126: Balancing the Fast-Paced Nomadic Entrepreneurship Life with Maris from MINOMA

Have you ever felt pressured as a digital nomad? Well, here’s something for you! 

In this episode, Nienke Nina chats with digital nomad expert Maris Kohv, the CEO and founder of MINOMA. As a passionate advocate for slow living and personal growth, Maris shares her insights from 5 years of nomadding and hosting over 30 retreats. 

You will learn about the transformative power of slow living, creating authentic connections on the road, and what happened during the MINOMA Festival 2023. Get ready for a fun and inspiring conversation that will have you rethinking your approach to nomadic life!

🔥 How to embrace slow living as digital nomads
🔥 Importance of slow living as digital nomads
🔥 Overview of Retreat experiences
🔥 Cultivating genuine connections as digital nomads

Transcript

Nienke Nina (00:00.846)
Woohoo! All right, guys, welcome to a new episode of the Digital Nomad's Daily Podcast. This is not gonna be like your usual podcast episode. I have something so freaking exciting. This has been happening behind the scenes for a really long time. Today, we, and I'm saying we because there's another person here, we're recording for the very first time, not for the first time because we have recorded before, but we are recording for the very first time a new series that we're bringing onto the Digital Nomad's Daily Podcast.

And this is all about mindfulness, mindful nomads. And the reason why I'm doing this and why I'm collaborating on this with my dear, lovely friend Maris is because there's so many digital nomads in this space that love entrepreneurship and they love the hustle and they love, do everything so fast and so quick, but from interviewing over 150 digital nomads, what I learned is that, and also five years.

of digital nomading myself guys is that I learned that you like it's not a medicine. It's not a recipe for success if you're just a nomad. So we want to go a little bit deeper into like what is behind all of this whole nomadism. And one of these things is conscious living, mindful living, being aware of yourself, reflect and grow. And there is no better person in the nomad space than Maris from Minoma, mindful nomads.

to have conversations with about this topic. So like I said, not just one episode, we're gonna record a bunch of episodes for you guys to help you, yeah, to practice mindfulness in your nomad home, in your hub, wherever it is. So Maris, welcome.

Maris (01:43.559)
Thank you.

Nienke Nina (01:46.778)
Oh, so exciting. So we, today we're going to talk about slowing down, but before we're going into this topic and why we actually choose this topic to be the very, very first one of this amazing mini series that we're doing, could you give our audience a little bit of a walkthrough of, you know, who are you? What is Minoma? Why? Why did you start with Minoma? And all of those things, because I, we, I have interviewed you now two times, I think on the podcast.

Maris (02:15.848)
Mmm.

Nienke Nina (02:16.798)
Yeah, and I've talked so much about Minoma, but we have a lot of new listeners, so I just wanted to give like a very, very good introduction from you.

Maris (02:26.127)
Yeah, I think why you have also talked so much about Minoma is that it's almost like a global movement, right? But we started Minoma at that time, Borderless Retreat, more than five years ago. It's a curated community experiences for mindful nomads and conscious entrepreneurs. And we gather for in-person experiences for retreats, for the festival, but also curate community online.

And they're really shifting more towards also the experiential education, because as you said, you know, the conscious living aspect is such a reoccurring topic and it's very, very relevant. Um, especially right now. After the pandemic, I'm so excited to talk about why, why slowing down is so incredibly powerful. Uh, so let's do it.

Nienke Nina (03:09.13)
Yeah.

Nienke Nina (03:20.466)
Yeah, let's do it. Like, like just to introduce to this like slowing down like, as we were like about to hop on, the one thing that I didn't do last week and this week was actually slowing down. And I'm still like, like running so fast and so hard to like, meet everyone's needs to just you know, to just go and entrepreneurship is great. I love my companies. I love all my clients. I love everything about it.

Maris (03:31.059)
Bye.

Nienke Nina (03:49.13)
But if I don't slow down, I cannot be that amazing person for my clients that I really try to be. So for me personally, in this very moment, slowing down is so important. Now, the weirdest thing I'm going to say right now is that this podcast is partly work, but just chatting with you is already like, ah, okay, we're here. We can chill. I have my coffee, my flowers in the background. Let's go. All right. So it's slowing down. It's, uh, it's such an interesting topic.

Maris (04:15.249)
Yeah.

Nienke Nina (04:20.378)
What is slowing down for you? Like, how would you describe that as an online entrepreneur, as someone that lives abroad, that also enjoys traveling, that connects with a lot of people, a lot of beautiful, inspiring, energetic humans? Like, what does slowing down mean to you?

Maris (04:40.335)
Yeah, it's such a good question because honestly like, uh, so many times we talk about it also on the retreats, but sometimes we come back to questioning like what does slowing down actually mean? And maybe I'll give it a little bit of context also because, uh, first of all, you know, like around six years ago, I did my first Vibhasana meditation course. It's 100 hours of silent meditation and then hosting 30 plus retreats for...

for moments to slow down. I feel like I have a really privileged point of view also and experience, you know, to what happens if we actually slow down. And if I reflect back to my journey, it really started from...

