Q&A WITH INFLUENCER, FREDRIKA AKANDER

A little bit about your background? Swede living in Melbourne – what you like about Australia, miss about Sweden?

I’m born and raised in Sweden but I moved before I turned 20 and have been living in 4 countries since then so I sometimes feel a little bit like a tourist when I go home! The two cities (gothenburg and melbourne) are so different and similar at the same time and sometimes i can miss the smaller city life (NO TRAFFIC!) that you get in gothenburg and I do really miss proper snowy winters! But it has the same friendly vibe, big art scene, trams, café culture and parks that makes me feel quite at home! I don’t think it is any surprise as a scandinavian in Australia my favourite thing about living down under is the beaches. Bay side calm beaches, surfy great ocean road beaches, big beaches, small coves – they’re all amazing and I couldn’t live without!

What is your morning routine?

In summer the best time to call home with the time difference is in the morning so as soon as I wake up around 6.30 I pop on sweatpants and a jumper, plug my headset in and call my family while I take the dog for a walk, if I have time I make it a really long one around the reserve because it is so peaceful and beautiful before the morning rush. After that I come home and make a massive mug of coffee and breakfast and do some work on my laptop. On the weekends I have become very spoiled with Nick making a big cafe style breakfast, he started off during lockdown because we missed our weekend brunches out and now even though everything is open again we stay at home and make it, its been one of my favourite things that Covid brought!

You have studied Yoga, why is so important to you and what do you get most out of it?

I began my teacher training for mental purposes. I was in the middle of University on the other side of the world from my family and friends (I went to uni in Canada) and I was falling behind due to the language barrier, I was working fulltime to support my fulltime studies and I was running straight into a mental wall. So teacher training was like an immersive moving meditation for me, I never really expected to teach but it became such a big part of my life and although I don’t teach full time anymore its still one of those things where I get on to my mat and I feel most like myself. It sounds like such a cliche but for me, yoga is the most grounding thing I can do for myself.

How to you maintain balance in your busy life?

I don’t really. I am terrible at handling stress I get all flustered and all over the place when I am too busy. But I like to shut internet and outside voices out and surround myself with people that knows me very well and get back to me. Yoga helps! Having people that don’t expect anything but accepts you for you around you helps.

 

Any key wellness tips you have for our audience?

Take time for yourself. We are always so available. we can call, text, DM, etc etc and we’re always expected to be available somehow somewhere. You don’t owe anyone that. It’s ok to take time alone and turn all electronics off. It’s freeing!

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