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Colivers Club Ep 22: From Gratitude to Global Community: Maria Hansen on Coliving with Intention

In this heartwarming and insightful episode of Colivers Club, host César Alberca sits down with Maria Hansen, a business English coach, digital nomad, and founder of Seeds of Gratitude. Maria opens up about her transformative journey through coliving spaces across South America and Europe—and how those experiences shaped her personal and professional growth.

Maria shares how she stumbled into coliving in Bogotá, how it evolved into a deep passion, and why her time at Anceu Coliving in Spain was life-changing—not just for her, but for the birth of her gratitude workshop and community. From safety and social connection as a solo female traveler, to navigating cultural dynamics and emotional authenticity, Maria brings a deeply reflective lens to what coliving really means.

You’ll hear her top three tips for first-time colivers, the power of setting intentions, and how building community is about balancing contribution with presence. Plus, she and César dive into topics like vulnerability, freelance life, the emotional signals of our bodies, and even their mutual love for bachata dancing 💃.

✨ Whether you’re a seasoned nomad or curious about joining a coliving community, this episode is full of practical wisdom and soulful reflections on creating a meaningful life through connection.

Read the Interview

César: Hello everyone, this is Cesar. This is another episode of Colivers Club. Today I’m here with Maria Hansen. How are you Maria?

Maria: I’m fantastic, phenomenal. Super excited to be chatting with you.

César: Nice. Can you introduce yourself to the audience?

Maria: So my name is Maria. I’ve been a digital nomad for two years now, traveling since I was 16. But the digital nomad lifestyle since 2022. And professionally, I have empowered professionals to communicate confidently in a global business context as a business English coach. And I also have started a gratitude community called Seeds of Gratitude, where we cultivate grateful mindsets. And I’m a huge fan of the coliving movement and I’m really excited to explore this topic and chat with you today.

César: Wow, that’s a great introduction. You sure have your way with language. That’s maybe why you went to English coach. You have also traveled to a lot of colivings, also in South America, and as well as in Europe. And I’m wondering how was your experience have been in those two continents?

Maria: Yeah, it was two very different experiences. I kind of stumbled across coliving initially. I was looking for some housing when I was planning to move to Columbia and was looking for housing in Bogota. But as a solo female traveler, I was thinking like, okay, what’s the safest housing for me? And I’m a highly social person. So, is there something that could provide me community and safety as well? And stumbled across this quote-unquote, air quotes, coliving, which really turned out to be more like a shared apartment. But that’s kind of what got me searching for this word coliving. And so, I did that experience for a month in Bogota. And then when I got to Medellin, I was also very interested in continuing to explore this concept of coliving. And so, I did coliving there and then met someone named Julie from Paris. Shout out to Julie if she ever hears this. But she, I met her in Medellin and we were talking about our experience coliving in Medellin. And I just kind of had this like internal feeling of, hmm, I feel as though there’s more to this movement. I’d like to continue exploring it. And she told me about so many that she absolutely loved. Nine was one that she had recommended was one of her favorites. And I told her about some of my desires with coliving and how I was looking for something very community centered and but still connected with nature. And she said, oh, you would love Anseu then like you’ve got to check it out or something like Sendai, you know, doing something more remote. And so, it’s very interesting to go from two very big cities in South America to exploring remote coliving, which is very different. I was listening to your podcast that you did with John in Thailand. And it was very interesting to hear how maybe the values of a country affects the coliving values. And I definitely feel as though I’ve experienced that in my coliving experiences that I’ve had that where it’s located, I think has a big influence on the experience that you have there that coliving kind of deeply influences the values that you experience there.

César: Wow. And the thing is for me, the interesting aspect is that, yeah, for sure, the local community really and the country you are living in that moment affects the vibe of the coliving. But I also feel like there’s an interesting international kind of vibe that goes wherever I go to these colivings that I feel like at home. It might be different countries, might be different places, but there’s still like this same kind of vibe, which I really love. And did you think it was really different between South America and Europe, or it was, for example, very similar in your experiences?