You know, from this inner freedom and then it went into location independence. But also I see that for a lot of people, it actually happens the other way around. I, it stops, it starts with this, I don't know, unstoppable curiosity, you know, to go and travel the world and then.

Nienke Nina (05:50.382)
Mm.

Maris (05:53.615)
I think especially, you know, since the pandemic, we're also very painfully aware of how possible it is. So some people, they even go like minimalist and they travel only with a small carry on. And there is this massive sense of like freedom. But what I've seen, like what we learn sooner or...

Nienke Nina (06:09.119)
Yeah.

Maris (06:20.135)
later that there's also like another this invisible baggage and there's this cliche emotional baggage that no one really checks in you know like when you take a flight but well it costs us a lot it costs us relationships it costs us our joy in work it costs us our peace of mind and i've had a lot of conversations with

Nienke Nina (06:28.93)
Yeah, yeah.

Nienke Nina (06:42.798)
Hmm.

Maris (06:50.179)
location independent entrepreneurs, remote workers, anyone who after a while they almost like they lose the joy. They go to an amazing travel location and it's just another waterfall, it's just another beach, another anything and there lacks the like the deeper experience of it and that in my experience is

Nienke Nina (07:07.906)
Yeah, at our temple.

Nienke Nina (07:12.994)
Yeah.

Maris (07:19.079)
It's almost like an invitation to actually then go a layer deeper into what we at Minama, what we call aligned freedom, is this combination of location independence, but also diving deep within to understand, you know, like what does inner freedom, what does it mean for us and how to actually get there? Because...

No one really teaches us how, going through education corporations, all of these systems structures, no one really helps us to understand what does it mean to look within, what does it mean to slow down?

Nienke Nina (07:50.754)
Yeah.

Nienke Nina (08:01.73)
Yeah. I think also like, just like one of the big shifts that I have noticed, and this is also from so many interviews, right? Is that before the pandemic, this was such a, it was very, before the pandemic, it was a bit less productized in a way. And then I think like during the pandemic, this whole like shift, like this wave of like,

digital nomad lifestyle being productized. And it's not just like by coaches or by any means, it's not a bad thing, but it's by the world. It's like companies are productizing this lifestyle, like governments even with all these nomad visas, like are there actually nomadic visas? Like, and then there's all these people that are sharing their skills on how to work remotely or how to find a remote job, which is absolutely amazing. But because the community is also growing right now,

like so over it has grown intensively and it just keeps going and going. I think what I, um, what, or what I really see is that it's productized. There's again, a lot of pressure on how nomadic are you and how much money do you make and how many countries have you traveled, which reminds me a lot of. Society, something that I not really felt.

connected with and that's why I wanted to move abroad and stay abroad and eventually live my nomadic lifestyle. So even as like I'm a nomad now for five years living in total 10 years abroad I felt for a while really disconnected from the nomad community because not me nomad but nomad community right because I really didn't yeah it was just like

It felt a bit artificial at one point, even on this podcast. I was like, Oh, am I talking about again about packing strategies? Like, I don't know. So that's why I was so drawn to this, doing this, this series with you, Marius, because I'm like, I am longing, seeking for that deeper connection and the vulnerability and yes, all of the, the scars and the conditioning and.

Nienke Nina (10:15.658)
You know, maybe not the most beautiful side of life at first glance, but if you really go deeper, you, you truly discover yourself. And I will admit here that I also forgot to do that. But then through one year of like us sort of friendship, relationship building, going to the festival, being there and actually allow myself to slow down and to just have me time and not think about like how many.

listeners and revenue and all of these things I will face myself and a lot more that I don't even know what that is yet.

Maris (10:56.183)
Yeah, and by saying that you also reminded me, you know the first question because what slowing down actually means Means for me on a deeper level. It's it's almost like changing the energetics that we do things with

Because as you said, you know, sometimes we go from, for example, this whole corporation system, then breaking free and doing something on our own, but there's not a gap in between that we can actually change our like navigation system, our nervous system to do things differently and to do it from not from a place of pressure, but actually take this time to dive deep within, ta-da-da, align,

ourselves that we could actually then do things with a lot of ease and that is actually the real shift you know that is the that is the alone freedom

Nienke Nina (11:56.33)
It's so crazy. Like it's, oh, I like literally I have like, how do you, I also say chicken skin, but that's not the right way to say it. But it's so true. Like when you say, to do things like that are in alignment and come with ease. One of the conversations I had recently with myself in my new meditation corner was

Maris (12:04.155)
With bombs!

Nienke Nina (12:24.294)
I think I feel so strongly that everything had to be such a freaking struggle. And it's almost like I sense that sometimes if I say how many hours I work or show my calendar, it's like my ego showing, whoa, look at me going through this struggle. How, how like, I don't know, like how it's almost satisfying.

