“My mission is to empower everyone to listen to their bodies and their souls in order to heal and to stand at the helm of their own lives.  Through my teaching and writing, I bring back long forgotten knowledge about our ability to heal which resides not in other people or in the outside world, but within us. My purpose is to change current patterns of thinking about the physical body and its powerful capacity to heal. I inspire everyone I meet to open up to their inner power and to the joy of confidently moving their bodies and following their hearts.” – Rucsandra Mitrea

Next lie down and start breathing, inhaling and exhaling through the nose. Keep your knees bent or straight, depending on what feels more comfortable for your body. Start feeling that your body is becoming very heavy and allow your muscles to relax. This is not a relaxation exercise, even though you will feel more relaxed at the end of it. It is a body scan: you are gathering information about how your body feels as a whole and how everything in your body feels as separate entities. This exercise will allow you to create a partnership between the body and the mind in order to exercise your body in a more conscious context.

Pay attention to the following:

• Are you able to inhale and exhale effortlessly and evenly? Is it harder to inhale or exhale? Keep breathing until you feel more ease and the rhythm of your breath becomes slower and calmer.
• Where do you feel most of the tension? Are you in any kind of pain? Are you uncomfortable in any way?
• Next move your awareness to the neck and head and release any tension that you might feel. Think of gravity working for your benefit this time and acting upon every bone, muscle and structure in your neck, throat, face and head.
• Continue by allowing gravity to take over your rib cage and all the organs inside it.
• Next move your awareness to your abdomen, pelvis and lower back.
• Finish the scan with your hips, shoulders, arms and legs.

The body scan can last from 5 to 15 minutes, depending on how experienced you are in listening to your body. Remain at each step for as long as it feels appropriate. Remember that your body will guide you in a way that your mind cannot.

Maintain this state of heightened awareness and assess how your body feels and what levels of tension you are still carrying in the body. Gently sit up and pay attention to how you feel compared to the beginning of the body scan. Take this information into your workout session and use it to align your body better, to modify the weight load, the number of repetitions and the length of your workout according to your present body needs.

As you become more aware of the signals coming from the body you will be able to increase the efficiency of all your physical activities and you will become less prone to get injured.

The integration of the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of ourselves is what will lead us towards optimal health and well being. Learning to do a body scan is one important step towards this integration.

How many times do you begin your workouts with an internal body scan? Do you breathe and feel how your body is doing in that particular moment? Do you take a few minutes to get in touch with your own body and then start your workout from an informed perspective?

If you do, than you know that this is maybe the most important part of a workout or training session.

If you do not, then it is time to start exercising your body in a more conscious manner. At this point you might ask why such a step is necessary or even dismiss it from the start as a waste of time and stop reading the remainder of the article. If you feel compelled to do just that, I will ask you to remember a time when you got injured during a workout or a running or cycling session.

With the understanding that learning to listen to the physical body is of utmost importance for every day life, general health and well being, learning to do a body scan is of equal importance. Knowing what feels tight, weak or out of alignment before engaging in any physical activity will influence the workout routine, its duration and its intensity.

Working out within the paradigm of respect and cooperation with the body will lead to faster results. Most importantly, working out while understanding the signals and messages coming from the body will prevent most of the injuries acquired due to lack of awareness.

In the next post I will guide you through a body scan.

My friend Steve Gardner has worked with thousands of teenagers on three continents. He has taught honor students, students with special needs, and regular classrooms full of high schoolers. He has worked as a councilor for youth. He inspires greatness wherever he goes. He is a currently a motivational speaker and his Superpowers Conferences help teens and pre-teens awaken to their true, divine potential. Now his book is on the verge of becoming an amazon.com bestseller.

In order to bump up to best-seller status, he is discounting his book significantly to $9.95 for only one day– Tuesday, March 20th. In addition to the discount, each person who buys on that day will receive free gifts worth hundreds of dollars. Incredibly, for those of you with MORE than ONE youth in mind, the first 50 people who order the book on March 20th will receive an additional copy of the book, free of charge.

This is really an incredible opportunity, this book can connect with youth in ways that parents and teachers often can’t. Mark your calendar!

Check out what others have said about the book:

“Your Superpowers is a great primer to teach your children how to use the natural powers they have to create the life that they want.”
Jack Canfield, featured in the movie “The Secret”

“Your Superpowers is truly transformational– alive with possibility, passion, and inspiration! There is something special in your child just waiting to come out! your Superpowers will help you ignite that magic!”
Brian Biro, America’s Breakthrough Coach and author of “Beyond Success”

Lecture by Rucsandra Mitrea on Wednesday, March 14th at 7:30pm at ALMA SPA
2105 Yonge St Toronto, ON M4S 2A4 (416) 546-7462

Every cell in the body recognizes what we feel and immediately translates our feelings into physical responses. Every cell responds to our emotional state. What we feel influences our health and well being.

