Thriving vs Surviving
What if you could wake up tomorrow morning being excited about the day ahead? A day of productive work, inspiring conversations, and peaceful times for yourself?
What if you knew that no matter how stressful things get around you, you’d be in control, calm, focused?
What if you could show up as your best self during your work-time and still have plenty of energy left for meaningful relationships and the things that truly matter to you?
Is it even possible to create a balanced life in such a hectic, unpredictable world?
Hi, I’m Elena, and I am 100% convinced you can.
7 years ago, I made a radical change in my life. I was stressed at work, anxious about my life, and in general unhappy. I thought this is just how life is, and that I had to mold myself into the circumstances presented to me.
Until I realized I have a choice to make.
I could continue to just “get by”, or take active responsibility for my well-being and change the way I am interacting with life.
There’s a phrase someone once told me during this time that really stuck with me:
If you don’t take care of yourself, no one will.
What sounded harsh at first turned out to be the most healthy advice I ever got.
In our society, the main focus is mostly on productivity. We want our businesses to thrive, the money to flow and the work to get done. But how important is the person behind the job?
Only you know that.
And only you know what you need to be happy, healthy, and in the end, productive. The person who takes active care of their well-being is not just doing a favour to themselves, but also to everyone around them. A better colleague, a more efficient worker, a valuable friend.
It all starts with yourself.
My mission
to teach hard working people the tools for establishing the inner strength needed to maintain calm and peace throughout a fast-paced hectic environment, so that they can be productive and successful at work AND in their personal lives.
The Concept
Life is not a linear process. Broadly speaking, we are identifying ourselves by mainly three parameters: the place we live in, the work we do, and the relationships we have. In order to design our life in a healthy and meaningful way, we got to develop a system of how to work with those pillars.
The most efficient way I have found to work with those three parameters is to put them into a TRIANGLE.
Known as the most stable of all structures, it gives us the chance to dissect complex matters (like life) into three clearly defined pillars while leaving the possibility to connect the corners.
My Story
A few years back, my personal triangle was pretty stable. I had a safe job as an architect, taught Yoga on the side, was in a long-term relationship and lived in a neat little apartment in the city. On paper, my life looked pretty good, and what I back in the days called “successful”.
Except there was one thing missing. I wasn’t happy.
I felt this subtle undertone of dissatisfaction, daily little reminders that the life I am living is “good”, but it is not for me.
The ideas that I had for my life seemed pretty cliche to me:
> I wanted to do work that is purposeful to me, and provides me with secure and sustainable income
> At the same time I wanted more freedom to actually enjoy my life, instead of just spending my time sitting at a desk in a stressful environment
It seemed like I am wanting two opposing things, and I labeled myself as an unrealistic dreamer.
I followed common advice to “pull myself together” and tried to continue enduring increasing states of stress. The job that I was working in had interesting projects and wonderful colleagues, but the high pressure from too tight deadlines and unrealistic expectations kept nagging at me.
Being a patient and resourceful person, I tried to make my way through by prioritising my physical fitness regimes, eating healthy, and taking unpaid holidays for extended trips to India to further study Yoga.
I was convinced that if I just kept working around my stress levels, and learning more in depth about body mechanisms and meditation, my daily issues and dissatisfaction would subside.
Turned out I was wrong.
It was only two years into my first corporate job that I experienced my first anxiety attack. It hit me out of nowhere, thinking I am healthy, calm person (so did everyone else who knew me).
I drifted into a two year-period of continuous anxiety and hypochondria. Panic would hit me in the middle of the day and it seemed like none of my tools was working.
Doctors would diagnose me with anxiety disorder and send me home with the advice to “try some Yoga”.
It felt like no one could help me.
When pain becomes the teacher
The pressure got so high that I was forced to change my perspective and seek a different solution.
I took a radical step back and made a few major life decisions. I quit my job, left my relationship, and moved away from the city I lived in. I literally gave up everything that I though identifies me, in order to make a fresh start.
I was determined to find the root of my stress disorder. I digged deep into my different fields of experiences, ranging from Yoga, neuroscience, Shiatsu, astrology to subconscious Inner Child reconciliation. I took a wild ride in all kinds of self-study and self-work, looking for the missing piece.
The turning point came when I discovered the art of Nervous System regulation.
I realized that all the Yoga I had been doing, all the knowledge I gathered about the brain and even all the work I did on a spiritual and subconscious level, were meaningless unless I combined them together in a structured way.
I noticed that all along, I’ve been doing the “right practices” but without a system that would ensure the outcome that I wanted all along: a free, yet calm and stress-resilient life.
Today, 3 years later, I have managed to tackle my anxiety and it never came back. I have transitioned into self-employment, found a more aligned partnership, and moved to my favourite country. I feel in control of my life, free and happy.
The bottom line is though, I could have had all of that much earlier, and much easier, if I would have had the right guidance.
> I didn’t need to endure these unhappy states of being stressed and unhappy,
I just needed to take up responsibility and take the right action steps.
> I didn’t need to stop working or give up my job out of overwhelm,
I just needed to learn how to integrate my Yoga practice into the daily work.
I know now that I can be successful, hard-working AND free and calm at the same time.
And I’d love to show you how.
Ready to take the first steps into stress-resilience?
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