Fundamental Questions (Excerpt from an Interview with Nordine, conducted by John Assaraf, Star of The Secret)

John:
How does fitness affects one's spiritual being?

Nordine:
Your Spirit is the universal battery to your mind and body.
We use spiritual substitutes such as alcohol, food or even drugs to make us feel good for a short, short time, but in the long run the results are devastating.
When I was competing as a top athlete, I use to think that I loved myself but in reality I was obsessed with my physic. I think I stopped loving with my heart back then, I was satisfying my ego instead. When you are obsessed you forget how to love yourself and everyone around you;you're not here, you're somewhere else, a place where ego is comfortable.

There is no SUBSTITUTE for spirituality other than respecting yourself, your body and everyone around you. When you are fit and healthy, you are inspiring everyone, and that my friends is spirituality at its best. Love is the antidote to obsession.

John:
I really want to change but how?

Nordine:
First you must acknowledge the current YOU then move on to acknowledge that you want to change, accept the change and let go of the OLD YOU. Acknowledge, accept, let go; I call this the Ta Kwon Do method. Because if you don’t, you'll feel that you are not fully satisfied with your life, something will be missing, you won’t know it but you will certainly feel it. You'll feel a chronic anxiety, something missing, a life off-balance. If you are not fulfilled with your life, you will get full some other way, eating, drinking, taking drugs, sex, name it.

John:
How do I know I have a desire to be fit?

Nordine:
You know you have the desire to be fit when thinking and seeing yourself fit creates an amazing excitement just as if you were falling in love again but this time it will be YOURSELF that you falling in love with. How can people expect others to love them if they don't love and appreciate themselves?

John:
How can I exercise without thinking of it as a burden?

Nordine:
By seeing, feeling and being the change you want to create. When you think and see the end result as if you were actually already achieving it, you will feel excitement rather than anxiety which is what hinders all your efforts to change.

John:
What are the three fundamental expressions of life?

Nordine:
The expression of body, of mind and of spirit. We are three part beings. Neglect one and you will be living in disharmony.

John
What are the three fundamental expressions of life?

Nordine:
The formula to perfect fitness to me is: 60% Heart & Mind – 30% Nutrition and 10% Exercise. You live in your heart and mind most, you feel, you think, you create, you experience, such is the real cycle of life.