Kirsten
From Germany
Archery coach
With a social pedagogical and psychotherapeutic background as well as experience in coaching and therapy
Passion: intuitive archery
I have fulfilled a dream. Live in Crete and open the world of archery to the people!
As a 6-year-old, I experienced for the first time how it feels when the arrow leaves the string and finds its target. The fascination for archery grew parallel to the ability to let bow and body become one.
„ … and always the perfect moment of letting go, total relaxation!“
Somehow, over the years, this developed into a vocation to convey, to share these feelings. More than 20 years ago I experienced for the first time a very special feeling of security and that on Crete.
„It was like coming home inside.“
Arrived here I have found the inner harmony in unison with nature. On this island you can really just find the moment of being, experience, enjoy.
Two strong impulses that went from dream to goal. To harmonize my life and my vocation with everything around it and to try to make this good feeling accessible to other people.
On May 18, 2019, the dream came true with the opening of PARKO ARTEMIS, the only 3D course in Crete, in the southwest, near Paleochora.
Here on the mountain, among ancient olive trees, wild herbs and lots of stones, a place has been created where we are happy about every visitor with whom we can share the very special experiences of our adopted country and our sport.
Crete
Feeling at home, in the midst of nature, which I love so much. Sun and warmth with unrestricted views from the mountain far over the sea to the distant horizon. Here I feel at the same time secure and absolutely free.
„Carpe diem – pluck the day“
Here I can live as it suits me, among people who follow the same philosophy of life. Take each day as it is and make the best of it without losing focus.
Here, it does not matter what you are, what rank you occupy or what you have. What is important is your actions and being, who you are in your heart. Not faster-higher-further but savoring life with all its facets, enjoying the moment and coming to rest for yourself.
Intuitive archery
Archery without tools, there is already a very special philosophy in it. To discover this in all its details is a unique experience. Stand with both feet firmly and centered on the ground and thereby have the stability for a loose, flexible and relaxed posture. Extending the bow according to personal feeling until one reaches one’s own anchor point, then letting go. To bring the arrow from the feeling of one’s own center to the actual center of the target. This is how archery teaches you how to achieve goals. This is how you simply and naturally feel what your path through life might be about.
Perfect combination
The special way of shooting in nature almost coincides with the philosophy lived here. The experience of arriving, self-discovery and letting go can be felt even more intensely by the shooter. By letting go of the arrow, one experiences the moment of being just right and good in the here and just now. If one allows it, one experiences inner peace and tranquility with oneself and life, experiences a self-efficacy and self-confidence that can have an effect in everyday life.
Susanne
From Austria
Archery coach
With social therapeutic background
Passion: Crete
Meeting people in their hearts is the most beautiful and precious gift of life.
After decades of work in the social sector, the last 23 of which in the care of addicts, the longing to break out of the rigid, hierarchical structures, to let go of a situation with constant arguments and the eternal question of meaning grew more and more. High relapse rates, little measurable success and endless struggles did the rest.
My love for Crete, life and people here I carry in my heart for 35 years. Every year this island drew me a little stronger. Until I finally stopped dreaming and started living the dream. And that’s what I do now – in every moment.
The silence of nature, hiking in the mountains, lingering where it is beautiful and the vastness of the sea are the daily companions of life here. The engagement in a slowness, which does not make constricted and sluggish, but widens the self being and makes it perceptible. A deceleration that brings me closer to the people here and their way of life.
„Home is where my heart is“
The many encounters with the people here, their culture, philosophy of life and lightness – no matter how life shakes them – have made this patch of earth my home, here I have found my home.
Changes only succeed by letting go. This is an experience that has fascinated me from the very beginning of archery. Letting go of old beliefs, rigid concepts and values with the first arrow and then forgetting them. For me a completely new experience, shooting from the center, from the feeling and not from unconditional will. The realization that I can direct all my mindfulness and attention to myself and my being and by simply letting go set something in motion at the right moment for me. Getting involved with something new with each new arrow and each time a new arrival, a new encounter with oneself.
‘In the past’- in Austria – I often felt the demand for performance and the speed of people in archery. No look, no interest for nature and everything else around them. The main thing is that the arrow is quickly on target and only the kill counts.
‘Today’-here in the Cretan Mountains-it is no longer about the perfection of shooting and hitting. Here it is about arriving and staying in a dreamlike beautiful nature, letting go of the speed and the feeling of slowness, peace and satisfaction.
