Special Highlight
September 30 to Ocotober 7 2019
Bowspring: Breath in Motion Yoga Retreat
8 days and 7 Nights at The Sanctuary with a daily series of Bowspring offerings, working with the details of the algorithm to the creative, intuitive freedom within each one of us. We will seek to touch all areas of our being; physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Starting the day with a morning ceremony and meditation, twice daily practice, hiking in the rolling hills of Umbria, pasta making and eating plus delicious nutritional tasty fusion meals from our amazing chef, .Chill out by the pool and gaze at the empty, tranquil landscape by day and the stars by night. Spontaneous dance parties, fireside chats for meaningful connections and breath work that will leave you breathless .Jennifer and Elisha cannot wait to take you on this journey to collectively open your hearts, minds and beings. Experience your lives fully, intimately and with deep vulnerability. Come breath, move and connect with us and create memories that will last a lifetime.
Jennifer Metzger - Munich Germany
Jennifer beams light and dedication in all that she does. Her movement journey began with Hatha Yoga in 2001 as an attempt to alleviate her chronic hip pain. After two years of practice, she knew she was destined to teach movement and yoga and became a teacher. In 2002 she studied Wu Thai Chi and Chi Gong at the Chan Dao Academy in Regensburg acquiring 200 hours with her Master Teacher, Theo Schmidt, for whom she is eternally grateful to for teaching her the truth of patience and humility. His teachings and words are often prevalent in her offerings today. In 2011, Jennifer found Anusara Yoga and pursued this lineage intensely, 600 hours with various different teachers. She then went on to study 200 hours of Ashtanga with Michael Durant Schabort and Iyengar Yoga with Michael Forbes. There is no question that Jennifer was not fully immersed in her yogic studies and path. It wasn’t until May of 2016 that she found Bowspring, where she participated in a Bowspring workshop in Marbella, Spain. After her first class, she noticed that she had felt engagement in her glutesopenness in her entire body. She felt light, vibrant, and was elated- she could not stop smiling and rejoicing. This was the weekend that changed her life and the way she moved. After 8 weeks of short, dedicated practices, her chronic hip pain disappeared, her joints felt better, her glutes and legs were getting beautifully toned and lifted, and her skin became more elastic. Three years later, Jennifer stands behind bowspring as the most therapeutic practice she has found to date, with her body continually becoming more toned, strong, and energized. To this date, she has studied with the creators, Desi Springer and John Friend, over 200 hours.
Elisha Jane - Victoria Canada
Elisha has been exploring movement since she was young driven to expand her potential and horizons in all areas of life. She began practicing yoga in 2007 and the health and spiritual seeds began to grow. She fell in love wiht yoga the way it moved her inside and out. She dedicated herself to the practice fully. In 2013, she visited Costa Rica to pursue her dream of becoming a yoga instructor where she attained a 300 hour certification at Nosara Yoga Institute. Central America captured her heart so she decided to stay in the area and moved to Nicaragua and taught across the country at various yoga studios for two years before returning home to Victoria Canada. In 2015 Elisha accidentally landed in a yoga class that was sprinkled with Bowspring taught by Jonathan Boyd. At this time, Bowspring was newly created by the founders Desi Springer and John Friend. This class caused quite a disturbance in bother her mind and body as Bowspring was contradicting most of what she thought that she knew to be true in terms of body mechanics, movement and alignment. This particular moment in time her body was also breaking down -her flexors were screaming and her back was on its way to a herniated disc from her very intensive yoga practice; a yoga practice that was breaking her body.Her initial resistance to the practice was short lived, as once she committed to the alignment and pulsing, therapeutic movements of Bowspring, her injuries began to disappear and she was back to her fiery, full moving practices again. Three months into practicing Bowspring, Elisha felt stronger and more fit in her practice than ever and she even managed to catch the elusive handstand that she had been trying so hard for years. The healing qualities, challenge and the scientific sense of the practice were enough not have her
totaly transact to only practicing and teaching Bowspring. As Elisha believes, the proof is in the pudding, it’s hard to argue with something that completely up-levels your movement, fitness and ease. Elisha has been fully dedicated to teaching and practicing Bowspring since 2015 and has trained with her teachers; Desi Springer and John Friend, extensively and globally. Her newest passion, breath work, is taking her heart by storm. She is in love with the ceremony and healing potential of the breath, and has begun studying Conscious Connected Breath work. She also has the intentions of training with WimhHof, as she is inspired by cold immersion and cold therapy, as well as she thinks WimHof’s style of breath work is completely invigorating. Elisha brings fire, love and creative sequencing to all of her classes teaching from an experiential space of embodiment in practice and heart.
Interview with Jennifer Metzger
Why should someone do Bowspring?
Bowspring is finding and returning to our natural form and movements of our body. You can see this anywhere at a playground of young children and how freely and easily they move. Bowspring is a total acceptance of the individual body by working with the double – S curve of the spine and bringing everything back into balance By moving the body in this direction we will feel challenged but at the same time we will not have heavy shoulders, pressure on the neck or lower back anymore.
Bowspring is easy to integrate into our daily life movements, as in walking, picking items off the floor or even vacuuming. Everything becomes lighter and with less effort. Tension is released and one learns how to keep their body free from stress which is a grave concern of everyone today. Eventually, you will receive tremendous benefits in both your body and mind.
What is the difference between traditional Yoga and Bowspring?
The movement in traditional Yoga is in an alignment of a straight line mostly corresponding with the energy lines in the body. The flattening of our chest, the pulling of our shoulder blades together, the tucking in of our tailbone and finally the pulling of our chin down to maintain a straight head. After that there is a stretch in one line, we make our body straight. The affect for many people in the western world are overstretched groin areas because we have stretched our bones out of the groins.
In Bowspring , the body is seen in a 3 dimensional natural Form. We do not want to change this. The first principal is “radiant heart” a widening from the center of your heart space/chest. We pulsate, jump or whip into our poses, which activates and opens up the Myofascia of our body in which holds everything together. When the tension of the Myofascia becomes in balance we never need to put pressure on our groins again. This is the Bowspring healing the body.
What are the benefits of Bowspring?
Through the pulsation the tight parts of our body will release and we will have more space and opening. The body gets softer but at the same time stronger. We start to smile and be in a good mood. Another benefit is the widening of the heart space and belly which then creates more space for all organs. Imagine the joy your organs will have and what a difference it will make in their efficiency. By experiencing the lightness in our body a great deal of tension will be released and depleted from the body. You will also experience a strengthening of the gluts, thighs and triceps which will become harder and stronger.
I should not forget another major benefit of Bowspring which is the psychic benefit of mindfulness, clarity, enhance performance, healthy aging sensitivity and much more.
Come and join Bowspring and get happy about all the benefits it gifting you!