And then when things come with ease, I'm almost like, whoa, is everything okay? Where's the struggle? And this is something currently that I'm learning about myself. And it's interesting because since the Minoma Festival, this sort of like, yeah, it's kind of like a wildfire in my body that sort of went on in my mind. It's amazing.

And then also we did like the pop-up after right and I've been taking myself away a little bit from like day-to-day stuff to slow down. But what I realized is that since then I have had a bit of friction here and there, but I realized it was because I am actually now focusing on the things that come with ease and whenever there is a massive struggle, procrastination,

Or just my body is just like, like not in, like it just, there's just something energetically, not in alignment. I am turning into my body. I'm looking at my human design and reading about myself. I'm like sitting with myself. And I think this is also part of slowing down. So in, instead of like just pushing and pushing and pushing and pushing, which I think a lot of nomads do, because there's so much pressure on.

how much money you have to make in this amount of days and all of that, and how many countries, just to like take a step back. I mean, whoa. And it's with everything. It's with travel, with the number of clients, with how many meetings you have, like with everything. So I love that you just said that like, just things that come with ease. And that's one of the, I think one of the biggest gifts that Minoma has given me so far, like there's so many things, but like.

Nienke Nina (14:38.274)
Allow to ask yourself these questions and be like, whoa, what's going on?

Maris (14:43.443)
Yeah, normalize slowing down, eh? Because another way of looking slowing down is just listening to the body and almost like trying to find a way to actually know how to do it as well. Because our body is so incredibly wise, eh? Like it's even, for example, like going through this process of slowing down.

Nienke Nina (14:45.582)
and I'll see you next time.

Nienke Nina (15:02.076)
Hmm.

Maris (15:09.103)
what I've realized for a lot of people how they also shift from like repressing emotions into actually like really feeling them, accepting them and also seeing them as a way to like

real line you know like if you're experiencing a lot of frustration uh anxiety pressure whatever it is actually such a beautiful gift because it's almost like a navigation system you know like you experience that and instead of thinking like oh my god like what is wrong with me that i can't push more at some point like

Nienke Nina (15:37.111)
Yeah.

Maris (15:48.795)
just in this process of slowing down you realize that wow these are just signs these are just reminders that okay nice you're a little bit off track let's get you back into alignment and then you know it's such a that's what i mean that we have this emotional baggage as well because otherwise we can take this whole roller coaster of personal development also very personally

Nienke Nina (15:54.782)
Yeah.

Nienke Nina (16:04.781)
Yeah.

Maris (16:18.463)
personal development is literally in the world. But actually what it can be is just a human experience, you know, and taking it more as like, oh, okay, we can get back into alignment, into ease.

Nienke Nina (16:20.791)
Yeah.

Nienke Nina (16:32.535)
Yeah.

I love that. I think also like, I think so many things at the same time. Wow. One of the, when you hop energies or when you hop like, yeah, from like, suppressing things to like inviting, like suppressing emotions to inviting emotions, all of these things. Like what you said about that navigation system, like, yeah, we already touched on that in the beginning, right? That we don't know how to do that. I think that

Like, it's so crazy that literally people don't like, and still I'm also learning. So just to say, guys, like I'm not even advanced or anything. I'm just like touching like the surface of this, just scratching it probably. Like we don't know our bodies. And since I had this realization that I don't know what my body is trying to tell me, I felt really like.

like little or something like, whoa, like I'm 34 years old almost 34 years old almost. And like, I've been living with this body for so long. And I don't know well how to read my energies how to even read my moods like, and when things are happening from the outside, and when these energies come into me like what I should do with it. Last night, I'm sorry, I'm a projector. And last night I was reading, it's a very powerful book on how to basically

And it was explaining that my conditioning as a projector is not because of the planet or not so much of those things, but because of the open places, open energy gates that we have are conditioning. Your projector too is coming from other people in us. So the energy that we receive from people because we receive so much energy as projectors, that's the conditioning part.

Nienke Nina (18:31.542)
And then when I look at my calendar and I'm not slowing down, I'm like, Whoa, if I don't slow down, I don't protect myself. I don't project my, my energy. I don't protect my mind. I don't protect my body. So even slowing down doesn't mean to be a really big thing. I think slowing down just to go for a walk or go to the gym or just do something that is in your own sort of energy cocoon almost is for me as is.

is it's my recharge moment. So slowing down is insanely important. It's crazy.

Maris (19:09.779)
Yeah, and it's also, you know what you're describing is it's incredibly normal also because we've been in this system for far too long, you know, and nothing in the hustle culture, nothing there actually supports us slowing down. So we're actually like stepping away from that into like free falling, trying to figure everything out. But I think, you know, I

I emphasize this many times because also it is part of the Retreats Festival, so I might be a little bit biased there, but it's not something like that we're meant to do alone also and our environment has such a big impact on this and mostly, you know, the energetic environment, the pace of slowness of other people and then we just we sync with them, you know, and we can use their intention, their energy, their presence also to help

Nienke Nina (19:41.585)
and

Nienke Nina (19:48.59)
Thank you.

