We, Kerstin and Andreas, fell in love with each other 20 years ago. Despite having very different personalities, we share a passion for the outdoors, the arts, animals and meeting people. After taking a year to travel the world we became inspired to integrate these passions more deeply in our own lives, in addition to the lives of others. Our desire to create a place for movement and ease is now coming true at the Tenuta di Poggiolame. Bennie, our dog, has joined us in 2019 and has become an indispensable companion for us.
what we do
At the heart of our mission is a method called Myoreflex Therapy, a method that originated in Southern Germany and Austria.
A Myoreflex practitioner acts as a detective, working with the client to unravel the biomechanical pathways and history of their pain. A session involves pressure on muscle insertions and active movement to stimulate reflex arches for self-regulation of myofascial tone. Kerstin combines Myoreflex with her vast knowledge of movement to benefit the client. She collaborates closely with Myoreflex founder Dr. Kurt Mosetter and heads the Viennese training program for Embodied Myoreflex Practice. Myoreflex sessions are the core of the health weeks, allowing for support throughout the healing process. Our body-oriented practices promote healing through muscle and fascia-based body-work and movement sessions, but our approach to being well does not end there.
Good health does not begin or end with the body, or the mind. Health and its environment are in close dialogue. At Tenuta di Poggiolame we work with nature by using permacultural farming methods to supply ourselves with healthy food, air, and water.
Amongst the hills and valleys of Umbria, you can enjoy walks in the surrounding woods and meadows, or dip into cold springs. We also offer opportunities for communal activities like gardening, making olive oil, and harvesting walnuts and cherries. At the heart of our activities is the experience of being embodied, from moment to moment.
Offers
ImPulsTanz Country Retreats
Italian Health Retreat
Personal Retreat
ImPulsTanz Country Retreats
Time to dance and live together
Between August and October, ImPulsTanz invites you to its unique workshops in Italy. Five internationally renowned artists will teach dance and bodywork for one week each. The retreat includes four hours of movement daily as well as a day off to discover the beautiful Umbrian landscape, go swimming, enjoy a wine tasting or simply let your soul dangle under the Italian sun. All workshops are open level.
Italian Health Retreat – in touch, motion, and nature.
Embodied Myoreflex Practice, low-glucose diet, complementary movement and bodywork
Dr. Kerstin Kussmaul, Dr. med. Kurt Mosetter, and team.
The multidimensional and interdisciplinary concept of Embodied Myoreflex Practice is the cornerstone of the Health Retreat. We uncover tense muscle structures and corresponding body impulses and make them conscious through touch. The treatment holds up a mirror to the human organism, and initiates regulation along the way. Neurophysiological, biochemical function, as well as neuropsychological processes, play a crucial role in effectively influencing the regenerative process and enhancing your well-being.
Morning gentle movements are combined with daily myoreflex and movement analysis, lectures, and other methods such as Somatic Experiencing® and Integrative Deep Tissue Release. Nutrition based on the glycoplan (low-glucose & fructose) positively influences muscle metabolism. The untouched nature of the Umbrian hills and the associated silence add to the experience. We recommend digital detox, and if necessary, Wi-Fi is available.
These retreats are tailored towards your availability. Come for 3 days or more to restore your energy and to re-start your well-being so you find beneficial and joyful ways of treating yourself in everyday life.
3+ days
Daily Myoreflex sessions (50 minutes)
Morning movement class (75 minutes)
Stay in well-equipped apartments with a private kitchen and bathroom
Access to organic products available from the farm
Price:
€ 660,- for 3 days (additional day: € 200,-)
€ 75.- for 3 days for accompanying person in the same room without Myoreflex therapy sessions
12–19 August 2023 • Glenna (G;emma) Batson (US) & Susan Sentler (UK)
exploring the f/old: an eco-somatic voyage, a playshop
Folding is the base of worldly engagement, a living continuum of dimension and depth. This playshop offers an immersion into bodily fold / folding as an entry into somatic / artistic practice. Rooted in improvisation, the f/old offers a sensory-rich field for sourcing – unburdened by habit or training. Glenna and Susan loosely guide the group into somatic portals and pathways to greet the unknown. Through partnering with body, nature and with other materials at hand, participants co-create from the macro- and micro-folding dynamics to uncover new edges of becoming. Free from product outcome, emergent themes will evolve into plots that stew, brew, thicken and dissolve. A multiplicity of materialities will surface and wayfind into moments of discovery and choice. Come join this divine entanglement!
Take me Home, Country Roads… Yoga and Line Dancing
Take me home: Yoga as Transcendental Somatics (morning class) This workshop is about experimenting with the somatics of Yoga to find the transcendental being within us. We explore the sense organs in relation to asana and how the sense organs mediate the body / mind connection. We practice outdoors and allow the sky and the nature around us to stimulate a deeper sense of spacious serenity and awareness. We create a path to ourselves through asana, breath work, chanting and meditation. Pratyahara is a process that withdraws the mind away from the sense organs. Ultimately, Yoga transcends somatics and the limitations of the body / mind / sense complex.
