About
Maike’s Yoga Journey.

My first real encounter with yoga was during my study abroad in Italy. I went to yoga classes at my local gym - and was totally lost in the first few sessions as I had no clue what the teacher was saying. However, after a couple of classes I fell in love with yoga, most of all with how it made me feel. Side note: I learned lots of new vocabulary in Italian - win-win.

Back in Germany, I wanted to continue my yoga journey but life got in the way. Having busy jobs, doing lots of overtime and hardly having any time for sports (or any other hobby) I totally neglected my practice. In retrospect, I think I was pretty close to a burnout but luckily I decided on time to prioritize my health and to create space & time for myself. That’s when I started to practice regularly - and shortly after, I started to notice real changes in myself, my self-awareness & view on life.

For me, the most beautiful thing about practicing yoga is reconnecting with my body - flowing and feeling. Losing myself in movement & breath. I learned to appreciate my body in new ways, mainly for what it is & what it can do - instead of how it looks. As someone who struggled with eating disorders in the past, body image has been a huge issue for what feels like forever. Yoga has changed this - and still does. Step by step. Practice after practice. Yoga has helped me to finally feel (more) at home in my body.

When COVID-19 changed our lives in spring 2020, yoga was my savior. Being a super restless person that always is busy doing 1.000 things at the same time, the lockdown hit me hard. However, it also gave me the time to practice daily, to really deepen my own practice - and to think about what I want from life.

So shortly after the first lockdown began, I looked for Yoga teacher trainings in Cape Town, one of my favorite places, and found the amazing Wellness Connection Yoga School. My (in retrospect naive) idea was to take part in one of their teacher trainings in spring 2021 - “when the pandemic was over”. So I got in touch with the studio to check possibilities. A couple of weeks later, Catherine informed me about the possibility to do their 200 hr YTT online. I did not think twice. And seriously: BEST. DECISION. EVER. I have learned so much - and even fell in love with yoga a little more.

Two years later, I felt stuck and had the urge to learn more. So I did my 300 hr advanced teacher training, also with Wellness Connection. An absolutely incredible and beautiful yet intense time that brought the highest of highs (learning from and practicing with wonderful teachers, mastering challenging asanas) to the lowest of lows (what is yoga? is it even yoga I teach? what the hell am I doing? can I call myself a yoga teacher?). Truth be told, I feel I have learned more than ever before. However, if I got to know anything in this 300 hr teacher training, then that yoga is so much richer and deeper than I’d ever thought. So the journey is far from over …

Long story short: Here I am, a 500 hr certified yoga teacher, deeply in love with practicing & teaching yoga, learning & growing each and every time I step on my mat. By now, I have taught +300 in-person and +120 online classes - and am loving every second of it.