Since my early childhood I was good at sport and was chosen from the school to the volleyball team. This moment decided my career as I went on to play for German national volleyball team as early as fourteen. I enjoyed the fame, perks and joy this success brought to me, until I faced one day the other part of the reality.
The extremely hard training was overusing my body. Add to that we were deeply conditioned that "Erst den Ball verteidigen dann den Körper!" of course in the spirit of sport every sports-girl did it, including myself. It was bringing us victories, but at the cost of physical injuries, which were sometimes not possible to neglect.
I tried to watch myself in the high tide of success and ever illustrious carrier ahead, as well as my body, which had started to tell me that it has its capacity endured to the limit and I should not overdo it.
Finally, one day a severe spinal injury pulled me out of that tide. The matter was serious; I could not even raise my right arm, even after a prolonged treatment. During this resting period, I reviewed the life of a professional sport-person and decided if I want to get healed, I will have to do something to create awareness and help others too. But the time of uncertainty was not easy, as I faced immense depression for fear of remaining handicapped for life. However, due to my sportive nature, I didn’t give up and continued the healing efforts until I found a ray of light at the end of the tunnel.
I was lucky; nature brought me to the inexplicable wisdom of ancient India, the yoga. When all the western medicine and therapy could hardly help me to suppress the symptom and live with painkillers, practicing yoga gave me hope for a full recovery and healthy and balanced life.
With my yoga guru BKS Iyengar, who was a very strict master, I got a totally new feeling for life. Over the next three years I vigorously practiced yoga mostly for hours and hours every day, until my spinal injury was totally healed.
I had seen the madness in the materialistic western society and was living now the silence and healing of enigmatic yoga.
I wanted to take this new dimension of peace and health to the life of the professional sport-persons, as I had become aware of the pressure and stress they had to endure. So I started my training as yoga teacher.
My guru BKS Iyengar's minute corrections polished my abilities to become a yoga teacher until I was ready after years.
But I also had come to know, that yoga can be a double edged sword, a little mistake could lead to a lifetime injury or even worse could make one handicapped. Therefore I studied at the same time extensively human anatomy; I wanted to understand the body from within - like a physician.
Yoga gave me a new life and so I dedicate this life for Yoga awareness. I teach yoga now since 1994.
I have been giving individual classes to successful people from the fields of professional sport, film and TV, politics and media, in Germany and Europe. Currently, I also give group classes to a well-known football club in Germany.
On the social front, I have been giving classes to women for pre- and post-natal yoga. Working with pregnant women always brought me great joy, since I felt every woman should get right support in this phase of her life.
As a beginner or advanced, if you like to learn from me or join me in one of my yoga sessions, please write to arianepillau@gmx.net
With love,
Ariane
Yogalehrerin Ariane Pillau:
