Why this Blog?

For months I thought about finding a different way of sharing my approach of fitness... and my son eventually convinced me to start a blog... Well why not! Let's see how it goes!!!

My name is Sandrine, I'm a French born woman living in New-Zealand since 11 years. I'm a Personal Trainer. My career started 25 years ago in South of France, where I was born. Please be indulgent with my English as it is not, as you will notice, my native language :) so it is far to be perfect... I just hope it is eloquent enough to be able to express the things I want to share with you, hoping they will be helpful if you needed some support to change or re-define your lifestyle..

After moving to NZ I realised how the nature and the environment around us have a strong impact onto our lives, but not only, on our moods and level of energy as well. Being out there became a need to resource myself and to re-connect to essential and very primary or elementary sensations. I realised that while exercising I could feel my body becoming one with the environment around me, in this moment I feel joy and receive an amazing amount of energy and love from it, I'm aware of the ground under my feet, aware of the smells, aware of the noises and silences in between, aware of the colours, the gravels, the grass, flowers, sea, trees, sheep and cows, rocks and birds, the sky, the sun, the clouds, aware of my heart beating, of my breathing, of the flow of my blood, aware that I'm in that moment only, in that Now, and that nothing else but that exists in that very moment...

I then thought : "If I can reach that, the other can either". So I decided to take my clients outside to train them and for them to be able to feel and sense what the Nature has to offer and how fantastic we feel after an outdoor session.  From then on I specialized in outdoor trainings and since I tend to have a holistic approach to fitness. I think the best and maybe the only sustainable way to get good physical results is by first or simultaneously, finding peace inside and acceptance of who we are, the way we look and what we can achieve. So I use sport and the beautiful environment around us as a way or means to connect or reconnect to our true self. Both spirit and body have to work together to reach well-being and perfect balance - a healthy spirit in a healthy body- from my point of view they can't be dissociated in the search for well-being, improved fitness and optimised performance.

I always thought, thanks to what I experience on a "psychological" level every time I exercise (feeling amazing and awake), that the body was a tool to reach spirituality or increase it, and no matter if we, or not, acknowledged the "event" because as long as we feel this connection to ourselves and to the outside world, we are spiritual, same when we do things with our hearts, love and without any expectations. When there is respect, care, love and tolerance there is spirituality. Once I realized that by being connected to Nature -in my case at that time was mainly while exercising or tramping-, that by being in the moment without thinking about the past or the future (as closed both can be) I understood that my whole life could get benefits from this experience. I understood that this amazing sensation of well-being felt in that very specific instance on top of this powerful conviction that I was excactly where I should be and that every single thing was at the right place at that very moment, could be extrapolated to every other domain or moments of my daily life. From this very moment, because I knew it will take me to freedom, I got a strong will to do the right things for me, to transform my life... going from fears to peace.

I realised that for years I have been paralysed in my life because of fears I had (despite the facts I have done quite a lot and I'm not afraid to push myself). While I was thinking about them, I understood that actually; whatever the form our phobias and others mental conditions take, they are all related to one : death. So I decided to investigate the subject.

Since my early childhood, I'm convinced there is something else after our life on earth, convinced that what makes us what we are, for instance, our capabilities to love, to be compassionate, to care, to learn, to feel, to sense (our intuition), to dream etc. could not die with the body... it is too subtle, too refine, too powerful, too clever, too  beautiful and too impalpable to disappear once our body dyes. I know I was born with this truth deeply anchored inside me... But my education, the society and the modern world, I belonged to, made me think that it might not be the truth or the only truth I should believe in, creating unjustified doubts... and like most of us I have been molded by the system we live in and in the way the system wants us to be, and like most of us the fear of dying became a "brake", stopping my actions, stopping or slowing down the process of developing my true self..

Through my investigation about death and new studies related to it, I discovered or re-discovered a whole world, full of hopes, and more importantly, this took me back to my deepest self, showing me the path to the reconnection to the essence, my essence, our essence. I'm talking here about the essence of love (self love first), the essence of life. My way to get back on that path was by using the physical abilities my body offers me combining them with my will of spiritual awakening. I understood that the body is the mediator in between the earth plane and the spiritual one. Again, when I talk about spirituality, it can refer to anything which makes us real, authentic, light, stress free, judgements free, fears free, in touch with ourselves and the outside world, respecting the Nature, the people and any living organism on earth (if we eat them, then it should be with respect and gratitude for the energy they provide us) and any kind of other virtue.

Everything is about Love, respect, tolerance and care for ourselves first, because only once we are able to apply these principles to ourselves, we can then be able to apply them to the others, to each event and to the world around us. Once we have accepted the way we are, the way we look, our failures, limitations, powers, conditions etc. etc. everything becomes easier and clearer and our body becomes our best support to live our material experience here on earth. By treating it in a gentle way and with respect, by grounding it and listening to it, by being aware of it in any moment, we will get to the point that it will automatically reconnect to this thing which takes us to peace and joy, to well-being and balance, to this fundamental thing which reconnects us to what truly matters : understanding that we all belong to the same source, a source of absolute love and infinite knowledge, and understanding that we are one (which means no more judgements, no more lack of confidence or self-esteem, no more anger etc.). We also understand that nothing but the present moment exists and that there is no point in getting anxious for something that could happen in the future or that has affected a moment of our past... Only the present moment determines the future, so better to live it fully and in the best condition to make sure we are designing or influencing the future to its best and with the best options that the present offers us.

That is it for today! It was an introduction to what is going to be the expression of what it means and what it takes, from my personal point of view and experience of course, to be: fit, healthy, happy and at peace.

Going through all that, we will talk about different topics like:
- how meditation can improve our fitness level,
- why losing weight only matters when there is a threat to our health or our psychological balance,
- why it is important to accept our nature and the way we look, and how we can get to that acceptance,
- how to find peace in our heart and how exercising can help,
- how and why the pressures coming from the society affect the acceptance of ourselves,
- we'll talk also about the importance of the food we eat (not only from a nutritional point of view, but also and mostly from a "spiritual" one; for instance, eating food in Consciousness and respect to get the best of its energy and nutriments benefits),
- and any subject you want to talk about or debate.
I will post articles, references to read or watch and anything which can assist and guide us to our best.

For more details about who I am and the way I work do not hesitate to go to MY WEBSITE

Thanks for reading :) and enjoy your day!!!

Sandrine