After two college degrees, a career as an Allianz regional director in the health division, and a sabbatical year traveling around the world, Elena realized that too often we lose ourselves - in our desire to achieve a certain result. When, in fact, the joy and charm lies in the initiation and lessons we go through to reach that outcome.
Her purpose on this earth is more than having a family, success and stability. It is beyond that existence: it is to shape people, to give them direction in their passion, to help them to be in balance with their selves - so that they, in turn, can help as many people as possible to live a life in balance physically, mentally and energetically.
He believes that everyone's actions, even if they are at a micro level, can influence the world at a high level. A simple good deed can boomerang influence a wide range of people, whereas, a selfish deed will boomerang back. And that every individual could change the world if they did their bit with compassion and dedication.
After graduating in Management and Computer Engineering, Elena had a successful career. She enjoyed recognition, respect, "I had contact with the top management of all big companies in 20 counties and I was extremely well paid, like a European".
But in 2014 "a friend whom I appreciated and respected very much for all her professional achievements committed suicide. It was a shock to me. She had everything she wanted socially and financially, but apparently these things were not enough. I had also reached a nice level in my career at that time and enjoyed social recognition - as it was perceived by me at that time.
I was doing extremely well, but this event made me realize that I wasn't fulfilled either. More precisely, my soul wasn't at peace with where I was going. And for fear of ever making a bad decision, I chose to 'search for my soul' by traveling around the world".
Done and done. At the end of 2014, he got his heart in his teeth, quit everything and took a sabbatical.
"I wanted to give a new direction to my life, but at that time I only knew the conditions and programs of my family and of the Romanian and European society in which we live, which say that you have to be successful, to earn a lot of money, to have a university degree, to have a high position, to be well dressed, to have a house and an expensive car, etc."
She took her backpack - which weighed 19 kg, and had been her home for a year - and left.
"Until 2014 I used to have a collection of over 70 pairs of heeled shoes... On my trip I gave up this obsession and left with 3 pairs of shoes: a pair of boots, a pair of sneakers, and a pair of sandals - that's all I wore for a year. It was a year in which physical and social appearances no longer mattered to me. Instead, the thirst to get to know the soul of people from as many cultures as possible, their customs, their history was my priority. I did not know how that year would end, I only knew that I wanted a change and that I wanted to find myself."
He started with 2 short stops in Sweden, Tenerife and then Milan - from where he left the civilized European area and, via Istanbul, left Europe completely: he flew to Brazil. She visited indigenous tribes who had just discovered clothing, visited the largest waterfall in the southern hemisphere - Foiz de Iguacu. She witnessed first-hand the capture of two prison escapees, and made dear friends. "Here I received my first 3-hour therapy which was a combination of massage, crystal therapy and reiki".
After Brazil he flew to Argentina for 2 weeks. Next destination was Peru. The visit to Machu Pichu came with a big trial. From Argentina he 'collected' yellow fever, which manifested itself on the way to Cuzco and Machu Pichu.
"I'd say it was a great trial for me. 501TPTP3T chances of survival, there was no cure for yellow fever - I just had to be careful to keep my temperature under control and hydrate. I was going to give up Machu Pichu with the pain and symptoms I was having. But I realized that if I almost didn't die, I was missing the unique opportunity to visit Machu Pichu. And if I did die, at least I would know that I had fulfilled my desire to learn more about Inca culture.
I'll never forget my initial trek to Machu Pichu - I was walking through the mountains, it was raining - I was completely soaked, I had 19 kg on my back, I was sweating, vomiting, and I was extremely sick. It was like the whole universe was testing my motivation to get to the heart of the Incas."
He thought that on top of the yellow fever, after climbing through the rain he would catch a cold. But when he woke up the next day, it was gone. "I passed the test. I think the sweat and exertion I had put my body through, combined with the temperature regulation by the rain I had walked through, was the recipe for my cure - it took everything I had collected from Argentina out of me."
After his initial visit to Machu Pichu, he went up to Iquitos, a city in Peru that lies in the middle of the jungle and is the largest city in the world that cannot be reached by car - only by plane or boat.
Near Iquitos there is a town - Nauta - where he lived for 10 days. Near it, two rivers joined and the Amazon River began.
"I came here for the Ayahuaska. The Ayahuaska ritual is the first one that helped me to get in direct contact with my self, to gain self-confidence, and to begin the process of shaking off all the 'roles' I had collected over time. After this ritual I gained a lot of inner peace and trust in my new direction. I didn't know it then, but I knew that I had all the energetic support I needed for my new direction that would reveal itself to me step by step, like the headlights of a car reveal the road at night."
The roads then took her through Mexico, the United States - both east and west, and Hawaii - and then on to Japan.
