The cast of Kubla Khan has created an immersive experience of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s classic poem.

25-year-old Zinhle Masango is one of these women. The first time her then fiancé physically hurt her, Zinhle was scared and confused. They had broken up at the time, but she was waiting for the end of the month to move out.

One evening he demanded to see her phone to see whom she was talking to, as he suspected that she was dating someone else. During the argument he punched her in the mouth and pulled on her braids. He also threatened to hit her with a chopping board. Eventually he locked her in a room and drove off with her son, who was seven-months-old at the time.

As the abuse continued, Zinhle lost confidence in herself. She became timid and reserved. “I found myself watching what I say or do. I also used to think to myself ‘Zee don’t say anything to anger this man’ or ‘Don’t engage or talk to other males’ because I knew that would bag me a beating,” she explains.

Read more: 8 signs he isn’t actually a nice guy after all

She started weight training after the first incidence of abuse, but she only started taking it seriously when she met her coach Given Mthimunye. “When I met my coach, I made a deal with myself that no man will ever lay his hands on me,” she says. “I made sure that I trained so hard that I became intimidating to males and I succeeded in that!”

The more Zinhle trained, the stronger she became – both mentally and physically. “The abuse stopped for a bit I think because he saw me regaining my confidence and I had a strength within me that he didn’t know I possessed,” she says. The last time her partner tried to hurt her, Zinhle was able to stand up for herself. She eventually left the relationship. But the mental damage the abuse did to her stayed with her. “It took me time to overcome this. I prayed every day for God to give me strength,” she says. “The biggest pain doesn’t come from the bruises or scars. It is the heart that takes the most strain. Having to digest that betrayal from the person you love and who claims to love you.”

Read more: How to tell if that guy you’ve been seeing might be a psychopath

The moment Zinhle packed her bags and left, she felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. “I felt a power that I had never felt. I felt that I could be me again. I felt like a victor.”

Last year Zinhle decided to turn her passion for fitness into a career. After people began enquiring about her fitness journey, she decided to do an online fitness course. She then began offering her services to her followers on social media. Currently she’s developing a website which will provide people with insight into getting fit and eating healthy. “It feels liberating to be living my passion and serving my purpose,” she adds.

^{Image credits: Zinhle Masango}

^{This article was originally published on www.womenshealthsa.co.za} 

Megan Flemmit

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What do Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie, Richard Gere, Tina Turner and Paul McCartney have in common? 

Besides the fact that they are super famous and successful in their own right, they all practice one thing to help keep them sane and centred – meditation. Meditation has been embraced by cultures around the world for thousands of years.

Evidence of health benefits

Many people meditate for mental wellness, to relieve stress and become more calm and relaxed.

According to the US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, there’s evidence that practicing meditation may have a positive effect on certain medical conditions, like helping to lower blood pressure and easing symptoms of anxiety and depression, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and insomnia.

According to a previous Health24 article, activities like meditation leave a molecular signature in our cells, which reverses the effect that stress or anxiety would have on the body by changing how the genes are expressed. This simply means that meditation can cause the brain to steer DNA processes along a path which improves can ultimately improve overall well-being. 

You don’t need a dedicated space or a lot of time to try meditation. There are many techniques, and one might feel more comfortable to you than another.

Go on, give it a try

Here are three easy methods to help you get started:

1. Find your space

The first technique involves simply sitting or lying down and allowing your mind to go where it wants, without trying to control it. Watch where your thoughts go and what you think about as you let your mind wander at will. Do this for three to five minutes.

2. Breathe

Another easy technique is to focus on breathing. Sit in a comfortable position, close your eyes, and breathe naturally. Notice how different parts of your body move as you breathe in and out.

3. Find a focus point

As an alternative to focusing on breathing, try focusing on a single point. This could be staring at an object like a candle or saying a word or phrase – a mantra – over and over. When you feel your mind wandering, bring it back to focus on the object or mantra that you chose.

In the beginning, many people can only meditate for a few minutes at first before losing concentration. Stick with it, and you’ll soon experience the soothing benefits of meditation.

^{Image credits: Wikimedia Commons, iStock, Instagram}