Yeah.

Nienke Nina (20:00.483)
Yeah.

Maris (20:06.921)
boost that part within because I really believe that we have this ability to be very connected to our body to be really present we already have it within I guess not something that we learn from the outside it's something that we are naturally born with and we just access it layer by layer we go

Nienke Nina (20:25.473)
Yeah.

Maris (20:32.763)
deeper into our natural state of being, which reminds me the whole human design. We have to make a whole nother episode about it because it is, it is also such a powerful way to look at how individual, unique we are and how, for example, the whole personal development journey can be really different and unique for all of us so we can dive into that.

Nienke Nina (20:41.092)
Yeah.

Nienke Nina (21:00.778)
We're going to have so many moments here because we have actually prepared like a few topics, right? But then there's that this is going to be, this is just like a catalyst for so much more. One of the things that I really love that you shared is that this perspective of doing it together, because I think there's so much value in slowing down on your own and finding ways that work for you. But what I really experienced at first hand as

as a guest of the festival and also talking with so many mindful nomas at Minoma, I said doing it together is, especially with people in the Minoma community, it's basically a warm blanket. It really is. Because it's so overwhelming, especially for the first few times that you're going to consciously, intentionally...

intentionally you're going to slow down. It can be really overwhelming because either nothing can happen and you're just like, okay, what am I doing? Or a lot, or maybe you get a flood or just something in between. Right. And I really see the value of doing that with other people and, um, have also more vulnerable conversations about this because I feel like there's just so much that we don't realize in our day to day life, but through conversation.

you really get like new sort of like, this is like little light bulbs that just like pop out. Whoa, whoa. And that's really helpful because also you've, you kind of feel like you're not alone in this and that's a lot of people are experiencing this. And I think that's, that's really true power. And, um, yeah, just from my experience since that, since the festival, since being, being more aware and having more conversations about this.

everything changed, like the way I run my business, the way I hired my clients even, like it's like a different ball game. And I know I'm not lucky to live this life. I'm working on it. It's like, I'm working for this. Slowing down is part of that. So yeah. So, Maris, actually one of the things I would really love to touch on, because you literally just finished a retreat with Annie. Such an incredible human.

Nienke Nina (23:17.446)
And there is the Minoma framework, right? And a part of that framework is slowing down, slowing down happens in the beginning of the retreat, but I'm, I would love for you to like walk us through. Yeah. Like walk off kind of through that sensation because okay, they're slowing down and then, and then what, especially on the retreats, because the festival was like a whole other experience.

Maris (23:44.511)
Yeah, and maybe one thing I'll touch upon what you said also, because on the retreats, especially on the day of slowing down, we also get really vulnerable, like sharing our experiences of what happens if we don't slow down the burnout, like rejecting ourselves so we wouldn't be rejected by others, like all of those things we get really vulnerable about. Plus also then we tap into like

Nienke Nina (24:06.771)
and pause there.

Maris (24:14.685)
Because then we almost you know, like we tap into that joy as well that Accountability and we really align as a group Yeah, it's just one day Well, what happens in one day but the whole framework is built around almost, you know the emotional energetic states that we go through when we go through a transformation journey and

Nienke Nina (24:22.07)
and

Maris (24:41.211)
We're really, really aware also that this is not something that is one size fits all. It's not that Tuesday we have letting go of him and then boom, you're ready to let go of everything. Not that, but really. It is not, it is not a system, but what it is, is it's guiding us through, um, different ways to really connect with our body because

Nienke Nina (24:54.92)
It's not very corporate.

Nienke Nina (25:01.78)
Bye.

Maris (25:10.611)
These are very common elements of transformation journeys, and then we just come back to them whenever we actually feel those things shifting. But the whole framework, it's built in a way that, especially in the retreat, the first half of the retreat are like signature retreats.

is that we slow down and we tap into really like group alignment connection. And then the second half of the retreat, we actually tap into our mission and gifts. So they're two different parts, but the first part, it really starts with the slowing down, letting go, self-compassion into like softness because.

Even if we feel like our values are exactly that, we still live in a world that's really, really fast. And if we crave for like meaningful connections and we crave for really like purpose-driven work, sometimes we just have to slow down. We have to come together with other people who actually feel the same to get like a massive boost and then boom, we can go and feel

Okay, back to the framework, the three steps. Um, I already mentioned the slowing down, letting go, self-compassion. And then we go into empowerment, envisioning and trust, because that is also looking, um, looking into the future, but trying to do that from a completely different navigation system. Because.

