Iva Vejmolová is our climber and currently works for the Czech Mountaineering Association. The interview talks about how Tharidu's Ayurvedic massage helps her deal with long-term fatigue and why she would recommend the massage to people who want to change something in themselves, but they fail.
What are you doing now, Iva?
I work for the Czech Mountaineering Association, where I coordinate activities related to the Top Youth Sports Center and representation. I am in charge of most training events or the organization of international competitions, communication with competitors, parents, or coaches, and coaching directly at the competitions. In addition to this full-time job, I have a few individual trustees to take care of daily: online or physically on the wall.
You have been involved in sport climbing since childhood. What is your most considerable success?
As the most significant success, I take several advances to the semifinals, whether the World Cup or the Adult World Cup. For example, the last one in 2019, which was my last race ever: contestants were trying to nominate for the Olympics, all ready to give their best performance there. So I take it that I succeeded in a huge competition.
What was behind the end of your sports career in 2019?
It was primarily my state of health but also the beginning of my current profession. I felt like I had been racing for a long time. I found myself in a state of incredible health and months of fatigue. It took a long time to find out the causes. At the same time, my current job came from the Czech Mountaineering Association, which I accepted.
What do you enjoy about your work with young climbers?
It's great to combine my own experience in the 17 years I've raced with a vision to move sport climbing further. Improve what I missed as a racer. The union has a team of people trying to move everything, so it's great for me to help this development.
How did your fatigue manifest itself?
It didn't bother me that I couldn't train or end my career. But it interfered with my daily and personal lives. It limited me to everyday things. And it affected my loved ones. It was hard to plan anything when I didn't know how I was going to feel. That was very uncomfortable and difficult for me. At the same time, I didn't know what my fatigue was all about for almost two years. It wasn't until after a whole year of problems, in 2020, that I came across a doctor who found the cause, guided me to some treatment associated with a special diet, and my condition began to improve. And as I go to Tharidu for massages, it's been four months so far, the two have connected, and I no longer feel the big dips of a state of exhaustion without energy when I could not walk few meters. The body is now in harmony, in balance, holding a stable condition without sags.
What did the massage in front of Thariduu mean to you?
I went to massages as an athlete, that is, with sore muscles, with pain. But it was never associated with an effect on areas of life other than muscles and mobility. It took Tharidua on a completely different path. Changes began to take place, and my condition improved significantly by leaps and bounds.
What surprised you about Tharidu's massages?
Definitely a length. At the moment it lasts 2 to 3 hours. This is different from a standard massage. The idea of being on a massage for three hours sounds strange, but time passes faster with this authentic Ayurvedic massage. Before the massage, you get a unique, Ayurvedic soup. With it comes the feeling of falling asleep, which means that you will calm down and half asleep. After that, you just come to Tharidu to rest. I perceive this block of several hours, including food before and after the massage, as a half-day vacation that I will indulge in for my body. It's a very relaxing affair. Sometimes, it is not easy to switch off in the daily hustle and bustle, but with Tharidu, you can quickly get into beneficial relaxation. Another difference is that Tharidua uses a lot of coconut oil, and it also massages the head, face, in short, the whole body, and one feels the blood flowing and the body starting to work as a well-tuned machine. With that comes hunger and other servings of Ayurvedic food according to my specific problems, weather, but also time of year. I think it's evident when an Ayurvedic massage is done by someone who has it in their "genes."
After all, massage is a very private matter. Many people may have a problem with shyness. But for native Ayurvedic masseurs, the body is sacred, and that's how they approach it, right?
Definitely yes, you feel absolutely comfortable with Tharidua. In addition, you get disposable non-woven underwear, so you don't even have to worry about your clothes because the doses of fragrant coconut oil from Sri Lanka are hearty😊 , and the skin and skin are great after their condition.
How do you feel after the massage?
On the day of the massage, I feel that the body has received a strong impulse. That day I feel kind of between fatigue and depression. So naturally, I don't want to do anything significant, necessary for the rest of the day. I feel like I need to relax the massage and let the bodywork it out. But in the coming days, I feel stable and balanced, even mentally. I perceive that the organism has moved physically and mentally to normal, an ideal where I feel full of energy, even mentally well, in a positive mood.
So what do you perceive as the effect of massages on a psychological level, where fatigue associated with health problems affected you?
Today, most people are under a lot of stress, pressure, work demands are getting higher, and it is difficult to set boundaries to not destroy a person. What Tharidua helped me the most is determination. I had problems with decision-making and indecision, even on absurd matters. Maybe go to the store and decide at that moment whether to buy something or not. I was able to be there for hours, thinking about it at home, until I was tired and desperate. And now? We were planning a lot of things for the wedding. I thought I would have trouble making a decision. After all, it is a life event. It is once in a lifetime. I would expect that due to the weight of the importance of the wedding, I will have trouble deciding on a dress, on a lot of things. We even had a situation where I could resolve quickly, for example, in which one I like a wedding invitation, even faster than Adam😊 (Adam Ondra, editor's note). The latter usually doesn't have a problem with quick decisions😊 .
That sounds like a huge change! It is often said that physical difficulties stem from mental problems. Do you think that it can be the other way around? So that mental problems can arise from physical ones?
It seems so. My indecision, of course, carried over into work situations or more complex life situations, and of course, it did not bring anything positive. Now I feel that I can close things better, cut them off, let them float… Therefore, I would recommend Tharidu's massages to people who feel they are aware of their problems and recurring things they are not okay with. They want to change them, but they can't. I was aware of the things I wanted to change, but they couldn't change. In my opinion, the massage from Tharidu unblocks and releases stagnation, which slows down a person, but he cannot move from it himself. I feel that many things are more manageable and do not limit me as before, so I feel much more comfortable and satisfied.
What do authentic Ayurvedic massages mean to you now? What do you associate them with?
The first moment I associate them with is Ayurvedic food. I knew that food, that is, how a person eats, what he eats, when, is essential. But I never knew that special foods, spices, and herbs could be consumed before and after the massage to have the best effect. The second distinctive feature of Ayurvedic massage is an entirely different style of massage. It's not about finding a trigger point, a stiff muscle, and it snaps indefinitely before it relaxes. So often, one feels that Tharidu's massage is easy. It didn't hurt when I asked myself if it would affect me. But it affects. You feel the blood and lymph flowing through the whole body during the massage. And then the connection to the soul and psyche. Thariduu says that mental and muscular stress are related. And for someone, for me, too, muscle stress was primary. And if you don't relieve this muscle stress, you don't have a chance to unblock the mental one.
Last question: who would you nominate for our following interview?
I am nominating a climber who is a speed climbing class from Kazakhstan but now lives and studies in Brno. It's Rishat Khaibullin.
Iva, thank you for a beautiful and open conversation, and I wish you well!
Zuzana Jayasundera