THE 2024 THREE BOONS MIDSUMMER YOGA FEST ON RÜGEN ISLAND
THREE BOONS YOGA BERLIN presents…
THE 2024 THREE BOONS MIDSUMMER YOGA FEST
feat. Anja Kühnel, Tara Sullivan, Rob Cigolini & Gerdus Oosthuizen + powered by Alessia from the legendary Jivamukti Canteen
JUNE 20/21-23/24, 2024 ON RÜGEN ISLAND
We are inviting all Three Boons and Jivamukti Yoga students of Berlin, Germany and the whole wide world to celebrate Midsummer, the Summer Solstice and the June full moon of 2024 with us: Yogi*ni style in nature and togetherness with our newly envisioned beautiful little THREE BOONS MIDSUMMER YOGA FEST which we will be holding at our new favorite yoga retreat location on a private mini-island on Rügen island.
Join us for an evolutionary concept of an extended local Jivamukti Yoga summer retreat weekend open for everyone with us gathering in one of the most beautiful nature hide-aways of northern Germany. Our intention is to celebrate and practice yoga with our Three Boons Yoga teacher and student community for a long weekend during this important and powerful apex of the year, when in the year 2024 midsummer and the summer solstice coincide with an auspicious full moon.
We will be gathering, practicing and retreating on our own exclusive private mini-island within big Rügen island. Except, our mini-island and its surrounding bay waters are so remote and empty that it is a popular spot for huge birdlife gatherings. What better company can yogis wish for?
Look forward to a special yoga, workshop and music program with our resident Three Boons teachers Anja, Tara, Rob and Gigi. Responsible for the magic in the kitchen is our beloved Alessia.
In addition to endless nature and birdlife, our mini-island also houses a renaissance manor, a big open roofed outdoor platform surrounded by huge nature meadows and apple orchards and an outdoor sauna.
On the ground floor of the renaissance manor, our legendary Jivamukti Canteen kitchen team will prepare and serve delicious vegan meals for us and classes and events of our yoga fest will mostly take place here, when we do not use the outdoor platform for classes and other events of the yoga fest like outdoor chanting, meditations, moonlight and stargazing, yogic parties or vegan barbecues.
For a full-on midsummer nature immersion and in order to make our Three Boons midsummer yoga fest accessible for more students, we are opening the meadows on our private mini-island on Rügen for students who prefer to bring their own tent or camper and “glamp” in the middle of nature. “Glamp”, because the meadows are not only nature pure but the outdoor platform right next to them also comes with deluxe bathrooms and showers to be used by our glampers. Of course, our yoga fest glampers also have access to the ground floor of the renaissance manor, the vegan meals and all yoga classes; only they sleep right beneath the stars, and the full moon of June 2024.
If camping, even in our nature glamping version, is not for you, we offer beautiful accommodation in our renaissance manor as the option.
What better location and time can we wish for an auspicious start into the summer.
We hope you can join us ;)
RETREAT LANGUAGE:
English (most of our teachers also speak or at least understand German for individual tips/assists/questions)
THE DATES:
Friday, June 21 until Sunday, June 23 (core time of the yoga fest/retreat)
+ a highly recommended optional early arrival on Thursday, June 20, 2024 (the official 2024 summer solstice day!)
+ the option to spend an extra night on Rügen until Monday, June 24 to phase out the yoga fest and retreat with some extra time on the beach or by exploring the Island
THE ISLAND:
“O Land der dunkeln Haine, O Glanz der blauen See, O Eiland, das ich meine, Wie tut's nach dir mir weh!“ - Heimweh nach Rügen (Ernst Moritz Arndt, 1842)
GENERAL INFO ON THE YOGA PROGRAM & OTHER ACTIVITIES
THE THEME:
Anja Kühnel (Director Three Boons Yoga Berlin) and Alessia from our beloved Jivamukti Canteen are happy to offer an always popular extended weekend summer Jivamukti Yoga retreat on Germany's biggest Island, Rügen, on the Baltic Sea.
Experience Rügen in the summer in on our own super remote private mini-island with no tourists in sight. Helped by the pristine environment on Rügen island, the inspiring Jivamukti Yoga workshops taught by Anja, Tara, Rob and Gigi and healthy and nutritious vegan food prepared by Alessia and her helpers will be the best easy and local summer vacation you can wish for.
THE YOGA PROGRAM:
Our Three Boons midsummer yoga fest retreat will be taught by Three Boons director Anja, Tara, Rob and Gigi. They will be co-creating a fusion experience of a mini intimate yogafest(ival) in a yoga retreat setting in the middle of nature.
