外國人在台逾期居留的原因 | 外國人眼中的台灣｜外國人在台灣｜Foreigners in Taiwan | Living in Taiwan | #KindnessIsCool

My name is Linda, but I also go by Almazonia. And I was born in Brazil, raised in Brazil, and I've been living in Taiwan for about 25 years. Almazonia, what's it about that name? The name that I go by as a sound therapist, as a healer, and it originates from the Amazon, because I'm from Brazil, and I wanted something that related me to my birth country. So Alma in Portuguese means soul. So Almazonia. Zonia is a zone. So it's like a space where the soul can flourish and grow and be enlightened. And I've created an instrument called the monochord. It's a very ancient instrument created by Pythagoras. So actually I didn't create it. I redefined and redesigned it. But this instrument was created by Pythagoras 2,500 years ago. It was used to study musical scales, to study tones, and also later used by his students to study the frequencies of the planets and the stars. And many people don't know that Pythagoras is actually a mystic. He truly believed that sound is healing. Frequency, energy, and vibration, they're all very healing to the human body, to the human mind, and to the human soul. So this is an instrument that heals the body, the mind, and the soul. And therefore it is a very spiritual instrument. And so I consider it to be a very sacred instrument. And so I redesigned it. I redefined it. I teach workshops on how to play the monochord. I offer sound therapy with the monochord. And I also facilitate cacao ceremonies with the monochord. Wow, interesting. Let's go back a little bit. Why did you choose to come to Taiwan? That goes back to when I first graduated from university and trying to stay in Canada, because I study in Canada, trying to find options of work to do there. But I couldn't. My parents have moved back to Taiwan by then from Brazil. And because I've been away from them since high school to university, I thought it would be also a good idea to come back and spend time with them and find work opportunities here in Taiwan after the university. So your parents, do they have anything to do with Taiwan? They're Taiwanese. They immigrated to Brazil. And I was born in Brazil and I grew up there. So both your parents are Taiwanese? Yes, they're both Taiwanese. So how is it like as a Taiwanese child living in Brazil back then? To be honest, I don't feel that I was very Chinese. I mean, being born in Brazil and growing up in the Brazilian environment, I looked at myself more as a Brazilian than a Chinese or Taiwanese. All my friends, even though they were Taiwanese as well, they were all like second generation Brazilian. So we all spoke Portuguese. We went to the local schools. We had a lot of Brazilian friends. And the culture, we lived in the Brazilian culture. We didn't live in a Chinese culture. So I looked at myself more as a Brazilian than a Taiwanese. And it was very hard coming back to Taiwan at first because it was so different. The environment is so different. The culture, the way people are here and the society, it was quite an adjustment period for me. Coming back from a very rich culture, a very warm culture, a very lively culture, to an Asian culture was challenging at first for me. Being in Brazil as an Asian child, Brazilian born, how do Brazilians see you? Do they treat you differently? Because you might look a bit different? Beautiful question. Yes, in fact there was. There was racism in Brazil. The Asian people that were in Brazil, they worked really hard. So they were very successful in the business that they did. And to the Brazilian, to the local Brazilian, that was very hard for them to accept, to have all these immigrants come to their country and be successful in their business and in their finances. And there was a lot of like being looked down on. So I was constantly being made fun of, called names, you know, and yeah. There was a lot of competition as well. Okay, and then coming back to Taiwan, as a born in Brazil with grown up in that culture, did you have any culture shock? There was definitely culture shock. Very big culture shock. And it was interesting that you asked me this question because coming back to Taiwan, I'm not Taiwanese. I didn't grow up Taiwanese. So I didn't have anything to relate to like singers, TV shows, you know, the culture here. I knew nothing of. So coming back here, I look Asian. And so a lot of people here just treated me as Taiwanese. And then they had these expectations of me that I couldn't fulfill because, you know, I wasn't born here and I didn't grow up or go to school here. So they will ask me questions that I didn't relate to and I didn't know how to answer. I'll go to the banks or post office and I couldn't read Chinese and I still can't read very well. So they will always be like, but you look Chinese and you can speak Chinese, but you cannot read Chinese. Like where did you grow up? Why is that so, you know? So there was an adjustment period. Very interesting. When I first came, I lived in Taipei. Now I live in Kaohsiung, but at first I lived in Taipei. I had a job, a sales job at a tech company. I was, you know, selling computer chips overseas and later on I got promoted to a managerial position. But the Taipei life really didn't suit me. And after about three years, I decided to move to Kaohsiung. What Brazilian culture would you wish to introduce to Taiwanese or you wish Taiwanese would adopt? I think the beauty of Brazil is the rich history, the rich culture, the literature in Brazil, the music, the food. There's so much history behind it. Anywhere you go in Brazil, you will experience that. Brazil is such a big country. There's so much to explore. There's so many sights to see. I was born in Sao Paulo, but I didn't really get a chance to travel much. But just in Sao Paulo alone, the arts, the culture, the music is everywhere. So if you can stay a week in Sao Paulo, you experience what it feels like to be a Brazilian. I think that freedom in life, really truly enjoying life and not being slaves to work and being slaves to money, to financial status, that would be number one. The warmth of just welcoming people into your lives. But I have to say that Taiwanese are beautiful people and they're very compassionate and very kind. And