I’ve been having back pain for a long time. I’m realizing now that I was able to silence the pain more, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t present. However, by learning the AEQ method®, I understand that when I tried to silence my back pain, I managed to overlook a part of myself.

The pain came and also completely disappeared at different time intervals throughout my life. I was very active in sports, and my body was strong, but the most important muscles were very weak because I had the wrong approach to the sport.

Modern medicine is currently treating this disease with anti-inflammatory and anti-pain pills. In other words, Naklofen or two per day. When your stomach gets damaged, they apparently replace the pills. My colleague secretly got me (because I am not a member of the pharmacological society) to a lecture on spondylitis, where I got a confirmation about what I had read on the Internet. In short. It starts with the stiffness of the lower back, or the small of the back, and continues with the ossification of the spine. Modern medicine is currently unable to cure this disease, and tablets can only slow down its progression and relieve the symptoms.

I took Naklofen pills for one year, and then my stomach told me that it had enough, and I listened to it. I talked a lot about this with my personal physician and thank God that he was willing to listen to me having thoughts about trying some kind of “alternative” method (although I do not know for how long we would still be using this term »alternative«). He told me that he didn’t know the methods, but he supported me in trying them and that he regretted that I would have to pay the therapy from my own pocket.

I first encountered the AEQ method® two years ago. At my first visit, Aleš didn’t talk much about what could or couldn’t be done. In a way, I like that because I believe anything can be done if you set your mind to it, and in this way, he also lets the client choose whether one really wants to do it. And so, we started with exercises that we later named the learning, which is, by the way, the correct term. Many things were happening during the two-year learning process. There are times you are progressing and wondering if it’s worth it and times when you move nowhere. In addition to working on your body, you also learn how to be patient, disciplined, persistent, and you realize how life is. As for me, I noticed that the main problem was in the pelvic region. The muscles in that area were blocked. I compensated mobility of the pelvic area with other areas, which explains the pain in other areas of the spine. I could say that the muscles froze in a certain moment or a period and then remembered that as the right and better condition to be in. Conscious learning makes you learn differently, too. You become aware of the situation and set up new criteria of correctness with tiny moves. Further, by raising the awareness of your physical part, you also raise your awareness of the spiritual part at the same time; so many things have been happening during the continuing learning process.

Today, I can say that I’m learning the new walking, new skiing, new hiking… I have more power and energy because I have improved the use of my muscles (the correct and optimal use of muscles); the muscles are more relaxed. By learning the AEQ method®, you get to know your body and through your body yourself as well. It’s becoming clearer and clearer to you how the muscles should work and why a certain muscle should be prolonged and the other shortened in a certain motion, so you can explore yourself more and correct yourself. All this also helps you become more self-aware in other areas. Today, the pain has significantly decreased, or sometimes I’m even pain-free. The second MRI result is significantly better. In addition, the phrase ankylosing spondylitis doesn’t appear in this MRI report anymore.

I am not claiming that the AEQ method® is the only method for treating spondylitis, but if only one person with this kind of problem reads this article and decides to learn the method to solve this kind of problems, I will be happy, just as happy as I am for myself.

Andrej Udovč, Kranj