My name is Eugene Sukhorukov. I am the founder of Healthy Positive Lifestyle Network. I am a huge proponent of holistic lifestyle. I have been studying and practicing a number of different health-oriented systems, such as Autogenic Training, Yoga, Martial Arts, Chi-Kung, Do-In, Taoist Internal Alchemy, and some others. I like tea ceremony Gong-Fu Cha, and also I play bamboo flute Shakuhachi which you can hear on the background.

I first got introduced to the holistic medicine by my great uncle some time in 70’s. He was an energy healer, and both him and my grandma were into herbal medicine. I was not a healthy kid at all, so basically I was growing up drinking herbs and fresh juices made by grandma.

As a kid, I was not interested in any kind of physical activity. I was a classic introvert, total nerd whose best activities were reading scientific books or making some crafts. I went to music school for a couple of years, but I had to drop it because of constant strong headaches.

And that was going on like that until one day in early 1980’s, when I was at the hospital, again, going through the whole bunch of medical tests to determine the reason for my headaches. That was not successful, again. However, something remarkable happened while I was there.

My hospital bed was so uncomfortable, that I could not fall asleep no matter what I tried. Then I remembered that I read in my favorite scientific magazine about thing called Autogenic Training. I only remembered a little bit, but it was enough to try. I did and I fell asleep. Yes, sometimes being a nerd saves the day, or in my case, it saved the night.

That little bit of success encouraged me to study the subject, and after I came home in a couple of days, I read everything I could find about that practice. I began practicing, and I got really significant results.

I also found out that Autogenic Training basically originated from meditation. Yoga was not popular at all in 1982. However, since India was the best friend of Soviet Union, it was not that hard to find some information and even a teacher.

On the contrary, to find a martial art instructor was much, much harder. It was prohibited by the government. There were almost no movies about it, I did not have access to any videos, and internet did not exist at that time. How in the World a total slug, a couch potato, got interested in martial arts and stuck with it for decades, is still a mystery to me. Nevertheless, in 1983, after jumping through some hoops, I got accepted into a closed martial art group. And my life has changed, from that point on.

Perhaps the main philosophy my practice is based on, is a concept of constant changes. Nothing ever repeats itself twice. Every event, every move, every second is unique, and it will never be repeated again. We learn to recognize changes, to get the best out of them, learn something, adjust the balance if necessary and move on.

Balance is not a destination, it is not a state of mind. Balance is a process. It is like riding a bicycle. You have to learn it, and then it becomes a part of who you are. It doesn’t mean however you will never fall, but hopefully you learn from those mistakes and adjust to be better next time.

People often ask me, Eugene, what are you getting from your practice? If I talk about physical aspect of it, I am just doing my best to keep my body functional.

From the perspective of emotional and spiritual health, honestly, this is not an easy question to answer. This is not what I practice any more. This is how I live, or at least try to live. 30 years ago I could come up with the whole list of benefits from yoga & meditation. I felt excited like a kid in a candy store.

Today I will just quote a famous Zen saying: “Before you study Zen, mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers; while you are studying Zen, mountains are no longer mountains and rivers are no longer rivers; but once you have had an enlightenment, mountains are once again mountains and rivers again rivers.”

I don’t claim to be an enlightened one, but at some point I began to realize that practice of Yoga, meditation, martial arts does not lead you somewhere. It opens you up right here. I am already where I need to be at this moment of time.

Perhaps one of the most important statements I’ve ever heard was that life is something that often goes by while we are searching for its meaning. I gave up searching for the meaning of life. I just want to live and keep my balance.

No, no, no, I am not bullet proof. I still have emotions, I can get out of balance and I can get knocked down. But what I noticed, I don’t see many problems other people are stressing about, the same way they see it. Even my friends ask me sometimes, Eugene, why are you not concerned about this or that?.. Don’t you see how serious it gets? I do see what is going on. I just don’t see it as a problem.

The main difference in my training is that it is principle based, not a technique based. Martial art I have been studying for decades, has basic technical elements, and it has a set of principles how to use them. We don’t have katas or any other formal exercises. In fact, if my teacher saw me doing the same move several times, he was telling me to change. Basically I had to create my own style based on my physique and my preferences, and I had to learn to adjust it depending on the environment, the circumstances and the opponents. This is very similar to writing. You have to learn the language, alphabet, rules, but how and what you write will be totally different from what other people write, even if they speak the same language.

Over the years, it spilled over into other areas of my life. I do not like boring repetitions. I like to change. And, what I think is the most important, this constant changes help people to develop flexible thinking, to have less stress in their lives, and to become more adaptable in the surrounding World. It is also known as being like water, which means being flexible, strong and persistent.

And that is what I see as the main benefit of what I am teaching.

I also understand that not everybody likes to do what I do. And that is great! I often compare training to music. There are different styles and instruments. Something we like, and something we don’t like. It does not make one style better than another. You gotta find yours.

And to help you with that, I am trying to make people aware of what is out there, how it looks like, who the teachers are and what they can do to help people to achieve their health-oriented goals. And, perhaps, how the training can help to change people’s lives, like it did to me.

My future plans are to continue promoting healthy lifestyle and positive mental attitude. Personally I am planning to offer music and meditation program, as well as Chi-Kung, Gong-Fu Cha and some other things I’ve been studying for 3 decades. Most likely, I will be developing myself in the field of leadership coaching. As for this channel, I would like to bring many different holistic practitioners and teachers under one umbrella, but not in a form of internet search results. I don’t want to compete with Google. I want my site to be live. I am planning to create the atmosphere where people can feel the vibes, They can literally meet the professionals through videos, and find somebody they can relate to. So, come back, I am sure this will be fun! In the meantime, smile and make a wonderful day happen!