About wellbeing, sexuality and the joy of life.
A conversation with Lena Hauk from komm. lebe Lust in Innsbruck.
We talk a lot about pleasure, wellbeing, longevity and how we can live healthier, more balanced and more energetic lives. Yet one essential part of our wellbeing often finds little space in conversations about health and self-optimisation: our sexuality, our desires and our need for closeness.
Lena Hauk wants to change that. With komm. lebe Lust, she has created a space in Innsbruck, Austria, where sexuality is explored without judgment or shame. A place to browse, ask questions, learn and share, regardless of how much experience someone has or what questions they may have.
Anyone who enters her shop will discover a surprisingly stylish concept store. The atmosphere is more reminiscent of a modern design boutique than what many associate with a traditional sex shop. Here, carefully selected products meet books, knowledge, personal advice and an invitation to be curious.
We visited Lena and talked with her about what wellbeing means to her, how she became involved in this field and why it can sometimes make a difference when we allow ourselves to speak more openly with one another.
Why are we talking about "The Pleasure of Wellbeing", and can this term be translated into German, into any language?
Wellbeing & Longevity: More Than a Healthy Body
Is a good life also a matter of our relationship with ourselves and others? Longevity and wellbeing are often associated with sleep quality, performance and physical health. Yet wellbeing encompasses more than the measurable aspects of our lives.
Our relationship with ourselves, our bodies, our partners and our own sexuality is also part of it. These dimensions cannot simply be unlocked by the next self-optimisation method.
After all, a long life is not automatically a fulfilling one. In addition to health and vitality, it is also about quality of life, connection, enjoyment and the freedom to recognise our own needs.
Lena's perspective invites us to view wellbeing more comprehensively: not just as something we want to achieve or improve, but also as something we "are allowed to experience".
In the video: Why we should also talk about desire, closeness and sexuality when discussing wellbeing and longevity – and which essential aspects can easily be overlooked.
The Pleasure of Wellbeing
What does it mean to truly feel well?
Wellbeing has long been part of our everyday lives. We optimise our sleep, pay attention to our energy levels and look for ways to relax faster. But when do we actually feel well?
For Lena, wellbeing begins with being able to let go and being allowed to be yourself.
Social expectations often shape how we behave, how we conduct relationships and what ideas we adopt about intimacy and sexuality. These images do not always correspond to our personal needs.
Perhaps wellbeing begins exactly where we stop constantly adapting ourselves. Where we allow ourselves to be curious, to recognise our own pleasures and to also allow room for uncertainty.
Feeling well does not mean meeting an ideal. It means getting closer to yourself.
In the video: Lena talks about what wellbeing means to her personally and why it can sometimes be so difficult to simply be yourself.
From a Personal Idea to a Space for Open Conversations
What motivates someone to make sexuality their profession?
Sexuality remains a sensitive topic for many people. Questions, uncertainties and desires often go unspoken, even in a society where we increasingly speak openly about health, relationships and personal development.
With komm. lebe Lust, Lena has created a space where people can ask questions, discover new things and acquire knowledge.
Her vision goes beyond selling products: It is about enabling open conversations, making knowledge accessible and addressing topics for which the right setting is often lacking in everyday life.
What motivated Lena to take this path? What experiences and observations shaped her idea? And when did a personal interest turn into a decision to create a space of her own in Innsbruck?
In the video: Lena talks about her personal motivation and how the idea for komm. lebe Lust came about.
A Concept Store That Challenges Expectations
How Interior Design Can Enable Openness
Anyone who thinks of a sex shop as dark rooms, garish packaging and an atmosphere where you want to remain as unnoticed as possible will likely be surprised by komm. lebe Lust.
Lena's shop in Innsbruck is reminiscent of a carefully curated concept store: modern, inviting, personal and with a strong sense of design. Instead of simply displaying products, it creates an environment that invites discovery and lingering.
The design of a space alone influences how we feel in it. Especially with a topic that is associated with uncertainty or shame for some people, an open, appreciative atmosphere can make a difference.
Lena designed and implemented much of her shop herself. Her personal touch is part of the concept. After all, what should a space look like where people feel welcome, can browse in peace and ask questions they may never have spoken aloud before?
The answer does not lie solely in beautiful furniture or high-quality materials. It lies in an attitude conveyed through design: Here you are allowed to be curious. Here you do not have to prove anything.
A space for sexuality does not have to be defined by products alone. It can also be a place of encounter, knowledge and exchange.
In the video: Lena talks about the design decisions, materials and details that give komm. lebe Lust its special atmosphere.
Products, Knowledge and New Perspectives
What can a product change – and what cannot?
A sex toy alone does not automatically change our relationship with sexuality. Lena is convinced of this. What it can do, however: enable new sensations, awaken curiosity and invite us to discover our own desires more consciously.
Lena compares it to a walk. We can simply set off – or take a pair of binoculars and suddenly perceive things that had previously escaped us. Similarly, products can enable new experiences and broaden our perspective.
Yet grappling with our own needs, talking with a partner and having the courage to express our desires remain up to us.
A product can open a door. We have to walk through it ourselves.
It is a great gadget.
It is a different kind of pleasure.
Products are therefore joined by books and knowledge, which also play an important role. They can open new perspectives, help with questions about consent and relationships and encourage us to expand our own understanding of intimacy.
After all, intimacy does not always have to be sexual. It can also arise in a close friendship, a touch or an attentive conversation.
It is precisely this diversity that makes Lena's approach interesting: pleasure is not limited to a product, an action or a particular idea of sexuality. It can be part of a conscious, self-determined approach to our own lives.
In the video: Lena explains why products can be an enrichment, but cannot replace personal reflection – and why knowledge, communication and openness are just as important.
Who Comes to komm. lebe Lust?
Different People, Questions and Needs
Anyone who visits a place like komm. lebe Lust may bring very different expectations: concrete questions, a desire for advice, curiosity about new products or the need to explore a topic that has previously received little attention.
Sexuality is diverse. People, their relationships and their life situations are just as diverse. Not everyone is looking for the same experiences. Not everyone brings the same questions. And not every form of closeness or intimacy has to correspond to the same ideas.
This makes an environment where different needs and experiences are respected all the more important. We wanted to ask Lena who comes to her, what questions people have, and what can change through personal advice and open conversations.
Perhaps exactly this is one of the most important qualities of her shop: Here, no one has to already know what they are looking for. Curiosity is enough.
In the video: Lena talks about her customers, their most frequent questions and the topics she encounters in her daily work.
Sojourn Takeaway
When do you really feel well – and when can you be completely yourself?
Perhaps wellbeing does not begin with another self-optimisation method. Perhaps it begins with taking time, staying curious and also talking about those aspects of life for which we do not always immediately find the right words.
Pleasure, closeness and intimacy are personal experiences. They do not have to correspond to an ideal. And they are allowed to change over the course of life.
Sometimes this does not require a big step. Just a question, an open conversation or the willingness to get to know yourself a little better.
Lena Hauk
With komm. lebe Lust, Lena creates a space in Innsbruck for sexuality, advice, knowledge about the body and open exchange.
Curious?
Discover komm. lebe Lust in Innsbruck – a place for personal encounters, open questions and new perspectives on pleasure and knowledge about the body.
A-6020 Innsbruck, Leopoldstraße 13
