Palatine wellness expert finds herself in pilgrimage to India, Tibet
By Anna Marie Kukec, Daily Herald
Inverness resident Mia Scheid, owner of Palatine-based Fitness Arts, said she had a life-changing trip to India and Tibet.
She received a healing bowl, participated in a Himalayan meditation maze and other sacred ceremonies with experts.
Most of all, she rediscovered who she was on this spiritual journey, she said.
“I truly learned that everything in life is transforming and it made a lot sense,” said Scheid, 56. “It was truly a spiritual journey.”
Scheid’s journey actually started when she was 10 when she and her parents, both doctors, left Korea and settled in Madison, Wisconsin.
“Coming here (to the United States), was like coming to Shangri La or heaven,” she said.
As she grew up, she wanted to explore bigger cities and settled in Chicago. She married, moved to Arlington Heights and raised three children.
“But I needed my own purpose in life,” she said.
She sought part-time work that was more meaningful, at a nearby wellness center. She learned about and taught Pilates and soon expanded by certifying others in the physical fitness arena.
She expanded her services further with detoxing, personalizing nutrition and supplements, yoga and meditation and founded Fitness Arts in 1999.
She also studied under Deepak Chopra, an Indian-born author and speaker of alternative medicine and spirituality. She studied under David Frawley, an American expert on Hindu, author of 30 books and director of the American Institute of Vedic Studies.
In addition, she earned a 5th degree Black Belt and is a three-time national Taekwondo champion. She even helped to train the 2008 U.S. Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Team, she said.
In March, her spiritual journey continued when she participated in a trip to Tibet and India.
“Going back and seeing people and how they lived, I thought I had forgotten what it was like for me,” she said. “The experience of living in privilege, you somehow lose that sense of benevolence or humility. So it was good to see where I came from.”
Where she came from referred to her poverty as a youngster in Korea, compared to the poverty she saw in India and Tibet and what some people were earning in that part of the world.
“Yes, I was shocked, I thought it was $750 a month, and they said no, it was $750 a year,” she said.
That’s when she noticed how people could still be happy or content, regardless of their economic circumstances.
“I go to India and observe how spiritual they are. They have to find peace. Seeking spirituality is attainable,” she said.
She also experienced the so-called singing bowl or healing bowl made by monks in the Himalayas during a full moon. The bowl was placed over her head and was tapped to ring and vibrate for healing.
“There is so much going on in the brain, that we get too lost in many of those thoughts,” she said. “But once that bowl comes off, you are just free from stress.”
Scheid plans to return to India in March to be cleansed in a river and participate in other ceremonies and learn from experts, she said.
“I love to listen to their wisdom.”