All of this framework is built with the intention that we don't spend a lot of time in the head, you know, brainstorming about things or figuring things out, but we try to tap into what we call experiential learning, like embodiment, to go from the head to the heart.

Nienke Nina (27:07.086)
Hmm.

Maris (27:10.991)
And from that place and like really learning to trust our bodies, we can manifest and align and change our lives in incredible ways, you know? And it's all there within. It's incredible. It's wow.

Nienke Nina (27:21.363)
out.

Nienke Nina (27:29.784)
Yeah. I think also what's so cool is that when you slow down maybe on your own and there's, I feel like there's also a lot of pressure, you know? I think what's very interesting and very calming about a group dynamic is that you can also lift on other people's energy, right? Because you're all...

there with your own reasons, your own motivation, your own energy. But it's like, yeah, it's like once one thing starts to vote, it's like more is coming and more is coming as more is coming. And I think it's really overwhelming to just be alone and maybe nothing is coming. You don't know how to read. And it's like also in sharing circles and all of these moments, you really get like

these, yeah, these, like I said, like these little light bulbs on. And I think that's why also doing this together is so powerful, so needed. And this, I don't know, like for me, it's something like, you know, like how we set quarterly goals, like, oh, or monthly goals or things that we want to, I think this should be part of that as well. Like it's something that you want to have on your sort of net self nurturing in your inside yourself, nurturing toolbox.

just a tool that you touch on every, I don't know, maybe every year or even twice a year. Some people in the Minoma community do that, right? Because it's so powerful and it's so amazing that it's guided. Yeah. Love it so much.

Maris (29:07.739)
Yeah, I know that you also schedule in your calendar, you know, the times to slow down and do it in shorter periods of time and also like within a year like when When do you take time for yourself to slow down? And it's something it's quite incredible because I think sometimes because it's such an invisible thing We don't really understand like, oh, okay. What is our progress line here? You know?

Nienke Nina (29:15.416)
Yeah.

Nienke Nina (29:33.813)
Yeah.

Maris (29:34.499)
Are we actually doing things right? Like what, how do we go about it? But even if it's invisible, I really, I all, a lot of times compare it with training a muscle because, um,

Nienke Nina (29:36.992)
Yeah.

Maris (29:49.827)
Also with awareness is the same thing that if you actually give it more space and time, it is something that you just naturally grow stronger in because it is our natural state of being, you know, it's not something we really have to like force or learn and we just have to give it more space. True breathing, we all have it, it's there.

Nienke Nina (29:59.008)
Yeah.

Nienke Nina (30:17.171)
Yeah. Yeah, but actually what's it just like for because you know how my calendar looks just to share this with the listeners. So one of the things that I realized is that I was looking at my sort of energy levels. Also in terms of like project work sort of passion projects I want to do travels and all of that. And it does stem also a little bit from like my new partner who is not nomadic.

He goes in his beautiful suit to his nine to five office. Like it's kind of funny, right? And he was asking me about like going on holidays and I was like, no, it's no, my season is busy. No, it's this, no, it's that. And then at one point I realized like, wait, how does my calendar actually gonna look like? Like what is, how is this year? And combined with some other insights that I had, I figured.

I need to create free space in my calendar to have moments for myself because if I don't create that, if I don't block it off, if I don't tell the people I work with, whether it's clients or other people that I'm not available, I am basically available. So it's like a boundary setting as well to like to protect my energy.

And it sounds so freaking easy, but it's not. It's really, really difficult. Like when I went to Morocco and you know, I was visiting you as well, which was absolutely amazing. I was there to slow down and I still had things slipping into my calendar. And I, I was after I came back to Vienna and I was reviewing this. I was like, wow, even then, even if I block off my calendar, things are still happening. So, and I think why it's so difficult is because.

or difficult why it's challenging still is like you said, I'm still flexing that muscle. I went on a holiday the other week to Spain and my partner was asking me if I would bring my laptop and I was like, what do you mean? I never not bring my laptop. Like this laptop is glued to me. It's like there's no way. And so actually my goal this year is to go on a holiday without my laptop. Like.

Nienke Nina (32:24.922)
no laptop, like, and like zero, like even if like shit hit the fan doesn't matter. Like, I just need that because I realized that on this holiday that I was supposed to be, you know, relaxed, I was beyond stress because a lot of things were happening in my company and that needs to be, that needed to be managed. But then at the same time, I let it also happen because I had my laptop with me. So I was part also feeding into these things and.

Like it's, so I'm still also learning about this because it's really difficult like to identify that. So yeah, but I had a win this week because I went to a cafe in the morning. I woke up with like really crazy anxiety. I was like, oh my God, what's going on? It just felt like the world was gonna fall apart and it was sunny weather, so it didn't make sense. So yeah, I went to the cafe without a laptop and I was really proud of that. Like I was like, wow, because usually I even bring it if I go to the gym, like I'm always with this laptop.

