Who am I?
Welcome to The Life Upgrades website! My name is Vasilis Stefanou, and I am the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of this platform, as well as its social media channels. When the website was created in 2015, it featured contributions from others who wrote guest posts, and their time and efforts are deeply appreciated. However, over the years, the site has evolved into a portfolio showcasing my work, including my products and services, as well as information about me, which you can read below.
Why is this website helpful to you?
This website began as a personal diary, where I shared articles documenting my journey of learning and experimenting with various methods to improve my life based on Wellness, Martial Arts, Philosophy, Social Sciences and Human Behaviour. During the COVID era, I began university-level studies, which equipped me with the tools to gain a deeper understanding of the subjects I was researching and allowed me to advise others more effectively. As a result, I started publishing new fact-based articles on Medium, offering well-researched insights. Despite this transition, the articles remain enjoyable, easy to digest, and filled with actionable tips. Over time, I expanded my content into other formats, including short videos, long-form videos, and podcast episodes.

Academic Studies
- On-going BA in International Business (Culture Studies, Marketing, Economics, Finance, HR Management, Corporate Strategy) by Leeds Beckett University
- DipHE in Marketing Studies with Distinction (Marketing Management, Business Organisation, Commercial Law, Economics, Statistics) by The Cyprus Institute of Marketing
- CertHE in Inter-culturally Speaking (Defining culture and Geert Hofstede’s ‘software of the mind’ and ‘dimensions’, Carl G. Jung’s psychological types and Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Language and social identity, Gender and social class in social interaction, Non-verbal communication in different cultures, Cultural cohesion, prejudice and stereotypes, Culture shock, immigration and acculturation, Business cultures and globalised world, Becoming an inter-cultural communicator) by Oxford University
- CertHE in Social Anthropology (Key concepts and sub-disciplines of anthropology, Culture and society, Cultural and Moral relativism, Representation and derivation, Kinship and relatedness, Witchcraft, religion and science – making sense of the world, Scientific rationality, Positivism & post-positivism, Structural functionalism, Analysing gift-giving practices, Ritual and rites of passage, rites of manhood and coming of age, Political anthropology, authority and patterns of social organisation, Anthropocentricity and consuming the landscape, Personhood and human rights, Sex and gender – biology, identity and society, Ethnicity and globalisation – understanding hyperdiversity) by Oxford University
- CertHE in Human Nature (Human essence, The essentialist hypothesis, Human Genome Project, The Nature-nurture debate, Plato’s divided soul and contemporary divisions in psychology, Leontius’ struggle and The chariot allegory, Dual-Process Theories, Aristotle on reason, virtue and happiness, Goldilocks and the mean, Objections to virtue ethics, Human spirituality in East and West, Christianity and the self, Thomas Aquinas on Christianity and Aristotle, Buddhism and its teachings, Personal and societal functions of religion, Animist thinking, Thomas Hobbes on competition and social formation, The rise of individualism, Psychological egoism, Darwin and language as an evolutionary advantage, Mill on happiness and other sources of moral decision-making, Contemporary moral psychology, Sartre on freedom and bad faith, Sartre versus Freud, Simone de Beauvoir and gender as social construction, Gender issues, Posthumanism and transhumanism, Technological Enhancement, Moral Enhancement) by Oxford University
- CertHE in Origins of Human Behaviour (Human evolution as a progress, Phylogeny – human ancestors and primate cousins, The earliest hominins, The origins of bipedal locomotion, The evolution of the brain and intelligence, The origins of language, Sex and social organisation, Diet and subsistence, The origin of modern humans, The evolution of culture – art, symbolism and religion) by Oxford University
- CertHE in Ritual and Religion in Prehistory (Defining ritual and religion, Evolution of religion and symbolism, Mortuary rituals, Domestic rituals, Totemism, animism and shamanism, Fertility cults and figurines, Ancestor cults and figures, Case study – Stonehenge, Cosmology, astronomy and sun cult in Peru, Deities, human sacrifice and votive offerings to gods) by Oxford University
