Radio România Internațional

Tag: Therapy

  • Global Wellness Day

    Global Wellness Day

    The Global Wellness Day is rapidly drawing near, and, this time around as well, we say Yes! to the invitation extended to us to discover the latest on the domestic SPA market. This
    year as well, we are invited to view life from a fresh perspective, under the
    slogan One Single Day can change your entire Life!

    The founder of a spa
    platform, desprespa.ro, Ioana Marian, has launched an invitation for us:

    Global Wellness Day is the moment when you
    can discover, when you can have your own hands-on experience of what SPA and
    wellness actually mean. You can participate, free of charge, in all sorts of
    wellness activities, correct breathing, stretching exercises, meditation, you
    can even do mini-SPA therapies, all that offered free of charge. The event
    takes place on the second Saturday in June, this year it will be on June
    10th.


    The initiator of a SPA center in the capital city, Alin Simion, gave
    us details on the concept underlying the setting up of the center. It was a
    center that started off from the need for self-development and out of love for
    his wife, who always had that dream.


    A key element
    was the care for the client, the care for the human being as such. And that pushed us forward
    towards our own personal development, I work with myself a lot so I could be a
    more balanced man, while the professional aspect followed suit, as well as the understanding
    of our client’s needs. We opened the center in 2011, I met my wife at the Dalai Lama Center in Tibet and, taking one step after the next, we went from strength
    to strength, we’re now in our third location, a superb location we ‘re so proud
    of. It so much resembles what we wanted for ourselves, from the very
    beginning: to be able to offer people a beautiful and elegant SPA environment,
    with a lot of nature and perfect-to-a-fault services.


    Invoking, though the name of the center, that kind of feminine
    energy we all have, irrespective of our gender, the center creates a special atmosphere.

    Alin Simion once again:


    The spirit is one of intimacy, where people can discover
    that very particular thing we call home. That particular thing means relaxation,
    intimacy, enhancing people’s intellectual or self-knowledge capacity. We offer
    classical beauty services, we offer over 90 types of massage, SPA rituals or signature
    rituals we laid so much emphasis on, as we wanted each and every one of our
    therapists to offer a signature therapy, at once allowing them to introduce
    themselves for what they truly are, using everything of what they learned all
    along their professional career. We have the personal development and self-knowledge,
    coaching side, we have yoga and meditation. Furthermore, we organize very many
    courses and events. We try to offer a
    personalized solution to each and every person visiting us.


    The founder of the desprespa.ro platform, Ioana Marian, heaped
    praise on Romania’s SPA market being on the rise in recent years. It literally progressed
    from scratch only to reach its extremely diverse dimension of today. However,
    Ioana Marian said, there is still a lot more work to be done, to that end.


    There are still many regions that have not just as
    yet acquired the status of a center in its own right. As we speak, my estimation
    is that of 30 to 35 centers have the status of a SPA proper, and which are
    not salons. The SPA experience entails the relaxation of all five senses, and
    not the tactile one alone. Besides, in another development, we cannot possibly speak
    about a SPA proper in the case of the hotels or guesthouses pointing to the
    existence of their own spa center, while the moment you step in there you see they
    actually have a swimming pool, a sauna, maybe a massage room. There is no SPA
    there, actually. What a consumer wants is a complete switching-off for himself,
    since he is stressed out when he enters there. Everybody knows that after an hour
    they spent at the SPA, he emerges a different man out of that treatment
    facility, not only is he more relaxed, but also he has a lot more energy.


    Ioana Marian explained what the elements were, that contribute to
    the transformation you experience in a SPA center, from a stressed-out individual to a
    person who is completely relaxed and full of energy.


    That is possible, in a SPA, thanks to the
    atmosphere: through the setting you find in the SPA, more often than not
    elements of nature, plants, stones, living elements that come with their own
    energy and which contribute to your state of well-being. There are also the colors
    that relax you, green, tree-bark brown, then there is the smell, through the essential
    oils you can feel. It’s just as f if you took a walk through the forest. You can hear the murmur of the water, you breathe
    in those essential oils and, after a simple walk through the forest, you already
    feel you are a different person. Here, apart from the water and the plants and
    the soft sound of music, you also benefit from a therapy offered by a
    professional. As in the SPA centers we work with therapists who graduated from
    a faculty, whether it’s the Physical Education Faculty, the Kinesiotherapy
    one or the Kinesiotherapy Faculty offered by the Medical School, which means a
    lot more than a massage course pursued for a couple of months .


