Our First Residency for Facilitators
Dear friends,
I am beyond excited to share this post with you! For the past five months, I have been fully immersed in this project, and my partner, Tarkan, has beautifully described it in one of his latest posts My heart is filled with joy and pride as this beautiful space embarks on its great mission: to be a safe home for those seeking expansion, growth, and the development of their practices, knowledge, and projects.
A special thank you to our Soul family member and Community keeper, Maria Esperanza, who, in just a few days, has brought the missing spark to complete this vision.
If you know a facilitator who might resonate with this call—or if you feel called yourself—this opportunity could be for you! Here’s the link to our residency program, and I hope you enjoy this article about my beloved project.
https://retreats.soulcoliving.com/facilitator-residency2025
From the Frontlines
Today I report from the frontlines about my most recent project. This time, it was in the real estate market. As I am writing this, we are still in the process.
We are now in Berlin, Germany my hometown and will be traveling back to Portugal in the end of January.
From there on, we will finish this beautiful project with my client Valentina, the wonderful designer from Caracas, Venezuela.
Do you remember her? I did the Electric Picnic 2024 with her.
This time we were not in Ireland, but in Portugal, near Lisbon.
A small town called Vila Franca de Xira, where the Portuguese tradition of bull runs meet the fast pace of a commerce hot spot.
Vila Franca de Xira: The Commerce Hotspot
Vila Franca de Xira offers an unfiltered taste of Portugal. It’s a place where every corner carries the poetry of local life. It’s where you’ll find a lively, welcoming atmosphere without the overwhelming rush and the crowds that have taken over Lisbon.
It’s ideal for those who want a vibrant social life with friendly faces, without losing the peace, the authenticity, and the familiar sounds of Portugal. If Lisbon is kind of overwhelming and got gentrified over the years for you, this little village might meet your taste.
The roots of Vila Franca de Xira run deep into the layers of Portugal’s rich past. Originally settled during Roman times, the area was known as “Scallabis,” an important stop along the Roman road connecting Lisbon to the northern provinces. With the arrival of the Moors, the town evolved into a flourishing hub of agriculture and trade. Fertile lands and proximity to the Tejo River.
By the 13th century, Vila Franca de Xira gained prominence as part of the Christian reconquest. It became a royal town under King Afonso Henriques, Portugal’s first monarch. The town’s name reflects its history: “Vila Franca” translates to “Free Town”. The name symbolizes the freedoms granted to its citizens under the king’s decree. The addition of “de Xira” references the nearby Serra de Xira, a range of hills that frames the town.
The Project: Breathing New Life into Soul
Valentina’s most dear project, named “Soul”, is a 6 room apartment in the heart of Vila Franca de Xira. She put her heart into building the space, and we both started to strategize what soul can offer to the people.
Soul is a center for artistic expression and well-being, with the aim of intiating & nurturing connections, creativity, growth, and renewal.
Souls purpose is helping people to:
— live pain free & healthy
— gain frictionless clarity of vision for their dream life’s
— discover their natural gifts, talents & tools along the way
— awaken the delight & freedom of their inner child
Early Stages
Above you can see the reel of Valentina publishing the start of business of "Soul Moradia Criativa". At first she hired me for marketing & branding services. I helped her carve out the brand’s core message and tone. Valentina told me that at first after opening the space she needed more traffic.
She put her number on to google business and the traffic occured.
But it is never as easy as that, isn’t it?
Carving out Character
It it turned into a more immersive project, where the real challenge lied in acquiring the right kind of people for mid- to long term rent.
So we went into her real motives and characterised the brand attributes:
/purposeful:
The vast ocean of the future world will be shaped by those who have clear vision and go this path with mental health and foresightedness. We aim to nurture clarity, discernment and the ability to draw boundaries to individuals seeking the path.
/creative:
Without unbound play, we will never be truly able to tap into our full potential. Let‘s find ways people think there aren‘t any, by breaking out of the limiting box we tend to think in. Creativity for us is like creation itself limitless, and so are we as creators.
