Benita Kropman on her nomadic lifestyle, neighbours with cows, and long outswims in the ocean
The physiotherapist who founded the Lyno® Method writes about travelling with elite athletes, too much luggage, and always questioning everything.
1 Which childhood experiences have shaped your career?
My father worked for the parliament when I was at school, and we moved between Cape Town and Pretoria every six months. At the age of twelve I went to boarding school in Cape Town and eventually went to study physiotherapy in the Free State. I think it was all the moving around and being on my own since such an early age which taught me to be flexible and curious and to always question everything.
2 You’ve spent a lot of time travelling with athletes. Could you elaborate?
In 1995 I opened a private practice in Stellenbosch, focusing on sports injuries and specifically elite athletes. It was at the time when international athletes from all over the world came to train in Stellenbosch to prepare for the summer season in Europe and the US. I soon ended up spending time in the UK to continue working with the athletes during the athletic season and travelled with the athletes to the big marathons like London, New York, and Boston. It was amazing to meet all the big names in athletics and to be part of their world – to see what extreme dedication it takes to reach the top and to stay at the top.
3 You and your husband, Jeremy, have a nomadic lifestyle. How did this come about?
I started to teach my new method to therapists in Germany, the UK, South-Korea and Brazil, which meant that I was away from home and from my practice for long periods each year. We eventually decided to sell our house and close the practice and to become nomads. I have developed an online course which makes it easier for travelling, although I still teach practical courses abroad. We have a long bucket list of countries that we have always wanted to visit and we now get to do exactly that. We hope to travel at least ten more years.
4 What are the joys and the challenges of this lifestyle?
We always try to stay in one country for two to three months at a time and we normally rent a little local house where we can become part of the local community. We also prefer to stay in rural areas where life is slower, where it is safe and where there is a good sense of community. We have a few credentials: there must be great running routes, the community must be authentic and traditional, there must be good Wifi and we must have access to good, fresh food as we cook for ourselves. Our last three stays were in Thailand, India and Kenya, and each of them offered a different lifestyle and traditions. On our last stay in Iten, Kenya, the home of all the Kenyan Champions, our neighbours had cows and chickens and we got fresh milk, vegetables, eggs and fruit from them. I also opened a little Lyno practice at our house where I worked with local upcoming athletes to help them get rid of chronic injuries. I also started to train up the local physios to work more holistically, while Jeremy organized a trail running camp for foreign runners who wanted the Kenyan experience.
The only real challenge in the beginning was to learn not to travel with too much luggage as many domestic airlines do not allow more than 15kg of luggage. We now easily fit our whole life into that margin!
Benita explains how the Lyno Method can relieve chronic pain and recurring injuries by releasing unresolved trauma.
Auroville in India
5 One of the places you find fascinating and will be revisiting soon is Auroville, the City of Dawn, in India. Do tell us more.
We have often travelled to India in the past ten years and absolutely love it. We decided this time to go to the less touristy east coast and landed in Auroville by accident. Auroville was established in the late 60’s as a town where people from all over the world will come and live a life of higher consciousness, something that reflects in all the aspects of the society. The area allocated to Auroville in the 60’s was a flat, eroded area with no vegetation. They immediately started to plant trees and today Auroville is one huge forest, a beautiful and safe place to walk and cycle. It is the most amazing community, consisting of around 4000 inhabitants, all with the same values and morals and all offering their skills to the community. We attended some wonderful workshops and concerts while we were there and we are now going back to attend some courses and to teach the Lyno course there.
6 Amongst other things, Jeremy is your co-facilitator when you teach the Lyno Method all over the world. What makes him such a good companion?
I have always been a nomad at heart, while Jeremy was rooted deeply in Cape Town, with a large circle of friends that had known each other since childhood. It was therefore more difficult for him to adjust to this lifestyle, but today, six years later, he seems to crave it almost more than me. He is a very keen and dedicated runner and I have kept him on the road with Lyno since the 90’s. He has joined so many of my courses and claims to be the most advanced Lyno practitioner apart from me. When I teach bigger groups, he is always keen to assist me on the course.
7 I believe you’re a grandmom! What is it like?
I just love being a grandmom! I have an eight-year-old grandson and four-year-old granddaughter. We have a very fun and solid relationship and talk almost every day, especially just before bedtime. They follow our travels on their globe and we can’t wait for them to be old enough to join us during school holidays.
8 How do you like to reload your batteries?
Nothing works better for me than a long outswim in the ocean or a solo walk in a forest. We try to always stay in areas where it is safe for me to move around in nature.
About Benita
Physiotherapist Benita Kropman is the founder and director of The Lyno® Method, a holistic approach to solving chronic pain and recurring injuries by identifying fascia restrictions and facilitating their release.
Benita and her husband, Jeremy, travel the world, offering training in different locations.
Website, where you can also find a practitioner or information on training:
Facebook: Benita Kropman Lyno Method
LinkedIn: Benita Kropman
Thumbnail image: Pexels
Photographs of Benita Kropman: supplied