    We have also found out that this month, the
    first awarding-ceremony Gala was held, for the SPA centers across Romania. It was a
    one-of-a-kind event, meant to encourage performance. Therefore, we invite you,
    wherever you may be, to say Yes! to a special day: the Global Wellness Day!

  • Social projects in Bucharest’s Ferentari district

    Social projects in Bucharest’s Ferentari district

    Ferentari, Bucharests poorest and most problematic district, is famous for the incidence of domestic violence, prostitution, drug consumption and trafficking, poverty and illiteracy. You may wonder what the chances are for the kids born and raised in this neighbourhood to have a normal life. Several social projects have been initiated, to help the ethnic Roma kids and adults alike in this neighbourhood.



    Ionuţ Oprea is an actor. Six years ago he volunteered to give acting lessons at the Alternative Education Club, a program run by the NGO called Policy Center for Roma and Minorities. The club was created for the children facing risk situations who are living in ghetto conditions in Ferentari district. It was simply by chance that Ionuţ Oprea came to be part of this program, and, in time, he managed to overcome cultural differences and get closer to these kids, for whom theatre has become a form of therapy.



    Ionuţ Oprea: “I came to the club with my own set of values, my knowledge and my education, and I discovered that for those people my values did not matter. These peoples world is a little upside down. In my social and cultural milieu, education is regarded as something natural, a good thing that helps one develop. But here, in this community, I had a really hard time trying to convince both the kids and their parents that education could be a solution, a way out of their difficulties. Honestly, I am not sure that I have managed to do this. All I can do is show up at the club every day and tell them the same things over and over again. Nobody can guarantee that I will succeed or that I will be able to change anything at all.



    Nevertheless, Ionuţ Opreas work has started to bear fruit, and his efforts are now getting confirmation:



    Ionuţ Oprea: “One of my greatest achievements is the case of Nicoleta. From the very beginning I noticed in her a different attitude towards life and even towards my work and myself, and that made me believe she could be a leader. I could see how the others related to her and how she related to them. I have the greatest expectations and hopes from her, she started to write, she is getting informed, she is composing music and has already started to write a theatre play. And she is just one example. There are other kids in the troupe that are now starting to discover certain skills and find their place within the troupe, after several years of work. One of them acts as a technical director, another one is in charge of the posters and image, one is responsible for maintaining discipline at rehearsals. All of them are discovering their roles within the troupe. And this encourages me to go ahead with the project.



    Nicoleta Ghiţă, one of the promising young girls in the troupe coordinated by Ionuţ Oprea, is 18, and she had already started taking acting classes when Ionuţ joined the project in Ferentari district. As I child she felt that theatre was her passion and she proved her talent on several occasions. She has experienced some very difficult moments in her childhood and has had a job ever since she was 15:



    Nicoleta Ghiţă: “I can now say that I feel accomplished, because I have evolved quite a lot. I have grown from a nasty child who didnt like anybody and whom nobody liked, into a friendly person who can make friends and acquaintances easily. I have come to like people! And that is quite a change for me. When I see that Ionuţ is proud of me, I also feel proud. For 3 or 4 months he kept insisting that I should take up storytelling and eventually I did that. And I realized that THAT was the thing for me, that I could best express myself by means of storytelling. I am also passionate about music and I would like to study both music and theatre.



    Daniela Vlăsceanu is 34 and she has 3 kids. She was born and raised in Ferentari district. For more than 8 years she has been involved in helping people in need, and in June 2016 she contributed to the setting up of a community centre in the neighbourhood. She organises recreational activities with children, she helps them with their homework, organises parties and collects donations. Now she wants to collect money to take the kids to summer camp. She works with around 25 children aged between 6 and 12, and she plans to get them through high school and even faculty.