If this is a concept harder to relate to, just think of something that you are afraid of and see how your body responds. If you are afraid of an illness than allow that fear to surface for a moment. If you are afraid of losing your job or ending an important relationship just feel that fear. Now scan your body quickly. Are your shoulders raised and tense, are you frowning? Is there a knot in your stomach or is the pain in your lower back increasing? Is your mouth dry? How much tension are you feeling? Maybe your body will have a subtle way to respond to the fear you feel or maybe its signals will be very strong.
In this lecture we will explore how what you feel can change your body’s ability to build strength, stamina and flexibility.

Are you working out for your body or against your body?

Do you want to learn how to hone in your natural receptivity to strength training as well as flexibility?

IT ALL STARTS WITH HOW YOU FEEL!

Rucsandra Mitrea is the owner and founder of the remarkable, innovative and leading edge Mitrea Wellness Centre. Her strong and unwavering belief in the capacity for growth and victory over perceived obstacles has helped many clients transform their lives.

She has developed the Mitrea Balance Model, a comprehensive, re-balancing method of working with the physical body, which enables the restoration of posture, functionality and strength in a fast and efficient manner.

Rucsandra believes that every person has the power to heal themselves if they have the right tools. All her life she has been searching, investigating, studying and practicing many different modalities to help her grow the physical, emotional, mental, energetic and spiritual levels.

What she has learned is that every modality there is can be reduced to three simple but powerful principles, three universal laws. From that place of understanding comes all healing.

Rucsandra is a teacher of the Sacred Form™. She will simplify your search! She will empower you by teaching you the tools to heal yourself and create a wonderful and inspired life.

Mitrea Wellness Centre is based on the three universal laws that facilitate healing. The programs and classes are designed to be of service to you, your health and your increasing awareness.

This series of recordings, with original music created by Meiro Stamm (www.geoharmonic.com),will make it easier for you to relax and find the peaceful space of expanded awareness. These meditations will leave you feeling relaxed, light and peaceful; you will feel how the tension in your body has dissolved. As you maintain your focus on the physical body, many other layers off stress will be released as well. Your mind will be clearer, free of the day to day clutter of thoughts and worries.

Words of the author:

“Junior high and high school can be a rough time for anyone. If you’ve ever wondered what life is about or struggled in lost self-esteem, you are normal. But normal is not what you were meant to be. What if I told you that you don’t have to feel that way? What if I had the secrets to making sense of it all? Would you listen?
You have hidden superpowers inside of you that will make life exciting and meaningful. This book will help you unlock those powers. It’s all right here. Everything you need to become who you really want to be. Read it, apply it, and expect miracles!” – Steve Gardner

The Miraval experience is nothing less than a life-changing and life re-affirming moment. Join me in April and let Miraval transform you emotionally, spiritually and physically.

Rucsandra

The Miraval experience is nothing less than a life-changing and life re-affirming moment. Join me in April and let Miraval transform you emotionally, spiritually and physically.

Rucsandra

This is a very easy to make recipe, great for evenings when you want to eat a good meal but you do not have a lot of time to allow for its preparation.

Ingredients:

1 package organic brown rice fettucine – cooked, rinsed, drained and kept warm
4 organic turkey sausages (available at organic butchers) – skin removed and cut in small meatballs
3 organic garlic cloves – chopped
14 – 20 organic cherry tomatoes – cut in half
Fresh organic parsley – finely chopped and a few strings for garnish
Organic grape seed oil
Organic first press virgin olive oil
Sea Salt
Black Pepper

Bake the meatballs in a medium hot oven for 20 minutes, until fully cooked; you can alternatively cook them in a frying pan in some grape seed oil, but the oven version requires less fat. In a frying pan, on low to medium heat, using a teaspoon of grape seed oil saute the chopped garlic and then add the cherry tomatoes and gently cook them for 3 – 4 minutes, until warm throughout, but still firm. Add the meatballs and the chopped parsley.

In a large bowl, dress the warm pasta with olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the meatballs, cherry tomatoes, garlic and parsley mixture and toss well.

Garnish with a few springs of parsley and enjoy a fast, healthy and delicious meal!