Maris (33:24.215)
Yeah, and I think what you're feeling is it's so incredibly normal also because we are creatures of habit, no? Like and whatever...

Nienke Nina (33:32.618)
Mm. No.

Maris (33:35.195)
It's so funny because it comes back to the emotional state or the feeling that we're so used to being on a daily basis because everything else, like all the conditions can change, your environment, people, da-da-da-da-da. But we always somehow want to or are so wired to experience anything that would make us feel the same way. And that shift is, you know...

that is quite a difficult one that requires flexing that awareness muscle, requires creating space to actually like look that inner state in the eye like oh my god I am addicted to stress what how come like how is this part of human experience like going a lot into almost like existential crisis but

Nienke Nina (34:21.474)
Yeah.

Nienke Nina (34:31.32)
Yeah.

Maris (34:32.559)
within this like radical honesty also that there is such a beautiful opportunity then to you know to really experience it fully and then naturally it shifts into another like emotional state that is normal for us because also with the retreats many times I say why creating such a bubble

Nienke Nina (34:49.742)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Maris (34:58.607)
why it's transformational is that it does tap into our inner states and what we experience to be normal because within this week of a bubble we experience such deep connections, relationships with other people, also with ourselves, that what we consider then to be normal shifts.

Nienke Nina (35:27.67)
Yeah. And that's so important because I think you hit it so well in the new hair is that like what we consider as normal is what other people usually consider as normal, like environments, that's the conditioning part, right? And I think that going back to nomadic lifestyle, going back to freedom lifestyle, going back to starting your own business, starting your own project, I don't know, quitting your job, do your own thing, selling your stuff, move across the globe, it's creating.

It's recreating your normal, but this is not going to happen just because you're going, I don't know, to Mexico or just because you start your passion business, because you have skills, it helps, but you still need to do the work. And I think that this is what, because it's so productized and there is now there's more awareness about it, but still it's even that awareness is now being productized, which is quite funny. It's like it, it takes so much self work.

So much self work. It's like, and it's every day and it's, and that that's exhausting as well. Especially if you're not like hanging out in a community that has that sense of, um, of awareness that there's things to work on. And I think that, um, navigating through navigating the question on what, what is my desired normal? How do I normally want to feel? I don't think.

That's a question that we don't get. Like, it's like, you know, and I think that's why it's also so overwhelming because now you have all these decisions to make and you have all these freedom options and then there's all this overwhelm. But then at the same time, there's like the social pressure, red herds from environments, communities, online on like social media, you still need to sort of fit in some sort of box. So it's very like...

contradicting sometimes as well. And that is very confusing. And I think that's why these group dynamics, the bubble that you just talked about is so important because it's a safe space. It's like an equal. It's like, it's a really, really safe space. You don't have to live up to anyone's standards. It's all good. You can cry and laugh as much as you want. It's like, you're just expressing and evolving yourself.

Nienke Nina (37:49.97)
So important. Actually, when you just said like, what you were addicted to, I think I'm addicted to being really productive and use my time all the time so great. So even when I'm like in the park chilling, I would still be listening to a podcast that's helpful for my work. Like, yeah, constantly feeding things in my head, in my brain, in my body, like constantly. Wow. Yeah.

Maris (38:08.291)
Yeah, it makes sense.

Maris (38:16.743)
Yeah, it makes so much sense also because, you know, I'm so grateful for this conversation because this like awareness is big part of this whole movement and change.

But what I've also experienced both from this Vipassana experience as well because... Okay, I'll shortly touch upon Vipassana because I think a lot of people think about meditation as a way to keep the head clear, but actually what it does is it connects us with our body.

Nienke Nina (38:48.396)
Mm-hmm.

Nienke Nina (38:53.806)
Mm-hmm.

Maris (38:54.819)
And from that place we actually go through a lot of shifts.

And with like changing what is normal and going back into alignment also, like we can re we can think about it and we can set some goals and visions and all this, but the actual shifts happen through experience. Like it happens through the body and then something really, really shifts. Because I think that's, that's one of the things that in, honestly, both in like the personal development world, plus in the nomadic communities, conference.

Nienke Nina (39:16.479)
Yeah.

Nienke Nina (39:22.018)
Yeah.

Maris (39:31.601)
all of those things as well. It is very intellectual. It is like learning new things that, yeah, cool, keep us inspired, but don't necessarily make the shifts towards like a deeper sense of freedom, right? So there is a, yeah, I love that we're talking about also, you know, what it means to actually reconnect with our body.

Nienke Nina (39:35.086)
Mm.

Nienke Nina (39:47.03)
Yeah.

Maris (40:01.095)
and experience transformation through that, like changing this navigation system. We've talked about it many times from our heads to our hearts because, wow, there is so much potential power there.

Nienke Nina (40:08.034)
Yeah.

Nienke Nina (40:15.107)
Yeah.

