Felix Jaehn talks about the time with panic attacks and anxiety, which he overcame with hypnosis therapy, among other things.
Felix Jaehn (27) has gone through a phase of self-discovery. In recent years, he has struggled with anxiety and panic attacks. The DJ and producer has now overcome this, as he said in an interview with the news agency spot on news. Now he wakes up “with joy” every day. This can also be heard on his energetic album “Breathe”, which will be released on October 1st. In February, Jaehn announced that he was in a relationship and met his partner on Tinder. What he thinks of dating apps and why he initially made a secret of his bisexuality is also revealed in an interview.
Their album is called “Breathe”. Breathing is very important to you. Which exercises can you pass on to others for stressful situations?
Jaehn: Whenever I’m stressed, I try to find a place where I can sit down, lie down, or quietly stand in a corner. I step out of the fray, close my eyes and take a few long conscious breaths through my nose. Inhale for at least four to five seconds and exhale for two seconds. While doing this, I watch my breath and try not to hold onto the thoughts in my head and not to tense up. I think that’s a nice exercise that doesn’t take long and that we can do every now and then.
Many people dance to your music in clubs and discos. How often do you go out to party yourself?
Jaehn: I am currently going to party a lot again, which is due to the fact that I am not allowed to play so many shows. Then I had time to go out to celebrate privately, at small parties, open airs or birthdays. If I usually play up to five shows a week on tour, I obviously don’t feel like going to a club on my day off. Then I prefer to rest. But right now there was so much peace and solitude. I am happy about every party I can find and just feel like dancing, partying and celebrating music. Whether on stage or in the audience.
How do you find your way back to everyday life and work as a DJ and producer who travels around the world after the standstill caused by the corona pandemic?
Jaehn: This is an exciting process now. I have sometimes caught myself in moments when there was a lot of hustle and bustle and I thought: Okay, that’s pretty crazy, I can now be home alone for a few days. (laughs) I have the feeling that I have to slowly crank up my workload again, get used to it.
At the same time, I just stay true to my practice of daily meditation. I continue to do sports, take cold showers, switch to flight mode in the evening and eat healthy. I have integrated an extremely large number of things into my everyday life that help me feel good. As long as I do that and take the time to listen to my body, it’s great that there is more action again.
In 2019 you were in a phase of self-discovery in which you also dealt with self-love. You spent time in a monastery. What did you learn about yourself during this time, did you set yourself new goals?
Jaehn: I got to know myself. I was able to leave my panic attacks and anxiety behind me. I have taken the filter off my head, see the world with clear eyes, with a completely different awareness. Now I’m a fundamentally relaxed and happy person. In addition to my meditation and my stay at the monastery, I was also in therapy a lot, including hypnosis. I’ve read a lot of philosophical and psychological books. Having such severe mental health problems forced me to find answers. Even if I experienced a lot of suffering and often did not feel well, in retrospect I am now grateful for the time. I am still a young person, but I reflected so much for myself and came to my center. Now I wake up every day with joy and create life.
Your own podcast will appear on October 3rd, in which you will speak to Mark Forster and Herbert Grönemeyer, among others. What exciting stories can fans expect?
Jaehn: There are a lot of exciting guests, including Laura Malina Seiler. A lot is about the self-discovery phase, about happiness, tips and tricks in stressful situations. We talk about what moves and connects us. My guests are all celebrity friends. I have a different story with everyone, and accordingly the talks are a little different. We also chat a lot in private, about creative processes and also about partying. I find the conversations very inspiring and I am very grateful for them.
Herbert Grönemeyer refer to you as a friend. What do you particularly like about him?
Jaehn: Since our song “Everyone for Everyone” we shared in 2016, we’ve kept in touch, talked on the phone over and over again and sometimes went out to eat. I am very grateful for this acquaintance. For example, he recommended meditation to me and first struck me on my path, through which I was able to leave many stressful situations behind. He was and is often a role model, almost a kind of mentor in many situations. In 2015 I was thrown into the deep end, so to speak, grew up in a village and at the age of 20 was suddenly successful worldwide. I was able to learn a lot from him, how to deal with success, how to shape life around it and also not to neglect personally.
With the song “No Therapy” you set an example for the LGBTQIA + community. The track is about everyone being allowed to be who they are. How has this played a role or a problem in your own life?
Jaehn: I’m bisexual, I came out publicly in 2018. For me that wasn’t always a matter of course. As a teenager, I had problems understanding whether I was into men, women, or both. I often felt different and not accepted, for example because of anti-gay jokes in the schoolyard and small comments that resonated very strongly in me. That’s why I initially made it a secret, but then had to find out that I disguised myself and suffered from it.
Now I’m just extremely happy that I haven’t had a secret for years, that I can talk openly and authentically about everything. I am glad that I live in a happy relationship with my partner, that I can experience life for two and that I can do it publicly and don’t have to hide.
In February you made public that you were in a relationship and met your partner on Tinder. How do you feel about dating apps?
Jaehn: I see dating apps as divided. It worked for me. But that was also during the lockdown period and I had no other opportunity to get to know people. I was extremely upset to fall in love and not live alone. That’s why I went to Tinder. You have to pay a little attention to how people stage themselves, what kind of photos they post, whether it is honest and authentic about getting to know people or whether only the body is staged and it is about sex. That would be okay too, but not what I was looking for.
Since I was gay, it had the advantage that there was still Grindr as a sex app, so Tinder is a bit more serious. Every now and then people have asked: Are you really Felix Jaehn? That’s impossible. I then had to prove that with a private Instagram message. There are certainly many pros and cons. It would be nicer without the app, then you would have got to know each other naturally in public. But it definitely helped me.