"Japan was my favorite destination. I had originally planned to stay here for 2 weeks, but I ended up staying 2 and a half months. I could write a book about Japan alone. But to be able to describe in a single idea everything I felt for them: most of the Japanese people I interacted with, even though they didn't know each other, told me the same thing: that 'I have a Japanese soul'.
It is the country where I felt that I belonged to their mentality, discipline, caring for others, hard work, and inner balance."
The journey continued with China, where after 3 weeks "I was guided by a Chinese friend who was a pharmacist and a French friend with whom I lived in China, to go to Thailand to follow my dream: to learn to do massage.
The incident in China was quite an interesting one: my French friend sprained her leg.
And out of my desire to help her and to alleviate her suffering, I applied various massage and treatment techniques, but instinctively, because until then I had not followed any specialized course in this field. Seeing that he was getting better at a faster pace than expected, I realized that my orientation was towards coproral therapies. My desire to help people through a non-invasive and natural method could be fulfilled by the new direction I discovered."
The last destination of the sabbatical trip was Thailand where she spent 3 months - in the north of Thailand, close to the mountains and jungles - in Chiang Mai at the most recognized Thai massage school - TMC Chiang Mai. "I chose this school because it had won the Royal Family Award for the best Thai massage school for 5 years, and I chose it because it was the only accredited school in Thailand to accredit teachers. The time I spent studying in Thailand I would say was one of the best times of my life. I remember in detail every day of class, the teachers, their teaching methods, my multicultural colleagues from all over the world".
"On this journey I have seen how people all over the world cling to roles in order to identify and give meaning to their lives, just as I used to do. And the moment the 'role' disappears - they lose their job, their company goes bankrupt, they get divorced and lose their role as husband/wife, etc., people become confused and without identity.
The beauty actually lies in that empty soul on which you can 'put on' whatever 'social clothes' you want.
This was my initial journey, literally around the world, after which I made peace with myself and I can only say about myself that "I am, and I am whatever I want".
Following her journey in 2015, Elena discovered that what she really wants to do is to help people. In 2015 she attended a 3-month intensive Thai massage course and teacher accreditation at TMC Chiang Mai school, then in 2017 she attended the international Thai massage conference in Thailand and studied at the NGO Thai Massage School - also in Thailand.
In 2018 she returned to Japan, where she studied Shiatsu at the Koyasan Shiatsu School and in 2020 she completed her Master's degree in Kinesiology and Physical Rehabilitation.
"As a child I dreamed of becoming a chef or a doctor. I don't think I'm far from either direction. Today I cook and create many therapeutic recipes for creams, masks and herbal blends. And I am a different kind of 'doctor' I could say, in that I have combined the knowledge of classical medicine (Kinetoprophylaxis and physical recovery which I studied), with the well known methods of the Asians, which have been known for thousands of years."
Elena's main activity is teaching at Thai Therapy School 13 specialized courses in Thai massage techniques, courses that he teaches in affiliation with partner schools in Thailand, following the curriculum of their school.
So far he has over 600 graduates, over 5000 hours of teaching and 11 textbooks written in almost 8 years of practice.
"But my passion to help people makes me want to keep in touch with the beneficiaries, and I still offer therapy sessions in the Thai Therapy Center Timisoara which I coordinate.
The therapies I offer are generally for people with more complicated conditions, and when they stabilize, they are taken over by therapists trained by me. Within Thai Therapy I work with 3 full time therapists, 1 part time therapist. In the almost 8 years of therapeutic practice, I have logged 18000 hours of applied therapies".
Another project is the Asian Therapies area where it is in partnership with Amazonia Aquapark - the largest Aquapark in western Romania, opened on March 31.
Here he currently has a team of 6 therapists "and we are growing. In the area of Asian therapies we have a complex menu offering various Thai therapies, prenatal massage, reflexology, Balinese massage, body wraps, naturopathic cosmetics and Japanese facial massage."
– Self-disciplineI am an extremely organized and disciplined person both in my personal life, nutrition, lifestyle and professional life.
– Permanent centering and living in the present. I am constantly refocusing myself through breathing and meditation techniques.
Don't worry, I'm not the type to meditate for hours on end, then I wouldn't have time to deal with so many projects.
Instead, I take every minute between my activities to meditate. I breathe and center myself all the time: when I'm in therapy, when I'm teaching, when I'm at the traffic lights, when I'm lying in bed before falling asleep, etc.
I never make a decision if I'm not centered. Sometimes I may delay a decision for a few days until I reach the desired state of balance, so that I don't let a state of pre-happiness, or sadness, or agitation influence me. I find my business strategy to be effective when I make decisions in a state of physical and emotional balance.
- I think the secret to success is that when I have to make a decision follow the ultimate community benefit, and not of a single individual (me, or client, or learner, or partner etc).
