When he was a small child I could never stop Jesse from climbing on walls and trees, so I just let him do it. When other parents asked me if I am not afraid of what happens if he falls off a tree or wall I simply told them:

No, I’m not afraid.

Because he never falls down.

— My Mom

Me as a kid

I’ve often gotten questions regarding my “sports background” which is why I will try to give a little overview in this section.

First Steps

Movement has been a vital part of my life for as long as I can remember. I loved to jump, climb, be active and move my body.

This might be because I suffered from a severe autoimmune disease after receiving the wrong medication when I was a 2 1/2-year-old child. I was locked onto a bed in an intensive care unit for 2 weeks and at some point, the doctors told my Mom I will probably not make it, and even if I make it I will be blind. Luckily the doctors were wrong.

Ball, Skate, Click and Dance

After test jumping on and off trees and walls for some years I started to play football from the age of 11-15 and was completely crazy about the sport. The hype slowly faded away when I was about 15 and I switched the pitch for inline skates, curbs and half pipes.

Me skating

This lasted for about 2 1/2 years at which point I left the skates in the corner of my room and started to play eSports heavily for nearly 2 years.

Although I loved the competitive digital gaming world and being on a team that won small local competitions and at some point was even in the top 100 of an international online league my true passion unfolded when I was 17 and was introduced to the world of Breakdance by a friend.

From then on Breakdance captivated my entire attention and I could not stop thinking about dancing and moves to do and obsessively went to Breakdance and acrobatics training for 6 days per week for about 3 years.

Acrobatics training

After some time first small, then bigger and bigger performance opportunities came up and over the next years I went on to participate in competitions, do small and big performances at all kinds of events, teach classes and workshops, and at some point did Streetshows every weekend and spent Sundays treating my wounds from my skin being cut open from the moves on the rough streets of Hamburg.

Despite the short physical pains, the overall experiences I was able to go through were amazing and over time, I was fortunate enough to pay most of my bills through Breakdance Freelance gigs over the next years.

After about 12 years of Breakdance and acrobatics, my new full-time professional life took over more and more of my time, my dancing group also split up and I lost the motivation to continue in this field, which is when I had my last professional performance at an international event, and then decided that it was time to finally say goodbye to the dancing stage.

Transitioning Into New Things

I continued to explore new things like training Calisthenics, doing High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), Bodyweight Workouts, and lifting weights in the Gym. One thing that bothered me was the lack of creative thinking and overall low range of body motion with weighted workouts at the Gym which is why I continued to try out different sports. Fitness took up a lot of space for quite a while, I went on to do a HIIT Instructor certificate for a new workout format that was focused on music and fitness and started teaching HIIT Group Fitness classes once or twice per week besides my full-time marketing job.

At a local marketing conference, I met a Yoga teacher who invited me to one of her classes in 2015 which was my first Yoga experience. The classes were hard and I loved them. I continued to practice Yoga for the physical benefits like gaining more flexibility and did this on and off for about 6 years and also explored other movement-based concepts like Ido Portals Movement Program at a one-week Retreat in Portugal.

Then, I had a mind-altering experience on the island of Fuerteventura in the Winter of 21/22.

Switching On The Inner Light

I attended classes from a teacher named Feli Squetino a high-energy Yoga Teacher from Argentina, who conducted sunrise morning classes on the beach. The classes were magical and had a mix of physical postures, meditation and spirituality that connected to me on many levels that I had not seen and experienced in this form before. After a while, I felt and saw the whole new, deep and diverse world of Yoga unfolding in front of me which extended far beyond the physical benefits I had focused on for the last years. Several weeks of attending her classes passed and I had to leave the Island which is when I asked her for book recommendations and started to educate myself about Yoga postures and philosophy, only to notice that I can not learn what I would love to from only reading books.

In the summer of 2022, I decided I wanted to travel to India, which I finally did in May 2023 which is when I completed a 200h Yoga Teacher Training.

Reflections On My Intense 200h Yoga Teacher Training In India

When I made the decision to fly to India to do a 200h Yoga Teacher Training in the Himalayan region of Rishikesh I thought it might be a little hard, but as I am used to getting up early and doing a lot of sports it will not be too tough.

I was wrong.

Here’s why.

Hard Landing

I arrived in India after being in Thailand for about 2 1/2 months. I spent most of the time on the island of Koh Phangan and my body and mind was accustomed to the sweet and tourist friendly Thai vibes. Thailands way of welcoming foreigners, the food and culture are really nice, especially when you are in places catering towards digital nomads and tourists. But my sweet reality was about to turn sour.

As soon as I arrived in India I had to raise my guard and switch my “attention sensors” on, as I heard the are quite some tourist traps you can fall into. And I nearly fell into one, even before officially walking into the country.

This is what happened:

As I tried to change my Thai Baht for Indian Rupee at the official exchange counter within the luggage pickup area (meaning I did not even really “enter the country”) the person at the exchange counter tried to give me less money that was stated on the receipt. He pretented to continue with his business of talking to another airport worker while I counted my money 3x times only to realize it was indeed the wrong amount. I made him aware of it 2 times at which point he just quickly said “oh” handed me what was missing and continued to talk to the person as if I was not even there. As mentioned, I knew I had to keep my attention on 110%, but being in this kind of situation at an official airport counter surprised me.

I put on my sunglasses, noise cancelling headphones and rushed out to the subway, as I knew I can easily take it to my accomodation. The short walk felt like a gauntlet run as I had to signal all the people trying to tell me to get into their taxi that I am not interested, but some people did not bother and pulled me by the shoulder trying to convince me to come with them. I understand, that this is a different culture and that these people are desperately trying to make money, but this made me feel uncomfortable.

I spent the next 2 days in Dehli before heading to Rishikesh.

Dehli

Yes, I know Dehli is a harsh place. With air pollution often being at unhealthy levels, crowded streets and crazy traffic it can challenge you on all levels. But, as it’s the largest metropolitan area in India (with an estimated 28 mil. people) I wanted to experience some of it.

But the experience hit me like a truck.

The smells, the crowds and again, people trying to take advantage of me where really hard. I did eat amazing Aloo Ghobi at a nice outdoor restaurant and was witness of a interesting situation of a street dog stealing one flip flop of a person who after trying to get it back for several minutes admitted defeat and let the dog have its new toy.

One of the things I did not really get used to is that I never new, what to expect when doing something or going to places. The bus trip to Rishikesh for example was an interesting experience.

The bus station was at the side of the highway and the final destination was also just at the corner of the highway, where me and other travellers had to run over the highway, and jump over a crash barrier in order to get to the next tuck tucks.

After finally arriving in Rishikesh, I noticed that I had to let go of the expectations I did not realize I had.

Rishikesh

“Spiritual Center of India”, “World Capital of Yoga”, “Easy going, yogic vibe” this and other descriptions of the city drew an image of a chill, layed back small city in the himalayan in my mind. Apparently a lot has changed over the last years and altough there still is a wind of Yogic elements in the air, the overall vibe and sound of the city has changed towards and a hotspot for adventure sports like river rafting, bungee jumping and ginat swings. Fortunately my Yoga school was just at the door to the city centre.

…Story to be continued…