Maria: I feel as though it was different. It was very different for me in my experience. The coliving movement in South America is still new and comparatively is still new. And so I found that a lot of the systems and mechanisms and frameworks that were in place in Europe weren’t in place in South America yet. And that affected my experience of how community was cultivated. So it really kind of… I was looking for something more structured in all transparency. And so I find that community happens more organically, or there’s a lot more initiative taken by the colivings in South America compared to Europe, where there’s a lot of frameworks and structures and mechanisms already in place to where that instant community truly is upon arrival. You feel community right when you get there.

César: And you mentioned also one coliving that I know has made a big impact on you, which is Enceu. You want to try to realize your experience.

Maria: Wow. It was transformative, honestly. And anyone who asked me about coliving, I always tell them my favorite is Enceu. I feel as though it’s a magical place and it has been unique in my experience in colivings in that it really feels as though you’re not only immersed in the coliving, but immersed in the town. There’s a huge initiative to make sure that you understand the culture and the neighbors, and you’re immersed. You’re not in this digital nomad bubble where you don’t have any interaction with the community. The community is very much involved in the coliving to the point where they have so many people now that actually end up integrating themselves and moving into the community. And so it was a beautiful experience for me because I, as a Black woman traveling, you know, my context is coming from a very racially tense country in the U.S. And whenever I travel abroad, I do think about how much anti-Blackness may be present in this country or in this area. And so I had some hesitations about going to a small village in the north of Spain. I wasn’t quite sure how it was going to be received. And, you know, there’s not a lot of Black people there. So I’m thinking, what is my experience going to be like? But it was one of the rare places where I just felt so loved, affirmed, and supported in this space. And that is something that is very unique for a Black woman to experience because I don’t experience it at home. I don’t have that feeling in the U.S. And so it was really special for me to feel that in a whole other country.

César: And they also do a lot of activities, right? So that’s also another interesting aspect about how you can be integrated because, yeah, it must be difficult to, whenever you travel to have this, this look on your head, how do you go from that to, okay, now it’s safe for me to interact with others and join these other activities. What makes you more open to that?

Maria: I think it was from day one, honestly, or not even really from day one. I think the way that they do their onboarding, you know, there’s communications before you arrive. They’re helping you figure out how to get there. And they knew exactly what time I was getting there. They helped me arrange the taxi. They’re good friends with the taxi driver, really great friends with them.

César: That’s what we’re supposed to do.

Maria: Yeah. And so even before I arrived, it was this whole beautiful process of feeling support and feeling as though it was going to be safe. There were family and friends who were a little concerned, you’re going into the woods in Europe with these random people. Is this a cult? What are you doing? What’s happening?

César: You have to ask the question, and if it’s a cult, it’s a cult. Yes.

Maria: And so, yeah, there was lots of hesitations, but I felt so supported throughout the whole process. And so when I arrived, it was like this beautiful welcome. And they took me to the grocery store. And I remember I was suffering from jet lag the first couple of days. And so the first day there, I think I slept in until like 1 p.m., maybe, which to me felt like 7 a.m. But I was sleeping into the afternoon and Afri came in and knocked on one of the operators. Afri knocked on the door and was like, “Are you OK? We haven’t seen you all day.” And I was like, “Oh, my gosh, this is so sweet. You know, they’re checking on me. They’re like, “We just want to make sure you’re not dead, you know, that you’re OK.” And I mean, there’s so many…

César: It’s a lot of paperwork. If you’re not in the Caribbean, maybe to do a lot.

Maria: This is true. This is true. But I mean, the level of care that was there from the very beginning. And it just made me feel very safe to co-create with them. That’s something that I really love about Anceu is that, you know, we have this family meeting and we talk about the different projects and initiatives and who wants to collaborate and who wants to help. And I remember by the end of the first meeting, I was like, “Damn, we got a lot going on this week.” And Afri was like, “Yeah, this is the Manhattan of Galicia out here. Like, we got things going on. We’re moving and shaking. It’s not just chilling out in the woods. We’re doing things.” And you’re encouraged to collaborate and you’re encouraged to pitch your own ideas. And so that’s where I really felt as though I was a part of a community and I was in some weird sense, like a part of this product of Anceu, right? And I felt this desire to not just collaborate or to participate, you know, show up to activities, but I felt this desire to contribute. And I hadn’t really felt that so much in other colivings, but you could see that everyone was contributing in a way. And I was like, “Oh, well, what can I contribute? I want to be of service to these people around me. How can I show up in a way to help them? How can I bring value to them as well?” And that’s where I birthed my gratitude workshop. And it was in Anceu. It was at Anceu, yeah. And they were so supportive. And I was like, “I don’t know if this is really a value, but wow.” Like, they were very receptive and very supportive to the point where I was like, “Actually, wow. Yeah, this does have value.” And from there, every coliving that I’ve been to have offered this gratitude workshop and have cultivated that into a community called Seeds of Gratitude. I offer the workshop online now, and we have a WhatsApp group where we have daily challenges and articles and videos, research, everything. We just have a community now of people who are wanting to explore and continue to cultivate their gratitude.

