What is it you want? Where are you at? What is it going to take to get there? As a holistic mentor, Erin Polaschek asks these three questions every time a person steps through her door.
Born to a father who was a martial arts sensei and a mother who was a yoga teacher before becoming a jazzercise instructor and eventually a New Zealand title-holding body builder, Erin Polaschek was destined for something that involved movement. “I was raised in Christchurch very much in a bohemian style – we didn’t have much money. Instead, we lived off the land. Mum was always growing fruit and vegetables, there were dogs and horses and chickens roaming freely. I grew up with my hands in the earth and a very strong connection with movement.”
Ironically, despite her free-range childhood, as a young adult Erin wanted the opposite of how she was raised and in search of financial security embarked on a law degree. “I thought lawyers make good money; they wear fancy clothes, and they live in nice houses. And so I latched onto that,” recalls Erin. However, two years into her studies Erin realised that law wasn’t for her and so at age 19, she bought a one-way ticket to London with a friend and dabbled in all sorts of jobs like fashion retail, waitressing, accounting in an advertising firm and even running sales departments. Throughout each job, Erin was running a side hustle teaching various forms of fitness. Eventually she paid attention and acknowledged her calling.
Erin met her ‘guru’ at age 20. “He was an osteopath, naturopath and acupuncturist, but also so much more than that,” she says. “He worked with meditation, transcendence, and interweaved nutrition into his method. He was a healer. He could see the damage that was sitting in my body immediately. After meeting him, he became my guru and my life changed for the better. Under his direction I went on to study massage and yoga, both of which shape my practice to this day.”
From qualifying as a personal trainer and a sports therapist, to teaching pole dancing and yoga classes, Erin began dabbling in all dimensions of movement and transformation. She even developed aerial circus skills and martial arts. She was extremely fit but also exhausted from over training to the point of suffering multiple layers of hormonal dysfunction and adrenal fatigue. “Body niggles and a lack of joy led me to conclude that there must be a better way. The whispers of the yogis held the truth and possibly the shouting of my own guru that ‘balance is key’,” she muses.
“It’s only when these questions are answered and understood that we can gain results,” says Erin.
The notion around living a balanced life was further drummed into Erin on a three-month trip to India and the Himalayas at age 25. From here she began to evolve a new approach to her own health and that of her clients, taking into consideration the mind-body conjunct.
On returning to New Zealand, Erin created her business, Wholly Health, in 2010, which later evolved in 2020 into her current business, Erin Zen Warrior. “Explaining what I do in a nutshell isn’t easy, but basically I revolutionise people’s lives,” says Erin. “I develop foundations to guide courageous seekers to discover their path, their health and ultimately live an expanded, successful, and fulfilling life. I specialise in posture, chronic disease and meditation, and also have an intuitive talent for being able to tune in and feel what is going on, on a health level.
“I have people who come to me who’ve had 35 years of disease. Chronic sciatica, arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, fibromyalgia, you name it. They come to me and ask how many weeks is it going to take? And I say, it all depends on how willing you are to change. Some of them listen to everything I say and take it to the nth degree. Those people get better faster.”
Erin spells the word ‘disease’ as ‘dis-ease’ in all her written communications. “Obviously the word disease comes from a prefix attached to the word ‘ease’ hence the word ‘dis-ease’ which means to ‘not be at ease’. All disease is literally a result of an overload of stress and/or stressors that the body can’t handle. Whether it is bacteria or a virus that flattens the immune system, or the many layers of stress that may be gleaned from poor eating, a lack of movement, and poorly managed social/work stressors in a person’s life. The truth is that stress kills and through an overload of stressors we end up with chronic illness. We should not be living like this.”
For Erin, the aim of life is to grow old with grace and enjoy every bit of the journey. “My focus with all my clients,” she says, “is ‘how do you build a well-tuned body holistically in a manner that can be self-maintained?’. How do you stay strong as you age, and not need a Zimmer frame? How can you reduce injury and pain and alleviate long term ailments? How do you remain disease free? People come to me because they want to be able to run around with their grandkids. They don’t want to be broken and decrepit and not able to enjoy their life.”
To support her work, Erin keeps up to date with the latest research on food and supplements. “The secret to better health lies in bringing conscious awareness to all habits,” she says. “We must look at a person’s whole picture as an individual. Particularly I relate this to food. I find people’s understanding of their body in relation to what and how they eat to be insufficient. To make a lifestyle change with anything you must become aware of where you are at and why you need it to change. Equally, if you are stressed or diseased in any way, you are incapable of receiving or learning anything because your body is under threat – as if you are running away in fear from a tiger. In today’s world, sadly almost everyone is living their lives as if a tiger is chasing them. The damage this does on a mental and physical level is huge.”
“The secret to better health lies in bringing conscious awareness to all habits.”
Unapologetically and dynamically herself, enthusiastic and excitable, a conversation with Erin leaves you wanting more for your life. She too, unapologetically wants you to have an ever-expansive, ecstatic life also. Her main mission being that you don’t just live to survive, but you live to thrive. “Inspiration is key in life,” she says. “I want others to be inspired with their life and their health. Great people have taught, helped, and inspired me and I am lucky to be able to pass on those things that have shaped my life and of course, my body.”
Based in Auckland, Erin can be seen in person or virtually.
erinpolaschek.com
Insta: @erinzenwarrior
Win a 12-week Full Holistic Revamp with Erin Zen Warrior
Develop through movement, nutrition, and mind to become who you were born to be.
This prize consists of:
- an assessment of your human design, genes, and diet to establish foundations for your evolution
- a minimum of 12 sessions over 12 weeks with Erin Zen Warrior integrating your program foundations
- a recording of all sessions for your private use only
- a progressive plan and spreadsheet collated and designed over the 12 weeks
- a four-week check-in after the 12 weeks to see how you are integrating your new foundations
- an eight-week check-in after the 12 weeks to assess if further support is required
This package is valued at $4,000.
You may, if you prefer, transfer this for 12 sessions of bodywork. Erin’s technique is unique to Auckland and is a postural corrective mix of shiatsu, Thai, compression, osteopathic, cranial, and more across the contractile fields map. This technique has been used very successfully on all body types from the desk jockey to all blacks.
This Package is valued at $1,560. Enter to win here
