Not even in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that a girl whose spine was once deformed, who spent her childhood sleeping in a plastic corset in excruciating pain, would end up being a yoga teacher.
Almost 15 years ago my life was all set. Competitive and nerdy, I was ready to conquer the world of science and academia and become a scientist. But even back then, I was at the same time drawn to a diametrically opposite world views, the world of spirituality and religions. So I started studying religions on the side and called it my hobby. Most people didn´t understand what the heck I was doing. Honestly, neither did I.
In the following years, I changed countries, universities, jobs, happily skipping from one adventure to the next. After finally settling down in Berlin, looking for pain relief when my back started to trouble me again, I tried yoga and since then yoga has slowly and steadily entered my life (while my back pain disappeared once and for all!). At that time, everything seemed to be working out for me. I had a nice home, relationship, friends, money, job and a happily ever after in front of me. Little did I know that life had something else in store for me.
Before I knew what hit me, this perfect life I had spent years building was gone. Homeless, heartbroken, depressed, burnt out, grieving deaths of loved ones and with an empty pocket, I lost the ground under my feet. My life as I knew it was over. While everything around me was falling apart, yoga was the only constant. It gave me a safe space to grieve, to regroup and eventually come back to myself. It made me breathe when everything else made me wish for otherwise.
With time, as my muscles began to tone, my mind became calmer and my spirit stronger, I picked up the broken pieces of myself and started over. Yoga literally saved my life and, as I came to understand its power to transform, the desire to teach and help others with this powerful tool became the dominant force in my life. Suddenly, I had a purpose again and realized that things had to fall apart in order for yoga, the love of my life, to enter fully.
In yoga I found the middle ground between science and spirituality where I could still geek out on anatomy and at the same time dive into the ancient spiritual texts. Two sides of me, the scientific side and the spiritual side, met in the middle. I finally understood what I was doing. Yippie!
From that moment on, things started to unfold organically. I met the right people, came across inspirational teachers, found what works for me and ended up taking part in the most amazing yoga teacher training. Now I have the privilege to do what I love and share the joy of yoga and my passion with others. Thank you yoga!
I was trained in alignment based Hatha yoga and Buddhist philosophy. Alignment based yoga is all about precision, stability, safety and also gentleness and surrender. It´s about aligning our bodies in a way that is safe and beneficial for us. Instead of just flowing mindlessly from one pose to the next, how well each pose is done is important. During class, many cues are given in order to access the poses safely and effectively. By paying attention to what exactly our bodies are doing, we become more embodied and present in the moment. Alignment isn´t just about aligning our bones, it is also about aligning with something greater than ourselves. This is where gentleness and surrender come in. To align with the bigger picture, we need to let go of our egos, fears, anxieties or needing to have things work out a certain way and surrender to the intelligence of life instead.
My alignment based yoga classes are a mixture of vinyasa flows, strong hatha – holding postures longer and meditation. In each class, we explore a different theme, some philosophical concept or a story coming from the yogic tradition. The whole class is accompanied by music, ranging from hindu chants, downtempo to techno. Although the classes are at times challenging, I will lead you through the class with lightness and playfulness, sometimes even making you smile in the midst of difficulty. My aim is to create a whole mind-body-spirit experience for you; a journey which will ultimately take you to a place beyond words or thought. We will strive for alignment and awaken our power within; one breath at a time, one asana at a time.
Feel free to join one of my regular yoga classes held mostly in Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg in Berlin.