Mar Soraparu, a life coach, yoga instructor, and wellness consultant, is also partner and chief wellness officer of BIÂN (Chicago), a private luxury member’s club rooted in wellness and wellbeing. Responsible for conceptualizing and developing the club’s programming and wellness strategy, she also oversees marketing and brand growth. Like many who find themselves gravitating toward living a more purposeful life, Soraparu found herself making a bold career shift to follow her passion for health and wellbeing. A former finance professional at Nuveen Investments and Guggenheim Partners, she went on to launch Yoga With Mar, a Chicago-based lifestyle, coaching, and yoga brand. In co-founding BIÂN, Soraparu draws on her background by creating individualized member wellness plans, curating an extensive collection of studio programming, developing nutritious smoothie and supplement offerings, and more. Here, she shares her go-to for destressing and what fitness activities she can’t live without.
What does wellness mean to you?
Wellness to me is an intentional approach to the way you think and the actions that you take and do not take. Being mindful, responsible, flexible, and self-aware of your ways of being. BIÂN creates the space and opportunity to practice these ways of being—through tactical approaches with your physical, mental, emotional, social, and environmental wellbeing.
What are your favorite things to do to maintain your personal wellbeing?
Exercise, sleep, journaling, and doses of isolation. I often take naps in the nap room at BIÂN, because 20 to 30 minutes does incredible things for the mind and body. Even if it’s not a nap and I’m simply quiet and in the dark, it’s meaningful.
Is there a specific fitness activity that you love and why?
Running and yoga for me both shift my energy in a way that is quite remarkable. When running, I experience some of my most creative thinking and can work through challenging emotions. When practicing yoga, I feel my body and mind both downshift into a calmer state yet one where I can loudly hear my intuition. It’s a powerful practice. I created a format called Holds at BIÂN that blends Hatha with Vinyasa, which gives you that juicy flow, broken down into longer holds that allow for greater breath focus.
What is your favorite healthy food, and do you have a favorite way of preparing it?
A great salad has always been my favorite. Right now, it’s a salad with mixed greens, chopped kale, onion, carrot, steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and smoked salmon with an olive oil, lemon, ginger, garlic, salt, and pepper dressing. At BIÂN, we have the most incredible build-your-own salads and bowls, where I rotate between a lentil, chicken, and salmon salad with all the add-ins such as cucumbers, cranberries, mushrooms, and chickpeas.
What is your favorite healthy beverage (alcoholic or non-alcoholic), and do you have any insider tips for preparing it?
Hot water with lemon. Pre-squeeze your lemon to make this an easy habit to do every morning before food or coffee!
What is your greatest wellness achievement?
Creating BIÂN. It was both a challenge and a healing experience to create a space for others to live a healthier life. It forced me to move the needle even further with my own wellness practices. Additionally, I healed my own body back in 2011 from a medical issue by completely transforming my relationship with diet and exercise. This is what we do for our members everyday—we transform the relationships they have with everything in their lives to make it both functional and healthy.
What is the best piece of wellness advice you have ever received and from whom?
“You are your own healer.” I’m not sure where I heard this for the first time, but the truth of this statement is magnificent.
What is your idea of balanced healthy happiness?
Being okay with not being happy all the time. It’s important to recognize and feel the spectrum of emotions. What matters is what you do and don’t do with them.
Do you have a secret health or wellness tip you would like to share?
Health and wellbeing begin in your mind. 100 percent. It’s mindset mastery. Owning your mindset—as in the quality of your thoughts and what you focus on—is critical. It’s important to fully understand your responsibility, the responsibility you hand over to others that is yours to take, if you take on other people’s responsibilities that is theirs to take, what actions you take and what you define things to be and mean. How you manage these specifically, can move you towards the life you have dreamed of or into an unhappy and unfulfilled life.
What is your favorite place for a healthy vacation or escape?
A quiet beach.
Is there a particular wellness company or brand that truly impresses you with their efforts and why?
It’s us — BIÂN. We approach everything from the lens of integrity — and we stand by this entirely. We also focus heavily on customization. Every member of BIÂN is paired with a BIÂN Advisor upon onboarding. This relationship is a supportive offering that allows for them to collaborate, discuss, and continuously strategize on their wellbeing. The BIÂN Advisor acts as a partner who supports their continuous growth through disciplined action and compassionate accountability and explores their current and desired well-being habits and practices both inside and outside the club. This changes the game and raises the likelihood of successful outcomes for an individual.
What is your favorite self-care routine?
Moment to moment self-awareness, daily movement of some kind, breathwork, good dental hygiene (I brush, water floss, and floss), and journaling
What is your go-to for de-stressing?
Sleep and exercise—or a great conversation with someone I admire.
What aspect of your wellbeing do you struggle with the most, or would you most like to improve?
Being social. Social wellness is so important and something I continue to make time for. At BIÂN, we have incredible social programming that supports our community of members, from collective energetic healing events, roundtables with one of our six doctors on staff, social hours in the lounge, and our studio and fitness classes.
How do you celebrate small victories?
I write them down, share them with others, and tell myself often that “I’m proud of you.” Celebrating the micro is more important than the macro in many situations.
What brings you joy?
Watching my son run and giggle simultaneously; building and nurturing my family—I just had baby number two; my husband and his perspective; sunshine; early morning exercise; smiling baristas amid a stressful and chaotic environment; my team at BIÂN, whom I consider family; and random acts of kindness that I witness, experience firsthand, and also give.