I have always been guided that the results of my decisions can be of maximum benefit to as many people as possible. Even if at a first glance one person may be disadvantaged by my decision, on the other hand, surely dozens of people can find benefit and joy from the same decision.
I like raising people. The road is harder this way, but it is more stable. At first glance it seems easier to recruit an experienced therapist. But the likelihood of him staying in one place for long is small.
Also, the likelihood of an experienced person in the field knowing our working style is low and we have noticed that 'a full head is hard to overfill with other habits and new information' .
In terms of qualities, I have always looked first and foremost for the therapist to be a person of character, morals, care and love for people and for himself. And the skills of a masseur therapist are learned. Anything can be learned if the ground on which you want to put your knowledge is 'cernoziom', i.e. of the highest quality.
Therefore, I could say I 'hunt' therapists. That is to say, I observe the person's character, desires and hand. If they fall within the range I want, the rest of the way in its formation and long-term collaboration is just a formality.
When I got pregnant with Eva I have to admit that I was overwhelmed with worry. I saw many women around me who had given up their careers to have children, only to be unhappy. Even if they declared that they had done it for a noble purpose, this frustration would come to the surface in moments of trial. On the other hand, I know people who, even though they had children, dedicated themselves to their careers, using grandmothers and nannies, the child becoming emotionally affected because of the 'abandonment' they felt. Either way I would have given it, it would have come out with one of the unhappy parties.
That's when I decided I didn't want to choose between my child and my work. I love my child enormously, but equally I love helping people, I love my work. So I decided not to separate them, but to unite them. Thus, Eva from the age of 2 weeks made her first visit to my center and since then she is part of the Thai Therapy team.
I think this can only help her in her development. Growing up in our environment where she saw many people all the time, she became extremely sociable. And we can already see skills that therapists generally have (i.e. she does what she sees): Eva is always tidy and clean, she loves books, she already knows how to handle massage tools.
We created especially for her in our center and a playroom with fairies and princesses, a room that can be enjoyed by the children of clients and students. Kindergarten started in the meantime. But the secret to dividing myself between work and child is that I don't share. ☺ I take them together ☺
I am constantly learning from my clients and from my trainees, even though from the outside it may seem that they are the only ones learning from me. With each person I interact with I try to see their story and understand why I have drawn them into my life. The interaction between two people is not casual. More often than not, they bring out mirrors that need attention, healing, evolution. Thus, by working on myself through their mirror, I can help them better.
I am constantly learning through everyone I interact with. I find that fantastic. And my thirst for knowledge seems never-ending. Each person is a book in itself.
Each treatment I could say that it was born on its own, by itself, as a result of the needs that I have encountered. I have always tried to find effective, fast and non-invasive solutions for the various needs of our clients both on the therapeutic side and for a long and healthy lifestyle.
My favorite childhood story was Youth without old age and life without death. And I think, on a subconscious level, I'm influenced by that story. Through my treatments I have always sought beauty, health and balance.
The motivation I get out of bed every day is the daily opportunity to participate in a better, healthier, more balanced world. And I work on this every day both through the therapies I apply, through the team of therapists that I directly coordinate but also through the more than 600 graduates that I have so far. Maybe that's what makes me able to respond to every request.
Every single trainee if they contact me for advice, I always respond, even if there are hundreds of them. In the back of my mind, I actually know that through my response I may have made a beneficiary's life better.
Every person who comes to us with a pain/problem and comes out of therapy with a smile on their face and without pain brings sadness. I believe that that smile is applause as it is the case with artists. I believe that all dedicated therapists feed on that smile from the recipients and recharge their batteries: with every positive outcome, with every person who is better after treatment.
It's Eva. Before her, I used to say about myself that I accomplished a lot in life. But after the appearance of Eve, I realized that everything I had done before didn't compare in the slightest to the creation of a divine being. Eve is not an accomplishment of my own, I'm just a channel for her manifestation. But I'm so glad to have such an important role in her life, to be her mother.
At the beginning of 2016 I kept a 21-day fast where I ate nothing, spoke nothing (silent fast) and only from day 6 did I start consuming liquids. It is a fast I kept after a book written by Jasmuheen.
This post has given me so much strength and clarity in what I have to do. Although in 2015 I finished my course specializations in Thailand - so I had a good seed planted - I think that post has been the driving force that has helped me enormously to accomplish everything I have done so far.
I could write a whole book about the beautiful things that have happened to me. God is always working miracles, we just have to observe them.
Beautiful people come my way at the right place, or synchronicities happen that even the best mathematician couldn't figure out so well.
After giving birth to Eve naturally, I was on the brink of death.
I had a moment when I wasn't here, and the whole hospital was struggling to save me. In those moments I was 'gone' I could say in another dimension. And the only emotions that I remember are regret for all that I didn't accomplish, regret that I won't be able to spend my life with Eva and my husband. After I came back, I realized that I have to live without regrets and fears. In my vision there were no regrets about what I did, but about what I didn't do.