they express themselves in different ways. But the Brazilians, they're just very affectionate. They love a lot of body contact, a lot of hugs and kisses. And just truly being in that freedom of receiving a person in their lives. And enjoying life and finding the joy and happiness in life. During your stay here in Taiwan, what stands out most about Taiwan compared to other countries that you've been to? Taiwan is amazing. There's something about Taiwan that holds you. There's something about Taiwan that's so embracing and so expensive. So being here, I feel expanded. And I think it's very related to the nature and to the energy of this island. Taiwan has one of the highest energy index in the world. There's been a I think a European scientist that came to Taiwan to measure the frequency and vibration level of Taiwan. And it's even higher than that of Sedona, Arizona. So a lot of people go to Sedona for spiritual purposes. And many people don't know that Taiwan is a gem because this is an energy vertex land. And I can confirm that a lot of my friends that come from overseas and they plan to stay for one year, they end up staying for 10, 15, 20 years. So that's the magic of Taiwan. And that's the same for me. I plan to stay for one year only and now it's been 25 years that I've been living in this beautiful island. What advice would you give to anyone who wishes to come to Taiwan? Get to know the people. Get to know the locals. They have such big hearts and they're all so willing to help, so willing to share and so welcoming. I think get to know the land. Get to know the nature first because you'll be amazed. The sights here, the waterfalls, the mountains, they're just mind-blowing. They're wonderful, beautiful, amazing. And they're very healing. So if you come to Taiwan, explore the land first. You know, you see the beauty that this land has to offer. If you are to change anything in Taiwan, what would it be? I think because I am a mother and I have two children, I feel like the education system still has ways to go in offering different options for children. You know, different options of education. I see how children work so hard here and they spend so many hours in school and they don't have a lot of opportunities to explore what they want and what they like and what their passions are. They're in an environment where they're told what to do all day long. And because they are the generation. They're going to be the next generation of the future and they're the ones that are going to be running the future. It is so important to give them different options. We have these feathers. Is it a Brazilian thing? I think it's much to do with what I'm called, what my mission is and the work that I do. This is for me a connection to nature. A connection to the beings they used to be. Their energy. So when I wear my feathers, I feel connected to the birds and I feel connected to the energy of nature. And that helps me ground in what I do. So you are in sales. What made you get into this meditation? So my journey to spirituality was actually quite a long journey. It was a long process. As I stated before, I had a sales job in Taipei. Became a manager. Was very unhappy. Moved to Kaohsiung and I was an English teacher for about 15 years. And I was married to a wonderful person. Had two beautiful boys. And somehow life just felt, you know, meaningless to me. I was losing myself and becoming the shadow. I didn't know who I was anymore. I didn't know the purpose of life. Even though I was happily married with two beautiful children, I just felt empty. So I took the courage to leave my marriage and then to find myself again through spirituality. And my first step was meditation. And that alone just helped me leap forward into the path of spirituality. And that's how I started my journey. And that was about six years ago. It's been such an adventure. Such a rollercoaster ride. And coming to know my truth. And starting to become a person that I could be proud of and to live with. And be very authentic with others. And now that I'm reached this stage of my life, I want to share it with people. And I want to help people find themselves again. This spiritual healing, is it only done in Kaohsiung or you move around the island? I've been, at first, doing workshops, doing sound healing, sound therapy here in Kaohsiung. I've been called to go international. So I've been to Hawaii twice. I've been to Thailand as well. And this year, a lot of doors are opening for me to bring the monocord and cacao to other countries in the world. And there are plans to go to Europe this summer. And then the end of the year go around Southeast Asia. I think the entire world is in need of such medicine right now, at this moment. How is the awareness of this monocord in Taiwan compared to other countries? This is a very new sound healing tool. So we started this company about a year and a half ago. It's called Fuxing. This monocord is called Fuxingqing, which translates to holding your heart, embracing your heart piano or instrument. We've been promoting it, going to different events and bringing the monocord out, just sharing with people. And through that, there's been a great interest. We've already had over 100 students. And they themselves have continued on and started using in their own sound therapy sessions or for themselves or their loved ones. It's going really well. There's been a lot of interest and a lot of people already wanting to implement this instrument in their lives. The monocord is such a new instrument. So everywhere I bring, people are very surprised and they're very curious and they're in awe of what it can do. So in Hawaii, even though the conscious community is really big, none of them have heard of the monocord. In Thailand as well, when I brought it, it was such a novelty. So I feel like this year is the year where the monocord is going to start, you know, making its way into the world and into people's lives. And I'm so excited to be part of it. Alright, be ahead of the queue and be one of the first people who have experienced this amazing, amazing life-changing experience. That's right. The monocord, we can see that it has a lot of strings. Do they have a specific meaning? Well, there are a total of 32 strings on this