It burned out, lost power and direction. Much changed when Lukáš Pfeifer flew to Sri Lanka without knowing what exactly he would find there. Eight months later, he returned home a changed man.
When Lukáš Pfeifer decided to board a plane to Sri Lanka in 2023, he had no specific plan. Just a strong feeling that he couldn't live like this anymore. "I had a distaste for everything. I isolated myself from people and withdrew into myself. I didn't fit in. So I wanted to leave everything here in the Czech Republic, go to Asia and experience something I had never experienced before and find my direction in life," says Lukáš, while currently spending his July days in a place that changed his life - surrounded by people who went to Sri Lanka thanks to his project Machantreat.
Luky, how are you now?
I'm having a great time. I'm currently in Sri Lanka, a country that has changed my life and given me a lot of opportunities. I am exactly where I am supposed to be, doing what fulfills me, and for that I am very grateful.
I know that before your first trip to Sri Lanka, which changed a lot in your life, you were going through a difficult time - health problems, burnout. Can you talk about that period?
I had more difficult times in my life, but there were two of the biggest ones. The first was back in 2017. Since I didn't completely overcome it, it gradually came back. The next was in 2022 and the period when I flew to Sri Lanka, in the spring of 2023. I flew to Sri Lanka to find myself, my direction in life and also to resolve my long term health issues and job burnout.
How did burnout manifest itself in you? Do you realize in retrospect any signals that you overlooked or tried to suppress?
For me, the burnout manifested itself in an aversion to everything. I wanted to isolate myself from people, it kept me confined to my bed, I was totally devoid of energy and apathetic. Although in retrospect I know that there were plenty of those signals, and I was aware that I had burnout and depression, it took me a long time to find the strength to change it all. Sports, sauna sessions, family, and most importantly traveling the world helped me.
"Try new things, explore, travel... Because sometimes it's what we know that leads us to where we get lost."
You mentioned insulation. How did you feel then in the company of other people?
I didn't want to burden them with my problems. I felt they were things I had to figure out for myself. I felt like everyone around me was happier and I'd just be bothering them. So I retreated into myself.
Did you have people around you that you could lean on, that you could share what you were feeling?
I was lucky to have those people around me, especially my family, but I couldn't share everything with them. I didn't feel completely understood. No one understood where the beginning of my burnout was. Gradually I closed myself off from my family as well, so it wasn't easy for me.
Did you encounter reactions like "grit your teeth", "it will pass", "you're taking it too hard"?
Yes, I've certainly come across such phrases. I don't blame anyone because no one could see into my head and know about the things that were bothering me. It's a big lesson for me - not to judge anyone and not to give unsolicited advice. I didn't ask for it myself at the time.
The way to yourself
Lukáš has played football since childhood and around the age of seventeen he started playing it at a higher level. "I played professionally for about six years. But gradually I stopped liking football so much," he mentions. Even then, he was into yoga and eastern directions, but even in the context of the football environment, he suppressed these hobbies. Later he joined the army. At that time, burnout became more pronounced along with other health problems. "At the same time, I didn't fit in. So I wanted to leave everything here in the Czech Republic, go to Asia and experience something I had never experienced before and find my direction in life."
He toyed with the idea of going away for about six months. While he was gathering courage, he found an offer to take care of a surfhouse in the south of Sri Lanka during the off-season. This opportunity set everything in motion. "I knew at that moment that I could make the decision to leave everything behind overnight and embark on a journey into the unknown."
I don't know how fate works, but without that decision we probably would never have met - in the aforementioned surfhouse. And this article wouldn't have happened at all. "I was a very lost person back then. And if I came across as confident, it was a defensive mask. I had come for a deeper understanding, to understand not only myself but my perception of the world from a completely different perspective. And I felt that after the first month, when I began to perceive that the world could be about something completely different than I had been able to perceive it before," he recalls.
He finally had the time and space to deepen his knowledge of Eastern culture and begin to practice it himself. Gradually, he incorporated meditation, yoga and qigong into his daily routine. He also learned what true friendship means.