César: Wow. That’s an amazing skill, I think. What’s the latest thing you’ve been grateful for?

Maria: Ironically enough, I am currently at a coliving where there are no structures in place really for a community. And I was really, really craving deep, meaningful connection. And I had gotten to this point where I had detached from the desire a bit and relaxed a little more about it and have been exploring this idea of ease and flow. And I let it go. And I experienced such immense community yesterday, just organically from the co-livers that are here. And I’ve been here for four weeks. I hadn’t experienced this level until now. And I was just so grateful for it. There’s been a lot of, in the past, a lot of push and a lot of force on my end. Like, we have to, let’s do a Skillshare. Let’s do a family dinner. I’m like pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing. And I felt as though when I just stopped pushing, I was able to actually receive it in the way that people were open to giving it rather than the way that I was used to experiencing it. And so I’m super grateful that it came to me, that it just came to me organically. Had a beautiful dinner with some of my housemates here and had a beautiful walk on the beach with another housemate where we talked about like deep, deep, deep stuff. So it was, it was beautiful.

César: Oh, I’m glad. I’m so thankful that you shared.

Maria: Yeah, I wanted to ask you, what are you grateful for lately?

César: That’s a great question.

Maria: And I have a tip for you before you share that could potentially help you. Yeah, sure. So in order for your gratitude practice to be truly meaningful and impactful, you know, because some people are like, I’m grateful for my family. And then they just move on. You want it to be something recent, relatively recent. You want to be able to expand it to something small, it doesn’t have to be something big. So sometimes people are looking for something really grand. And so they struggle to identify something they’re grateful for. So it can be small, it can be really simple. And you want to add as much detail to why you’re grateful for it. One exercise that I like to do is called the five whys. So asking yourself why five times will help you get to the root of why you’re truly grateful for it. Okay, so with those three tips,

César: I can tell you our next prayer, you should give workshops on gratitude.

Maria: You think so?

César: Yeah, I think so. I think the one that comes to mind is that I’ve been trying to go into this editing and filmography and my brother is a photographer, and he actually has a big community. And yeah, after he’s seen how I was trying, and he was always helping me on the way. The other day he gave me a camera, he gifted me a camera. And he said that he wanted to make some videos where he will teach me how to use the camera. So not only I’m grateful for having this amazing camera that I will create, yeah, beautiful memories in photography and in filmography, but also the time I’m going to spend with him, him teaching me and yeah, doing this adventure together. So yeah, I’m grateful for the opportunity to spend time with him while he teaches me about photography.

Maria: He’s creating video tutorials as well for you, or he’s giving the tutorial in person.

César: Yeah, so he has a YouTube channel, it’s about photography, and he goes around, takes pictures of people. And also a big part of what he does is teaching people how to edit and how to take pictures. So the series is going to be called “How to Make My Brother Into a Filmmaker”,

Maria: which

César: is something that I wanted to do. So it feels like, wow, he’s spending a lot of this time. Yeah, and it’s a nice project to do together. So I’m very grateful for that.

Maria: That’s beautiful. The quality time that you all get to spend together and learn something new at the same time.

César: Absolutely. Yeah, I’m psyched. I think the next week we’re going to record a little bit more. We recorded an episode this week and it was super fun. I’m so lost with the camera, I even was holding it in the wrong way.