- CertHE in The First Civilization – Mesopotamia (The land of Mesopotamia, Uruk – The world’s first city and cities of the south, Cuneiform writing, cylinder seals and clay tablets, Sumerian religion and temples, The Sumerian King List, city-states and Gilgamesh – The perfect king, Death and burial, Sumer’s neighbours and trading, Sargon of Akkad and the culture of the first empire, The Sumerian ‘revival’, Sumerian legacy and Hammurapi of Babylon) by Oxford University
- CertHE in Ancient Egypt (Worldview and geography, The Nile river and the inundation, Major cities and resources, The development of Egyptology, From the Old Kingdom to the New Kingdom, The Second Intermediate Period to Alexander the Great, The Battle of Megiddo – analysing written evidence, Gods and their cults, Creation myths and the mythic environment, Egyptian temples and magic spells, Death and aspects of the soul, Mummification and afterlife beliefs, Burial customs, Development of art and crafts, Predynastic and Early Dynastic Art, Politics and government, The royal family’s daily life and duties, Palaces and Egyptian settlements, Exploring Deir el-Medina, The household and social pyramid, Morality and education, Scribes and the earliest hieroglyphs, Foreigners and Egyptianisation, Trade and diplomacy, Pre-New Kingdom and New Kingdom warfare) by Oxford University
- CertHE in Greek Mythology (Myths and mythology, Iliad, Troy and the historicity of myth, Odyssey, allegory and comparative mythology, Hesiod – the origins of the Gods and the world, Sophokles’ Oedipus Rex, Freud and the psychoanalysis of myths, Hidden meanings – Medusa and Prometheus, Herakles’s labours – myth, art and ideology, Jason and the Argonauts, Structuralism and beyond, Plato and the myth of Atlantis) by Oxford University
- CertHE in Vikings (Early Scandinavian prehistory 11,000–500 BC, The Early Iron Age c. 500 BC–AD 1, The Roman Iron Age c. AD 1–400, Later Iron Age – migration period c. AD 400–600, Late Iron Age c. AD 600–750, Viking society and the expansions, Rural settlement and population, Social structure and political consolidation, Trading emporia in early medieval northern Europe, The Vikings in Europe – the early raids, conquest and settlements, The Creation of the Danelaw and the Treaty of Wedmore, Duchy of Normandy, Western expansion and the settlements, The Viking trade routes in Europe, The Varangians and the Rus, The trade routes further east, Greenland and Vinland, Pagan religions and the conversion to Christianity, Germanic deities, The Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson, Sámi religion and witchcraft, Viking art and the sagas, Viking activity in late Anglo-Saxon England, and the end of the Viking era, Post-Viking Scandinavia and Christian Europe, Pilgrimages and Crusades, Hanseatic League) by Oxford University
- CertHE in Ibn ‘Arabi’s Fusus al-hikam (An introduction to Ibn ‘Arabi and the Fusus al-hikam, The life and times of Ibn ‘Arabi, The Circle of Creation – unity and diversity, The truly human being – Adam and the angels, Relationships of Dependence and Independence, Universals and particulars, The Two Hands) by Oxford University
- CertHE in Age of Revolution (The French Revolution, France under the Old Regime, The Estates General and street politics of the masses, The Declaration of the Rights of Man, Revolutionary wars and European war, Regicide – execution of Louis XVI, The Jacobin republic, The Terror, The struggle for hegemony in Europe, Napoleon – emperor of France and the triumphant general, The Napoleonic Wars and the impact on Europe, James Gillray’s political artworks, The Congress of Vienna, Romantic nationalism, The Carlsbad Decrees and political repression, Metternich’s Europe, Romantic Art by William Blake and Caspar David Friedrick, Romantic literature by Lord Byron, Wordsworth, John Keats and William Blake, Romantic architecture by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Nationalism and the revolutionary underground, Independence in Greece, Rebellion and repression in Poland, The 1830 Revolution, ‘Young Italy’ and Mazzini, Civil war in Spain, Prussia and German nationalism, Crisis and the new industrial economy: ‘The Hungry Forties’, The Industrial Revolution in Europe, Harvest failure and political crisis, Assembly of Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia with United Diet, The Liberal Revolution, The Habsburg Empire, Political situations in Britain, Russia and Switzerland, ‘Springtime of the Peoples’, Louis Napoleon’s republic in France, The end of the Frankfurt Parliament, The failure of liberalism, Legacy of revolution) by Oxford University
