Shotokan Karate World Champion, Running Technique Coach, Founder Dracula's Retreat
Author: Alexandra Merisoiu
Alexandra Merisoiu, The Body Engineer, is the Founder of The Merisoiu Technique - Institute Of Health And Human Movement and Dracula’s Retreat. She is also a qualified Low Back Pain Management and Prevention Exercise Instructor and REPS registered .
She specialises in working with runners, beginners and advanced, who want to run faster, further, with less effort and fewer injuries. This is done through natural movement fitness and running technique and mechanics.
Since 1995 she has explored how the body and mind works. She has done this through using many different sporting techniques and working with a wide variety of highly respected coaches. She is a 5th Dan Black Belt in Karate Shotokan, runs her own Karate club and is IJKA 2017 triple World Champion, 2016 WMO Martial Arts British National and European Champion. She still competes at an international level.
It is through these learnings, and drawing inspiration from respected natural movement names such as MovNat, IdoPortal and POSE Method of running among many other that she has created The Merisoiu Technique and has established her own unique transformational programs that incorporate thousands of years of knowledge with Natural Human Movement.
Alexandra’s mission is to challenge the status quo of how to achieve the truly strong, fit and powerful body a runner needs to perform at their best level. This is done through building strong, lasting foundations in the natural outdoor environment; reducing the risk of injuries and educating people on the power of the fundamentals of Natural Human Movement and Martial Arts Wisdom.
Our bodies are designed to work as one whole unit. If there is a weak link in the system, the other links will take its job and the stress will intensify until the chain breaks.
Toes and fingers, although small parts of our bodies, are part of the whole system.
Our toes are stuck in shoes for hours and hours, the skin does not breathe and toes are not allowed to take their natural shape. Muscles becomes weak and shorten.
In this Periscope replay I will show you how to stretch your toes and feet and release tension.
Remember, muscles are connected to each other, you don’t just stretch your toes and feet, there is more going on than the eye can see.
To attend live Periscopes follow Alexandra on Periscope and Twitter @AlexMerisoiu
Don’t give your brain the satisfaction of giving it what it craves, when it craves. It will never stop craving because it will learn that craving/asking also means receiving. So it will always crave.
Instead, if you do what to have that treat then have it when you do not crave it.
You have the power to decide what you are going to eat. You are in control of the decisions you make in your life.
Make a conscious choice not to have unhealthy foods when you crave them. You may realize that is a passing phase anyway.
To attend live Periscope events follow Alexandra on Periscope and Twitter @AlexMerisoiu
Sitting at your desk can close up your body, your energy levels drop and your body feels stiff.
In this video I will show you 3 stretches you can do while sitting at your desk. There are many stretches out there, but there is no point knowing many and doing none . Let’s do these 3 first.
Fingers and wrists
Stretch each finger at a time. No need to hold it for a certain amount of time, go with how you feel. I feel I just need to give them a quick stretch. Do the same with the wrists.
Don’t force until they make noises, until the “crack”, that’s not the point.
Sides of body
It is enough to lead to one side and gently pull the hand on top. When you come out of the stretch make sure to always tense your abdominal muscles so you don’t use your lower back to bring your body upright.
Chest and shoulders
Interlock your fingers at the back and lift the arms. Chest proud and breathe normally.
These are the 3 upper body stretches. Simple and fast.
If you’d like to learn even more stretches contact me.
To attend live Periscope events follow Alexandra on Periscope and Twitter @AlexMerisoiu
Correct Synchronizing of breathing with an exercise is essential. Because you avoid creating pressure in your chest, you tense all necessary muscles at the same time, your body works in harmony.
When you exercise breathe out on the effort. Some form of exercises require a natural breathing. But for many of them breathe out on the effort.
Press-ups or pushups. Breathe in when you go down and breathe out when you push or press up. Make sure when you breathe in you inflate your stomach and when you breathe out you deflate your stomach.
When you press up your muscles tense and pull in. When you breathe out your muscles tense and pull in. If you inflate your stomach instead of deflating you are trying to inflate something that deflates.
Thus breathe in inflating on the way down and breathe out deflating on the way up.