From that moment on, I chose to live my life with joy to the fullest. Often, out of a desire not to disappoint others, we leave our happiness behind or even forget it. I'm not saying that we have to become hedonists, but I believe that we can find a good balance between the happiness of others and our personal happiness if we learn to love ourselves first and foremost.
I think that this is the disease of our society - the lack of self-love and this leads to a lot of diseases and socio-human problems, this is what I observe during my treatments.
The 2 months of lockdown were like a much needed vacation. I was supposed to finish my dissertation, but I couldn't find time in my projects to do it. With that forced 'vacation' I managed to finish my dissertation to the standards I wanted.
The next 2 years that followed, in which the activity was allowed but with restrictions that varied from day to day, taught us to be easily adaptable. From a financial point of view, I could not say that there has been any significant change in the level of receipts.
Instead we noticed a change in people's mentality: some of the mental ones developed anxiety, burnout, or simply disappeared from our client base. Instead, some were more open to the emotional and esoteric side and were not negatively impacted by those events.
I think the pandemic was a time when we were physically forced into introversion, into turning inward. Now, it's up to each person how much their subconscious is hiding and how clean it was there.
The thing that I really appreciated about the Japanese is the care that their actions do not disturb those around them. They understand that their freedom ends where another's freedom begins. Thus, they always take care to be happy in their own little piece, but without disturbing others.
I think this is what bothers me in Western society: selfishness and individualism. Many people have a narrow view of their own existence and think only for their own benefit, without thinking that their actions may affect those around them. And this can be extrapolated in many examples from everyday life.
I draw energy from every success I achieve every day. From every project completion, from every phone call with a new appointment request, from every satisfied client, from every successful graduate.
I get my joy from Eva's smiles, from her husband's hugs.
I take my joy in the cool morning air (I love mornings, I'm a very early morning person)
I derive joy from constant study. I like to constantly follow courses of improvement and specialization, even if sometimes they are not directly related to my field. I love to read, I always have 2-3 books at the head of my bed that I read in the evening or in the morning.
I've had many fears over the years. But I've overcome them all by facing them. That is, actually mentally simulating the situation I was afraid of and trying to analyze its darker parts and accept them.
My biggest fear I think was the fear of death. And in two separate stages I think I've managed to make peace with it: After the 21-day fast and after the event I went through after the baby was born.
I have many things I plan to accomplish. Without hopes, projects and dreams, there comes a pallor and withering of the soul. I dream to be like the Japanese, in the service of people until I am 100 years old, to have the power to help as many people as I can through my work, and to find more effective strategies to help even more people. I nourish myself from this journey through life and enjoy every day, every new experience.
People are increasingly open to non-invasive methods of staying healthy and treatment. In Thailand Thai massage for example is being introduced in the national campaign to prevent sickness. I believe that through the participation of each individual therapist, through the educational input we provide to each individual client, the market is expanding and the desire to consume in this way comes automatically.
I remember back in 2015 when I came back to the country and searched for the first time for Thai massage in Timisoara and in the country. I couldn't find any masseur in Timisoara doing a real Thai like in Thailand and very few nationwide.
In the 8 years since then, the market has evolved enormously. With a simple google search, you can find dozens of massage centers, therapists, and courses in this specialty. People no longer associate Thai massage with erotic massage as they did 8 years ago. People have discovered that it is about therapy. Market education is growing and transforming.
The wellness market is a niche that I continue to bet on, as I have been doing for 8 years now. Interestingly, I have seen many business people who had successful businesses in other areas starting to invest in our field. It is a clear sign that the wellness market is growing and not only therapists are interested in this direction, but also investors.
Connect with yourself: it's the secret to your whole life.
Seek to do what you like. And you'll never get tired. I only look for suppliers and business partners who are at least as dedicated as I am. That I know will guarantee my success. If I have an emergency and I call a partner on Saturday or Sunday and they don't answer just because they don't answer on the weekend, to me it's a clear sign that they are not 100% dedicated, they are not doing the business out of passion, and sooner or later they might go bankrupt and I will have to look for another supplier, or they will simply hinder my business when the going gets tough.
Invest in your education, it's the most valuable investment that no one will ever take away from you, nor will it ever depreciate in value.
Sleep between 23:00-3:00 - the golden hours for youth.
Life is not about the destination, but about the journey itself.
Update 2025:
After 15 years of discovering the Spa & Wellness world together, despreSpa.ro has become Wellandia.
A new name, the same team, the same vision and the same values that have inspired our little virtual explorer, Wello, to always bring you reliable information - about relaxation, natural resources, movement, personalized nutrition, modern technologies and recovery - to inspire you on your journey to wellness
Founder of Wellandia (formerly despreSpa.ro) and SpaEdu
