A summer convergence: bringing together acrobatics, healing arts and yoga

The European Convergence – bringing together acrobatics, healing arts and yoga into eight day gathering

When: Monday 30th July to Tuesday 7th August 2012

Where: Wytwónia Ciszy (Label Silence Centre), Uniejów Poland.

Cost: €650 (includes all teaching, accommodation and food does not include transfers to and from the venue)

Five European, phenomenally experienced & renowned teachers are collaborating to bring you a unique offering to explore the infinite possibilities of the human form. A chance to grow, to play, to heal and be.

We are offering a chance to delve deeper into the practices of yoga, acrobatics and the healing arts of Thai massage and flying therapeutics. This retreat will be the perfect exploratory lab for passionate acro-bodyworker squirrels.

The teachers: –

Yohann Guichard – Our Thai Massage Guru
* With 10 years Thai massage teaching experience.
* His focuses are harmonizing yin & yang, movement & stillness, to reaching balance.
* The core of his teaching is the union of yoga alignments, anatomy knowledge & Zen contemplation.
* He is an endless grace and ease seeker; sharing the Thai massage tools for body expansion.

 

 

Thorsten Bohle – Our Acro-Balancing Maestro
* With 19 year experience in acrobatic balancing.
* He adores the creative processes in discovering new acrobatic tricks and is a gifted wizard in breaking down complicated & elaborate tricks.
* He is a virtuoso with all manner of head balances!
* As a trained carpenter he will be one of our resident forest monkeys.

 

 

Lorenzo Becchi – Our Flying Therapeutics Sage
* Has explored the field of personnel development therapies for the past 10 years and trained in Chinese medicine & acupuncture.
* He has been exploring and teaching the techniques of flying therapeutics for the past four years.
* He is passionate, dedicated and enlightened soul who is devoted to the flow of what life has to offer.

 

Jasper Herrman – Our Acrobatic Genius
* Has been practicing acrobatics for 15 years & is also a trained school teacher which enables him to teach to all age ranges.
* He finds joy is inventing new acrobatic tricks, breaking them down in terms of timing, forwards & backwards; Ikaren & understanding the dynamics air time and popping.
* He also likes to explore the communication, collaboration & cooperation of partner acrobatics.

 

 

Jaqui Wan – Our Yoga Junkie
* She has had a consistent & ongoing relationship with hatha yoga 15 years and has been teaching for past six years.
* She is fascinated with the movement of the body, from the perspective of myofascial anatomical trains; she is also a task master and will enable you to discover your physical potential.
* She a committed advocate for play so will one of our resident forest jesters.

 

Frequently asked questions

Getting to & from the venue: 

The nearest serving airport to the Wytwónia Ciszy is Łódź Airport which flys to number of European cities and all over the world.

Transfers from Łódź Airport to Uniejów (52km) can be done by a regular weekday local bus service that takes about an hour and from there you will be picked up and taken on a short ride to the venue.  More detailed information on transfers will follow shortly.

What to bring:

Please bring with you enough clothing to practice and lounge in for about one week.  Bring a warm layers for the possible cool nights, sun block of your skin is sensitive to the sun, toiletries, a towel any medication that you regularly take and any other items you can not live without for a week and that you can legally carry in and out of the country.  Please bring your own towel and indoor shoes with you.

What we want from you:

All registered participants will be asked to complete an online questionnaire for your contact details, emergency contacts, dietary needs and other requirements you may have.  Please complete this form once you have made your payment.

Payment Options

To secure your place on this convergence you are required to either pay in full or pay a deposit of €300 via paypal. The outstanding balance can either be paid via paypal or cash upon arrival. Discounts are available to teachers and participants from the Barcelona Yoga Conference and French Acrobatics Convention as well as teachers upon agreement from one of the teaching team.

AcroYoga August Get-Away

August Get-Away with Erica Montes and Jaqui Wan

This event has been postponed until further notice.

When: Friday 10th to Monday 13th August 2012

Where: Ananda Healing Centre, Peacehaven B10 8AA UK

Cost: £175 camping or £195 room share before 5th July or £195 camping or £220 room share after.

A fantastic opportunity to spend your Spring Bank Holiday delving into the world of AcroYoga.

The weekend will include teaching & instruction from Erica Montes & Jaqui Wan. It is inclusive food, camping facilities and limited accommodation on a first come first serve basis & station transfers.

We will have in store for you evenings of kirtan and music, a bodywork extravaganza, a beach day, a big hot tub and abundance of play and fun.

Come and do something different this Spring Bank Holiday.

The Centre will be a catering for vegans only and will be a drug and alcohol free zone.

Any questions about the venue please contact info@awakeningtruth.com

Any questions on the teaching please contact jaquiwan@me.com

Registration is required please complete the questions on the following link

UK retreat with Jaqui October 2011

A Yoga & AcroYoga Weekend with Jaqui

When: Friday 5pm 30th September to Sunday 3pm 2nd October 2011

Where: Chinmayi Retreat Center, located in Newton, Rugby Warwickshire.

Price: £200 (early bird discount of £25 if booked before the 1st August 2011)

This weekend is aimed as a 48hour opportunity to focus on your physical asana (posture) practice, in preparation for the coming autumn/winter months.   We together will emphases on strength and flexibility, as well as most definitely play and a lot of fun!!

