My name is Saraliotis Andreas. I am 44 years old, married and with one child. Originally I am from north Greece (Kavala), but since 8 years I am living in Naxos. Here I have my own martial art school (I have a 6th degree black belt and I am teaching Zen Kick Boxing, a system that I have created the last four years). I am also a masseur (with 15 years of experience). What I do is rellaxing massage, thai massage, reflexogy and facial lymphatic massage. And since ten years I am a nutritionist, being occupied with orthomolecular nutrition.
As I watched myself the past few years I realized one thing. There is a big difference and advantage, between people like me and the majority (not all) of the people that are occupied with the same subjects that I am (all the parts of my seminar). And this is because, not only I have studied them for many years, but I also live by these principles and apply them myself.
So I can see from first hand the benefits of all the principles that I would like to show to you. A small example of what I’m saying is my training situation. I have been taking part in kick boxing tournaments since I was eighteen and I still am, now in my forty fourth years! And actually the last ten years I am performing better than before! And believe me there aren’t a lot of people in the whole world that can do something like this.
You sea each one of us has his strong and weak sides in Life. We all Know that. What we should do is to realize both sides and then try to make the first one stronger and the second (as much as is possible) weaker.
I cannot say if it was by luck, or it was karma or whatever but because of the way that I was (and still am) living I had the opportunity to do so. Of course I don’t feel that I’m finished with this process. I know that there’s still a lot to be done. But I also know that I’m on the right way and I can see and feel the positive and creative steps and changes in my Life.
Life! What a word, what a meaning! Thousands of books have been written, millions of people have been speaking or even singing about it.
I belong to the people that you could describe as “lovers of Life” Don’t ask me how and why I became like that, because I don’t have any kind of answer to give you. You see, although I’m the fifth child of a normal medium Greek family, in the way of living I don’t have any connection or similarity with anybody else in my family!
I was born in 1963 in Kavala (a nice city beside the sea in northern Greece). Until I finish school the only thing you could tell about me was that I loved to exercise. Running, swimming and gymnastics were my major interests. Not much of a reader.
Suddenly after I finished school I went to the public library and borrowed a book (Zorbas the Greek from N. Kazantzkis). Since that day I never stopped reading and studying! Romance first, philosophy after, science later.
At the same time I started one of the big loves in my Life. Martial arts. Although I was training in Kick boxing (a clear western style way of training) I was always, also interested in the eastern philosophy and view of the Martial Arts. I never felt or believed that the whole story was only about punching and kicking! So after twenty or more years of training, reading and searching I created my own style which I named “Zen Kick Boxing” And it is exactly what it says. The unification of the eastern philosophy with the western way of acting. Of course I’m still in the beginning and a lot must and will follow, but like I said I feel and I know that I’m on the right path.
After I felt that I had reached a certain level with my training and reading (in the early nineties) I decided to leave my home town. Almost ten years of traveling followed. I lived in different places, mostly big cities. Toronto was the beginning and then Berlin and Vienna followed, ending in a small place in Norway (Hamar). Gathering experiences was my major aim. So whilst doing whatever work I could do, I read, trained and at the same time I watched the people around me. How they live, what they are doing, why, if they were happy and so on… It was a good period in my Life. I studied (and enjoyed) “the school of Life”.
When I returned to Greece, I didn’t want to live in a big city again, so I ended up in the small but beautiful Naxos. Here I opened my small Martial Arts center were I teach what I’ve learned until now and of course at the same time try also to improve on it.
So after I came here, I followed a nutrition school, in order to strengthen my general knowledge about nutrition and how it affects us. After I finished this and since I knew how much our well being is affected by so many factors, lots of miscellaneous seminars have followed. The subjects included, massage, nutrition, exercise and of course self-knowledge.
At the same time I also created my small family. My wife (Sissel), whom I met here, is from Norway and we now have a four year old son (Sokratis). And I can say that we a have a good happy Life in our small paradise. I know that it sounds nice, small island, quiet, peaceful etc. But you know what, I always say that we carry our paradise and hell inside of us. And we expose it where ever we are!
Yes it was our choice to come and live here. This was because of some important, for us, qualities that we could find here and of course we also don’t have everything here.On the other hand, I lived also happily in small apartments, (and in big cities) where the only thing you could see was the windows of the houses next door!
So there is a key for each situation that can allow us to live the Life we wish and deserve. And you know what? This key is our self! And this is what I want to show to you! You see, as the years went by I realized that (again don’t ask why) I am a teacher and what I like, want and enjoy doing in my Life, is to share my knowledge with other people.
The real qualities in Life (those that most of us seek) are already here inside us. My wish is to show to you how to bring them out and apply them in your daily Life!