About Slows
I tried everything. One thing at a time. On my own.
More exercise. Better nutrition. Journaling. Meditation. Every self-optimisation tip the internet had to offer. And again and again, the same message: Don’t make such a big deal out of it.
Think positive. Other people manage too. You just need to change your mindset.
As if mental exhaustion were a matter of willpower. As if the answer were simply trying even harder.
Then came the diagnosis: depression.
And right in the middle of therapy, just as I was finally beginning to understand what was actually going on with me, the idea for slows was born.
Because I realised: there’s a space missing in between. Not a clinical setting. Not a wellness concept. A real home for mental health. A place that says: you’re not broken. You’re having a normal response to abnormal conditions.
Because this isn’t a personal failure. It’s a societal and systemic one.
We live in a world that expects us to be faster, better and more productive all the time, while also expecting us to figure everything out on our own. We can’t optimise our way out of that.
And we don’t have to carry it alone.
Why a gym?
We know more about mental health than ever before. Podcasts, books, Instagram tips. The knowledge is there.
But knowledge alone doesn’t change anything. It needs to be practised.
Just like with physical exercise: you don’t get fit by reading about running. You run. Again and again. Even when you don’t feel like it, especially then.
Motivation doesn’t come out of nowhere. It grows when you show up, when you practise, when you realise: I can breathe here. And next time, it feels a little easier.
slows isn’t a solo project.
More than 20 team members have shaped slows so far, as trainers and companions along the way.
More than 10,000 people have shaped this space with their trust, energy and vulnerability in every class.
The trainers bring slows to life every week. Every company we’ve worked with, every organisation, every foundation, every person who has ever joined a class.
They have all shaped this place.
I founded slows on my own. But slows doesn’t belong to me alone.
slows belongs to all of us.
A place in Berlin.
For you.
Schwedter Str. 34a, Prenzlauer Berg — Courtyard, left side building, ground floor
slows is intentionally not a sterile gym. Not a spa. Not a coworking space with a yoga mat.
It’s tucked away in a courtyard in the middle of Mitte/Prenzlauer Berg, which means that 95% of the time, it’s quiet here. No optimisation. No pressure. Nothing you have to do. Just a space where you can breathe, exhale and simply be.
Created with a lot of love by Patricia. And carried by a community.
This is the feedback we hear most often:
“I can finally breathe here.”
Founder of slows, Business Health Coach & Speaker
Patricia Oleksiak
Her search for answers goes beyond traditional mental health services. She develops creative formats and collaborations around prevention, a healthier relationship with technology, and the question of how we can create more space for community and social connection in our everyday lives.
She is particularly interested in how we can rethink the places and spaces where mental health happens.
One example is a pilot project with the Bode Museum in Berlin, bringing together museums, prevention and social connection. As a speaker and workshop host, Patricia also brings these perspectives to companies, organisations and events.
Shaped by her own experiences with mental health, Patricia keeps coming back to one question: What are we actually missing to stay mentally healthy in our everyday lives?