Maria: I’m not sure what you use currently, but I am a big fan of your storytelling that you do now. It’s not, well, from what I can see from my perspective, it doesn’t feel overly complicated, though maybe there’s a lot that you put in behind the scenes. But it feels very authentic, your storytelling style. And it’s to the point, I like your little daily vlogs of like, hey, this is what I’m going to do. I’m planning to have this call and then I’m going to go dance later and then have family dinner. And it’s nice, I like it. I’m a fan.

César: Thank you. Nowadays, I feel I mean, there’s of course things going on for sure and some projects, but I have to find a way to make it compelling because if I record myself from my living room, it’s not the same as if I’m doing from a coliving because these little stories were done from a Burgas coliving and I love that. But yeah, I should go back into it. I have some interesting things going on. So I always like sharing. I don’t know about you, but I feel like you also have the same feeling of wanting to share with people.

Maria: I love sharing my stories. I have quite a few interesting over my travels from the years, but I also love the exchange of I don’t want to be giving a monologue. I also love hearing other people’s stories as well. I feel like our stories connect us.

César: Yeah, I think for me sharing is also about finding synergies and that I love also keeping in touch with people, specifically when for example, when I share a little update or something like this, like somebody might say, “Oh, I’m also here,” or “I’m planning to do the same,” and it’s nice that you find a path together. To me, that’s also very important.

Maria: Well, this can be scary though too, right? I don’t know if you felt this in your journey, freelancing, but I’m also exploring this world of freelancing, trying to find clients, things like that. And sometimes sharing our stories, sometimes it includes our failures and some mistakes that we’ve made, right? And getting vulnerable about that, sometimes there may be some shame to your story, right? And though a lot of times when you share those failures, you share those mistakes and you get vulnerable, that’s the true authenticity that a lot of people connect with and not like, “Hey, I’m a millionaire now. I’m successful.” Some people may find like, “Wow, that’s admirable,” and maybe find inspiration from it, but I find that people connect more when you’re more vulnerable, but that’s difficult. So I guess what I’m trying to say is I commend you for putting yourself out there because it can be difficult to be seen, especially when you don’t necessarily feel successful just yet. So to put yourself out there and to be seen and be open to potential criticism or feedback is very brave, but it does allow us to connect.

César: Absolutely. And I think, yeah, of course, showing authenticity, it’s scary because it means that you might also show weakness, quote unquote. But yeah, if you are losing potential clients because of this authenticity that might be seen as weakness, would you really want to be working with them?

Maria: I mean, this is something…

César: I mean, of course, if you need to eat, maybe. But I mean, I think I’d rather work with people that value that I can show myself and I can also be failing. I fail a lot and it’s part of my process. And it’s one thing to fail privately, but failing publicly, it’s the next step, the next level. But yeah, putting yourself out there means that you also get more feedback and you get more inspiration even and support. So that’s also something super nice.

Maria: For sure. And authenticity is something that I’ve struggled a long time with. I’m a recovering perfectionist. So authenticity is something that’s really important to me. I know you’ve talked about your core values before and authenticity is one of mine. And I do feel as though coliving is a space for people to show up authentically and it kind of helps cultivate that, especially places like Anseu or Sun & Co. Like you’re saying, where you can show up and show your vulnerabilities. For example, at Sun & Co., when you arrive, you go to this family meeting, right, community meeting, and you tell them kind of what’s some projects or some challenges or questions you’ve been asking yourself. And it’s a very, it invites a lot of vulnerability in a strange way, where some people are like, “Hey, I’m really challenged with figuring out how to travel and make money at the same time.” Or, “I’m really struggling with my love life right now.” And so it’s not just projects around artificial intelligence or crypto or something, right? The things that they’re discussing are really vulnerable things that they’re sharing. And opening themselves up to say, “I need help with this.” And, “Okay, well, let’s do a roundtable. Let’s do a mastermind. Oh, we have someone who’s an expert in this. We can do a Skillshare.” And so I feel as though places like this have really helped me to cultivate my authenticity more, because I know I’m in a safe space where if I reveal that vulnerability, it’s not going to be used to shame me. Rather, it’s going to be used as an opportunity to help me.

César: I also, yeah, I totally agree. And also think that about authenticity, which is a very nice value, I think, is that in coliving, you cannot fake it. You cannot fake it.

