Yoga Teachers: Elke Wiedemann

Elke Wiedemann and I are sitting on a bench in the spacious exercise room where she teaches yoga every Monday afternoon at 4:15. She has deep-set, blue-gray eyes, perfect posture and a lilting German accent. A former professional tennis teacher, she still plays, but now it’s yoga that makes her feel, as she says, “really good.”

SPY: When did you start doing yoga?

ELKE: Fifteen years ago. I don’t even remember the name of the class, but it had something to do with health—and if it has something to do with health, I am there! I didn’t know anything about yoga, but after my first hour-and-a-half class, I felt like I was walking on air. It was with Wendy Morrison, who was my mentor. To this minute I remember walking out to my car and thinking, what is this? Why do I feel so good? I took a deep breath, and then it was very simple to know: it was the yoga. I felt so good all around that I said, I’m going to do this more often.

At the time I had lower back issues and was seeing a chiropractor. After six months of taking two yoga classes a week, the backache was gone. Later, when I saw my chiropractor at a health seminar, he said, “I haven’t seen you lately.” And I said, “Doctor, I don’t need chiropracting anymore. My yoga is taking care of everything!” He said, “good for you,” but as a businessman, he knew he had lost a regular customer.

SPY: And you’ve never had to go back?

ELKE (beaming): Never went back!

SPY: Describe your personal yoga practice.

ELKE: As you get older you need yoga stretches even more. I do yoga every morning for a half-hour. But on some days, when there is no half-hour to be had, then I do ten minutes. Based on what has worked so well for me, I recommend to my students that they take class twice a week, and then do some yoga every morning. You don’t need to do a half-hour. Not everybody has that much time, but ten minutes is the minimum. And you can do a lot in ten minutes! Do those stretches that you feel help you the most, and everyday you will see the benefit.

When I travel I always take yoga classes. You can’t meet enough teachers and you can’t try enough forms of yoga. I’m always curious to find out what other teachers are doing.

SPY: What style do you teach?

ELKE:  Hatha yoga. I trained in Anusara, which is a branch of E.K.S. Iyengar yoga.  But to back up a bit, I hadn’t planned to teach. My daughter was visiting and I invited her to come with me to Wendy’s  Monday night class. My daughter wasn’t very interested, but she agreed to come along, and she loved it. Then she just plunged in. She was living in D.C. and took the teacher training in Virginia. Afterwards, she said, “Mom, you can do this, too!” And I thought: I’ll probably be the oldest one, and I don’t know if this is for me, and I’m fine with the way things are right now, I don’t really have to teach it . . ..

And then I thought, why not! I love it so much. I had enjoyed teaching tennis for twenty years. I was a real tennis bum, always on the tennis court. When we moved to Chestertown in 1992, I was still teaching tennis. And then I started doing yoga, and one day I thought, I can’t teach tennis for the rest of my life. And I started leaning more and more into yoga. Now it’s been ten years since I got my yoga teacher’s certification.

SPY: So you’ve always been an athlete?

ELKE: Yes. I’ve always loved outdoor activities. And I still love tennis, but I have to admit that I never feel bad after yoga. I don’t feel bad after tennis, but if you asked me how I feel after a yoga class, I would say, perfect. No aches, no pains.  And if you see me after tennis I might feel good the same day, but the next day, I’m thinking, ah, I overused that shoulder. You just don’t feel 100% well. I also have to say I wouldn’t play tennis as hard as I do if I weren’t doing yoga. The word has spread about yoga and now top athletes swear by it. They do yoga and quite simply they feel better. That’s the best reason for doing it.

SPY: What level is your Monday class?

ELKE: The class is multi-level, but I do welcome beginners. We do some easy poses and some a little more difficult. It’s simple, the more you practice the better you get. But I tell my students, some of whom have been with me for ten years, only do what you can do that day. It should never be painful.

For over a year now I’ve also been teaching two chair-yoga classes to seniors at the Amy Lynn Ferris Adult Activities Center on Morgnec Road, every Monday from 9:30-11:30 a.m.  The classes are large, usually 15-20 students, and they’re free!

But I’ve cut back on teaching. I used to teach three days a week, but my husband is retired and he wanted me to give up teaching so much, to be more available to go sailing with him. I said, well, I suppose I could do that . . ..

Yoga, tennis, sailing—sounds like a great life to this spy! Nevertheless, Elke is quick to point out that yoga is the glue that holds it all together, the ultimate feel-good activity. When something works that well, you’re bound to stick with it.

Elke Wiedemann teaches hatha yoga at the Kent Athletic & Wellness Center every Monday, 4:15 – 5:15. Cost for members is $5 per class; nonmembers pay $8. She teaches chair yoga at Amy Lynn Ferris Adult Activities Center every Monday from 9:30-11:30 a.m.  Classes are free.