My Story

Do you know that “every body” is different and benefits from different things, including different types of workouts? Some of us are born to be fast and some to be strong. Bootcamp, running, CrossFit, Pilates, yoga - do you know which type of training suits you best? Likewise, every body’s nutritional needs are unique - even the healthiest foods, like a salad, might not be what your body really needs.

Being a personal trainer for over 10 years, I have always been active and had a healthy diet. However, about 5 years ago I began noticing some physiological changes. My hips were hurting; I had frequent headaches and pretty bad anxiety that led to sleeping issues, and regardless of my healthy diet, some food intolerances. A couple of visits to local holistic doctors didn’t give me the results I was looking for. I pursued answers to address these unwelcome changes on my own.

At that time, I felt like I was running on empty all the time and had to alter my fitness routine. I cut back on weight training and took up more yoga classes. To deal with my anxiety, I began practicing meditation and learned about fascia release to help my achy body.

One day there was a weekend workshop in the area, something like “Your food is your medicine” and my friend and I thought, “That sounds fun,” – we both love food, cooking, and learning, so why not? This is how I got introduced to Ayurveda, the Indian holistic medicine.

That workshop was eye-opening and full of “A-HA” moments. What I learned was that my low-fat diet that consisted of a lot of raw veggies and fruit, smoothies, salads, was in fact not supportive of my personal body-mind makeup and, on the contrary, was making me more susceptible to anxiety and other issues. I discovered that eating cooked foods, whole fat dairy, even carbs, like bread and pasta are more favorable for my constitution. Lucky me!! Well, that was good news, because I’m Russian and in my country a slice of bread comes …

Another interesting fact I learned about myself was that apparently my body was not designed for high-intensity cardio and “push it to the limit” kinds of workouts. In fact, this type of training contributed to my joint pain and headaches.

See, disregarding our own physical capabilities and pushing too hard sometimes does more harm than good. It is not true for everybody, but it was true for me. And even the healthiest foods like raw fruit and veggies sometimes might have an adverse effect on someone’s physical or emotional state.

And if that’s the case, if we ignore the first symptoms, aches and pains, or mild indigestion, sooner or later the body will rebel and manifest its disturbance through inflammation, pain, and injury or emotional imbalance, like anxiety.

So my friend and I were so fascinated with this new information that we signed up for the whole course. A year later we graduated as Ayurveda Yoga Specialists. This ancient science gave me the answers I was looking for. It taught me that self-knowledge and self-care are essential components of wellbeing.

I certainly felt like I had found a key to myself. Anxiety was my biggest issue. I learned why I was prone to it and how to prevent and manage it.

Unfortunately, Ayurveda is not widely popularized in the fitness industry. Very few fitness professionals or fitness enthusiasts know about it and the benefits it offers. Since Ayurveda is a sister science of Yoga, it makes sense that yoga teachers and practitioners would be the ones who are most likely familiar with it. And it shouldn’t be this way.

So as a personal trainer and an Ayurveda Yoga Specialist I find myself in this unique position to close this gap and introduce more people in the modern fitness world to this incredible ancient knowledge.

So, if you want to choose your exercise, sets and reps wisely, based on what your body needs, not on what your mind thinks, or if you are struggling with anxiety like I was, or struggling to maintain a healthy weight - give me a call! Together we will discover your unique body-mind code and create a feel-good program for you. It will be fun, I promise!