BoomersDelight

Who's who

CEO

Sido van der Meulen

By background an innovation consultant and management coach, but on a deeper level driven above all by curiosity about people who swim against the current. Someone recently called me — not unkindly — "neurodivergent": one of those engines that, despite all the resistance, are helping make this world more liveable and sustainable at a rapid pace.

COO

Tijmen van der Meulen

Tijmen is the ultimate thinking partner and co-creator of BoomersDelight. He handles almost everything behind the scenes — from the practical puzzles to the strategic choices — and is indispensable in getting this adventure off the ground.

Looking at the four chapters on this site, you'll spot a common thread: every inventor and supplier we work with plays their own version of David versus Goliath. They stubbornly chart their own course, even when it goes against the establishment, and even when it comes across as eccentric to people relying purely on common sense. That's exactly what appeals to us: not the fuss, but the stubborn conviction of people who have discovered something and, against the outside world's scepticism, want to share it with you.

Hence this site — where we happily show what we ourselves have discovered, tested and integrated into our lives.

The Hidden Rulers within us

45 years of experience as an organizational developer, management coach and change manager have taught me that the biggest obstacle on any path toward wellness and longevity — in organizations as much as in people — has to be found in the self-image we carry around. No device can compete with that. I think it's only fair to share this insight with you here, even though I have a warm spot for my devices.

This insight is, by the way, thousands of years old: "Know thyself" was carved in Ancient Greek in the forecourt of the temple of Apollo at Delphi.

The secret revealed: for much of our lives we think and act from who we believe ourselves to be. Organizations are no different (there it's called identity, vision, mission). Our self-image is an all-determining, deep imprint that we're initially unaware of. In my work I've called these our "Hidden Rulers". And until the moment we bring these autopilots — that we've forgotten we ever switched on — back into our awareness, every attempt to improve our lives and performance is wasted effort and money down the drain.

Curious how to discover your Hidden Rulers and — better still — neutralize them? You can book a walking session with me in the beautiful forests around Hilversum. As an (internal) entrepreneur in your own life, you won't regret it. Organizations are a bit more complex, since the social component has a serious say — but there are interesting ways to tackle that too.

Secret sweet spots — power centers

Besides a realistic self-image — with the distinction between our true Self (also called our spiritual core, our divine self, or our intuition, which never fades and patiently waits to be consulted and heard) and the 4 devices I describe on this website — there are also sweet spots: places where you can recharge yourself and give your tired body a boost, so you can once again enjoy life to the fullest. I gladly point you to these, just as I do to the 4 devices on this site: each one has been tried and tested by me, and found worthy for anyone willing to open their senses to it.

I'm sure everyone can put together their own list of cherished sweet spots that deliver such an indispensable boost every now and then. Feel like joining in? Feel free to send me your top 3 or top 10 — I'd love to add them to my own list, for our mutual enlightenment and enjoyment. Here's my provisional top 3:

1. The Freeze-lab, beneath the Olympic Stadium Amsterdam

At the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam I take a short dip every now and then — about three minutes — in the freeze chamber, where it's minus 115 °C. What that does to you: your immune system gets an enormous boost in those few minutes, comparable to the ice-cold water baths our national Ice Man Wim Hof is so fond of. I've tried the latter too, but for practical reasons I prefer the freeze cabin beneath the Olympic Stadium.

If only to feel, after those three minutes, how my body — right into every corner and capillary — slowly fills up again with wonderfully warm blood that had briefly withdrawn into my body's core. I meet the most colourful characters there, by the way, who've found the same route, including many professional athletes with injuries. They've discovered that their injuries heal considerably faster with an occasional cryo bath — and for them, even more than for me: time is money.

And don't forget the countless extra facilities that make your visit to the Cryo centre a delightful experience, all in service of longevity, wellness and beauty. There are two massage chairs, each with twenty programmes you never knew existed — I sometimes run into a professional masseur there who rates this chair enormously for himself. Hidde (the director) serves incredibly tasty and undoubtedly very healthy smoothies, and there are also oxygen cabins, pressure cabins (yes, like divers and pilots experience), hydrogen cabins, red-light cabins, tanning cabins and tanning face masks, with and without special frequencies through your headphones and matching vibration devices around your neck. Approach Hidde with the password SIDOO, and he'll happily initiate you into the secrets of the cryo-world.

Easy to reach by public transport: from Amsterdam Zuid station by bus 22 or 15, and from Amsterdam Centraal by tram line 24.

2. Flowmotion Energy Center — Elyse and Evelyn, Hilversum

In second place for me are Elyse and Evelyn with their Flowmotion Energy Center, Van der Lindenlaan 2b, right behind the district court on the 's-Gravelandseweg in Hilversum. You can book a session there where you take a seat in their lightroom, surrounded by screens producing an endlessly varied special stream of coloured imagery — all carefully selected frequencies that bring your nervous system to deep rest almost instantly and give your immune system a boost. Check their calendar to book a session in which someone from their network provides a guided meditation or a singing-bowl sound bath.

What the Flowmotion Energy Center is really about is building that special context in which we, as physical, emotional, astral and spiritual beings, automatically switch over to restoring our original creative state — one that feels optimally alive and fulfilling. A state in which we coincide with who we are at our core. The nice thing is that when we experience exactly the right context through synchronisation, everything seems to fall precisely into place without anything all that dramatic actually happening. It's spectacular and completely unspectacular at the same time, in a way — a bit like noticing that the most remarkable people, at certain moments, simply turn out to be themselves. For me, this comes closest to "resting in being" (to speak with Hans Knibbe): experiencing happiness without any direct cause or particular reason.

I can point to places of my own that have this contextual power to inspire me. If I have writer's block, for instance, I only need to go to a station restaurant or to Schiphol, where all kinds of people I don't know move past me, each with a purpose of their own — and suddenly I know exactly what I want to say or express again. In Elyse and Evelyn's words: I get tuned to that particular context, and find myself again. It happens entirely on its own, the way — so they say — all the cuckoo clocks in a clock shop eventually start ticking in the same rhythm, and the girls in a student house unintentionally and unknowingly synchronise their cycles over time. If I go to a hospital, something completely different happens because of the entirely different atmosphere: I want to leave as quickly as possible. Once you start developing an eye for this, you can sense which places are energising and which are toxic.

Before acquisition meetings, I used to always arrive half an hour early, and as a quiet witness in the waiting area I could already pick up a great deal about the atmosphere and the innovative capacity of my future clients. I've also left early once or twice, with the feeling that I didn't want to spend my energy flogging a dead horse. Once again: a visit to Elyse and Evelyn will pay off enormously if you want to give your immune system and your energy a boost from within. Warmly recommended.

3. Phoenix Health & Wellness Massage, Hilversum

In third place for me is a visit to Phoenix Health & Wellness Massage, right next to Hilversum Central Station, where Fenni or one of her colleagues gives you a particularly invigorating massage you'll be living off for a while. To make an appointment, call 06-87349250 — mention SIDOO as the keyword here too.