We will offer a variety of 2-3 hour Jivamukti Yoga class every morning and evening. These will be intense and deep “workshop-style” classes. We will experience different aspects of Jivamukti Yoga, including asanas, kriyas, pranayama and yoga philosophy, chanting and great music. The program intentionally will be a bit more intensive with a number classes every morning and evening as this is just a half week retreat.
Guided meditations will be offered every morning and Satsang/chanting every evening as well as moonlight meditations etc.
Our yoga practice will be perfectly complemented with carefully chosen vegan organic food, prepared by Alessia from our beloved Jivamukti Canteen and her helpers, as well as swimming, tanning, sauna, hikes, jogging and optional massages for an extra charge.
There is the option of arriving a day earlier, Thursday, June 20,, which we strongly recommend from our past years‘ experiency to dive even deeper into the practice in a smaller group setting. Our last practice will be on Sunday in the morning. We will end the official retreat with a brunch around noon time. But participants have the option to stay the entire Sunday in our manor house (free late checkout for everyone by 5pm) or optionally book for another night, so you can make the most of the Sunday and your efforts to travel to Rügen. This way you can nicely phase out your retreat on the beach or on our little mini-island and there is no rush to leave right away.
REGISTRATION AND PRICES:
BASE PRICE: 495 EUR (starting price for the core retreat with glamping accommodation)
SIGN-UP DEPOSIT: 180 EUR (holds your spot)
SUPER EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT: 72 EUR (if you sign up and fully pay by February 29, 2024)
OTHER DISCOUNTS AND UPGRADES: Please check out the registration form for detailed prices, discounts and accommodation options.
THE 2-STEP REGISTRATION PROCESS:
STEP 0: Download the registration form, and make sure the offering, dates, prices, options and terms are agreeable for you.
STEP 1: Make the applicable non-refundable sign-up deposit to hold your spot on the retreat and initiate the registration process.
STEP 2: Fill in and sign the registration form you downloaded in Step 0. We kindly recommend to use the free iPhone/Android App “Adobe Fill & Sign”! Alternatively, you can also print it out and fill and sign it and then either snail mail, or fax it to +49-30-48491950 or scan and email it to info@threeboonsyoga.de. Download Adobe Fill&Sign for iPhone/ipad here and for Android hier.
PLEASE NOTE: Spaces are limited due to the size of the intimate retreat location.
PLEASE ALSO NOTE: Your sign-up deposit is non-refundable, if you later change your mind and/or cannot come and/or cannot pay the full retreat price, however, you may find another person to take the retreat instead and who did not pay the sign-up deposit yet and transfer you deposit to this person.
MORE INFO ON THE LOCATION
THE LOCATION: The unwanted two-year break from our Rügen retreats gave us the lucky chance of finding a new location :
Since 2023, we are now retreating in our own (for the weekend only;) renaissance manor situated on its own exclusive private mini-island within big Rügen island. Except, the intimacy of the mini-island and its surrounding bay waters is usually shared by hundreds of birds as it is so quiet and remote here. What better company can yogis wish for?
Tucked away in a remote corner of Rügen island, amongst wheat fields, paddocks, arrays of bird nests, and bays of the Baltic, at the end of a tiny road, there is an exclusive private mini-island completely surrounded on all sides by a shallow seawater bay (in German “Wiek”) that is a natural conservation area. The water surrounding our manor not only puts on spectacular displays of light and color at all times of the year; it has also become a refuge for all kinds of species of birds, including cranes, herons, cormorants, grey geese and ducks.
Built in 1553 and being allowed to go to rack and ruin in the 1960s, the manor has just recently been completely rebuilt and restored, keeping most of the details from the old design and thus retaining a generous and enchanting air with bright mansion-like spaces that are perfect for practice and relaxation. Just the right location for those who seek to breathe deeply again. The bird colony and nature reserve surrounding our manor allow for spectacular walks under the big skies of Germany's north allowing us to dive back into nature.
Our retreat island will also feature outdoor sauna experiences, fire pits and a great shed for outdoor yoga and chanting sessions.
THE FOOD
Alongside an extensive and intense yoga practice, a healthy and nutritious diet is essential. Our vegan selection with a high content of fresh produce gives you all the vital nutrients in forms that are both delicious and digestible! We will use only super fresh, local healthy and certified organic ingredients during this retreat, thus dramatically reducing our intake of toxins, providing a great stimulus for the natural detoxification of the body, and protecting the environment all at the same time. Experience how a super-healthy vegan and organic lifestyle can offer so many colourful and tasty food options, and gain new inspirations for your own yoga and cooking practice at home!
The food part of our retreats is an intentional revival of our legendary Jivamukti Canteen that - after the pandemic - continues to live and evolve in our local retreats here in Europe with the main and most important part being our former Jivamukti Canteen head chef Alessia Cecconi joined by select helpers from our staff. With her we try to embody and evolve our tried and tested Jivamukti Canteen concept that is based on only using the very best, vegan, local and most importantly in Germany only 100% certified organic ingredients in a Italian infused home-cooking style that participants are only raving about and craving for.