- CertHE in Literary Theory (Meaning in literature, Literary criticism vs. literary theory, The Intentional Fallacy and The Affective Fallacy, Russian Formalism and the New Criticism, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, The Art of Technique by Viktor Shklovsky, The language of paradox in poetry and New Critic Cleanth Brooks, The Sick Rose by William Blake and close reading, Reader-response criticism, My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore Roethke, Hermeneutics and phenomenology, Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, Wolfgang Iser’s implied reader, Hans Robert Jauss’s horizon of expectations, Stanley Fish’s interpretive communities, Structuralism – Semiotics by Ferdinand de Saussure, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Signs in narratives by Roland Barthes, Roman Jakobson on language and literature, Post-structuralism and Jacques Derrida, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The foundation of psychoanalysis – Sigmund Freud, Post-Freudian critic – Jacques Lacan, Literature and politics, Anglo-American and French feminist literary theories, Anxiety of authorship by Gilbert and Gubar, Gender and language, An imaginary utopia by Hélene Cixous, Dialectics and Marxism, Ideology and literature, State power vs state control and interpellation of individuals by Louis Althusser, Cultural materialism, Post-colonial literary theory, Otherness in Heart of Darkness, Edward Said on post-colonial literature, Edward Brathwaite’s analysis of Caribbean poetry, Theory’s relevance today, Recent developments in literary theory) by Oxford University
- CertHE in Introduction to Philosophy (Definition and value of Philosophy, Socrates’ Apology and ‘the unexamined life’, Knowledge and arguments, Descartes’ Meditations and Cogito Ergo Sum, Descartes’ rationalism vs Hume’s empiricism, Free will and freedom, Cause/reason distinction and moral agents, Schopenhauer and Strawson on determinism, Existence, space, time and causality, Relativism, realism, idealism, conceptualism and nominalism, Galileo and Descartes on properties of material substances, Locke and Berkeley on primary and secondary qualities, Kant and transcendental idealism, Morality and ethical dilemmas, Meta-ethics – clarifying ethical concepts, Ethical methodology, Normative ethics, Kant and Hume on morality, Thought experiments – The trolley problem, Nicholas the Merchant and the Oxford Riots) by Oxford University
- CertHE in Theory of Knowledge (Propositional knowledge and ability knowledge, Knowledge versus mere true belief, Instrumental value vs Intrinsic Value, Useful false belief and trivial true belief, What is knowledge?, Problem of Criterion, Methodism and Particularism, The tripartite account of knowledge, The Gettier Problem, Non-epistemological Gettier-style cases, Agrippa’s trilemma, Classical and non-classical foundationalism, Descartes’ Epistemology, The externalism/internalism distinction, Pascal’s wager, Virtue epistemology, Reliabilism, The sources of knowledge – perception, testimony and memory, The argument from illusion and indirect realism, Primary and secondary qualities, Idealism, John Locke, George Berkeley and Immanuel Kant, The philosophy of perception and the cognitive sciences, Reductionism and credulism, Credulism and epistemic externalism, Memorial knowledge, David Hume and Thomas Reid, The sources of knowledge III – deduction and induction, Karl Popper and the logic of falsification, Pragmatism and epistemic rationality, Indirect epistemic rationality, Scepticism and the principle of closure, Radical scepticism, Realism and objectivity, Truth and authenticity, Contra relativism) by Oxford University
- CertHE in Political Philosophy (Philosophical approaches to politics, Political Philosophy vs Political Science, Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau on The State of Nature, Justifying the state, Political obligation and the social contract, Locke and consent, Tacit consent and Hume’s criticisms, Hypothetical consent, Justifying the state, Utilitarianism by Jeremy Bentham, The principle of fairness by H. L. A. Hart, Democracy – General conceptual issues, Plato against democracy, Defending democracy, Rousseau – defender of direct democracy, Mill on representative democracy, Mill on liberty and the harm principle, The Rushdie affair, Private property and the market, Thomas More’s Utopia, Gerrard Winstanley’s The Law of Freedom in a Platform, Locke on property, Rawls’s theory of justice, Liberalism and Feminism, Alternatives to liberal individualism, Marxism and socialism, Communitarianism, Conservativism, Non-Western traditions) by Oxford University
