_femininebalance, Author at Feminine Balance

The 7 most common questions

June 20, 2019 by _femininebalance

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Living abroad

Since we opened futurehippie on Koh Samui we’re having lovely people joining from all over world, who have some questions.

People who attend our yoga retreat or just joining us in the café asking us many times the same questions.

Most frequently asked questions:

since when are you here?
where are you from?
do you live here?
do you stay forever?
how easy is it to live in Thailand ?
how is it to move away from Germany?
do you miss Germany?

Let’s see what we can answer! 🙂

we’re on Koh Samui since November 2018 and opened futurehippie at the 24th December 2018
Rayk and me are both German. Rayk used to live in Potsdam and I used to live in Munich but I’m born in the north of Germany
no we travel every morning from Berlin to Samui. 🙂 Yes of course we do. Rayk and me are living next door to futurehippie.
what’s forever ? We plan to stay for at least a couple of years but we don’t know how long exactly. Who know’s what the future will bring.
well let’s focus on number 5 and we gonna have a separate post for number 6 and 7.

How easy is it to live in Thailand?

If you don’t wanna work and have enough savings then life can be quite relaxing. The only issue everyone is facing is the Visa. There are different visatypes and none of them gives you the ultimate freedom. We have a 1year Visa but still have to do a border bounce every 3 month. Every year we renew the Visa and the work permit. Yes we all know people who work without a work permit or volunteering for exchange etc.

Unfortunately that’s all not legal. As soon as you decide to work, help or volunteer you need a work permit. Otherwise you can get in real trouble in Thailand.

When we arrived we were really surprised by the fact that the thai bureaucracy is unbelievable! You gonna sign papers and papers with no idea what you’re signing there. At one point we said that we’re sure that by now we already sold our soul.

Just one example: I bought our car and to have this car on my name and getting the right papers and certificates I needed a certificate from immigration, lots of different papers and we went 3 times to the transport office. Yes- Thailand is teaching us patience!

Once you have everything arranged you can start to enjoy life (until the next unexpected thing is happening :))

Life is pretty amazing here.

I can go for a swim in the ocean every day. We’re surrounded by nature and we both feel super grounded. The veggies and fruits are super fresh and full of flavours. We have lovely guests from all around the world and it’s nice to connect to them. Our neighbors are lovely and soon we wanna start learning Thai language so that we can connect much better to our Thai neighbor.

When we arrived in November 2018 it was the middle of rainy season which can be really unpleasant sometimes. From January to March it was beautiful and then it started to get hot in April. So far I love the month June because it brings lots of wind, sunshine and some storms in the afternoon. I just love watching storms in the late afternoon.

Thailand is such a beautiful country and we hope that we will stay many more years.

How long exactly ? We’ll see 🙂

What’s a hippie life in 2019?

June 11, 2019 by _femininebalance

When we thought about the name for our retreat center it didn’t take long and futurehippie was born. It started with a joke because I said always to Rayk that I’m too hippie to go to certain restaurants or clubs when we were chatting about visiting friends in Germany. He replied that I don’t really look like a real hippie…. so this discussion about being a hippie, feeling like a hippie went on and by the end we decided that we’re both “futurehippies”. So what does it mean ?

The hippie life in modern society means for me that I allow myself a lot of freedom. Having this Yogaretreat on Koh Samui gives me the opportunity to walk barefoot as much as I want. I can dress however I want and don’t have to worry that my pants or shirts are having holes. If I wanna wear Make-up I do but if not, nobody cares. Sharing my passion and beliefs with others is such a privilege that I can’t think of doing anything else anymore.

The hippie community was growing earlier days because people wanted to have a free will, the choice to do, speak and to think different than others. They consumed lots of drugs, celebrated free love and some of them didn’t care about their hair and hygienic standards at all anymore. Because of these things I can’t call myself a real hippie. The desire of freedom is in me and I know that many people feel the same way.

Our tribe, parents and friends told us what’s right and wrong and we created our belief system. It can be quite refreshing to question your own beliefs. Is it really what you want or sometimes just the “should” or “shouldn’t” phrase we’re using.

To break free is scary in the beginning and it takes lots of courage to stand out of the crowd.

We have many digital nomads coming to our place and starting a new career. They’re using the peaceful environment to create the vision and plan how they wanna spent the rest of their life. Finding out what they truly want or to already get some work done in-between the Yoga classes. We like to give our guests the space to create their personal retreat. If someone needs more attention or guidance we will be there. If someone needs time for themselves the space is there.

As a hippie in 2019

I’m using WIFI

I practice Yoga and Meditation

I’m on social media

I have holes in my clothes and walk barefoot whenever I can

I like modern amenities

I love nature

I allow myself to be different

I’m wishing you that you’re living the life you desire

with love

Mika

Yoga for normal people

June 5, 2019 by _femininebalance

In May we took 3 weeks off and spoiled ourselves with some time off in Bali. I loved being in Ubud a couple of years ago when I used to live in Gili Trawangan. Rayk wanted to spend some time in Canggu.
So we had 10 days for ourselves before we would have vacation together.

When I arrived in Ubud I was first surprised how small everything is- in my memory everything, like the streets, cafés etc. was so much bigger. Excited to stroll around I went to one of the biggest Yogastudios there. 4 years ago I loved going there to dance parties during the day. It’s called ecstatic dance and it‘s a huge event during the day with no alcohol or drugs – just dance and enjoy yourself.

Well- things changed!

Now you have to be there 3h prior to get a ticket. It’s like going to a club earlier days. It’s trendy, it’s chic- let’s give it a name = it’s the Yogabiz. Yes, we‘re all part of it, I know. But you know how I felt sitting there in front of the Yogashala watching all these beautiful young Yoginis?!?

I felt awful. Never did I have the feeling of anxiety coming up but that happened right there; in a Yogastudio. Maybe not the place where you expect that to happen but it was real. I left absolutely confused and somehow ashamed. When I have no idea what to do, I go for a swim. So I did and that helped a little.

It took me a few days to realize what happened and to come back to my strength. I meditated, practiced and spent lots of time for myself. Two days later after a strong, firery practice I was back to my strength, my willpower and my self esteem.

I believe that everything happens for a reason. The reason I had to experience that was maybe to understand people who suffer from a lack of self esteem and anxiety much better. Another reason was also to clearly define who is the right guest for futurehippie!

And I know it now. The ideal guest for futurehippie is just a normal person. Maybe she or he seems to be boring for society on the first view but it’s the person who matters. No need for fancy mats, shoes, clothes, make up, dresses etc. Just being you and trying to be the best version of yourself. Caring for others and not just for yourself. Living Karmayoga and practicing Yoga on and off the mat- that’s important for me.

I try to be a good teacher and I’m making mistakes. I say things too loud and sometimes in a wrong way. I will say sorry when needed and I will not be ashamed for being a human. We’re not perfect – we’re humans. Let’s practice more kindness and learn to forgive.

I will start today with forgiving myself for all the times I told myself I should or shouldn’t do/think etc.

I‘m just a normal person and that’s perfect

Mika

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Living abroad