Machan, the word that became a vision
In Sri Lanka, you came across the word machan, a term for a close friend, a word that was so important to you that you wrote it into your project, which will be discussed later. Who is a close friend to you? How would you characterize him?
The word machan means a lot to me. The locals showed me and explained that calling me machan means that I am an important person and a close friend to them, not just a tourist. That word has stuck with me forever. To me, a machan is a person I can share anything with, someone I can turn to, someone I can share life with in all aspects.
How was the homecoming?
After those eight months, I was really looking forward to coming back. I knew that I was on a completely different path and that I wanted to create very interesting things in the Czech Republic. I tried to bring a piece of my heart from Sri Lanka to Tábor and I believe it was the best journey and the best decision I made.
You came up with the name Machantreat in the sauna. What's a sauna give you?
Sauna is the best way for me to relax and one of the few things that always makes me feel significantly better. Combined with the music and smell, it allows you to completely disconnect from the outside world and just be with yourself for a while. This is also why I started to lead sauna rituals.
Can you explain the project?
Machantreat is an opportunity for me to allow people to go to places where I have changed my life. The project brings together people who share a love of sport, travel and also exploring life. It's about creating a community of machans, good friends. Over the course of a fortnight with inspiring people, you pretty much get your life setup here, experience amazing moments and bring a part of Sri Lanka back home.
What challenges do you perceive in relation to the project?
One of the biggest challenges for me is that the project really brings new things to people's lives, new knowledge and that it is never primarily a business for us. It's all been made possible by amazing people and I'll always want it to be for people too.
We would like to add one or two more destinations in the future (e.g. Lombok), but it's all about meeting certain criteria.
When did you say you're not just going to dream about a project, but go for it?
When I came back to the Czech Republic, I felt that whatever I believe in, I can do, so I was not afraid that I would not be able to do it.
Fear is often the only thing holding us back. How do you work with your fears?
I think working with fear is something that is for life. Sometimes I'm more successful, sometimes less. Either way, I now have many tools to work with my fears, and I see them as little obstacles on the road of life that show me and teach me what I want in life and what I don't want. Meditation, breathing exercises, yoga and the kind of people I am surrounded by help me a lot.
"Living well for me means having a reason to smile every day, making life better for others through myself, and having a place to sleep, food to eat and health to eat."
Are you working or have you worked on your psyche with a professional as well? What is your relationship to therapy?
I myself try to work on my psyche daily and keep observing myself and overcoming deep-seated traumas. I've worked on my psyche with professionals as well, but I haven't opened up to them as much myself. I now see therapy as a wonderful way to come out to someone unbiased and someone who can help us shape our direction in life. I would recommend therapy to anyone.
What did you take away from difficult situations like bullying?
The main thing I took away from my pre-school experience of bullying was that as a person I want to be as strong as possible, and in turn I want to help people so they don't have to experience such things.
Live well
Lukáš took the transfer of Sri Lanka to the Czech Republic, specifically to his home town of Tabor, seriously. Alongside Machantreat, he naturally created Machan gymmore than just a gym, as he claims. Lukas has found his way back to football. "Since I've been playing football on a semi-amateur level, I've started to love it again. Sport in general is my passion and I believe it has helped me incredibly in all aspects of my life. I don't perceive the pressure to perform badly after certain periods because at the moment I determine my own performance in life."
He needs little for happiness, or rather he does not cling so much to material things. "Living well for me means having something to smile about every day, making life better for others through myself, and having a place to sleep, something to eat and be healthy. In the end, nothing is more important," he comments. "The biggest illusion of a happy life, in my opinion, is that we can be happy all the time and that happiness will fall into someone's lap. I look for discipline and context behind everything. Nothing happens without a reason," he adds.
At the end of the interview, I asked him what his message would be to someone who is exhausted and lost. "Confide in someone close to you, open up, admit how you are. And then take baby steps to build a new you. Try new things, explore, travel... Anything you haven't experienced before. Because it's what we know that sometimes leads us to where we get lost," he concludes.
