Maria Kalikas

Let's give a HUGE birthday shoutout to the one and only Brendon Burchard! 🥳 Your energy is contagious, and your message is powerful. Thank you for pushing us to be our best selves and for living a life of purpose. You can never underestimate the power of having a great, world class coach. Brendon's work hit me when I needed to hear his message the most. 7 years ago I was introduced to his work and it is the single thing that impacted my life more than anything else. My entire world changed when I learned that being high performing doesn't mean that you have to sacrifice your happiness, your health and your family for success. May this year bring you abundant happiness, continued success, and the fulfillment of all your dreams. Thank you for being a lighthouse and a source of motivation for so many.
Happy Birthday, Brendon!

Last year was a big year for me. I celebrated 10 years since winning 1st place at the 100% Raw Powerlifting World Championship and I made my comeback as an athlete after 10 years competing in a new sport.

My journey started when I watched my first Olympic games and implanted a dream in my heart. When we see people win, we don't always stop to question what that journey was like.

What I never could have anticipated happening are the health challenges I'd have to take on following my win. Several months after the World Championship I struggled with neurological symptoms that led to very rapid neurological decline and other symptoms of environmental toxin exposure. This nearly killed me. For the 10 years following my win, I struggled severely to make it through every day. For the first 4 years I battled depression in pursuit of graduating from college and becoming a software engineer. I worked myself nearly to death as a software engineer and that led to severe burnout. All of that led me to learning how to heal because I couldn't live that way. After almost 8 years of a healing journey, I finally was able to fully return to training consistently last year. Over the last year, I've gradually increased my training volume and am so happy to have finally built back stronger from having chronic fatigue syndrome. That's why now when I show up to figure skating every day, that fire in me has been reignited. I am not done yet. This comeback is personal.

My heart isn't ready to give up on reaching my potential. Competition to me now means something totally different than it did 10 years ago. Now, I am in competition with proving to myself that I can do what I know in my heart that I can do. It's showing up when I don't feel like it . It's having the discipline to do the same thing every single day without losing enthusiasm. One thing I learned in my journey is to never give up. Don't quit. Don't make excuses. Be consistent. Fall in love with repetition. And learn the valuable skill of coaching yourself up. You can't rely on other people to validate you or motivate you. Nobody can do this for you. Fight for your dream every day.

Happy Veterans Day

This day makes me feel eternal gratitude for all who served to keep us free. Seeing their friends die in front of them. Seeing horrific things in war that you wouldn't even want to believe are real. And yet, our veterans have seen it and returned home. When I think about all they've been through, I wonder what is worse experiencing that and coming back alive or never returning home to your family. And then later they retire having seen all that they have and finding themselves somewhere in society that is far different from the military.

It takes a person with character and a deep rooted value for service to others and country to have the courage to join the military and fight for our freedoms. What they've experienced is something many of us will never know or ever be able to understand.

This year at the Columbus, OH airshow and the Dayton airshow, I got to see battle reenactments. It was really cool to get an idea of what that would have been like. It makes me consider what was going through their head while facing uncertainty with courage. It also is beautiful to see how each generation has influenced the next.

Let's celebrate our veterans and always treat them with respect. 🇺🇸

October 1st concluded the last LA event. Heading to Irvine today, I made some important reflections from the event. One of them was the fact that our existence is highly unlikely. I had a huge moment of gratitude and meaning fill my heart thinking about how much this stage of my journey means to me. It's like this was the fight I went through my entire life to arrive at and all of this time I never would have imagined this was going to be it. Even when I started skating at 5 years old and it was my favorite thing in the world, my mind was set on other goals that I never thought about taking on this dream until my experience in Ultra this past year.

mentioned the probability of us all being alive in this galaxy and in these moments. I reflected on this today with my journey and was in tears. It literally was impossible for this to happen. And yet it did. saying there is a PLAN. I literally was not supposed to have this life. I was born in Athens, Greece to an alcoholic and a mother who carried me to full term knowing I would be given up for adoption immediately upon being born. And then two Greek immigrants who became American citizens adopted me and brought me to America. To this day, this dream wouldn't be possible in Greece. They don't have an ice arena! All these years I was a gymnast. I thought that was the thing and I thought I'd join the Navy or Marine Corps and become a fighter pilot, but then I was diagnosed with a disqualifying medical condition. Every battle I was handed, I fought back for victory. Even when it was so hard I had no idea how or when it would get better after having debilitating chronic illness and depression. I made it through it. I have every hard thing I went through to thank.