Nienke Nina (40:20.383)
It is. It is. What is something like maybe in transformation or shift that you recently experienced that was very significant for you? And maybe this was already, of course, like a longer journey, but it really entered the surface and it was so visible and clear for you that...

That happened where slowing down was where you afterwards reflected on, okay, slowing down was a really big part of going through this transformation or experiencing this shift.

Maris (40:53.679)
Yeah, I was honestly I was reflecting on that very, very recently because I feel like my journey has had two really, really significant like touch points. One of them definitely was Vipassana because the one thing if I can highlight from Vipassana what I feel like shifted was feeling my heart after that because before as, as all of us, you know, when we're in the system,

we function from the head and we're disconnected from our body if we haven't really felt incredibly safe connected. Still the whole system is geared towards us living from our head but what I felt after we passed and I was sitting down closing my eyes and without even touching my chest I can feel my heart.

You know, the activation of the heart space and feeling the body is something that it seems very abstract, da da, but I can see all the decisions that I took after that.

or like took, I feel like I really didn't have a decision there. It is like almost the heart has a life on its own. And you go about just following whatever you're called to do because changing them from architecture to then creating this community and retreats for mindful moments, that was everything was due to slowing down and diving deep into meditation through Vipassana. Like it's, it's incredibly clear.

Nienke Nina (42:00.666)
Hmm.

Nienke Nina (42:05.838)
Yeah

Nienke Nina (42:10.891)
Yeah.

Nienke Nina (42:29.154)
Beautiful.

Maris (42:29.491)
But the second part is really linked to human design for sure, because I think we can discover like our heart's passion, but there's not a layer of alignment there waiting to be tapped into and probably always will be. But with human design, especially connecting with the...

Nienke Nina (42:45.696)
Yeah.

Maris (42:54.159)
the insight and almost like recognition that I am a specific energy type that is not wired for the hustle. I cannot work productively eight, ten hours per day, like really pushing, initiating things, making things happen, da da. I need to find a balance between actually slowing down, processing and then...

then being in my zone of genius that is more about like guiding people rather than doing the work all by myself you know? Whoa and that was that was a massive learning point for sure and I think I'm still trying to integrate this and finding ways back into alignment because we can do things with the heart but still

Nienke Nina (43:29.966)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Ooh.

Nienke Nina (43:46.488)
Yeah.

Maris (43:50.679)
in ways that we see other people doing it. That doesn't really work for us.

Nienke Nina (43:56.63)
Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Thanks for sharing. I relate a lot to that. We're both projectors. So we relate a lot like amazing. Amazing. Love that. I also recently, um, well, you know, it is like, I, I feel like it's, it's like a massive identity shift. I think, I think it actually started.

Maris (44:06.059)
Yeah.

Nienke Nina (44:24.17)
About, well, it started about a year ago, actually right around when we met online, which was November-ish. And then, uh, there was like this whole, well, if you listen to this podcast, you might know that, you know, there was an ugly, a nasty breakup and, oh, but I love change, a lot of change there because it was not just that the relationship was done, it was my business changed.

on the community of these things. And literally, only recently, I feel like I pushed like, you know, like when you have a seed and you're still in the soil and you're like pushing and pushing through the soil. And I just literally feel like I just like, I just, I just left it like I just

I went out of the soil and could finally see, you know, the sky and the sun and everything, you know, and it's, it's really beautiful because I have been one thing and longing that for so long, but I had to slow down to get there. Um, and it changed everything. And I think one of the things that I, and this is more on the practical side, but, um, I think that a lot of people that have been in, uh, in maybe working for themselves for a while or, you know,

I really shifted from being the freelancer that hustles really hard, that solves everyone's problems, but also by clicking the buttons to, yeah, to be guiding people more and by using, or by, you know, tapping into human design and Minoma community and breath work and, you know, like boundary setting through Tantra and all these different things, I really realized.

that I feel like I've been operating in a different energy type for sure to pass like, well, since I started working, which is since I'm 13 years old, that was a big shocker. Now that I'm making these changes, I feel like I'm getting a little bit of pushback, but that's okay, that's fine. And even that I'm getting pushback is I know I was gonna get this pushback, so I am accepting it and I'm learning from it.

Nienke Nina (46:36.694)
So I'm not afraid of it. And I'm just going into like what I feel like I need to do. And I don't know, like now like things in my agency are changing, it's amazing. My name of my agency is changing as well, which is like, ah! Bob has been running like Start Digital and I really love the name, it's cute. But actually I added like sort of, yeah, recreating the agency. Start Digital will remain, but in a different concept.

but also when I'm just going to say it there because maybe by the time it's, it's online, it's launched, but it's actually sort of, it's just going to be called a line expression. So we do marketing for people, right? But it's, it comes from this slowing down point where I was sitting also on my mat and I was like, I need to find an agency name. I was under pressure of the system. And I was like going for a walk, listening to my Minoma Zina song. I love it.

