Sabrina Hilchner, Pantarei Approach Practitioner

Needing a change / Starting Again

On the edge of northern Portugal, Sabrina Hilchner has a view of the Atlantic Ocean. Across the river she can see Spain from the village Moledo, where she lives and works. “Moledo is a beautiful place. There is a beach, a forest, inland mountains, rivers. It is actually a very nourishing place. During the winter, there are a lot of storms and rain which makes the nature very green all year round.”

Sometimes in the winter the village is very quiet as many families only live there during the summer.  It is a traditional Portuguese town where tourists frequent in the summer months. Sabrina opened her own studio at the end of last summer. It was a challenging time because she was new to the village, and as winter approached less people were around. Then she also had to close the studio for some months due to Corona.  However, this doesn’t slow her down.

“My dream is to create a place where people can go and feel good and get to know themselves. I want to create an oasis. I found this place to rent and found ways to make it possible.  I’m hoping I can bring different movement and other well-being workshops to this space.”

A Need for Change

Before Portugal, Sabrina was in Berlin for 9 years. She explains that the first years of working in the business world were nice. However, she eventually realized she couldn’t be her true self. She didn’t feel comfortable needing to compete or sell herself and longed for a career where her kindness and honesty could be used. As a consequence, she quit her job and decided to start again.

She allowed herself to try out what new possibilities may be available for her. She did short internships. One was in speech therapy and the other was even at a funeral company, as she was comfortable around topics of sadness and death.  But it was a trip to the island La Gomera that helped her connect to the freedom of interacting with people no matter their age, appearance, or job.

From working in an environment that didn’t allow her to express her true self, she had also experienced migraines and was often sick. After only one bodywork session, her migraines were gone and she immediately knew she had to learn about this approach. She recalls that Claudia and Vered did not even have a name yet for their new school, but she applied to do the training.

She trusted in the topic. “The first day of training was overwhelming for me! I was not used to being so close to people. But by the third day, Vered started speaking in the morning about communication. I realized this is where I need to be.” She started a yoga teacher training in Berlin while simultaneously training with the Pantarei Approach.

“During the training I really fell in love with myself for the first time. In the beginning of your thirties, to feel that you love yourself is an extra, beautiful experience on top of the training. It was quite amazing.”

Old Friends and New Possibilities

After visiting an old friend in Portugal, she connected to the country and started visiting every year. Compared to her life in the business world, her new skills gave her the freedom to live where she chose and she started to imagine what a life in Portugal could be.

She fell in love with her friend’s cousin, started a second yoga teacher training in Lisbon and decided to start a Pantarei Approach and Yoga business in Portugal where she could be closer to her partner. “After living in Berlin for 9 years, I was looking for more connection to nature. Lisbon was exploding and I felt it was not the lifestyle I was looking for. I asked my boyfriend if he would like to move to his hometown village”

What is it like being a practitioner there?

It’s a challenge. I am someone that brings something new to the village. On one hand, I need to allow people to get to know me and trust me. I found that yoga is a good entrance to get people exposed and connected to their health and their body.  Then, I can introduce them to Pantarei.

The term bodywork does not work here. I have to use word of mouth for advertising as I need to make it clear what Pantarei can be used for.  I am speaking to the health center here and I am explaining to them what Pantarei is. Usually they advise people to do sports or Pilates. I want them to understand the benefits of Pantarei so they can advise people that this is also an option.

She feels historically, people in Portuguese culture are used to living with stress and pain. Often they are only given pain relievers as a solution.

What types of clients do you see?

“It’s quite mixed. Some come from the cities and work a lot. They don’t have balance and are at their limit. I also see elderly people. I like the fact that in the village you have senior clients. We can learn a lot from people who have had a long life and it’s super interesting to work with that. There are people my age who want to try something new. Friends visit me or people from Lisbon. I see people from different cultures, with different languages and all ages”

What does your logo mean?

It is drawn by my friend Chrisse Kunst. I wanted something artistic and something that could be open for interpretation. So the shape of it can be seen as different elements. Inside there is a type of wave that can be seen as water or flow. It could also be seen as a pattern of a tree or as wind or even a fingerprint. It has so many different meanings that connect to yoga or Pantarei. I saw it and I fell in love with it.

The importance of Nature

When asked what she likes about Pantarei she recites a phrase she heard in the training, “The way you are now, is the best version you are of yourself. I remember hearing that in the Pantarei training and I say that in my yoga classes sometimes. It’s important to realize this. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you look like. As a practitioner, you connect with the person in front of you. The practitioner and client are on the same level. In nature it is the same. A natural way of being.”

“The more I connect with nature, the more I feel how important it is. Nature helps you understand yourself and what is important about life and how we work. I’m a super perfectionist — it’s a German thing that you learn.  But I’m in a situation here where I can build a new life in this village. There are lot of things that are challenging in the beginning. Being close to nature every day, gives me the understanding that things take time, things are changing, some things you can’t change and need to accept that.  We need to adapt.”

You can read more stories about practitioners in our blog. We recently added the story of Lena and of Alina.

You can get in touch with Sabrina via her Website, or follow her in her Instagram page

Portrait photo Sandie Boloto, Landscape photo João Porto

by Mike O’Connor,