Maria: You can’t fake a week.

César: You can fake this super cool person for a week. But then, since you are staying a month or more, then at some point you need to rebuild your true self. Of course, I think that’s a very weird thing. I think we wear masks depending on the role we take, whether we’re family or friends, or we go to coliving. But I think it’s interesting that you get the opportunity to kind of reinvent yourself. So for example, every time I go to a coliving, I feel like I’m starting from clean slate. And whenever I go back home, I feel like I’m different. I’ve grown. And I think it’s an interesting approach. Of course, you need to be mindful and don’t lose yourself on the way. But if you are up for changing, and if you are up for learning and growing, then I think coliving is the place to be.

Maria: And perhaps it’s almost as though you’re like experimenting with this other side of yourself. It’s like, okay, when I’m in Spain, I feel more playful. Okay, so how does that materialize in this space? And so maybe you’re trying on this other side of yourself that you don’t necessarily feel in other places when you’re at home. So maybe it’s an experimentation that you’re letting out this different side.

César: And also, I think there’s a lot to do with the owners and the people who create these colivings that they put part of their personalities in there. So whenever you’re experiencing a coliving, you also get that energy in you. And I can totally see, for example, that my experience in Tertullia, in Tuscany, I totally see how the owner is an engineer and how he has crafted this place where he’s chill because he’s more introverted. So it’s more about nature. And if you go to another coliving, it has their own personality, which is super cool.

Maria: It’s true. It’s true. It has, in a way, it takes on the personality of, like you said, the owner, maybe the community surrounding it, or even at the time, the people who show up there. I remember when I was at nine in Tenerife, there was a period of time where there were some wildfires going on. And so the house at that point was, we weren’t receiving any new people coming in. And so it was a house full of women. And so we called it the Barbie house. And I definitely explored it a very different side of myself. It was almost being at a sleepaway camp with all girls. And it was really fun.

César: But I also think that it might be daunting for somebody who has never experienced a coliving. Hear us, for example, talking about it and how the houses have personalities and everything. We might seem like crazy people, which we don’t deny it for sure. But I’m wondering what three tips would you give to new co-levers?

Maria: I think it’s really important to, going back to that authenticity, be honest with yourself about what you’re hoping to experience or what you’re seeking from your coliving experience. Because of what you mentioned before, there’s so many varieties of coliving out there. And so being honest and taking some time to reflect about your intentions, I think it’s really important so that you can have the experience that you’re looking for. So if you know you’re someone who needs to be in the city and you need like a vibrant nightlife and you want to party, don’t feel any shame about it. Be honest about what you’re looking for. Because if you try to go to Anse’u, that’s not going to be the place for you. It’s a remote coliving, very far from a major city. And so I think that being honest about what you’re truly seeking, if you reflect and you don’t necessarily have any expectations, I think that’s really beautiful as well. And allowing yourself to be open and experience coliving in any form, I think also has its value too. And you can kind of figure out what works best for you from experiencing all these different versions of coliving. I feel like that’s two tips. Is that two or is that just one? Yeah, for sure.

César: It’s four one.

Maria: And my third tip, I think honestly, I think the third tip is also connected. I think it’s a great idea for wherever you’re landing, wherever you’re going to at a coliving to set an intention for yourself. I think that it really helps to guide your experience. So it may be just something as simple as, I’m here to learn, or I’m here to explore this culture, or I’m here to learn 20 new words in Spanish, whatever it may be for you. I think it’s nice to have that intention to get back to because there are a lot of energies around you and there are a lot of collaborators and a lot of projects that could be going on. And it is nice to ground back into yourself with your intention so that you don’t, as we say, get lost in the sauce too much.

César: Yeah, that’s, I totally resonate with that. For me, it was so hard to say no to the third party in the same week or the same, like I always was saying yes to everything. It was nice in the beginning, but at some point I was like, I’m so tired. I’ve been here for a week and I need holidays from my holidays.

