Are You Climbing a Mountain You Never Wanted to Climb in the First Place?

At twenty–four, Denisa Lhotová had everything. A successful and growing jewellery company, Soul of Travel. Yet the more successful the brand became, the harder she found it to get up in the morning and keep going. From the outside, it looked like a dream come true. But in the evenings, she would sit at home, stare at the wall and feel no joy even in the things she had worked so hard for over so many years. It was not tiredness. She felt empty.

Why did you go to the Amazon?

I think a lot of people believe that once they earn enough money or build a successful company, they will finally feel fulfilled. I reached that point relatively early. And I realised that success on its own does not give you the answer. Money is important. A company cannot function without it. But money alone does not give you a reason to get out of bed in the morning. And that was exactly what I had lost at the time. I did not go there in search of adventure. I needed to disappear for a while from the world I had been living in for several years. I knew someone whose time in the Amazon had fundamentally changed the way they looked at life, and something was drawing me there. I was not expecting a miracle or any kind of enlightenment. I simply wanted to understand why someone who has achieved everything they had dreamed of can still feel completely empty. Looking back now, I realise that the Amazon itself was not the most important thing. What mattered was that, for the first time in many years, I stopped.

You stayed with the Kichwa people. What affected you most?

Above all, the relationships. Every morning, they would sit together and talk about what they were going through, what made them happy and what was troubling them. They did not suppress their emotions or hold on to grievances for weeks or months. Whatever needed to be said was said. And the next day began with a clear mind. There was an enormous sense of lightness within the community. I realised how much mental strain we create for ourselves in our world simply because we do not know how to communicate openly with one another. And I realised something else as well. All my life, I had thought I was brave because I enjoy travelling, skydiving, diving with sharks or trying things that other people are afraid of. In reality, my greatest fear was something completely different – being alone with myself for a while, without work, without my phone and without constantly keeping my mind occupied.

What did you bring back from the Amazon into your business?

A company should reflect the values of its founder. In the past, when making important decisions, I mainly asked whether they made economic sense. Today, of course, we keep just as close an eye on the numbers as any healthy company, but the first question is different. Is this a decision we will still stand by several years from now? Will it help our customers? Does it make sense? I found that when a company is built on strong values, it tends to be healthier in the long term from a business perspective as well. Money then becomes not the goal, but the natural result of work done well.

Why Jungle Way?

It did not begin as a business opportunity, but as the result of a personal transformation. After returning from the Amazon, I knew I no longer wanted to build a company simply for the sake of growth. I wanted to create a brand with a deeper purpose, one that would remind people every day of something we often forget ourselves.

That home does not have to be just a place where we sleep between meetings. It can be a space where we slow down, breathe and, for a moment, reconnect with ourselves.

Alongside aromatherapy, you also started creating design–led games and paddleboards. Why?

Because Jungle Way was never meant to be just a fragrance brand. Today, our core products are aroma diffusers that work without water or heat, pure essential oils and incense blends made from some of the finest aromatic ingredients in the world. From the very beginning, however, we thought differently from most aromatherapy brands. For us, the products are not the goal. They are a means of helping people create a moment at home when they can switch off and be fully present again. From the outset, we thought about the kinds of moments we wanted to help people create. When you come home after a demanding day, it is not just about how the space smells. It is about how you feel in it. That is the feeling we wanted to create. And when you look at it from that perspective, incense blends, essential oils, aroma diffusers, a design–led game and a paddleboard suddenly all make sense alongside one another. In every case, it is really about the same thing. A moment when you put your phone down, stop trying to solve something and are fully present wherever you are. That is the idea that connects everything we do.

What do you do differently today to avoid burning out?

I still work a lot. But the reason why I work has changed. I used to feel that I had to seize every opportunity, be involved in everything and keep growing constantly. Today, I think much more often about what to say no to. I have learnt to delegate more, to trust the people around me and to accept that a company does not have to depend on its founder controlling every detail. Paradoxically, that is exactly why it works better today than it did before.

What advice would you give to entrepreneurs?

I do not think everyone needs to go to the Amazon. In business, we are constantly surrounded by noise. Numbers, emails, social media and the expectations of those around us. It is very easy to achieve every goal and still lose yourself completely along the way. If I could give one piece of advice, it would be this: from time to time, stop and ask yourself one simple question – am I building a life I truly want to live, or simply the life that others expect me to live? That question changed not only my company, but my entire life.