- CertHE in Metaphysics (Ontology and Change, Metaphysics vs epistemology, Meta-metaphysics, Quine on existence – ‘On What There Is’, Ontological disputes, Existence of ideas in the mind, Occam’s razor, Wyman’s possibilia and Russell’s Theory of Descriptions, Plato’s Parmenides – ‘One over many’, Plato’s Republic – ‘Theory of Forms’ and ‘Allegory of the cave’, Plato vs Aristotle on universals and particulars, Armstrong on universals, Realism and John Locke’s ‘Essay Concerning Human Understanding’, Idealism and Berkeley’s ‘Three Dialogues’, Primary and secondary qualities – arguments on mind dependent vs mind independent, Free will and determinism, The problem of the freedom of the will, Van Inwagen – ‘The Incompatibility of Free Will and Determinism’, Causality – cause and effect, Hume on causation and ‘Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding’, Space and time, Leibniz–Newton debate, Leibniz–Clarke correspondence, Smart – ‘The Space-Time World’, The reality of time, McTaggart on the nature of existence) by Oxford University
- CertHE in The Nature and Existence of God (Introduction – religious language, God’s nature – being all powerful; being all-knowing; being perfectly good; being omnipresent; being incorporeal; being eternal, God’s existence – ontological argument; cosmological arguments; design arguments, Religious experience, The problem of evil) by Oxford University
- CertHE in Public Policy Economics (The aims of public policy, Original purpose of economic policy, Classical role of the state, Economic policy in the 20th century, The range of economic policies, Taxation, Market failure and government failure, James Buchanan’s economics, Social welfare and growth, Value of GDP, Growth and sustainability, Human Development Index (HDI), Dashboard of indicators for measurement, Social Progress Index, Distribution of income, John Rawls’ ‘veil of ignorance’ and inequality, Congestion externalities, The Coase theorem, The limits of market solutions, Institutionalist economics by Elinor Ostrom, Nationalisation and privatisation, Regulating privatised industries, ‘Horizontal’ industrial policy, The Asian model of industrial policy, Strategic innovation policies, Government’s role in the internet and the World Wide Web, Government investment in R&D, Social capital and social norms, Positional goods, Healthcare, Social security, Inequality and redistribution, Negative income tax and basic income, Pension provision, Behavioural economics and nudging, Megaproject disasters, Benefit-cost analysis, Contingent valuation and stated preference, Public value, Randomised control trials) by Oxford University
- CertHE in Artificial Intelligence (What is artificial intelligence?, Ancient robots and the Turing Test, Weak vs Strong AI, Brief History of AI, The Golden Age of AI with IBM’s Deep Blue and Watson, Moore’s Law, Applications of AI, Data governance, AI and Equality, AI and employment, Economic opportunities of AI, Risks of AI, Ethical risks to society and accountability, Systems and agents, Rational vs Perfect agents, Designing AI agents, Simple reflex agent – Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN), Model-based reflex agents, Goal-based agents, Utility-based agents, Logic and language, Imitating mathematical intelligence, Propositional logic, Designing mathematical languages, Gödel’s incompleteness, The Halting problem, Expert systems, Forward and Backward chaining, Connectionist models, Biological neural network and Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Backpropagation algorithm, AI in the 21st century, Big Data and the Internet, AI in healthcare and automobiles, Cybersecurity, Machine translation, Future of AI and sustainable resource consumption, Data science processes, Autoencoders, Data imputation, What is machine learning?, Supervised learning vs Unsupervised learning vs Reinforcement Learning, Software lifecycle costs, AI/ML deployment by companies, Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP), Adversarial inputs, Testing in machine learning) by Oxford University
Personal Development & Business
- Prolific Author, Educator and Mind & Body Coach
- Co-owner of the award-winning and successful Start-up Mobile App SpinDeals app
- Working in the Online Financial sector since 2016 as Back Office, KYC, Payments, AML Officer and trained other employees on procedures
- Worked at an International Clothing company as Sales Advisor and trained other employees on the principles of clothing
- Certificate in AML (Anti-Money Laundering) by CySEC
- Certificate in Image Consulting Course (Dressing, Body Language, Manners & Etiquette) by IAP Career College
- Certificates in The Secrets of Body Language and Digital Body Language Courses by Vanessa Van Edwards
- ECDL Certificate including all the modules by European Computer Driving License Foundation
- Certificate in Chinese Culture (History, Politics, Philosophy and religion, Literature and arts, Symbolism, Traditional festivals and customs, Science and technology, Sports and martial arts, Culinary culture, Clothing and adornment) by China Explore Adam