The venue is beautiful space, located in central England, with a dedication as typified in its name Chimayi – bestower of bliss, to bring you out of your busy lives to just “check in”!

So what’s included in the price?

  • 10 hours plus of yoga / acroyoga instruction combined,
  • shared accommodation,
  • full board all meals included,
  • station transfers
  • limited to 10 students only.
  • does not include transport to the nearest train station Rugby.
  • For more information please do contact me.


    Vipassana

    Post Vipassana,…

    Having done a small number of ten day vipassana sits before I was looking forward to it with some nervousness.  The 4am starts, the commitment to refrain from speaking (apart from in my head), to not  do any form of exercise apart from walking and lastly but not least sitting on my meditation cushion for hours upon hours,…

    This was my first Satipatthana sit at the constantly evolving and expanding European Long Course Centre of Dhamma Padana in Hereford.  To my surprise I had a self contained unit, room with attached bathroom.  The meals were to be provided breakfast at 6.30am and lunch 11am and that would be it for the rest of the day.  One of the rules being as an ‘old student’ (some one who has sat at last one ten day course) one abstains from eating after 12 noon.  However, its worth noting that whilst there were 50 students on this past retreat.  There are plans to increase the capacity of the center to 100 with a purpose build pagoda complete with individual cells for each person to meditate in private.  Big plans but for sure they are getting there with the help of volunteers and all through public donations.

    Anyhow, back to my sit, the Satipatthana course was only eight days long rather than ten, with the evening discourse focusing on the Maha Satipatthana Sutta.  I guess the reason its shorter is that there are no new students and the assumption being old students would work harder.  Obviously it is questionable whether this is true for me.

    So what came up as I sat on that meditation cushion, my instructions from Goenkaji were to observe rather react to the sensations in the body beginning with Anapana, awareness of the breath and its sensations below the nostrils above the upper lip.  Then after day three move on to Vipassana complete bodily awareness and observation.

    The intention of this practice is to address the route cause of suffering through what Goenkaji (left) calls our cravings and aversions and this is perpetuated through our old habit patterns of the mind of wanting and not wanting.  By sitting and observing the body, one is in theory able to dismantle these patterns.

    So what happened?  At the start of every sit focus breath, sensations,.. within seconds my mind is off wondering through the draws of uncompleted tasks and projects I have left behind in London.  Its either that or my body decides to completely shut down as it assumes as there is nothing to be thinking about apart from observing the body then it might as well fall asleep.  Nodding off is incredibly easy for me to do in meditation, a bit like doing savasana (corpse pose) in hatha yoga, but unlike yoga you are supposed to be sitting upright and I was constantly jolting myself awake from the fear of head butting the floor.

    You would assume that sitting and doing nothing but sitting, upright with the straight back would be relatively straight forward.  Well the number of physical discomforts in my body during previous courses are numerous and this most recent was no different.  It was this that most nerved me ‘OK so what pain am I doing to go through this time?’  As predicted it happened.  First it was my shoulders, then ankles and then hips and of course the rounded slumped back and the crocked neck.  Having to observe and not react to these physical discomforts was really challenging.  Goenkaji guided me with his vibrational tones of being equanimous and that all things are changing and it will all pass.  There are several time that I don’t quiet believe him.

    By day five or six the physical discomforts of sitting and the perpetual nodding off are subsiding however, the my mind is having a fantastic time roaming from one thought to the next.  I was surprised at the number of mundane things that can come up like cleaning the inside of my car to sorting out my sock drawer to recycling my old clothes,.. the power of the frittering mind is phenomenal.  All in the avoidance of observing the sensations of the body.

    Whilst sitting, I realise that what is happening on my meditation cushion is a reflection of what is going on in my outside world.  The inability to focus and the persistent ability to procrastinate.  I have made a decision this has to change.  How I plan to do this is, I guess for another blog entry but mediation is definitely in the picture.  I am grateful to have sat on this course and am now wondering when can I do another?  Oh the wanting continues,…

    Satipatthana Sutta Vipassana

    Posted 8th December 2010

    Am both looking forward and dreading my forthcoming vipassana sit, the aim is to quieten my busy mind and allow me to focus on the more important things in life!  So will update you on my developments post 18th December,…

    The Italian Job

    Tak One

    One big happy family

    What an amazing week long holiday with Jaqui and her yoga friends.

    Our villa, surrounded by vast swathes of nature – mountains, rivers and the sea, reminded me of my lovely hometown in Japan and with the owners Paul and Paola treating us like family; the whole experience was overtly welcoming. The focus of this holiday was the amazing yoga lessons by Jaqui who is an incredible woman; her stamina and determination are truly inspirational. Although I see her once or twice a week at her regular class, she totally changed my overall thinking on what Yoga is all about both  physically and mentally. I was immensely impressed the way she prepared to the finest details an excellent curriculum on personal body and mind improvements. I can’t thank you enough for making this a truly memorable holiday.

    I would also like to thank all the members of the group who both took care of and encouraged me to undertake this – something I never thought I could do alone.

    Written by Takako Yoshihara

    Our studio

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