The four areas that we can have an influence over are our
bodies, emotions, thoughts and energy.
And all four of these areas influence each other.
The first time I became aware of this was when I was eleven years old, when my father showed me some simple exercises I could do to correct my hollow back, which I did every day with great discipline. After a few months, my hollow back and my posture had improved significantly, and I had also developed a six pack, much to my delight. What I found even more fascinating than the external change was the internal one brought on by the change in body structure. I couldn’t put my finger on it, so to speak, but the way I perceived the world was different to how it was just a few months before. I felt different – and the change was good. All of sudden, I saw a possibility to shape and optimise myself and my life. This was the beginning of my inner journey.
One of the many methods I have encountered on my journey is Ashtanga Yoga. From the very first moment, I felt a burning passion for Ashtanga Yoga, a passion that continues to burn strongly today.
In the first decade of my Ashtanga journey, I hardly had eyes or ears for anything else. I travelled from workshop to workshop, teacher to teacher and spent time in Mysore with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the most significant representative of modern Ashtanga Yoga. True to Pattabhi Jois' motto, “Do your practice and all is coming”, over the years my practice has also opened me up to other perspectives and methods that have had a retroactive influence on my practice and my teaching.
While I used to travel all the time, partly to learn and partly to experience the diversity of our world, I have become more settled in recent years and currently live quite a structured life between practice and teaching.
The inner journey I began at a young age is not over, but I can say with absolute certainty that I love what I do.
The first time I became aware of this was when I was eleven years old, when my father showed me some simple exercises I could do to correct my hollow back, which I did every day with great discipline. After a few months, my hollow back and my posture had improved significantly, and I had also developed a six pack, much to my delight. What I found even more fascinating than the external change was the internal one brought on by the change in body structure. I couldn’t put my finger on it, so to speak, but the way I perceived the world was different to how it was just a few months before. I felt different – and the change was good. All of sudden, I saw a possibility to shape and optimise myself and my life. This was the beginning of my inner journey.
One of the many methods I have encountered on my journey is Ashtanga Yoga. From the very first moment, I felt a burning passion for Ashtanga Yoga, a passion that continues to burn strongly today.
In the first decade of my Ashtanga journey, I hardly had eyes or ears for anything else. I travelled from workshop to workshop, teacher to teacher and spent time in Mysore with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the most significant representative of modern Ashtanga Yoga. True to Pattabhi Jois' motto, “Do your practice and all is coming”, over the years my practice has also opened me up to other perspectives and methods that have had a retroactive influence on my practice and my teaching.
While I used to travel all the time, partly to learn and partly to experience the diversity of our world, I have become more settled in recent years and currently live quite a structured life between practice and teaching.
The inner journey I began at a young age is not over, but I can say with absolute certainty that I love what I do.
My chronological story
1979
Read a Yoga book my father had on the shelf for the first time and tried to
follow the instructions. Unfortunately, the book was not suitable as an
introduction for beginners and so I gave up after two months.
1982
Initiated by exercises from my father, I started to immerse myself in a
physical/spiritual process of transformation.
1991
Having gained access to better books, I started studying asanas (Rishikesh
series/Sivananda Yoga) according to Andre van Lysebeth and books by
BKS Iyengar.
1992-1996
Tao Yoga according to Mantak Chia (in Vienna, Zurich and Thailand) – I
continued studying asanas and their practice myself.
1996
I started my teaching career
1997
1 month – Sivananda Yoga teacher training (Bahamas)
1998
First contact with Ashtanga Yoga (Koh Pha Ngan,Thailand)
1999
2 months of Ashtanga practice with Rolf Naujokat (Goa, India)
2 weeks of intensive pranayama – Sivananda (Neyyar Dam, India)
1 month – advanced Sivananda yoga teacher training (Bahamas)
2000
3 months of Ashtanga practice with Rolf Naujokat (Goa, India)
10 days of Vipassana Meditation (Jaipur, India)
Switched my teaching focus to Ashtanga Yoga
2001
3 weeks Primary and Intermediate series workshop with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois
(New York)
7 days of teacher training with David Swenson (Vienna)
2002
3 months with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois (Mysore, India)
2004
1 month of Ashtanga practice with Rolf Naujokat (Kho Pha Ngan, Thailand)
2004-2007
Lived in Asia – worked as a teacher in China, Thailand and the Philippines.
2005
first contact with Kundalini work according to Don Hanson (Bodhgaya,
India), followed by further workshops until 2017
2006-2009
Courses at the Onenessuniversity (Varadaiahpalem, India)
2011-2015
Annual retreats with Mooji (Jnana Yoga) (Portugal)
2013-HEUTE
Gymnastics/Calisthenics training
2015-2017
Workshops with Dr Joe Dispenza
2017 & 2018
Retreats with Isha Yoga (Sadhguru) (London & Coimbatore, India)
1996-HEUTE
Continuous learning thanks to all my students, whose physical diversity and
possibilities, flexibility and strength, difficulties, talents, personality and
development, attitudes and life reflections, experience and intuition, enrich
both my teaching and my own practice.
