What happens when two traditions merge into a one-of-a-kind retreat? At Mandali, we value diversity in lineages, teaching styles, and practices, so, when two of our beloved in-house teachers decided to bring their teachings together, it felt like a cosmic cocktail. This collaboration birthed the Wholeness in Healing retreat, blending QiGong, KumNye (Tibetan Yoga), and Breathwork.
We sat with Mario and Gijs to get to know more about the core elements that make this retreat so unique and sought after.
What is the intention behind the ‘Wholeness in Healing’ retreat?
Mario: The intention of the retreat is to give people instruments to achieve a better quality of life, energy, and calmness of the heart.
Gijs: To bring about balance and harmony within our entire way of being; integrating all aspects and elements of life into a wholesome flow, and aligning ourselves with our deepest intentions and our natural state of being.
What’s special about the combination of Qigong, KumNye, Breathwork & Inquiry?
Mario: The combination of these techniques offers a complete understanding of the human dimension. Breathing works on the energetic field, inquiry enhances communication and self-expression, and Qigong focuses on the ‘three treasures’ of our human form: body awareness and energy expression.
Gijs: This combination of practices moves our energies on multiple levels, drawing out the core potentiality within the promise of our lives. It spirals our way up to embodying freedom.
What benefits can one expect to experience as part of these practices?
Mario: The benefits are numerous: unblocking energy that may be stuck in the physical body, improving communication skills to be more incisive, and increasing physical and energetic endurance.
Gijs: To find confidence in the full capacity of our authentic humanity.
Kat, a previous retreat participant, shares her experience:
“The KumNye meditation practice that Gijs taught has enabled me to achieve a state of blissful meditative clarity much faster and easier than I’ve ever been able to in 17 years of meditating. Since then, I apply KumNye in my daily life, and it’s led me to a more vital, embodied, and grateful daily existence.
“In one of the breathwork sessions, after a profound KumNye session, I experienced myself as pure energy and light. The result was blissful joy, clarity, and more confidence in my intuition. It unlocked a feeling of lightness throughout the rest of the retreat, and it’s something I can now tap into even in my own self-guided meditations.”
I attribute this depth of meditation to the highly curated variety of techniques that Mario and Gijs interweave throughout the retreat. They constantly ‘read the room’ and build off of each other’s sessions to create a holistic practice that left me floating at the end of every day.
Because of this retreat’s focus on movement and body in everything we did for five consecutive days, I significantly improved my ability to reach a meditative state of clarity and peace through various types of movements. This has vastly broadened my toolbox for finding the right method at the right moment in my day-to-day life.
I often refer to this retreat as a major turning point in my burnout. It’s the only event I can point to and clearly see a big difference before I started it versus after, in terms of my energy, optimism, and mood.”
What makes YOU feel vibrantly alive?
Mario: The connection with myself and my expression, supporting people in their personal development, and seeing them happy and alive.
Gijs: Sharing the light of love in our lives, spending time in nature, and enjoying musical creations with dear muses.
Join Gijs & Mario for their next Wholeness in Healing: Bringing Balance into Being this October 20-25, 2024 at Mandali.