The Hero’s Path — Bowspring weekend workshop with John Friend
Workshop venue: Switchboard, 801 Shelby St. in Fountain Square, Indianapolis, IN 46203
This is a 9-hour, 4-class Bowspring course for all levels of students, who may register for Friday night, two Saturday classes or the full weekend.
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The student walks the path of the Hero, not towards a fixed destination or fate, but in the upward direction of self-knowledge, skill, wisdom, integrity, and mastery over years.
The Hero’s Path can be marked by 4 distinct periods of time or Turnings in which 4 major virtues are highlighted in order to empower the Hero to skillfully handle the various challenges of each period along the path.
Friday – Nov. 22: 6:30-8:30 pm ET – Courage — Radiant Heart — Central Channel & Ribcage
Saturday – Nov. 23: 10:00 am – Noon ET – Resilience — Source Current — Shoulders
Saturday – Nov. 23: 2:00-4:00 pm ET – Wisdom — Freedom Current — Hips
Sunday – Nov. 24: 10:00 am – 1:00 pm ET — Integrity — Pulsation — mind-body therapeutics
- Sunday’s 3-hour class is only open to students who register for full workshop.
4 Stages of the Hero’s Path:
- The first stage of the Hero’s path is highlighted by the shocking revelation of a major challenge in life. The key virtue that is required to be cultivated at this critical cross-roads in order to truthfully face the challenge to take the Hero’s path is courage. To start to learn a new paradigm of alignment like Bowspring, the practice requires an open mind to postural ideas which contradict what we have all been taught is “correct.” And the practice takes a fortitude of heart to open to our unconscious somatic shadows and unhealthy patterns of alignment.
- The second stage of the Hero’s path is focused on steady, diligent practice to cleanse and refine body and mind. The key virtue required at this stage for the student is resiliency and determination to keep climbing the path of transformation, redemption, and mastery. Skills including concentration, mindfulness, temperance, and discipline are cultivated at this stage of the Hero’s path to meet the resistance of old, unhealthy habits.
- The third stage of the Hero’s path reflects a level of experience of practice in which there is a cultivation of wisdom to navigate new level of challenges in life more skillfully. For the Bowspring practice, students at this level of experience refine their ability to work wise, not work hard. The practice becomes more graceful and fluid, while being more powerful with less effort.
- The fourth stage of the Hero’s path represents the cultivation of integrity in practice and in life. This is a level of practice in which the student has gained proficiency and excellence such that they become an inspiring teacher or honorable role model. In the Bowspring practice, the student has gained a higher degree of self-control, self-knowing, and the skillfulness to create more harmony, health, and happiness in their life.