monocord and they're all tuned to the same sounds, to the same note. So we have different octaves in this monocord. We have the bass, which is the lower note. We have the higher octave, which is the higher note. That's all it is. This monocord is tuned to D. So we have a lower octave D and a higher octave D. But the monocord can be played different ways. You can play it as a sound healing instrument for a group of people or you can use it as a private one-on-one session where you place the monocord on the client's body and they have a direct somatic experience of the vibrations and the frequencies that will come off of the monocord. So it's a very direct experience if you place it on the body. And also it's a beautiful experience when you're just listening to it because you will still receive the vibrations from listening. Different tunings will resonate with different parts of your body, will resonate with different emotions. It will resonate with the frequency and the vibration of your body and the environment. And so the D is more of an uplifting sound. It brings you joy, it brings you happiness and then it elevates you. Now we have monocords of different tunings. So we have a C and an A. The C tuning is more grounding. It's to keep your center, your focus and your foundation grounded. Then the A is very spiritual. It connects you with your heart, it connects you with your third eye chakra, with the divine, with the source. So every monocord has its own specific purpose and the tuning has its own meaning as well. What kind of people would need this monocord? This monocord works for anyone. For children, for the elder, for the people that are stressed, for the people that are emotionally like suffering emotional issues, for people that are suffering mental issues, for people that are suffering physical issues because it regulates our frequency and our vibration and we all know that we're made of vibration and frequency. Now this is also really really good for pets, any animals. We've done therapy for dogs, for hamsters, for cats and for babies as well. Any living being can benefit from the monocord because all living beings operate through a frequency and a vibration. So I'll be striking, playing through the strings and what you'll be hearing is a series of overtones because with the strings vibrating at the same time it creates this layer of overtones and it builds on top of each other and therefore you'll be hearing this rich symphony of frequencies and sounds and these frequencies are going to regulate your system. So we also have a monocord bed it's a bed made of wood with strings on the bottom. So we have the client lay on top of the bed while we play the instrument on the bottom and that's another very somatic way to experience the monocord. The monocord comes in many different shapes and sizes. There are monocord chair monocord cradle for babies. There's the body monocord which is this one that you see with me. Whatever way there is to bring that vibration, that frequency into people's life is already created and it's out there. So this was just a quick 2-3 minute play. A full session is about 30-40 minutes, even an hour. It really depends on the person it depends on the group. It's just a little taster. When you have a full session there will be a lot coming through and a lot to process. When we have people come in for group sessions or individual sessions we always ask them to hydrate. Our bodies are made of water and it's through water that the monocord can really expand its frequencies and its vibrations. So the better hydrated we are, the better we are to receive these vibrations into our being. You're going to balance out your system, whether that be physical, emotional or mental. After you hear all these sounds after a period of time, then you feel an inner balance. You might also experience pains or soreness here and there. It's the monocord bringing out that tightness that's within your body and regulating it. You may have a physical reaction to it. You may also have an emotional reaction which you might be connecting to past emotions or to something that happened when you were a child and you remember moments. Mentally too, some people might get headaches from it. These are all symptoms of regulating your system. I just invite you to be open to the experience, not judge what you're feeling and allowing it to just come through. Just observe what is coming up to the surface and don't put any labels on it of, oh, this is bad or this is good. Just experience it and allow yourself to receive. You can reach me on Instagram at almazonia.linda. On Facebook, you can also find me at almazonia, except that my name, Linda, is in Chinese. It's almazonia linda. Both links will be in the description below. You can go check her out. Do you have anything else to tell Taiwanese people? If, and I know that you, all of you feel this, if you feel the call to know more about who you are, that you want to know, you know, I have questions to ask about who am I. If you're feeling stressed, if you're feeling lost, confused, if you want to see the light and find the light and find the answer to all your questions, then I highly, highly recommend that you experience the monochord and as well as a cacao ceremony, which is a gathering of people under the same intention of connecting with their hearts. And together we drink 100% ceremonial cacao made here in Taiwan in this beautiful land. And cacao is a heart-opening plant medicine. It's not chocolate. It's very different than chocolate. So it's a drink that helps you connect with your heart. And therefore we drink the cacao together and we have a ceremony, a sound healing. And after the sound healing, we come to share the experiences that we had with the monochord while drinking cacao. So I highly recommend, you know, coming to know and learn about the monochord and being curious about what is cacao. I offer cacao ceremonies, workshops on how to implement daily cacao ritual and also workshops if you would like to become a facilitator and implement cacao rituals in your own healing sessions with your clients. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much for giving us your time and hope you continue to prosper here in Taiwan. Thank you so much.