You don't become anything worthwhile with ease. So take command of your story and start stacking up decisions aligned with your best you to rewrite the ending.

I love for
- Alignment
- Retraining your body to use the proper muscles and eliminate dysfunction
- Functional strength
- Functional muscle
- Functional mobility
I can say that training functional patterns has made me a better figure skater while also reversing damage to my body and particularly my joints and alignment.
It has helped significantly with reversing the dysfunction I created since my years as a competitive gymnast which led me to injuries and dysfunction as a competitive powerlifter and that sport also accelerated the dysfunction.
If you're going to do something for the rest of your life, you need to focus on a plan that allows that to happen. For me, that plan starts with prevention. Preventing damage in the future by unlearning dysfunctional patterns and proper utilization of muscles. And adopting healthy habits that limit aging and reduced mobility.

Yesterday we buried my Yiayia Popi. She was my last living grandparent. I was overwhelmed by the love we received from friends and family who made the trip to Athens from other parts of Greece for the funeral. Death is heavy and sad. Having seen the suffering I saw from both of my grandmothers in their last days was heartbreaking. It makes me wonder what are they actually thinking and feeling. In her last days I asked her questions about her life when she was growing up in her village. I learned about her relationship with her sisters and how she discovered her love for knitting. I'll always remember the memories we had when I visited her when I was young. She always took me to the park and tried to make it fun for me. One of my favorite activities was "fishing" in the river. She also taught me to knit. It's sad when all you have left are memories. A part of them will always live within you. Καλό ταξίδι γιαγιά μου 💔

As I drove to the rink to compete today, I connected to what this is for. I've competed in different disciplines throughout my life. This one felt different. When I was a young girl, I felt like I had to prove myself to the world because I always felt small and unworthy. So, I thought that medals made me claim validation that I was enough. The reality is that I was an overachiever and it wasn't a good thing. I was dead inside.

This competition was different. As I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror this morning getting ready, my soul was at peace. It felt like a blessing to be able to be in this moment doing what would make the 7 year old version of me, me at 30 years old, and the 90 year old version of me proud. I felt complete. Competing at this stage of my life is a testament to my own personal growth and knowing that I am deserving and worthy. My mission going into this competition was to inspire young girls and others who feel like their dreams aren't worth it or that have ever questioned if they're worthy of earning what they want. I share these medals with anyone who has ever felt less than enough and tried to sabotage their success.

All I wanted to do today was to give the performance of my life. One that was better than I thought I would do. To an extent, I did achieve that. My biggest fear today was falling. I didn't feel like I gave it my complete all because of that. However, I am still very happy with my performance and getting through it even though it was far less than my best and less than what I know I'm capable of. I've struggled with injuries over the last year that cost me several months of practice. Recently, I fell very hard on my tailbone and it still is uncomfortable when I skate daily and when I practice my jumps. It especially hurts more after I fall. I still get to leave the day a winner regardless of what my scores or medals because I showed up and I had full control of myself and my emotions. Walking away achieving a goal of competing this year is a win in itself and got me to live my purpose.

2 days out ⛸️

I put on my competition dress today and I felt like a different person. Today was my first time skating without my rib compression wrap since my injury in February and the first time I ran my programs without much tailbone pain. Today's practice was the best practice I've ever had. Even when my body felt like I couldn't do an element, I still got into the right position and did it successfully. I nailed my best spins that I've ever done. Ever. On my way to practice, I felt a bit of nerves. I was sweating. I did box breathing and 2x breathing where I doubled the length of my exhale. What helps me the most is connecting to my mission.

Right before stepping on the ice, I pray for my safety and I visualize what success means to me. I tell myself a statement of today will be a winning practice if (fill in the blank). That statement gives me clarity and when I get lost in the flow of practice, I bring myself back to that and focus on making it a good practice. Once I get on the ice, I say several identity statements that are filled with purpose. I remind myself that I do this to be a role model for young girls so that they know that their dreams matter. Right before getting into position to run my programs, I connect with giving the best performance of my life for those in Heaven watching over me, specifically my Yiayia Vasilo. I tell myself that I'm going to give it my all for her and have the performance that'll make her proud. At this point, I'm about to start my program and I'm about to start crying. That feeling gets me at my prime to go.

All of this is important for my competitive edge and my competition mindset. What is part of your competition routine for success? What do you tell yourself when you need to perform on your A game? What are the things you need to remind yourself so you can carry through?