    The community centre is also open for adults. Many of them dont even have ID papers. Some of them have kids who are on drugs. But their main problem is, of course, poverty:



    Daniela Vlăsceanu: “Due to poverty, they cannot pay health insurance, cannot go to a doctor or to hospital. They have no income whatsoever and many of them are sick. I have not changed and I will not be able to change Ferentari district entirely. But each and every one of us can make a small contribution. Thanks to our efforts, 5 old people now receive food once a week with the support of another organization. Helping them with food or with identity papers is really something, because ID papers can help them apply for medical assistance or for a pension.



    Daniela also told us that, as of late, several NGOs have been running various projects in Ferentari district dealing in drug abuse counselling and help for obtaining ID papers. But what would Ferentari district need for a major facelift?



    Daniela Vlăsceanu: “Well, I dont know where to start. First of all, jobs for the people in the neighbourhood, and new schools, because the existing ones are all run-down. The district also needs better trained teachers, because the children in Ferentari dont learn much in school. And obviously, healthcare units. A hospital would be great, but that is wishful thinking.

  • Baile Herculane

    Baile Herculane

    Todays destination is in the southwest of Romania, at an altitude of 168 meters, 25 km away from the Serbian border. Situated between Cerna and Mehedinti Mountains, Herculane has been visited by people seeking treatment for over two thousand years. It began being used as a spa in Roman times, and continues to this day. It is a place that in the past was the favorite destination for Emperor Franz Joseph and Princess Sissi, who had residences built there. The resort still preserves the traces of those times. You can visit the Roman baths, on the ground floor of a hotel here, some of them still functional two thousand years on. You can also see the first bridge in Europe built in a bend in the road, as well as the bronze statue of Hercules. You can also see the casino that opened in 1850, as well as a giant redwood planted a couple of centuries ago. Baile Herculane is slowly but surely regaining its former glory. Laura Patru, PR representative for a spa hotel here, told us about the resort:



    “Herculane is a sight to behold. We have ionized air, with 2,000 negative ions per cubic centimeter. This may sound as a technical detail, but it is important, it makes you feel like you are at an altitude of 2,000 meters in the Swiss Alps. Cerna Valley has a truly unique scenery, as well as two thousand species of butterfly. Both the Romans and the Austro-Hungarians knew that they could find cures here for a lot of ailments, and this is still valid today, except that nowadays we have modern technologies, spa, relaxation, which makes the experience so much richer.”


    Dora Miuti, in charge of the treatment base here, told us what it has to offer:



    “We have a wide set of procedures: magnetotherapy, thermal therapy using short waves, solux and infrared, ultrasound therapy, electrotherapy, very efficient in reducing pain and stimulating muscles, aerosol therapy for the lungs, for combating sinus infections and allergies, lymph drainage and kinetotherapy. In terms of wellness we have massage, 80 degree Celsius dry sauna, as well as an indoor and an outdoor pool.”



    Laura Patru told us more about the resort:



    “We have technologies comparable to those anywhere else in Europe. We can treat a wide array of ailments. Spa facilities have developed a lot. Herculane used to be famous for treatment, now it is famous for relaxation. You can have honey baths, plant baths, chocolate massage, caviar massage, things that didnt use to be associated with Baile Herculane.”



    While she admitted that a lot of tourists are disappointed by the fact that the reconstruction of the resort does not go as fast as they would like, Laura Patru told us that they are still choosing this place as a holiday destination:



    “Herculane is the perfect starting point for visiting the surroundings. You can visit the village of Ineleț, an isolated place that you can only reach by wooden ladders. For this reason, the place looks like it did a hundred years ago. Also, it only takes 20 minutes to reach the Danube Cauldrons, and the statue of Decebalus. You can also see the Steam Grotto, a natural sauna, as well as Empress Sissis tower and historical buildings, such as the casino where kings used to gather. Theres a lot to see on Cerna Valley.”



