With so much to gain from yoga, for the body and mind together, there is even more to gain from the Bowspring yoga method. It focuses on so many different areas of the body that it works to benefit as a body-mind postural method and lifestyle practice. Overall, it focuses on developing the natural curves of the body for increased agility while also alleviating chronic pains. You have access to a much lighter physical feeling in response to this method, creating radiant health and well-being along with positive energy. Bowspring is all about optimal alignment through and through.
Bowspring yoga was created by Desi Springer with the goal of moving away from standard alignment models of modern postural yoga. In 2012, Desi Springer started to experiment in uncharted waters, moving away from the practice of ‘tucking’, and opening up a whole new postural form. The following year, she teamed up with fellow yogi John Friend, founder of Anusara yoga in 1997. With all of this together from the two of them, Bowspring yoga became added to an overall global community of more than 120 teachers in over 17 countries.
The Bowspring yoga method incorporates mindful and exact movements in set sequences of postures, alongside therapeutic breathing exercises. The practice promotes the natural curves of our bodies, particularly in the geometric relationship between the heart, hips, and head.
For optimal postural alignment set forms are used in every Bowspring pose, including movements such as kneeling, sitting down or standing up each work with a set pattern composed of Elemental forms including Bow, Arch, and Twist. As you master these base forms, they build an increasingly challenging, complex and enriching Bowspring yoga practice.
The Bowspring shape is a curvy posture, involving a double-S curve all through the back. The neck is curved, lengthened and tilted back. The sides of the body curve inward so the proportion between bust, waist, and hips form an hourglass shape. Bowspring yoga addresses the human failure to relax your backs, typically only done while sleeping. Bowspring works to create a balanced, and harmonious function of the whole.
The Bowspring yoga method helps students awaken ten key areas of the body:
- Ribcage
- Shoulders
- Arms
- Hands
- Hips
- Legs
- Feet
- Waist
- Neck
- Head
Once each of these areas of the body can be isometrically engaged, allowing you to fuse all parts by using a set sequence of alignments.
These ten areas are then grouped into five subsystems:
- Heart (ribcage)
- Wings (shoulders, arms, and hands)
- Roots (hips, legs, and feet)
- Apple-cores (waist/lower back/belly, and neck/throat)
- Crown (head)
With all of these areas and the sets of poses, Bowspring yoga aligns the body through open postures. It encourages a position of readiness, lightness, and fluidity. Offering a natural curvy shape in your body, it results ina spring in your step and uplifts your mood. Other physical benefits include a tapered waist, reduced pain, lightness, and improved agility. Therapeutic benefits include balanced myofascial tonus to improve neuro-glandular imbalances, somatic holdings, and muscular-skeletal injuries.
Other benefits and improvements include:
- The encouragement of mental development
- Increasing the capacity to respond to issues mindfully
- Promotes a dynamically balanced posture
- Students will benefit from and will receive
So, with all of these poses and benefits combining together for the development of the 10 key areas of the body, there is much to gain from all different types of benefits from Bowspring yoga, even more than standard yoga. The course is intended to help each student effectively practice and integrate the fundamental alignments of the Bowspring method for the benefit of both well-being and the improvement of daily functional movements to aid in reducing chronic physical and emotional pain.