In 2016 after being free from addiction for a couple of years I gifted myself a one month immersion of Ashtanga yoga guided by my main teacher Maxi Meissner, this was just slightly before turning into my 40’s. The practice has ever since been a space holder for me learning to embrace my authenticity.

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After returning from my first “yoga trip” in the beginnings of 2019 I was given the opportunity to assisting and sub-teaching Maxi.  Gradually having the agency to do bodywork as a means to hold space. This led to the study and practice of Alchemy of Touch™ with Tapesh Paradiso and Anouk Devi in 2022 and receiving my Level 2 practitioner diploma in early 2024. In the summer of 2024 I had my first workshops from Petri Räisänen and Wambui Njuguna-Räisänen, incorporating bodywork into therapeutic hands on adjustments.

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Amongst Maxi Meissner as my beloved main teacher I have had the privilege to receive the teachings of many most kind hearted teachers like Susanna Finocchi, Elise Greenspoon, Sharmila Desai, the aforementioned teachers and many more.

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For me the practice is a mirror of how I breathe through life. In my classes I have a gentle and quiet approach with the main focus on the rhythm and sound of the breath and the harvesting from each inhale and exhale.

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Thian teaches Tuesday Mysore 7-9AM.

How I got here -  I can't say I fully understand how I got here, but I can say that yoga helps me understand it better. 

 

I found Ashtanga, and/or Ashtanga found me around 2016 through my then girlfriend Elena, whom some of you will know because she practiced with Maxi during that period. Martial arts and fighting was my main discipline at the time but I did see the value of "stretching" and "being flexible" and I was in chronic pain, so when she put me in a couple asanas the value was evident. 

 

In 2019 we traveled to Mysore, India and through a rather serendipitous turn of events I found my teacher Satinder S. Khalsa who solidified my practice of full primary in a couple of weeks. He was telling me daily to stop fighting everything, which upset me because it was true. But only several years later, after discovering the extent to which I had beaten up my body, did I start paying attention. 

 

Having officially joined Bhumi in 2020, Maxi helped me peel off several of these layers of armor that were so tightly wrapped around my identity they were literally choking me. At that time and many years before I was only able to take full complete breaths whenever I was doing strenuous exercise at an elevated heart rate. The funny thing is, I was "strong" and "fit" in some sense, but weak in another. I could work out hard for 20-30 hours a week but struggled to cook a meal for 10 minutes without back pain and a tension headache. 

 

During the last couple of years I have been working my way through the necessary health challenges, coming to terms with the conditioning that led me to this point in my life. Sometimes losing faith, sometimes questioning everything, at one point quitting Ashtanga forever, at another realizing that it's not the practice that's the problem. 

 

Now my practice serves as the foundation for pretty much everything I do. It has helped me pick my battles more carefully, understanding that my capacity for action is limited. It has helped me cultivate a different relationship with life that is less adversarial and more communicative, turning a rather cold heart into a warmer, more open one. Ironically, I think these are the character traits of a warrior I was always looking for and I am finding them by giving up fighting. Isn't that something? 

 

Anyway, that's a bit about my journey and "how I got here". I'm glad Maxi is willing to give me the opportunity to now bring value to the journey of others. This feels like the right time and place to do so for me, and I hope for you too. 

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Lex is assisting Maxi once or twice per week and he is looking forward to teaching Saturday soon.