Bowspring in Switzerland – 2018

This month we spent 2 weeks sharing Bowspring with yoga studios in Switzerland – a wonderful week with the Swiss French of Nyon, Switzerland on Lake Geneva followed by another extraordinary week with the Swiss Germans of Worb near Bern. Each place has its own distinctive culture and language, yet both areas of Switzerland are naturally gorgeous with pristinely civilized towns where we were greeted with 3 kisses on our cheeks.

Andrea has found that the most receptive yoga students are in their 40’s or older who have practiced a lot of yoga in the past and now are willing to try a new alignment since they are tired of the injuries and the chronic pain. She informs students that although the Bowspring looks simple, it isn’t easy and it takes time to gain proficiency in the method, especially if they have been practicing Modern Postural Yoga for a few years. Andrea says that adopting Bowspring into mainstream yoga is “slow but steady” as more and more students are opening their minds to a new alignment paradigm for a higher level of mind-body health.In Worb, Switzerland at Eliane Grunder’s studio for Yoga and Pilates, our weekend workshop included half a dozen students who came because of positive reports that they read on the Internet and from the testimonials of other global Bowspring students.

Eliane has taught yoga and Pilates for 16 years and fitness training for 26 years, and now believes after one year of Bowspring practice that curvy, springy alignment with a focus on fascia is the wave of the future. Eliane shared with us that her students “feel more open, stronger, happier” after a year of Bowspring practice. She told us, that with the Bowspring “the hips and the shoulders have more space, and the students’ backs are more flexible.”During our week in Worb, we gained more insight from Eliane on how to effectively integrate Bowspring alignment into Modern Postural Yoga and Pilates classes. In the last year, Eliane has been increasingly ‘Bow-sprinkling’ – including a few Bowspring exercises and alignments into both her yoga and Pilates classes. Interestingly, Eliane pointed out that typically Pilates students accept the Bowspring alignment quicker than traditional yoga students. The Pilates students are looking for building their core strength and if they feel that are getting stronger with Bowspring then they are not attached to the old alignment methods.However, Eliane observed that, \”for advanced yoga students it’s more difficult to go some steps back to learn new postures instead of doing classical asanas. The strong and linear alignment was so logical and imprinted in the students brain and body. So it takes time and passion and patience for the students and the teacher to go the curvy, wavy, natural way! But it’s worth and liberating for all and everybody can apply the postural algorithm in their everyday lives.\”

One of the students in our weekend workshop – a 50+ years old man – stated, “For me as a beginning student of the Bowspring, the theory and practice were well balanced. Desi and John transmitted the motivation behind Bowspring in a clear and promising way, so all of us thought that we could benefit from this new alignment system.” Then the practice of the Bowspring in the most basic functional movements – walking, sitting down, standing up and getting down and up from the floor – gave the students the direct experience of lightness and agile power with freedom from some of their chronic pains.We loved our time in Switzerland with such dear people and excellent students. We are so happy that Bowspring is now growing there and we will be able to return for future trainings!Thanks so much to the Freely family in Nyon, and to Ruth and Stephan in Worb for their loving hosting!