    Laura Patru extended an invitation:



    “If for a spa trip, for sedentary people working in offices or people with busy lives, one weekend is enough for relaxation and a few procedures. When you come for treatment things are different. A treatment stay takes at least five days to work, because we use thermal water. Which is why treatment packages are at least five days long. We are waiting for you here, because Herculane belongs to everyone, and we would like to share with you everything we have to offer.”



    From spa treatments to Pilates or a gentle stroll, you will definitely enjoy your time in this ancient place, which has been a spa since the year 153 CE. (Translated by C. Cotoiu)

  • Baile Herculane

    Baile Herculane

    Todays destination is in the southwest of Romania, at an altitude of 168 meters, 25 km away from the Serbian border. Situated between Cerna and Mehedinti Mountains, Herculane has been visited by people seeking treatment for over two thousand years. It began being used as a spa in Roman times, and continues to this day. It is a place that in the past was the favorite destination for Emperor Franz Joseph and Princess Sissi, who had residences built there. The resort still preserves the traces of those times. You can visit the Roman baths, on the ground floor of a hotel here, some of them still functional two thousand years on. You can also see the first bridge in Europe built in a bend in the road, as well as the bronze statue of Hercules. You can also see the casino that opened in 1850, as well as a giant redwood planted a couple of centuries ago. Baile Herculane is slowly but surely regaining its former glory. Laura Patru, PR representative for a spa hotel here, told us about the resort:



    “Herculane is a sight to behold. We have ionized air, with 2,000 negative ions per cubic centimeter. This may sound as a technical detail, but it is important, it makes you feel like you are at an altitude of 2,000 meters in the Swiss Alps. Cerna Valley has a truly unique scenery, as well as two thousand species of butterfly. Both the Romans and the Austro-Hungarians knew that they could find cures here for a lot of ailments, and this is still valid today, except that nowadays we have modern technologies, spa, relaxation, which makes the experience so much richer.”


    Dora Miuti, in charge of the treatment base here, told us what it has to offer:



    “We have a wide set of procedures: magnetotherapy, thermal therapy using short waves, solux and infrared, ultrasound therapy, electrotherapy, very efficient in reducing pain and stimulating muscles, aerosol therapy for the lungs, for combating sinus infections and allergies, lymph drainage and kinetotherapy. In terms of wellness we have massage, 80 degree Celsius dry sauna, as well as an indoor and an outdoor pool.”



    Laura Patru told us more about the resort:



    “We have technologies comparable to those anywhere else in Europe. We can treat a wide array of ailments. Spa facilities have developed a lot. Herculane used to be famous for treatment, now it is famous for relaxation. You can have honey baths, plant baths, chocolate massage, caviar massage, things that didnt use to be associated with Baile Herculane.”



    While she admitted that a lot of tourists are disappointed by the fact that the reconstruction of the resort does not go as fast as they would like, Laura Patru told us that they are still choosing this place as a holiday destination:



    “Herculane is the perfect starting point for visiting the surroundings. You can visit the village of Ineleț, an isolated place that you can only reach by wooden ladders. For this reason, the place looks like it did a hundred years ago. Also, it only takes 20 minutes to reach the Danube Cauldrons, and the statue of Decebalus. You can also see the Steam Grotto, a natural sauna, as well as Empress Sissis tower and historical buildings, such as the casino where kings used to gather. Theres a lot to see on Cerna Valley.”



    Laura Patru extended an invitation:



    “If for a spa trip, for sedentary people working in offices or people with busy lives, one weekend is enough for relaxation and a few procedures. When you come for treatment things are different. A treatment stay takes at least five days to work, because we use thermal water. Which is why treatment packages are at least five days long. We are waiting for you here, because Herculane belongs to everyone, and we would like to share with you everything we have to offer.”



    From spa treatments to Pilates or a gentle stroll, you will definitely enjoy your time in this ancient place, which has been a spa since the year 153 CE. (Translated by C. Cotoiu)

  • Children with Learning Disabilities

    Children with Learning Disabilities

    We all know, either from our own school, professional or parent experience or from hearsay, that some of the children with lower marks are considered lazy, or inattentive or disinterested. That is the old-fashioned approach to the problem. But ever since specific learning disorders were clearly defined and diagnosed, that approach has started to change in Romania as well.