Maria: It’s diminishing returns at some point, right? And I think that’s what, what’s nice about setting the intention is it helps guide you a little more about what you want to say yes to because you don’t want to be saying yes to everything and then realize at the end of your experience, wow, that was more draining than rewarding for me. I think coliving has the opportunity to be a very rewarding experience if you can be intentional about it and, and, you know, making sure that you’re saying yes to the things that are actually going to restore you or energize you rather than, you know, prevent you from experiencing FOMO, preventing you from experiencing guilt. It’s tough. We’ve all been there. I’ve been there.

César: Yeah, that’s the first challenge I will say about coliving. You realize, oh no, I can say no.

Maria: Yeah, I want to know what are your tips? What would you, I mean, not that I’m a seasoned professional by any means, but I think I would love to hear what three tips you have for me going forward.

César: I mean, I really like the intention, so am I still that one? For me, I will say that, yeah, sometimes I have the feeling that for sure people will maybe live in a week or maybe some others will live in two months. So you tend to connect more with people that are staying longer, right? Because you are feeling like you’re investing in something bigger, but don’t like see what feels right. And maybe during that week that you are meeting with this person that’s living soon, you connect so much that you decide to make plans together for, to see each other again. So yeah, I think overcoming that feeling of it’s a lost cause or there’s not enough time for me to connect. No, there is. There always is. I also feel like I live as you connect at a deeper level faster.

Maria: It is funny that’s like almost one of the first questions. Hey, welcome. How long are you saying for? I need to know.

César: Yeah. Can I be, we’ll have time. Two days. No, sorry. Next.

Maria: All right. I don’t need to know your name. I don’t need to know where you’re from. I don’t care. Get out of my face. Bye.

César: Yeah. It also doesn’t feel nice to be on the receiving end, right? This is true. I think we’ve been there as well for sure. Yeah. Also for sure there’s dynamics in colivings for sure. For example, it has happened to me that there is this very established group and I’m the newcomer and people are very welcoming, but you might feel like you don’t fit or you feel like something’s off. That’s normal. That’s okay. It just takes time for you to be interrediting to the group and people are very welcoming. And especially if there’s some structure around it where there’s family meetings, family dinners and these things, which really help you. But you need to shake the feeling. It’s okay to feel insecure about these things. But yeah, we all feel that. So that might be my number, my second tip.

Maria: That tip is really useful for me. I am working on increasing my patience. And so when

César: do you need to do that for as soon as possible, right?

Maria: There’s some urgency to the patience, right?

César: Please, I need more patience.

Maria: Can I have the patience now? I need it now. But yeah, I mean, this is something that is a challenge for me. So that’s very helpful to hear. So thank you for that tip. I guess connections can sometimes be instant, which I love those. But it can also take time as well. And those are worth the effort of patience too.

César: I think I also, when you said that you were trying to push people towards making plans and doing these things, I also feel that I’ve done that. And I still do because for me, since I’ve experienced colivins where these things happen more organically than others. And when I feel like in a colivin that doesn’t happen, I try to more or less push it, you know, because I think you get rewarded and I think it’s just super nice. And I get frustrated, you know, but in the end, I remind myself that people, if you push it, they will, yeah, they will push back. So I think taking things with ease and go more with the flow.

Maria: Yeah.

César: I think, yeah, that might be my number three tip. Things might happen, things might not, but if you are up for the, if you are up for feeling how things go, you are going to have a nice time.

Maria: I 100% connect with this. There’s times where like, I want it to be like survivor, you know, we’re on the island and like, I’m about to vote people off like, all right, you get out, you go get an Airbnb. All right. You get out, you go get a hotel.

César: That would be so fun to have that implemented in colivins.

Maria: We’re taking a vote at the end of the week and one of you is out. Whoever is being anti-social. No, but it’s true. I guess like something that has helped me with it, as well as recognizing everyone is in different seasons of their journey. And, you know, maybe they’re, they’re at a point where they need to take time to connect with themselves and community building is not something that’s a priority for them right now. And I guess giving like space and respect to that. And, and yeah, giving it time to, okay, well, maybe they’re not ready to connect just yet or connect in this way. But if I stay open, like you said, and I kind of go with the flow connections, it’s bound to happen. We all want to connect. Right.

