Bowspring Europe Tour 2019
This Summer was our 6th year in a row to tour Europe and share the Bowspring method with a growing number of free-thinking students. In a whirlwind 6-week tour, Desi Springer and I taught Bowspring classes, trainings, retreats and workshops in Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, Austria and Italy to a total of almost 300 students. Over the years, the reception to our paradigm-shifting method from the European yoga community has evolved and become much more easeful. For new students introduced to the Bowspring, there is now more receptivity and much less shock and push-back to our wavy, dynamic alignment which is often considered so radically different than the standard model yoga alignment.
One of the main reasons for this progress in effectively introducing the Bowspring to new students in Europe is that now the majority of students in a Bowspring class or workshop have several years of steady Bowspring practice. With so many skilled Bowspring practitioners in a class showing the gracefulness of the springy, wavy alignment, the beginners are naturally swept up into seeing the new alignment as not so strange. The other reason that beginners are more likely to embrace the new alignment without protest or fearful resistance is that the curvy, flowing, animal-like movements are gaining popularity in both yoga and the fitness worlds and aren’t considered so foreign any more!It has been helpful for the new students to hear the uplifting stories of experienced practitioners, who have overcome chronic pains and have dramatically improved their health through the Bowspring practice. The common changes in Bowspringers’ bodies with regular practice – curvier, stronger, more lifted and mounded glutes, and more tapered and longer bellies – are perceived by everyone as naturally more attractive and healthier, so this also helps to inspire new students to give Bowspring an open-minded try.
Another shift in the mindset of the European students to the Bowspring method has occurred over the last few years. Instead of treating the workshops as popular yoga events with a focus on entertainment and fun poses emphasizing degree of flexibility, the European Bowspring students place their primary attention on exploring their own unconscious patterns of somatic closing, which can be emotionally and mentally challenging, and not always pleasurable. Also, students today are willing to practice patience in their Bowspring practice to learn refinements in their mind-body alignment which they understand will help take them to higher levels of vibrant health.
For the new students who come from a yoga background, Bowspring classes may seem too slow and too detailed. It is like learning how to precisely walk after being used to running wild and free for so long. Formost yoga students who feel successful and accomplished in their normal alignment, it is psychologically difficult to seemingly go backwards in their yoga curriculum to unlearn their standard postural alignments and to embody completely new forms of the most basic poses like standing and sitting. However, the experienced Bowspring community in Europe is very enthusiastic about going slow and deep with mindful specificity to learn detailed alignment of small parts of the body like the hands, feet, or the back of the ribcage. They realize how small alignment refinements in the most basic positions can tremendously increase the power of the Bowspring to relieve pain, provide increased athletic performance and greater agility in all functional movements.
Although we went deep into the alignment refinements of the Bowspring, our classes still included a lot of playful exercises like hoppings and fun balancing poses that take everyone to their edge. Yet, the emphasis in the workshops with our mature European Bowspring community is about going deeper in feeling and knowing oneself, both the bright and shadow sides. In this way, we think that the European Bowspring community is doing deeper yoga than ever before.Gratitude to our Bowspring teachers who helped to organize our European tour events:
In Berlin – Liz Coffman & Daan Dragt
In Regensburg, Germany (Tara Yoga) – Katherina Stern
In Spain: Madrid and at the La Lalita retreat center – Montse Fernandez & Christine McArdle (Om Shree Om)
In Worb, Switzerland (EliPT Yoga Studio) – Eliane Grunder
In Copenhagen, Denmark – Medde Vognsen
In Engabrunn, Austria – Christian Wimmer & Dinah Pannos
In Bologna, Italy – Tommoso Patella
Love to all!
John & Desi
