Hi, I am Veerle van den Nouwland, nice to meet you here and welcome to Closer2nature lifestyle. Until a few years ago I worked as a lawyer and ran my own law firm near Bruges. During that period I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. This meant that stress - a hallmark of my law career - suddenly became my worst enemy.

Like many others, I had to hit a wall before I really understood how important it is to listen to my body. My diagnosis was the impetus I needed to look for ways to de-stress and create more balance in my life.

This made me discover yoga, yoga nidra, meditation and its benefits. Yoga is now part of my daily activities, both personally and professionally. Through Blossom with Veerle I help women to relax every day.

When I delved into yoga, it also began my journey to a radically new and different lifestyle, leaving the rat race behind and doing more of what I loved.

During this trip I delved into more sustainable and minimalist living, I had a strong urge to be creative and to spend time in nature. I even got my hands dirty again and studied the behavior of dogs.

During that period, my husband and I also ended up at the organic farm of Aloe vera de Mallorca during our holiday.

During a guided visit we learned about the power of aloe vera juice and how that juice is used as a basis for care products. We were immediately sold and wanted to know where we could buy these products. When it turned out that there was no distributor in Belgium, we applied and one thing led to another, as they say.

However, when I was asked what I actually did, I came up with and and and, which is actually not illogical, given that I am a creative generalist. However, it was time to put a name to it, so I looked for the common thread and so closer2nature lifestyle was born.