sonnevelt
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Real trainers, coaches and storytellers are rare. Coen is one of them. Someone who shares his passion with heart and soul. It is all about resonance. If you want to experience what sound, voice and movement can mean for you, and you want to do that professionally in a warm atmosphere, go to Coen. Yes — you rarely meet them like this. Thank you, Coen, for sharing your knowledge and experience.
Frank Bruining
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You have wide experience in entrepreneurship thanks to your many adventures, but what counts most is what you do with it — you use it for deeply socially relevant work. You also know how to build a bridge between the mind-driven Matrix and the undiscovered territory of the heart, through resonance, awareness, mindfulness and body-oriented work. Your work is experienced by many as a blessing, and you can be proud of it. We are glad to work with you. Keep up da good work!
Lars Faber
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Unity within a company may be the single most important factor for success. Coen's drive, passion and inspiration strengthen that unity in every organization in an exceptional way. The trainings and workshops Coen gives are genuinely current and an absolute must for any organization looking for innovation and progress. I have come to know Coen as someone for whom the goal matters more than the means. Positive progress with a smile.
Howard Bia
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Coen has hosted (together with Kees Peters) several evenings at Huis voor Zingeving in Moergestel. The most impressive are the sessions where Coen and Kees pull out all the stops, and every participant is guaranteed a personal journey through time and space. The resonance, and above all the energy Coen and Kees put down, is truly something special. Coen stands very close to himself, is himself, and knows how to convey that with remarkable precision. Until next time, Coen!
Rob van Tilburg
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I value Coen Tuerlings as a very special trainer: through empathic resonance he knows how to help people make contact with deeper layers within themselves. In a safe setting, with great expertise, sure-footedness, and a very distinctive approach. In his trainings you can enjoy and learn at the same time.
Dorle Lommatzsch
Where this work comes from:
Thirty years of fieldwork
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