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There’s an interesting irony in my work

As a man, I coach women to feel safer in their feminine.

There’s an interesting irony in my work: Jan-Willem van der Heiden, relationship coach

It sounds ridiculous, but it actually makes sense.

A woman can only drop into her feminine when there’s something steady to lean against.

She needs groundedness, stability, presence, the kind of masculine nervous system that doesn’t wobble when she brings emotion, honesty, or intensity. That steadiness gives her permission to stop performing and simply be.

And that’s a big part of my work.

And that’s the part most people miss.

Her feminine is not something she “learns.”

It’s something she reveals when she feels safe.

Not telling women how to be feminine, but helping them feel safe enough to stop holding everything together on their own.

But here’s the part most people don’t know about me:

My ability to hold women in their feminine didn’t come from theory or books.

It came from being shaped by women in my own life, as coaches, as therapists, as space holders, and also as friends and partners who weren’t afraid to give me the raw truth.

There were women who reflected me back to myself in ways that weren’t always comfortable.

Women who told me how my avoidance made them feel disconnected.

Women who told me when I was trying to impress instead of being real.

Women who shared, sometimes painfully, the impact I had on them even when my intention was good.

Those reflections humbled me.

They made me more aware of how I show up.

They forced me to grow in ways I never would have on my own.

So yes, I help women be in their feminine.

But only because women helped shape me into a man who can hold that space without losing himself.

It’s not a one-way street.

It’s a partnership between the masculine and the feminine, even outside of romance.

Men grow under the right kind of feminine reflection.

Women soften under the right kind of masculine presence.

Jan-Willem van der Heiden
Jan-Willem van der Heiden

Relationship coach. 8 years and 1,000+ men, then couples. I live in Ubud with my wife and our daughter. More about me or take the relationship quiz.

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