And then I was just sitting on my math and then at one point it just like, it just came to me, I'd Google that it was fine. And then I was like, okay, this is it. It's, you know, helping people to find alignment and alignment and how they express themselves online and guiding them. So it's like super bomb project. There's super like bomb what I want to do. And everything is spelled in alignment. And I'm celebrating that because it's like, it's part of the slowing down process. And if I would just like hustle. Like

so freaking hard I wouldn't get to this and it would just be like pick like what I already have like as my original company name and it would just be boring and corporate and now it's like

Maris (48:14.863)
Yeah, because one of the traits of projectors is really allowing things to come to you also, like not going and figuring things out, but just allowing it to connect.

Nienke Nina (48:25.366)
Yeah.

And you need to like be in, in places where, yeah, where you not have your laptop, maybe you have people or know people, but you need to really give yourself space, time and energy to do that. And that's why the retreats are so important. It's, it's so important for your wellbeing, for your self awareness, for your growth. It's important for the way you run your business. It's important for your relationships and your connections as well. It's like.

I don't know, can I call it life medicine?

Maris (49:03.421)
Yes

Nienke Nina (49:08.083)
Beautiful. So, um, wow, we are 49 minutes in. Maybe we're going to upload this as a part one and a part two. Um, but I, one of the things that I would as sort of like a last thing that I would really love to touch on, because we are recording this series. We don't know how many episodes it's going to be. That's also like, we want to let it come to us, you know, like.

Um, so one of the things I want to ask the listeners right now, like, um, if you do have questions about mindfulness, whether you're starting, uh, like you're curious about mindfulness, but you're not really sure how to approach it. Um, like, like come to us, like whether it's Minomatt or Digital Nomad's daily. Um, this is definitely, especially if you, if you are curious, but you just don't know how to navigate all of this stuff, just know that there's a whole community out there to, uh,

to support you through conversations, resources, retreats, obviously, but it doesn't have to be so big as a retreat, it can be much more low key and, you know, slowing into it. And if you are like currently in the hustle, hard kind of vibe, and you actually deep down know that maybe that's not the most aligned way, then this is an open invitation to start slowing down.

Maris (50:33.043)
Yeah, and also maybe one thing I'll add here is that we're currently creating a workbook with guided meditations and some journal prompts that is exactly about this topic, the both the slowing down and letting go. So I think also very soon you could probably link it in the notes as well. It's something that we want to make really available.

Nienke Nina (50:33.052)
If you want to.

Nienke Nina (50:57.102)
Yeah.

Maris (51:01.491)
to actually tap into the experiential part of the whole shift towards alignment as well.

Nienke Nina (51:05.687)
Yeah.

Nienke Nina (51:11.198)
Yeah, exactly. And also what I really love like today you shared about the Vizpasana and it's so beautiful, but it's a very intense experience. I had one of my clients, she did it and actually she got a lot of insights, but I think that maybe she was expecting more or anyways, it was very beautiful. And, but then also that is a very intense experience. So it doesn't have to be like...

So big, like you can start really, really low key like small things. Um, and that's also why we're here to record like these episodes and to kind of add this layer to the digital nomads daily podcast, because it's, uh, it's, it's also really about how to find alignment in your day to day life, to give inspiration and how other people do it. And yeah, because there is this amazing, um, community with me, Noma for me, this.

really felt the right way to do it. Um, and, and also, uh, one of the things I, when you do things in alignment, when you find connections that are in alignment with, um, yeah, with just in alignment with you, like really amazing things can happen. And I mean, maybe I've dreamt of this, of doing this, but I was like, yeah, no, like, why would I do that? But, uh,

we're actually also creating a beautiful experience together. We're just like...

Maris (52:38.619)
YAAAAAY!

Nienke Nina (52:41.838)
This is so beautiful. Like, it's like even like when I when I work on the landing pages, I mean, obviously the funnel and stuff, right? Because that's what I do also in the agency. Like, it's a whole different energy of creating this funnel or working on the copy and all of these things. It's like, yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I'm just so excited about that. So all those details will be in the show notes. But yeah, so that's happening. And obviously, there's all the signature retrieves, there's going to be another festival.

Maris (53:02.375)
Yes, we do.

Nienke Nina (53:11.595)
happening as well. There's a lot of happening in the in-person world as well other than just the online world

Maris (53:22.243)
Yeah. Yay.

Nienke Nina (53:24.49)
Wow, amazing, amazing. All right, so that was it for this episode. Thank you so much for being here also, Maris. I'm so excited for our upcoming episodes and on our new journey together here.

Maris (53:43.527)
Likewise, I already feel like we can channel so much of this This this somehow this privilege of being able to see so many people go through shifts into like some lessons or inside sharing hopefully that Could be inspiring could be impactful. Yeah So grateful very grateful

Nienke Nina (54:09.434)
Me too. I will stop the recording here. Alright, we did it!