ANJA KÜHNEL + The Three Boons teacher faculty
Our Three Boons midsummer yoga fest retreat will be headlined by Three Boons director Anja and joined by select members or our Three Boons yoga teacher faculty who will be co-creating a fusion experience of a mini intimate yogafest(ival) in a yoga retreat setting in the middle of nature.
ANJA has been a devoted student of Sharon Gannon and David Life since she first met them while temporarily living in New York. She has been directing the two Berlin Jivamukti Yoga Centers, now Three Boons Yoga Berlin, and their Apprenticeship Teacher Training program since 2008. After 15 years of study with Sharon and David, Anja is more than grateful for all she has learned and all that she is still going to learn. Anja has been practicing yoga with teachers of various yoga styles and has traveled the world to do so. But in her heart, Anja knew immediately after her first Jivamukti class, that it was where she belonged.
TARA SULLIVAN
A New York native, Tara Sullivan has lived and worked in New Zealand, Central America, Woodstock, NY, Berkeley, CA, and is now thrilled to be in Berlin. Tara began her professional life as a soprano, and after graduating from Sarah Lawrence College with a Music degree she sang sacred and secular music professionally in and around New York City. She completed the rigorous three-year teacher certification program at the American Center for the Alexander Technique (ACAT) in 1998 and was a member of the Music faculty at Long Island University's C.W. Post Campus for seven years, where she taught the Alexander Technique as an integrated part of the Music curriculum. Her over twenty years teaching the Alexander Technique have included an extensive private practice as well as a host of settings including universities, retreats, and community centers.
Tara is an Advanced Certified Jivamukti Yoga teacher, having completed the teacher training at Samadhi Yoga in Sydney (now Jivamukti Yoga Sydney) prior to the Jivamukti Yoga teacher training at the Omega Institute with Sharon Gannon, David Life, Yogeswari, and Ruth Lauer Manenti. She has studied natural vision improvement and the Eyebody Method extensively with Peter Grunwald since 2000, and has a hand in most of his English language printed and recorded matter, including editing both editions of his book, Eyebody - the Art of Integrating Eye, Brain and Body (2004, 2008).
Above all, Tara is grateful to have had amazing and generous teachers in her life, without whom she would be lost. They include Ruth Golden, Daniel Singer, Sandra Ferreira, and of course Sharon Gannon and David Life, as well as the work of Paul Watson and the music of Mark Deutsch. She is a solo mother to a young feral boy, who she is raising vegan, anti-speciesist and punk rock.
Gerdus Oosthuizen
Gerdus discovered yoga in 2007 during his university studies in South Africa. A deep calling drew him to that first practice; he has been a devoted student ever since. As with most, it started with Āsana. The aim was to touch his toes, but little did he know the practice would hold the key to understanding the nature of the self and the universe.
He holds deep gratitude to all the teachers who have shone light upon his path to liberation, especially Anja Kühnel, under whose guidance he is currently completing the Three Boons 500h mentorship program.
Gerdus is a multi-instrumentalist, film music composer, and a ceremonial musician, facilitating sound journeys and medicine music ceremonies with his associated collectives Astra Laguna, Keropii, and Soneiro Collective. He also produces dance music under the moniker Bummela. A bhakti at heart, Gerdus believes the highest function of music to be celebrating the wonder of creation, bringing us to the ultimate realisation of the non-dual nature of reality.
Rob Cigolini
Rob was first introduced to yoga at the Jivamukti yoga studio in Sydney, initially taking restorative classes to balance out the thousands of kilometres he was covering on his bicycle each month as an endurance cyclist and cycling teacher. After being hit by a car while cycling in Colorado, Rob turned to yoga as part of his rehabilitation process and experienced the power of the practice to transform, both physically and philosophically. With the desire to prioritise and centre yogic and meditative practice in his life, Rob left behind Australia, an established career in cycling and an incomplete PhD in anarchist philosophy, and moved to Berlin in 2018. He has been a constant presence in the Three Boons Yoga Berlin studio ever since.
For Rob yoga is a radical activity, confronting us with fundamental questions about who we are, what we value and how we are to live our lives, but also providing us with the tools, capacity and clarity to answer those questions for ourselves. Om bolo shri satguru bhagavan ki.
Rob completed his initial 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training with Rocky Heron at YogaCircle Berlin, has pursued mindfulness and compassion-based meditation training with Phoebe Kiddo at The Dream Haus and has completed the 630+hour Three Boons Mentoring Program under the guidance of Filiz Avunduk and Tara Sullivan.