César: So yeah, I’ve also talked in previous episodes about introvertedness and extrovertedness. I’m an introspective extrovert. So yeah, my way of gathering people is through maybe social gatherings. And even though I love board games, for example, which might be more introverted. Yeah, I sometimes need to remind myself that I need to be gentle and there’s a lot of different ways of creating community. For example, Ali Green, she was, I interviewed her for this podcast and I really like the way she creates community. It’s very gentle, very, very subtle, but it’s very effective. Yeah. So sometimes brute forcing things.

Maria: That doesn’t work. That’s the way. Not the stake.

César: You need patience for that. You need patience to stay subtle. Yeah.

Maria: And for yourself, are you introverted or extroverted? Or how would you define your

César: I’m an introspective extrovert. I really care about introspectiveness and connecting with myself. I do that through, I don’t know, sports, for example, I have here in my background, some ceramics that I like doing different things. So I like these little hobbies that I have where I need to really focus. This was a time where I put my feelings and my thoughts. I’m extroverted because I get so energized when I’m with people and doing things together, particularly, for example, dancing. I really love dancing.

Maria: I was going to say we have that in common. We both do bachata and I don’t know if you do salsa as well.

César: I do. Yeah.

Maria: Okay. Yeah. We have that shared hobby.

César: Yeah. Dancing has been very important for me in these past years. And it’s interesting how you connect to in a deeper level as well. I don’t know if you had the same experience with dancing with partners.

Maria: It’s very interesting dancing and globally as well, because there’s some times where you’re a little bit nervous. Oh, we don’t speak the same language, but yeah, dance and this connection, it transcends language. It’s a language of its own.

César: Yeah. I totally understand that feeling and I implore people to try dancing and just being more connected with their bodies. I think that’s super important. It just makes totally the difference because for me, for example, I’ve been living in my mind for a while for a long time and in the process of connecting with myself, it’s it’s been amazing. We are not minds with legs. We are whole things.

Maria: It’s a balance, right? Yeah. That resonates for me a lot. I also have struggled to live in my body and to connect with my body and listen to my body. And until recently, back in July, my body was telling me that it needed deep breaths and it needed to leave the tech sales career that I was in and manifested in really bad back pain just like out of nowhere. And I mean, I’m relatively young. I feel young. I feel fit and active. And so it was very concerning for me and very surprising. And I was like, I don’t know where this back pain came from. And my mom was like, what do you mean? You don’t know where it came from. I was starting a new position that I should have been really excited about. It was a promotion, more pay. And she said to me, you are not excited about this role at all. Like I can see it in every way in your demeanor and your behavior. She said, so I’m not surprised that it manifested the day that I was supposed to start work that very day. I woke up in extreme back pain. And she was, it was kind of funny because it was very obvious to her. And I was so disconnected from my body that my mind was telling me, this is a great opportunity. Like you need to like go full force into this, but my body

César: is what you’re supposed to do. Right.

Maria: Exactly. My body was like, no, we do not like this. So we’re gonna, we’re gonna fight back brute force because you’re not listening to the carrot and not listening to the subtlety. So we’ll just use brute force at this point.

César: Yeah, because the body first talks softly to you and then start screaming like so loud. You will need to pay attention to it. I’ve also, I’ve also had back pain for a while. And yeah, I can see totally that it has to do for sure. There’s some postural things. So sitting down a lot and not moving, but there’s a lot of emotional aspect to it as well. Yeah. So it sucks, but yeah, it’s pain is good because it tells you that there’s something that needs to be changed.

Maria: Yeah. It’s a teacher, right? Pain is a very effective, can be a very effective teacher. I just wish I could learn in some other way, other than pain, like

César: tickling maybe tickling would be nice. Yeah.

Maria: Could I be a student of joy, a student of pleasure? What is the pain that is my teacher?

César: Yeah. Yeah. I also, that’s why for me, for example, posture and ergonomics when traveling is a little bit hard, but I think it’s totally doable. And I really value one colleague means have good settings for, to work. And yeah. So yeah, if your back pain is related more to your emotions, then of course everything helps, right?

