Yin and Yang in the Lübbenau Industrial Park
From Bali to Lübbenau: Yin and Yang in the Industrial Park
Older residents of Lübbenau will surely still remember the former polytechnic center near the power plant—or the barracks camp that used to be there. In the years following reunification, an industrial park for a wide variety of service providers sprang up there, including the Widwan yoga studio, which has been run by Matthias Wittwer and Widwan Wiradnya since 2020.
The lives of the Balinese man and the German man reflect the ways in which destinies can intersect and the coincidences that life can hold: Matthias Wittwer, a trained chef, had worked in Cologne for many years after German reunification and most recently ran a company there that specialized in export packaging. Because his parents, who had remained in Lübbenau, now needed his care, he returned to the East in 2008. He also relocated his company, MW Alu-Verbundhauben, to Lübbenau, to the current industrial park. He sold it in 2022 but still works there as the operations manager. A major turning point in his life came as early as 2018 during a vacation in Bali, because Matthias was looking for a change in his personal life and a committed relationship—and he found it right where he was, through his dating app.
Widwan, from Bali, was also looking for a partner. As he was “swiping through” the app’s profiles, his gaze suddenly lingered a little longer on Matthias’s photo. The two quickly got in touch and felt it was love at first sight. At first, the language barrier made communication difficult; translation apps helped them understand each other. Widwan took a two-month intensive German course and traveled to Lübbenau to be with Matthias shortly afterward. Their last-minute wedding plans in the Spreewald fell through due to unforeseen and unexpected bureaucratic hurdles, so the two decided to get married in Denmark instead. “We were able to get married here within a week,” Matthias reports.
Widwan had a baby supplies store in Bali, which he continued to run at first: To do so, he commuted between Bali and Germany every three months; he later handed the business over to his sister. In the meantime, the idea of running a yoga studio began to take on more and more concrete form. Widwan had already completed several yoga teacher training courses in Bali—knowledge and experience he is eager to share with people in his new home, Lübbenau.
Widwan still remembers his first arrival in Germany. Today, he can put his experiences and first impressions from back then into perspective much better than he could in 2018. Widwan: “The ICE from Frankfurt to Berlin had mechanical trouble; my car had to be removed, so my seat reservation was no longer valid. A very friendly lady then offered me a free seat next to her. Today I know that this chance encounter back then is exactly what Germany—in my perception— “is still what makes it special: Technologically a little behind the times, but with incredibly kind and helpful people—I haven’t met anyone else like them in the years since.”
Another insight has become even more firmly rooted in him through his many yoga sessions. “In Bali, yoga culture is part of everyday life; in Germany, on the other hand, people sometimes still have to learn how to slow down and let go.” My students are well on their way; they’ve also come to understand that there are always two sides, just as there is right and left, good and evil, body and mind, or yin and yang, as we call it—everything belongs together and requires close attention, which I’m happy to help them cultivate.”
Some of the courses are subsidized by health insurance companies; the youngest participant is currently 11, and the oldest is 83. “Men make up only eight percent of the participants, so there’s still plenty of room for growth,” reports Matthias Wittwer. His analogy to yin and yang is quite pragmatic: “We’re both potatoes and rice!”
Yoga participant Peggy Mosch from Lübbenau: “When I started doing yoga two years ago, I didn’t think much of this ‘silly housewife’s exercise’ at first, but Widwan is incredibly respectful in his teaching and caters to each participant individually—the class felt like a mini-vacation in Bali to me; I even had to secretly wipe away a tear of joy!”
Peter Becker, October 27, 26