    One of the best-known learning disabilities is dyslexia. A reading and writing disorder, taking the form of dysgraphia or dyscalculia, dyslexia cannot be cured. Children suffering from dyslexia can only hope that by steady practice their condition can improve. Linguist Roxana Din, a therapist for dyslexic children, explains this disorder:



    Roxana Din: “These children use their right brain more than their left one. So, they dont learn to read as normal kids do. The first signs appear when children start learning to read and write. They read backwards: for instance, they read “no instead of “on, “n instead of “m, “b instead of “p and so on. Some of them have an attention deficit too. There are theories according to which dyslexic people have memory problems too and that is why, sometimes they have mathematics learning disability.



    But dyslexia is not accompanied by intellectual disability. On the contrary, many diagnosed dyslexics are creative people, with above-average intelligence quotients. This is why specialists recommend early diagnosis, if possible in the first years of pre-school or school, precisely in order to enable these children not only to improve their condition, but also to fully use their true potential. Mirela Nitu is the mother of a five-grader diagnosed with dyslexia in his second year at school. Here is what she told us about her experience:



    Mirela Nitu: “In the second grade, his teacher advised us to see a speech therapist, and there we basically started therapy for dysgraphia, because he was mixing up the letters when writing. He had no speech problems whatsoever, and until that moment we had never thought there could be a problem. He had got top scores in kindergarten and school assessments. It was only during the second grade, when the more complicated homework and the longer dictations came up, that we noticed that certain mistakes were recurrent.



    After the diagnosis, therapy followed, and gradually the results as well.



    Mirela Nitu: “He still tends to play more and to avoid more difficult situations, like homework. He still makes mistakes when he is tired or not focused enough. However, he has good marks, because he pays attention and is active in class, he has no problems at school overall. But he will probably continue to make spelling mistakes.



    Mirelas son goes to individual therapy once a week, and has weekly group therapy sessions, with other dyslexic kids, as well. It is a constant effort, for him and for his parents, but an effort worth making.



    Mirela Nitu: “Indeed, extra effort is required, both from the child and from the parents. It includes taking part in various activities and going to therapy. Moreover, homework takes longer than with other children. We need to do extra work on a regular basis. And you always think about what other learning methods to use. As a parent, you need more patience and you need to support these children permanently. We hope he will be okay and will reach his maximum potential and become the adult he wants to be.



    A lot of work is also necessary in terms of self-confidence, because the labels attached by the others leave deep traces. Speech therapist Roxana Din has more details:



    Roxana Din: “In many cases we need to work with them to strengthen their self-confidence, because many times they are seen as lazy and they must live with this stigma. Sometimes even their class mates believe them to be lazy. So dyslexic children need to be encouraged and to feel listened to and understood.



    Roxana Din and Mirela Nitu met at the EDULIER centre, one of the few centres in the country devoted to therapy for dyslexic children. Last year, when it was opened, director Cristiana Ionescu discovered that she could not find the expertise required for such a centre in the country, so she had to resort to foreign experts.



    Cristiana Ionescu: “We first asked experts in Norway and the UK. They all told us that they can show us the basic principles of this kind of therapy, but that it must be adapted for the Romanian language. After one years work, on April 7, 2016, we opened our first centre, and we have been working ever since to put together learning and therapy kits for Romanian and maths for children with dysgraphia and dyscalculia. We are trying to set up teams made up of the child, parents, therapist and the teachers. We thought about bringing in linguists, speech therapists, psychotherapists. We have been searching extensively for such experts, because we wanted to have not only people who are familiar with the problems entailed by dyslexia, but also who are not afraid of new, ground-breaking projects.



    At present, 20 children come to EDULIER every day. Cristiana Ionescu tells us what they do there:



    Cristiana Ionescu: “They take part in either educational therapy, or animal-assisted therapy, or work in the digital hall where they use the interactive digital wall to learn to assess their own work and correct their own mistakes. Similarly, we pay a lot of attention to psychotherapy. The earlier we evaluate the children, the more attention we pay to the signals our children try to convey, the more we can help them. And this is how the gaps between them and the other kids can be bridged more quickly.



