I have seen many Yogis destroy their bodies trying to achieve advanced poses and transitions. In my understanding this is not Yoga. This is feeding the ego rather than letting go of it.
Yoga is NOT a movement practice. It is a spiritual path.
It is great to do Yoga to reconnect with the body, get more fit and healthy, spread the awareness out of the mind into the rest of our being. But for me this works a lot better when nobody is telling me what to do, when to breath, and when the hour is over.
For my spiritual path movement will always be a good tool. But for this I seek letting the body go. Letting go of expectations, judgements and goals. Letting the body be moved, rather than trying to achieve some given pose. Connecting to my breath and the flow of energies inside.
There is certainly a lot of wisdom and understanding of biomechanics and anatomy present in the world of Yoga. But for me Yoga has just become too limited and unbalanced as a movement practice. I love variety. I love discovering and exploring. So being “stuck” on a 2 m² mat just became too restricted. Trying to move like an old man from India, with a totally different body then me became absurd.
I learned that a healthy movement practice needs elements that are almost non-existent in Yoga. To name the most obvious one: pulling.
My passion is to explore movement beyond the focused lens of any specific discipline. I love to play, to discover new options and pathways, raise kinesthetic awareness, improve coordination, mobility and stability, agility and ability, find elegance and efficiency, control and creative expression. I try to lower the threshold of my sensitivity and work towards freedom, mobility and balance physically, mentally and emotionally.
I study biomechanics, functional anatomy, various styles of movement practice, physical exercise and training, postural restoration/improvement, embodiment and mind-body-integration.
For dynamic movements the main inspirations are gymnastics, capoeira and contemporary dance. For my subtler body awareness explorations various forms of bodywork (Thai-Yoga-Massage, Cranio-Sacral-Biodynamics), Feldenkrais, somatic movement, PRI, DNS and many techniques derived from Yoga are some of the inspirations. My engineering mind never disappeared, it just got a lot more peaceful and has a new focus. But whenever thoughts become to active, dragging me away from the present, through Yoga and meditation I learn how to come back. A little bit deeper every time.