Come and master your Handstand with us! This Handstand Intensive is taking place on the lavishly green hills of Slovenia. Our program is dedicated to all those who want to deepen their understanding in movement and spending a good amount of time being upside down. By including Yoga, conditioning and mobility, injury prevention and therapeutics into our program, we can ensure that everyone finds the right balance between empowerment and growth.
Handstand Intensive 2024 –
Acrobatics Retreat
17 - 21 July 2024, Slovenia
Let us turn your world upside down
Learn from some of the leading handstand teachers in the field
Together with a professional team of hand balancers we offer 3 day intensive packed with fun, sustainability and sophisticated handstand exercises. To us standing on our hands is more than just fitness it is a life-style where we learn to balance and share an empowering practice with each other. Sign up today and join a tribe of dedicated hand-balancers, that will help you defy gravity and push the boundaries of what you thought possible.
Your Handstand Intensive Team
Samuele D’Alcantari
Samuele, from Italy, is a passionate and enthusiastic hand-balancer who loves to facilitate groups of people with the willingness to create meaningful connections. Since he was very young, he has never stopped his love for body movement and exploration and, above all, for hand-balancing. After his degree and having understood that he doesn’t want to spend his life in front of a computer, he started to develop his call for teaching. His passion for handstands, authentic relating, traveling and music brought him to found the Handstand Extravaganza Convention that runs annually in Sicily.
Sam will be sharing his in depth technique and knowledge for one-arm handstands, press ups, sevens and many other brilliant things during this intensive.
IG: @samonhands
Tony Panaro
After 11 years of artistic gymnastics and 5 years of professional circus education, first in Flic Scuola di Circo (Torino, Italy) and then at the University of Dance and Circus (Stockholm, Sweden), Tony is now a professional circus artist, hand balancer and acrobat. He currently works in different projects, shows and companies around Europe such as: Fabbrica C, Circus Cirkör, Right Way Down and Duo Bulldogs. He also teaches hand balancing internationally and will share an amazing repertoire with you.
Tony is well known for his humble yet sophisticated approach towards hand balancing, his obsession for alignment and other small technical details that we easily forget while hand balancing.
Katharina Karner
Kathi is a yoga teacher, musicologist, dog mom and creative mind based in Graz, Austria. Diversity is her motto – after all, she has around 1000 hours of yoga training in no less than 7 different yoga styles in her quiver. Since 2018, she has been teaching Hatha, Vinyasa, Forrest and Restorative Yoga as well as Buti, Authentic Movements and Creative Flow.
Kathi is fascinated by people and loves the forest. She sees yoga mainly as a powerful tool to give you exactly what you need or even better: what you didn’t even know you needed 😉
IG: @kathastrophe.k2
Issy Denman
Issy first fell in love with acro whilst studying languages at university in England. Since then she has enjoyed travelling around and deepening and widening her practice as she is inspired by more and more people and movement styles. Currently based in Germany, she is working on improving her juggling, handstand and violin skills, whilst always coming back to her first love of acro.
Issy is excited to be assisting the handstand classes during this intensive. Her teaching encourages each individual to listen to and be led by their own body, whilst never forgetting to find the fun and laughter in our practice!
IG: @idenman
Gabe Moves
Originally from Austria, Gabe loves to spend his time traveling, learning about other cultures and enjoying foreign food. With a heart full of humor and arms so long he once managed to hug 5 people at once, he is facilitating workshops, retreats and teacher trainings all around the globe. Gabe is well known for his unique and precise way of teaching. His passion for bodywork gives him the opportunity to welcome and embrace people from all walks of life.
As the founder of barefootyoga.eu Gabe will be hosting this retreat and leading the teachers team. He will be involved with the logistics, the photo-shoot and facilitating the group sharings during this intensive.
IG: @movewithgabe
Magdalena Harrer
Magdalena from Graz is a seminar and retreat cook. In addition to music, cooking is her great passion. She loves to conjure up a variety of delicious dishes from good, natural foods. In her cookbook “Cooking With Wild Plants” she expresses her love of nature and her joy in cooking as well as photography.
Magdalena has been a student with barefootyoga from the very beginning onwards and we are pleased to have her now creating some magical meals for us in the kitchen.
Train with ease and success
Our fundamental principles
The aim of this intensive is to help you master your inversion. Whether you still focus on your balance and alignment, play with new ways into your handstand or have already mastered the foundations and you are ready to work on more advanced hand-balancing. All of our classes are build on the same important principles, following one or multiple of the below mentioned aspects.
Alignnment
Correct body positioning is key to achieve more stability, longevity and safety in your handstand. Learn to understand what your body needs for more freedom in your practice. In our program we will have a close look at your alignment, from the fingertips to the toes.
Balance
Finding your inner compass and equilibrium is a crucial part in your practice. It will support you to adapt to your environment while finding more ease in more advanced hand balancing. The perfect balance consists out of three ingredients: focus, stability, alignment, and not to forget pointed toes ; )
Drills
Becoming a badass hand-balancer doesn’t necessarily mean to spend your whole day upside down. During our intensive and in almost every workshop we will offer specifically aimed exercises to increase strength and mobility, that will help you improve your technique and body awareness.