Country Roads: Western Line Dance (evening class) We learn all the basic footwork for country western line dance through pre-set choreography and great country music. We kick up our heels and cowboy shuffle together, in unison. We need comfortable shoes and also our favourite dancing boots. A western costume helps us to get that country groove. We think of it as Country Cosplay!
Inside and outside your balance: Yoga-Ballet and Horton Technique
Yoga Ballet (morning class) Yoga Ballet is a dance technique developed by Marcia Haydée, which combines Yoga, oriental disciplines and classical ballet. It is useful for stretching, balance, concentration and body energy. The positions are linked through the use of breathing techniques, stimulating the nervous system and opening energy channels. Oxygenated blood enables our body to expel toxins that help to relax muscular tensions and enhance the extension of movement. We use in depth all sections of the body, allowing us to heal our body and our mind. We focus on back mobility with the release of shoulders and neck; twisting and how it relates to detox; the hips, breathing and opening the heart chakra.
Horton Technique (evening class) This workshop carries on the path created by Ismael Ivo: the aim of which is to allow everyone to dance, to get to know their body, to experience an infinite range of movement and to express one’s own emotions. His philosophy made everyone in the room feel like dancers, making them feel their emotions and strengthening their technique. We start with a warm-up section using the basics of the Horton Technique and continue with the work on the diagonal, stretching and a dance sequence.
24 September – 1 October 2023 • Terence Lewis (IN)
Bollywood & Indian Contemporary Dance
Bollywood Dance is the essence of Indian Bollywood films that has retained the flavour of musicals. Constantly influenced by the changing trends, Bollywood Dance culture borrows from both traditional and western pop dance culture. It deals with the complexities of the traditional Kathak footwork and Mudras (hand gestures) along with some groovy folkdance moves from across the countryside. We explore the wonderful world of Abhinaya (facial expression, some may call them face contortions) and the world of Mujra – the controversial sensual dance of the tragic courtesan of the 1970s, then master the urban cool routines of the current chart busters. The music is loud and so are we. There is a dress code: anything colourful, glistening and happy.
Indo-Contemporary is the perfect meeting point of the modern-day western and ancient Indian techniques. Whilst working on our physicality, we tap into our inner self, which lies at the very core of all Indian philosophies. A systematic breakdown of the contemporary vocabulary, exploring spirals, gathering and sending and the Release Technique is coupled with ancient Indian disciplines. We borrow from Yoga, Kathak and Kalaripayattu (the ancient Indian martial art form). The Kathak Mudras (hand gestures) lend a symbolic meaning to the physical movement. With the chanting of “Om” the inner reverberations lead the movement. Hard-core movement, spirituality and an inner balance no longer have to be divided and separated. Let’s feel how the body works, how the chakras (energy centres) awake and dance in unison of body, mind and spirit!
Over the last 15 years, Terence has developed a coaching process that includes psychometric testing, journaling and spirit animals. In this retreat, he interweaves this work into dance to uncover the participants’ genuine, personal movement styles.
Spirals in the Wild – Dao Yin, Qi Gong and Butoh Dance
Play the line between raw, earthy stimulus and precise physical training to develop elastic, spiral relationships to the surrounding environment. Attention to micro and macro worlds refines the quality of actions and opens the field of spontaneous response. Trust the body. Expand perceptual environments. Nurture sensorial and creative responsiveness through rigorous physical and improvisational training rooted in Action Theater, Butoh, Dao Yin and Qigong exercises. Wind up then unwind connective tissues with particular attention given to the spine and joints. Movement drills establish non-linear somatic patterning. Diverse environments provide contrasting patterns for observation and integration. The body in the wild twists and turns naturally.
What's included in our ImPulsTanz Country workshops
Accommodation for 8 days (7 nights)
3 vegetarian meals daily
Two movement sessions daily (120 minutes each)
Talks with the teachers
Access to pool and all other amenities of Tenuta di Poggiolame
Shuttle to and from train station Fabro-Ficulle
Price
Total costs for 8 days (7 nights) per person: from € 1,200 to € 1,630 (single, double or triple room, private or shared bathroom) *All ImPulsTanz workshop pass holders get a 10% discount on the Country Retreats.
In your spare time enjoy the the pool, walks, go out for dinner, or simply be here. Leave rejuvenated, energized and with new options for movement.
The pool
Dining Room
Big salon
Main Terrace
Room "Gracilis"
Room "Alba" in the main house
Modern bathrooms in all rooms and apartments
Room "Vitus"
Apartment "Iris"
Room "Axis"
Private terraces or balconies
Our special offer
BYO Retreat
Besides offering our own retreats, we welcome retreats by other hosts offering arts, creativity, culinary/nutritional, mediation, dance, healing, outdoor retreats, and more. Talk to us to see if Tenuta di Poggiolame might be a good fit for you!
The Tenuta di Poggiolame is a place for moving, walking, stretching, swimming, dancing; and just being - something that seems to get harder in the world we are living in. We engage with ourselves and others through embodied thinking and relating.