    The centre also offers support group sessions, where the parents of dyslexic children can come and share their experience with each other.

  • A Coffee Shop Is Fighting Vices

    A Coffee Shop Is Fighting Vices

    Bucharest, a crowded city in which people are always on the run, saw the launch of a therapeutic coffee shop, one month ago. It is a unique concept of a cafe, with themes and events focusing on therapy forms: psychotherapy, art-therapy and occupational therapy. It is a therapeutic coffee shop where you can stop for relaxation or for a talk with the therapists there. Andreea Grigore, the manager of Therapy Coffee Shop told us how the project began:



    Andreea Grigore: “We started from the idea of creating a space where people can have a meal, a detox juice of the best quality, where music can be heard in the background, where one can work in silence, is surrounded by plants and the air is fresh. The design is simple but welcoming, it is a very bright space. The café was made by the ALIAT NGO, with European funds. It is actually someone elses dream but I joined in this project of making a café where people dont smoke or drink alcohol. There are actually two managers, my colleague Razvan Marin, who is more of an artist, and I. We complement each other, which is great.



    Adreea Grigore says that everybody asks her why the café is called therapeutic. Although the project is still developing and growing and they still dont have a list of events, people have already gone to the café for cancer therapy and also for therapy through drawing, painting, music and art. And the space is very welcoming:



    Andreea Grigore: “The Therapy Coffee Shop is located in downtown Bucharest, in a very beautiful building belonging to a lady that bought it from the Sturza family. The house has a beautiful history, and I believe it is permeated with a certain kind of energy, which everybody seems to have felt, because they just come and have a really good time here. I believe this is the kind of venues Bucharest needs. We wanted to have a cheerful space here. I had help from a friend whos been working with houseplants for 17 years now, and she brought us all the plants. She came, saw the place and returns every week with a couple of other plants. Theres no smoking or drinking here, because this is the kind of space that agrees with plants and resembles to a flower shop, to some extent. Its a constantly changing space, because plants are growing here. Some of our plants have extended all the way to the ceiling, so we will virtually have a genuine botanical garden here.



    And since the Therapy Coffee Shop is a work in progress, weve asked Andreea Grigore about her future plans:



    Andreea Grigore: “Our garden is quite big, and we will divide it in five areas. Each area will have its own specificity. One will have wild vines, another cacti; there will be five different sections, each with its own mood, shady and very quiet. The furniture will differ as well. The house is not so big, but it has three large areas. Theres the conference room, where people gather, they can hold their sessions there, write on the board, theres a space particularly devoted to this, or people can have lunch here or use the room as the venue of an event. Theres also the big room, which will serve as a dining hall. Theres a specific place in the room, filled with pillows, that people are particularly drawn to. And then theres the long room, which we will use as an exhibition area. Right now the ALIAT NGO uses the room to make dolls.



    As a social enterprise, Therapy Coffee Shop uses products from other social enterprises, without the temptation to run a regular business. The products used are Romanian made and high quality, because that is the entire point, to make things that are good to eat, to look at and listen to. As another ALIAT project, the coffee shop aims to promote a healthy lifestyle, but it is also an opportunity for people to learn about other projects of this sort.



    Andreea Grigore: “This is an area ALIAT hasnt dealt with until now. They have kindergartens, clinics, ALIAT is an acronym that stands for ‘alliance against alcohol and drug addiction, which is why we dont drink or smoke here. They built a coffee shop to socialize, people come to eat, hang out and exchange news. I have the luck of having a team of people as involved as Razvan and I are, who want to do things, such as preserves, or bread dough, which is very important. In addition to products for the bar, an excellent coffee blend, all the freshly squeezed juices imaginable, we juice every kind of fruit, the more the healthier. In the kitchen we have a convivial cook, passionate, who gets our concept, and that shows in her cooking. We have great food, with free range organic chicken.



    In addition to the great food, which can be had right there or ordered away, Therapy Coffee Shop holds all kinds of events. You can see the list of events on their Facebook page, or you can contact the organizers in case you want to attend. In any case, everyone is guaranteed to have a good time.