That feeling wasn’t the greatest. I was riding events on painkillers and back at home it wasn’t fun anymore to ride or to do sports because it hurt. But I’m a fighter and I dealt with it. I think when things like that happen with your body it is a sign to stop, have a break and change the situation you are in…but I did not listen to those signs! When I switched my brain off and tried to jump the whole box in Whistler at Crankworx in 2004, ‘luckily’ only my foot and ligaments broke, which finally gave me time to deal with my body.
My stressful six year relationship broke up too, so it was an even better reason to pack my little backpack and travel to Asia for three months. I did not really have a clue where to go, but I’m sometimes lucky and gifted when it comes to finding the right spot or meeting the right people at the right time! I was in an internet cafe in Chang Mai and typed in ‘Yoga’ and ‘Thai Chi’ in the Google machine. I chose a place called Tao Garden, where an older Thai woman told me that my ligaments were so tight from my sport and that was the reason for my back pain…and that my tail bone was bent from a crash. This combination had messed up my system up a lot.
She helped me with my problems and I learned more about my body, did Chi Gung, Thai Chi, talked to body workers and natural healers, which helped put me in the right direction. When I got home I started to look for good Yoga teachers because it seemed more suited to me than Chi Kung and Thai Chi.
Back in Berlin (where I live) I switched from conventional medicine to natural healers and learned that my immune system was in a serious situation after having big Injuries all the time and taking antibiotics, which suppress the symptoms but don’t do anything about the cause…and they kill all the good bacteria in your body too.
My pain came from all the crashes that where stored in my body which had become ‘energy blockages’. Also I had pain from not stretching my ligaments and having stress in general. The mental aspect is a huge part of what goes on in your body. This is another thing that conventional medicine does not do very well, it does not connect your body with your mind and spirit. Conventional medicine looks only at the body part that is hurt and does not see the whole system. For example, a bike rider that crashed, twisted his back and had a little concussion goes to hospital. He gets scans and the doctors tell him ‘it is OK, nothing is broken’ and he goes home with pain killers. A body worker would find out that two vertebrae are blocked and that nothing is flowing anymore, that is why he is so tired, because the liquid in the vertebrae does not reach his brain anymore and his neck muscles are super tight from the concussion (Craniosacral Therapy works really well when you have concussions).
I’m not against the conventional medicine, it’s very helpful in many situations and much needed. I m just a bit angry at the system. For example, I had cut my kidney seriously at the 1997 Backyard Jam in the UK. I stayed in hospital in Brighton for two weeks, had really good doctors, and I was close to being operated on four times! Then I went to a hospital in Berlin and they wanted to cut me open right away, take my kidney out, just to make money! Or they wanted me to pay for strong antibiotics, but not for any natural medicine that really does help.