- Certificate in Barista Course (including Chinese & Japanese Tea Ceremonies and Cacao) by Alchemy Bartending School
- Certificate in ITA Certified Tea Sommelier by International Tea Academy (Foundations of Chinese tea, International tea industry, Chinese tea ceremony and history, The art and science of brewing tea, Traditional Chinese methods, The Five Elements theory, Tea blending)
- Attended Jung, Myth, and the Archetypal Imagination Course (Myth as hero by James Hillman, Archetypes of the collective unconscious, Mandalas and the psychological process of individuation, Jungian perspective on symbols and metaphors, Carl Jung’s journey from God by Pravin Thevathasan, Is the modern psyche undergoing a collective rite of passage? by Richard Tarnas, Telemachus’ rite of passage, Dear grey eyes by C. Downing, Poseidon vs Athena – Gods and Goddesses of the Odyssey, Hermes’ hymn from the Odyssey, Anima Mundi by James Hillman, Introduction & the function of myth by R. Segal, On synchronicity by Carl Jung, Richard Tarnas on synchronicity – before and after Carl Jung, The hero’s adventure from Joseph Campbell and the power of myth, Odysseus – Mythmaker, warrior and king, The Odyssey & individuation, ‘The Warrior’ and ‘The King’ by Robert Moore, The Red Book – Jung and the profoundly personal by James Hillman, The mythic imagination by Robert Moore, Archetypal roles of Athena, Circe, Calypso, Nausicaa and Penelope, Symbolic rituals and altars, Iliad & Odyssey by Campbell, Trauma and the informed heart – Donald Kalsched, The Eumenides Lines from The Oresteia by Aeschylus) by Philosophical Research Society
- Attended Language and Identity seminar (Culture, Language and Identity, Language and Social Class, Language and Gender, Attitudes to Language) by Oxford University
- Attended History and Myth in Painting, Sculpture and Photography (Heroism, war, history and myth in the art of the ancient world, the art of the Renaissance – Baroque and the 19th – early 20th centuries until today) by Oxford University
Fitness and Martial Arts
- Diploma in Health & Fitness, Personal Training and Fitness Instructing level 3 (Anatomy, Basic nutrition, Gym and bodyweight exercises, Periodisation, Coaching, Functional training, Circuit training, Suspended movement, Kettlebell training) by Premier Global NASM
- Diploma in 200 hours Yoga Alliance Teacher (History and Philosophy of Yoga, Asanas, Pranayamas, Mantras, Mudras, Meditation, Kriyas, Ayurveda, Anatomy, Kundalini) by Yoga Europe School
- Certificate in Brain Coaching Course by Dr. Kristen Willuemier
- Certificate in Elite Calisthenics Specialist Course by Calisthenics Kingz
- Certificate in Primal Kettlebell Course by Onnit’s Senior Instructor Eric Leija
- Instructor in Xinjia Chen-style Tai Chi Chuan / Taiji Quan (Zhan zhuang – Standing meditation, Daoist breathing and Seated meditation, Ji ben gong – fundamentals, Chan Si Gong – Silk reeling qigong, Yilu – First form, Erlu – Second form or Cannon fist, Tui shou – Pushing hands and Gunshu – Staff) by Taichi & Qigong Internal Arts Neigong Academy Cyprus
- Certificate in 5 Element Qigong Course and 8 Trigram Organ Qigong Course by White Tiger Qigong
- Assistant Instructor in Goeksel-style Wing Chun / Ving Tsun Kung Fu (Siu Nim Tao – Little Idea, Chum Kiu – Seeking the bridge, Muk Jan Chong – Wooden dummy, Chi sau – Sticky hands) by G.E. Ving Tsun Kung Fu Cyprus
- Ambassador in Cyprus under Filipino Combat Systems / FCS Kali (Impact weapons, Bladed weapons, Empty hands, Silat and Dumog – Grappling)
- Student of Shifu Lindsey Wei by Chun Yang Sect of Wudang (Qi Gong Fundamentals, Bone Marrow Washing, Daoist Mudras and Meditation, Cosmic Movement – Intro to Ba Gua, Long Men – Dragon Gate teachings, Chinese Cosmology and Mythology, Daoist Symbolism, Yang Sheng Gong – Life nourishing, Nei Guan – Inner observation, Cultivation of Xing and Ming, Neidan – Internal Alchemy, Xiao Zhou Tian – Microcosmic Orbit, Nei Jing Tu – Inner landscape diagram, Five Healing Sounds, Daoist home altar, Incense ceremony and Bowing, Cun Xiang – Visualisation of deities, Body spirits, Zhe Long Fa – Sleeping dragon method)
- Blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and practitioner of Wrestling & Mixed Martial Arts by 5 Rounds MMA Cyprus
- Practiced Muay Thai, Krav Maga, Shaolin Kung Fu / Wushu and Krabi Krabong
- Attended Live Workshops with Grand Master Bobby Taboada from Balintawak Arnis Cuentada Taboada System, Tuhon Ray Dionaldo from Filipino Combat Systems, Sifu Göksel Erdogan, Professor Mauricio Gomes, Professors Vinicius Draculino Magalhaes and Braulio Estima from Gracie Barra, Professor Rigan Machado, Guro Daniel Lonero from XTMA, Guro Jay Jasper Pugao from VSCK Eskrima, Peter Weckauf & Robert Exl from SAMI and coaches from Tiger Muay Thai & Allstars Training Center