Shapes
Once you have found more ease your practice we can focus on manipulating gravity and bringing your bodies into amazingly looking shapes. Together we will learn about new leg variations, body shapes and cool looking combinations that we will immortalize during our photo-shoot.
Sustainability
Our team will support your with plenty of tips and tricks to build up endurance and find more sustainability in your practice. The daily integration of Yoga and therapeutics will help you decompress and fly through this intensive with a smile on your face.
Spotting
Quality spotting is a key element to an uplifting team. Working out together does not only increase the level of support but also keeps the fun alive. We foster a hands-on spotting where we learn to coach each other in a safe, fun and empowering way. #strongertogether
Your Training
08:00-09:15 Yoga
09:15-11:00 Breakfast
11:00-13:00 Handstands
13:30-16:00 Lunch & River Break
16:00-18:00 Handstands
18:00-19:00 Free Training & Chill
19:00-20:30 Dinner
20:30-22:00 Stretching, Massage & Campfire
- Solo & Partner Exercises
- Alignment Drills
- Entries, Shapes & Balance
- Conditioning & Mobility
- Anatomy & Biomechanics
- Sustainability & Injury prevention
- Introduction to Objects (i.e. Blocks, Canes…)
This retreat is a multi-level retreat and we will be teaching two levels side by side. All of our classes are held in an uplifting, fun and refreshing way. Please continue to the chapter “Level & Prerequisites” to see if this training is for you.
Level & Prerequisites
In order to participate in our intensive you will need to able to:
Level 1: kick up into a handstand against the wall and hold it for at least 15 seconds.
Level 2: kicking, straddling or tucking up and holding it for 20 seconds in free balance.
Level 1 will focus on building strength, mobility and balance in your body and your handstand. Together with your peers and our professional coaches we will look at common mistakes and errors in your handstand practice and offer you a variety of exercises that will help you find more ease balancing on your hands. The goal of this level is to build a strong yet playful handstand practice, where sustainability, safety and teamwork are the foundation for a future full of happy hand-balancing.
Level 2 will offer you a deep dive into the state of the art of hand-balancing. You and your peers will learn new variations of advanced entries (e.g. tucks, straddles, rolls, press ups), progressive shapes (mexican, hollow back, seven, one-arm etc.) and exercises on objects (i.e. blocks, canes, benches, asymmetrical platforms). On top of the two workshops daily, you get the chance to practice in a space of like-minded hand-balancers and get individual support from our coaches during the free training.
During your registration there will be a field asking you to submit a 1min video of your inversion practice. That can be anything from balancing, kicking up or trying different shapes. No worries, it doesn’t have to be perfect or anything. It is simply a reference point for our coaches to see where you at on your handstand journey, so we can adjust our content to your level and needs.
Your Stay with Us
With the magnificent view on the Skofja Loka Hills, the Karavanke and the Julian Alps, we will find shelter in a well equipped farm house made for up to 35 people. You will be sharing a room (including private bathroom) with up to 2-4 other people. If you wish to have more privacy, please indicate this on your registration and we will get back to you with prices for upgrade options. The location also offers the opportunity for camping/vans for those who want to be fully immersed into nature.
You can choose between staying in a 2 to 4-bed room apartment or camp on your own next to our wooden barn overlooking the green hills of Skofja Loka.
Three times a day we will tickle your palate with vegetarian and vegan delights made by our famous barefootyoga kitchen crew. We strive to provide local and seasonal food from organic markets around the area as much as possible.
Arrival: Wednesday, July 17th 2024 – 4 pm
Departure: Sunday, July 21st 2024 – 10am
Early arrivals / Late departures: In case it makes your travel itinerary easier you can book some extra days directly with the farm (contact details in confirmation PDF).
Our location is based 45min west of Ljubljana and can be easily reached by car. If you were planning on traveling by public transport (bus/train/plane), you can choose to fly into Ljubljana or Trieste airport and take a bus, taxi or rental car from there. In any case please consider sharing your ride with a fellow participants. Once registered we will share a link with you where you can offer or request carpooling.
Your Holiday Package
- Price €450-€590 includes:
- 4 x nights & 3 x full days
- 3 x warm vegetarian meals a day
- 16 x workshops in different levels & disciplines
- 7 hours of workshop content daily
- 100m² training space with puzzle mats
- river in driving distance for your daily refreshment
- free photoshoot with out photographer
- free wifi & plenty of space to chill out
- holiday & training all wrapped into a juicy package
- Double booking: € 25 discount
- Returning student: € 25 discount
You would like to extend your stay and join us for another retreat right before/afterward this one? (Valid for our retreats in July, e.g. Quantum Soul & Handstand Intensive) Then we have an additional € 50 discount for you. Just mention #back2back in your registration and make sure to register for both events.
