Rolfing & Ashtanga Yoga in Heidelberg

24/10/2025

01/09/2025

Let's talk about the CARNIVORE DIET.

Uuuuuuuuhhhhhh!

This is going to be a very controversial post...

In October 2020 while playing measuring the blood pressure with my nephew I found out to have a pretty high blood pressure.

All symptoms were there: feeling of breath shortness, brain fog, exhaustion, bloating, etc...

I was given the usual medication, which I took diligently until I started experiencing unbearable headaches.

After a year of struggling, I did a short Google search that told me that blood pressure medications and the estrogen-progestinic birth control pill (usually given to treat endometriosis symptoms) do not go well together.

That was the point where I understood that it was time to take my health back into my hands.

Modern medicine failed me, the approach of treating symptoms and not the underlying cause didn't work for me and I embarked into a 5 years long self healing journey.

I tried all supplements available on Earth and any possible different diet: vegan, vegetarian, omnivore, low FODMAP, anti-inflammatory protocol, keto...

No one of them worked for me.

Finally, in January this year, I bumped into the carnivore diet and my life (and the life of my husband) changed completely.

For the first time in years, I wasn't bloated.

For the first time in years, I had no brain fog after eating.

For the first time in years, I felt truly satiated

For the first time in years, I wasn't in a sugar high, stable mood, stable energy throughout the day.

For the first time in years, I was able to sleep the whole night through.

For the first time in years, I didn't have reflux.

For the first time in years, I had no joint pain.

For the first time in years, my endometriosis symptoms became way less severe.

It felt like a miracle!

I am still on carnivore, I don't think I will ever change back into a carbohydrates based diet.

It's the most anti-inflammatory diet I have ever tried and I have learned a lot about human metabolism and human specific nutrition.

I would definitely advise everyone to cut of carbohydrates and add massively on animal fats and animal proteins.

More to come about it.

30/08/2025

Let's talk PERIMENOPAUSE.

I am 45, still having a regular period but...

I wake up every night at 3:30 am.

My right ear itches.

I have gained weight around my waist and it's not going away.

My periods became shorter (25 days).

I get bloated as soon as I am not watching my diet.

My PMS became very complicated with horrible mood lows.

And my right shoulder hurts and its movement range is definitely reduced.

That's the reason why my hands are outer rotated. It's way less painful and way easier for my right wrist.

The Ashtanga Yoga practice must adapt to these changes.
How?
Add strength training to your practice.
How?
Use your body weight, lift your body as much as possible, do as many handstands as you can, move into the advanced practice as soon as possible.

29/08/2025

This is my best Urdvha Mukha Svanasana.

Ideally, the shoulders should be in one line with the waist and not as elevated.

I am veryyyyy far from it.

I remember the times when someone said that it was a good idea to introduce the back bends of the second series as soon as possible.

And us, the purists of the "traditional" Ashtanga Yoga method being firmly against that idea: YOU HAVE MORE THAN 50 UPWARD FACING DOGS IN THE PRIMARY SERIES! THEY ARE THE BACK BENDS! YOU DON'T NEED MORE!

Well, if your Urdvha Mukha Svanasana looks like mine, I guarantee you that this is definitely NOT a back bending, this is just an attempt to stretch the front of the body that in most cases is only compressing your lower back and cervical spine.

So yes, my suggestion is definitely to start working on the back bends of the second series as soon as possible.

I prepare them using the foam roller and the Pilates ball.

Move the body the way it makes sense to you.

28/08/2025

Let's talk about ENDOMETRIOSIS.

I was diagnosed with endometriosis in 2009, luckily I had almost no symptoms until my mid thirties when a strong pain at my right SI joint appeared.
It took me almost 10 years to understand that the pain was due to the chronic inflammation caused by the disease.

I tried anything possible to fit my body into the Ashtanga Yoga practice but the pain became so excruciating and unbearable that it was impossible to continue practicing the "traditional" way.

I explored a lot of different movement practices and I have discovered Rolfing, an incredible body therapy that taught me and still teaches me everything I know about how bodies move.

In the last year, I drastically reduced my teaching hours and greatly increased my practicing hours.
I went through a long healing journey, I completely changed my diet and the way I practice.

One of the biggest changes was the introduction of tuck handstands instead of the jump through.

Handstands are a full body movement, all muscles have to coordinate and activate in order to sustain that pose.

Handstands require flexibility and strength and they are a very valuable add-on into the Ashtanga Yoga practice.

27/08/2025

When body perception and reality do NOT coincide.

When I am in this posture I feel like a very arched bow with my legs very much lifted from the ground.

My perception is clearly not fitting the reality.

I no longer aim for the "perfect posture", I aim for the perfect feeling of the posture where my body says: Wow! This feels good! This makes sense!

Starting the day grounding body and mind is a privilege for which I am profoundly grateful 🙏

26/08/2025

When you finally get back to your practice and it feels like a blessing ❤️
I have been on and off the mat for the past 13 years, practing & teaching but nothing feels like practicing without life constraints.
I love my yoga practice, I love how imperfect it is, I love how I have finally accepted to adapt it to my body and it feels amazing.
Being able to do it on a daily base is a privilege and a blessing.
These days are a gift I am immensely grateful for 🙏

07/06/2025

Rolfing is magic! ❤️❤️❤️

18/11/2024

Today is Sharat's funeral.

I have never practiced with him, nor with his grandfather Pattabhi Jois.
Even when I used to be a way more traditional practitioner and teacher, I have never considered the possibility to practice with him, I was never particularly curious to be part of that huge Ashtanga Yoga community that levitated around him.

However, as I found out about his sudden and unexpected passing, I was in shock.

To me Sharat represented that tradition from which I have taken distance because it no longer served me but that I knew I could potentially go back whenever I needed it.

Many Ashtanga Yoga practitioners didn't see him as their reference teacher, same here, but still he was the leader of the Ashtanga Yoga practice as we all learned it and we all took it from there to then modify it according to our needs.
I think it would be foolish of anyone not to acknowledge that he represented the traditional Ashtanga Yoga practice in the world.

Who is going to take on that role?

I guess no one.

Sharat and Pattabhi left us a wonderful tool that we must take full responsibility for, we have to learn to be our own teachers, to trust that we can make of that practice what we need it to be and it's going to be ok.