/whole:
The human experience is meant to be diverse. We perform our best in balance and healthy. We provide as much movement, healing and wellbeing as needed for reaching equilibrium. Before we get to work, we make sure we are and show up as a whole.
/conscious:
Being conscious of our ever evolving realisation of wholeness. The more Inclusive we can play, work & rest, the more the surroundings can benefit from our actions. We expand further through creating every part of the sum as the sum of the part.
/caring:
When we come as a whole, naturally we want to share our experience. Caring is the natural byproduct of us having all our needs met with abundance. Thats why we fundamentally care.
We worked out a Brand Identity Guideline PDF, that you can download via the button below.
Here is how you can build a Brand Identity.
Retreats at Soul
In Soul, there were already amazing events happening.
One of them was the Yoga & Toursim retreat with Yoga Instructor Carla Exposito
In this retreat, all the guests were spoiled with amazing food, a yoga program and trips to special places around Lisbon.
If you are looking to host a retreat like Carla did, have a look at our dedicated landing page for retreat facilitators, which we designed:
https://retreats.soulcoliving.com/for-facilitators
The apartment offers a range of areas perfectly suited for
— movement practices,
— creative expression,
— education & healing arts
— professional development
— design & photography
— and the development of spiritual tools.
The Details Matter
As we dove deeper into the nitty gritty of how we can make this beautiful place even more beautiful, we identified key details that has to be worked on before this place can be called a “home” by many, and not just a room to rent for one night and crash by.
What I learned from being a certified Feng Shui Intructor is
“The surroundings are the resonant field of our soul’s.”
I use this quote often.
But what does it mean?
Well, everything that you create in the outside world, is a reflection of your inner world. In Feng Shui we have to be in balance, in order to create balanced places.
That’s why I became a personal coach as well as a creative director/strategist.
There is no outer balance without inner balance.
So looking into Soul (no pun intended), I saw that this place had a lot of potential, but she needed help with the last details and positioning in the market for revealing this project’s true potential.
As soon as I stepped in, I did not see it as a short term stay, “booking dot com” type of rental, but a co-living for creatives.
That word was new for Valentina.
What's a Coliving?
Coliving is a modern form of shared housing; it’s a way to live and share a home with other like-minded people. The biggest value of coliving is access to the community. Coliving is quickly gaining popularity across the globe as people increasingly value living flexible and convenient lifestyles.
It’s important to note; modern coliving spaces come in many different shapes and styles. The term has been used loosely for different kinds of living arrangements: from “big box coliving” (buildings with hundreds of pod-style rooms) to family-style apartments turned into coliving homes (imagine living in an episode of “Friends”). What all these coliving concepts have in common is the desire to offer a more community-oriented lifestyle.
LifeX.com
Since I was working in 3 different hospitality concepts over the span of moving to Sâo Miguel Island, I learned about what it takes to create community. The last volunteering project I did was in a coliving called Lava Coliving.
And that’s exactly what was her intention from the beginning.
Sometimes, we just not found the right word for it.
And then boom, it makes sense.
From there on, I knew what we have to do. We went from room to room, detailed out the composition, build furniture pieces, installed isolation with contractors who happen to be friends and family of Valentina (thanks to Arlindo, Aristides, and Miguelinho) & made sure lighting details and amenities are present.
We turned a room into a living room, established rules like “no shoes” and changed the name from “guest house” to “coliving”. We put out targeted advertisement for a artist in residency position, and we successfully found a community manager for this beautiful space.
Website Design
I have also the build the website for www.soulcoliving.com, and since then, we are on our way to doing the same numbers, with less traffic, more cultivated guest selection, creating space for community events, and a overall better experience for Valentina.
Work in Progress, We Want Art
It was and continues to be an honour to work with Valentina.
Let's create more spaces like this, where the vibrancy of life communicating through the space. I am thrilled to work further into the details of this space.
kiss kiss,
Tarkan and Valentina