Maria: On a tangent, but semi-related, I’ve been doing some studying around grounding, but also maybe doing work on the floor. And these cultures where, you know, you take your meals on the floor, you sleep on the floor, people sit on the floor and they don’t use chairs so much. So wanted to offer that as something maybe for you to look into. I don’t know if you already have kind of looked into that, but I’ve started working on my laptop from the floor rather than from a desk all the time or sitting in a chair. And the reasoning behind it is they say when you’re on the floor, you have the mobility and the flexibility to get into these other positions that really help support like stretching and mobility. And you’re not sitting still, like when you’re sitting on the ground, you may start out cross-legged, but you start moving your legs, start leaning forward, side to side, things like that. And so you’re naturally stretching and getting that mobility and versus, you know, being stagnant or kind of more structured in the chair.

César: Yeah, to me being static means pain. So moving and for example, I love working standing up. That’s my favorite. I feel like if I’m standing up, I also, for example, here in my home, I have a yoga mat that is always there in the floor, you know? So I see it and then I might do some push-ups or some squats and just go. Even when I have a little bit of time to think, I just step on the yoga mat and move a little bit. So that to me, it’s super nice. I haven’t tried moving the laptop to the floor, so maybe I try.

Maria: Yeah, give it a try and let me know how it goes for you.

César: That’s amazing. Wow, we’ve talked about a lot of things. I wanted to finish by asking what does coliving mean to you?

Maria: Co-living to me means enriching and meaningful connections. Should I go on? Is it like coliving in three words? Co-living in five words, go.

César: Yeah, we need this for the shorts and the Instagram videos. No, you can develop the idea for sure.

Maria: Yeah, just a place for connections and everything that comes along with that that we talked about being able to have safety, vulnerability, authenticity, this desire to connect, to collaborate, to be there to show up and support each other. For me, that’s something that I really appreciate and is the environment where I thrive in, where it’s very collaborative and people are interested in connecting in a way that is really meaningful and enriching for each other.

César: That’s a beautiful answer, thank you.

Maria: What does it mean to you?

César: To me, coliving has to do with the idea of, of course, connecting. So I think we are very similar in the suspect.

Maria: Right answer, you get the right answer.

César: Yeah, there’s only one right answer. We asked this question.

Maria: You’re not going to be voted off the island.

César: Oh, I know. Yeah, we asked people this question in the podcast. If we like the answer, we keep the podcast. If not, we keep it. Trash it. No, but yeah, I wonder if because some guests, for example, have asked me, you know, what does it mean to me? And I’m wondering if my question, my answer, it changes through time. So for me, for now is the opportunity to, to really go deep into these amazing connections and people that I need and, and yeah, and I get so much out of it. And I think I give so much as well. And yeah, there’s a little, there’s a balance, right? Between what you get and what you bring. And I think everyone is very interested in keeping that balance. I feel like people share and kind to each other. And if not, they are kicked out for sure. They’re banished.

Maria: They’re banished to Airbnb.

César: But I can see that people are really introspective in colivings and that’s something that traits that I value a lot and resonates with me. And yeah, and I feel that introspectiveness and that kindness quite consistently in colivings. I’m wondering why. So that’s why I have a podcast. I want to get to the bottom of this. So it has been a pressure of Maria. I think we’re coming to the end of the podcast.

Maria: No, I don’t want it to end. No.

César: Did you like it? Did you enjoy it?

Maria: I did. I’m super grateful for the time. This is, this is the, the challenge for me is I feel gratitude, but I also feel greed. And I’m like, Ooh, I, I’d like that. And I want more.

César: Yeah. The problem is that people’s retention is very low these days. So it’s over 40, 50 minutes.

Maria: Okay.

César: People are already sleeping.

Maria: This is true. This is true. We’re putting them to sleep right now. They’re bored.

César: Yeah, but it’s not because of us. It’s their problem. It’s, we are totally fun. Yeah.

Maria: Very interesting.

César: Very interesting. So, so yeah, I wanted to also say thanks to our sponsors, Macmillan. So make sure to check out their website. If you want to find community oriented colivings. And also big thanks to you, Maria, for coming here and spending the time talking about so many interesting things.

Maria: I booked my first coliving by the way, last week on Macmillan and got my discount. So there’s benefits to, to booking through Macmillan. So you guys do it for sure.

César: Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, this has been another episode of Colivers Club. I’m your host, César, and goodbye. See you next time. Ciao.