To attend live Periscope events follow Alexandra on Periscope and Twitter @AlexMerisoiu
What are Food Discipline lessons™ are one of the five principles of The Merisoiu Technique? They are the mindset behind nutrition. They change the way you look at food, your relationship with food.
Lesson 1 – Eat high quality when craving otherwise
When you crave sweets or unhealthy snacks and foods think whether you have actually eaten a proper meal that day. Proper as in quality and quantity.
So there is something missing when you crave. You must think, what is missing? Is it quality food, quantity, or maybe an element that I need, like replacing ice cream with a teaspoon of honey for example, or maybe is the milk. What is it? Take time to think and respond rather than react.
Many times we crave those things because we are actually hungry. Once you eat a proper meal you may find that you don’t crave them anymore.
Eat high quality food when you crave unhealthy options.
To attend live Periscope events follow Alexandra on Periscope and Twitter @AlexMerisoiu
If you followed me on social media you’d know by now that i am here to get you fit in a different way that many coaches and personal trainers do. While you will see me running and sprinting you will also see me stretching my fingers and toes, one at a time.
My belief is that the smaller habits we do daily throughout our lives make the greatest difference, whether positive or negative. It’s the details that make the whole.
So why stretching your fingers? Let me ask you this, do you type? If you do then your fingers and hands probably rest in the same position for hours, very little movement, which causes stiffness Do it at the end of the day or during the day and you will see how amazing you it feels.
When we stretch our fingers we release tension in our hands and wrists as well. But also in the forearm. Your muscles are connected to each other. If you don’t feel a muscle movement that does not mean it’s not there.
To attend live Periscope events follow Alexandra on Periscope and Twitter @AlexMerisoiu
Breathing. It’s the first thing we do when we are born. We cam live without food and water for days but without air we only last a couple of minutes.
Deep breathing has many benefits. Among them is increasing cardiovascular capacity, reducing your cardio warm up time, helping your body recover faster after your workout as it increases blood circulation to the muscles and many other benefits.
The first step to deep breathing and reaping the benefits is to make sure we breathe in a correct way.
Place one hand on your chest and the other on your belly button.
Through the nose, take a deep breathe in.
Breathe out through the mouth.
Repeat and observe which hand moves.
The hand on your stomach should move in and out. The hand on your chest should not move
Furthermore the hand on your stomach should be pushed out in the in breathe and should move in on the out breathe.
Let’s practice this a couple of times.
If your try to inflate your stomach in the out breathe you are trying to inflate something that is deflating. Think of a ballon. When you inflate the ballon gets bigger when you get the air out the ballon gets smaller.
Today, be aware of your breathing habits and practice throughout the day. A short note, if you have health conditions that may be affected by breathing exercises check with your doctor first. And don’t practice deep breathing in dusty, polluted environments or when you exercise. Get them into your training when you feel more comfortable with them.
The Breathing Mastery Masterclass webinar is one of the Masterclass webinar series hosted by Alexandra Merisoiu.
“Everything breathes: breathing is the inspiration of Life within all living forms of reality. All matter is in a continual state of particle exchange. In humans, breathing is the biological basis and spiritual expression that renews life, propels awareness and focuses body-mind functioning in time and space.” (1st Principle of Conscious Connected Breathing – J. Yost)
In this masterclass Alexandra shows you how you can improve your fitness and health by practicing correct deep breathing exercises and how to get the most out of your workout by incorporating breathing exercises at the beginning and the end of the workout to help the body recover faster.
The Food Discipline™ Masterclass webinar is one of the Masterclass webinar series hosted by Alexandra Merisoiu.
Food Discipline lessons are not about nutrition but about a different mindset in relation with food and the food choices we make. Knowledge? Yes, it’s essential. The Food Discipline lessons turn the knowledge into practice. And this approach changes your relationship with food.
In this masterclass Alexandra talks about the 7 most important Food Discipline lessons that changed her relationship with food and now she guide others through them.
In this masterclass Alexandra talks about how posture can affect how your body functions, your mood and your attitude you send out to people around you. Self confidence and self esteem.
She also talks about the missing piece, to achieving a relaxed and correct posture and takes you through a guided visualization.
Podcast
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