About Boris Nauta

Nice to meet you, I am Boris Nauta, born in Nijmegen in 1974. After working for two decades in the television, design, and digital advertising world, I started the training agency Equanimity in 2021. Through Equanimity, together with trainers from my network, I offer training in the fields of Nonviolent communication, Mindfulness, and other team training within the domain of emotional intelligence.

It is a bit of a cliché, but I had to hit a wall a few times before my outlook on life fundamentally changed. Running away from unprocessed grief, I worked much too hard for years, combining my stressful job with frequent performances as a musician and diving into the nightlife. Eventually, I became seriously ill, and it took me years of pain and effort to slowly regain my health and life energy and get back on track. Only to fall into the exact same trap years later. I stalled once more, this time resulting in burnout, deep depression, and a broken marriage. But finally, a light went on for me, realizing that things could no longer continue this way.

I love becoming completely absorbed in my activities. Whether it is a new assignment, making music, playing sports, or being out with my children, I enjoy myself immensely. But constantly keeping going without pausing is also the perfect strategy to avoid being confronted with emptiness, painful emotions, and suppressed grief. Mindfulness and Nonviolent communication help me stay in touch with my emotions and needs, as well as with the people around me. In this way, I take care of myself and others.

Beyond the personal level, I see the value of Nonviolent communication and Mindfulness for how we interact with each other in society. I am concerned about how the world is developing because I feel that people are becoming increasingly distant from one another. We communicate an enormous amount nowadays via digital media and all kinds of devices, but do we still make real contact with each other in our relationships, our families, our neighborhoods, and on the street? Do we still have enough contact with people who do not live in the same (digital) bubble as ours to still be able to empathize with them? I believe that Nonviolent communication and Mindfulness bring us closer to ourselves and the people around us. They enable us to connect in a way that unites instead of polarizes, politically profiles, and commercially segments.

After my studies in Communication Science, I worked from 1999 in the early days of the internet as an interaction designer at the Netherlands Broadcasting Production Company (NOB). After 5 years in Hilversum, I made the move to the interactive advertising world. First as an interaction designer and later as a creative producer, I worked at various creative agencies on high-profile campaigns for a large number of brands.

For the last 10 years, I worked as a freelance program and operations manager. I had the privilege of being involved in the founding of THNK School of Creative Leadership, now a successful international leadership program. After that, I worked freelance as a program and operations manager for Heineken International, Philips Design, The Postcode Lottery, CLUSE, and Polestar, as well as various creative agencies. My strength lies in building professional, effective, but above all creative, inclusive, and safe teams. Teams with an atmosphere of trust, with room for humor and perspective, and with members who support rather than undermine each other. I am proud every time I succeed in this. As a trainer, I bring this knowledge with me.

Since 2016, I have been actively deepening my knowledge of Mindfulness, Nonviolent communication, and Emotional Intelligence. After years of attending training sessions, practicing, reading, and meditating, I completed the training to become a Mindfulness and Compassion coach at the Academie voor Leven, and a post-graduate MBSR program at the Center for Mindfulness at Radboud UMC Nijmegen. I am a member of the Association for Mindfulness (VVM).

In the field of Nonviolent communication, I have completed various (trainer) programs with Hester Macrander, VINE, AI-opener, and Thera Balvers. Since 2024, I have been certified as an International Nonviolent communication trainer by the CNVC, the international organization founded by Marshall Rosenberg.

Furthermore, I completed the study program ‘The Science of Happiness at Work’ from Berkeley University, I am a certified DISC trainer, and I have attended training sessions in the fields of Transactional Analysis and Deep Democracy.