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My days have been too busy.

We have been organizing some art festivals in the village.

Last Saturday, my church (the one TNE has been supporting through different building projects) had a talent show and we could enjoy of the beautiful voices and amazing hand made creations that members and community friends decided to bring.

So I found myself sitting on the table, at the middle of this week and still busy, trying to find some great material to show, a good song to sing, a sublime poem to read or something for my own participation in the community art festival. Something!

Suddenly, I discovered that my two little boys were quiet and looking at me (which is extremely strange considering their full energy)

and I decided to get immersed into my kitchen.

As many mothers usually do, I asked them what they would like to eat and the response was… TAMALES.

Why not just cereal? Eggs? Bread and peanut butter?

They wanted to have tamales for dinner and they had a beautiful smile on their face.

When I call my mom in order to tell her this situation as a joke, she says ” Great! Make an extra big one for me”.

And here I am. Tamales are still on the pot. Boiling…

While cooking the tamales, I think about the possibility to create a special dish for my art presentation and tamales look like a gift, wrapped in a natural way.

Life is a gift. Food is a gift, too.

If we can have the energy to cook, it is great, but if we can have the energy and compassion to cook for others, that is ART.

Costa Rica has too much to offer! Life lessons can be wrapped in banana leaves sometimes and the best gift is what you do with your hands.

Life goes in a slow way when you enjoy the privilege of having a family, having a place to call home and people around to call friends.

Art is what I learned tonight. The best expression of art is just to be here now!!!

Hugs to all the humans from this planet!

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”

― Mark Twain

I just gave birth to my first child, a healthy 21 inch 7’14 lb baby on May 4, 2016 at 6:21am. I never knew what it was like to muster everything I had to support another’s well being. Sure, I do service work, and I have stood at the front line with my heart on my sleeve to do what I can for another human being’s well-being. I also try to give my all when I teach yoga and when I teach or practice other avenues of mindfulness and Love. All of that matters, and yet none of it compares to what I walked through in order to birth a new life.

I thought I was prepared, and maybe I was. I started working with and studying under well practiced Doula’s and Prenatal yoga teachers. This happened when I got back from India in 2012 after a psychic in Rishikesh said it was a part of my karma and Dharmic path to do so. I didn’t believe him fully, but a piece of me knew he was right, and upon my return to the States I was swept up in a current of what some may call coincidence that led me to pursue this path along side of my already budding holistic studies. I took Doula certification classes in the Bradley Method and Hypnobirthing that same year. I started teaching Prenatal yoga around the same time, and it seemed that everywhere I went, pregnant women found me. When I posed the question to the Universe while living in Costa Rica Just 2 years ago, “Can you guide me in the direction of where I can be of the most service in my teaching here?” the first group that responded were pregnant women. I don’t ask questions. I trust that this is destiny.

Yet, with all of that knowledge. With all that training in breath and  mindfulness, the stages of pregnancy and birth, I was left on my birthing day with a ton of questions. I did what I could to prepare and visualize this birth but I was told by mothers who had gone before me to hold it all loosely because on that Day, it could all go out of the door. Most of it did. A lot of it was even better than I could have imagined. In fact, the mystery of it was what made it so incredibly unique because after all of it, I was looking around at the people in the room like, “Can you believe I just did that!?” My baby was healthy and on my chest, breathing… I did that. With the help of the Universe, I conceived and birthed what Rumi so powerfully muses, a, “Breath, breathing, human being.” Wow. This is New Life.

I don’t take birth lightly. In my re-birthing breath work training which has taken years of intensive study, we look at the effect prenatal, perinatal, and  birth have on the psyche. Everything, everything, everything, we do while that child is being conceived, in our womb, and how they are held in birth dictates how they will cope with life in the years to come. It’s all written in the stars out there some where, so we do the best we can and leave the rest up to fate, but we do the best we can.

While doing the best that I could, here are 3 things I’ve Learned about New Life.

1. New Life is created with explosions of Energy: “like when the mother met the father, met the mother, kissed the horizon, gave birth to stars.” IMua, Nakho Bear and Medicine for the People. We too, are created with this force of nature. We go through all of it while coming into existence. While birthing my daughter, I experienced moments of deep silence, silly laughter, deep breath, tears, loud expression, ease, and pain. The more I breathed into knowing that this was exactly what was needed for her to be born, the more strength I had to continue on.
2. New Life teaches us to let go of expectations: and drop into the now. New life is well, NEW. In birthing my daughter, I had to let go of everything I thought I knew about birth, and drop into what the experience was actually bringing to me. My expectations would bring me out of the moment. When I was out of the moment, I was dropping into fear, and fear while birthing can bring up resistance.
3. New Life makes us grateful for life. While she was being born there have been friends of mine who have suffered great loss. She is a reminder to us all of the great Earth cycles. She is a reminder for me to thank  God for every morning I get to wake up knowing that I have another day to live this extraordinary life, especially now that I get to live it with her.

Alana Roach  is a International Yogi currently based out of Annapolis, MD. Formerly adorned by the city lights and the busy streets of America, she was then whisked away by the illustrious path of yoga and took to traveling the world to share it with others. A few years back she started to write about the transformation she undertook by  practicing conscious meditation. Her passions became her career and she now holds RYS Teacher Trainings & International Retreats, Health Coaches, and writes every opportunity she gets. In her spare time she loves cuddling with her daughter,  surfing, being in nature, and living amongst her ever growing and global loving and conscious community. She is on Facebook , Instagram, Twitter, and can be reached by email explorationsofself@gmail.com

All We Have Is All We Need

By Joshua Canter

I clearly remember five years ago, traveling through my home state of California and into the mountains of southern Oregon. Our core group of 12, caravaning in three cars, looked at various properties where we thought we might settle and start our community. One place after another left us uninspired and drastically surprised at the prices of properties that did not even fill a quarter of the specifics that we were looking for in a piece of land.

Did our community want to start with a 30-year mortgage? Already our projected budget for start-up had almost doubled from what we initially thought it was going to cost. Suddenly, our dream of a new, liberated, and simple life seemed more like a mirage; instead, we’d be digging ourselves into a deep, complicated hole. How were we going to do this?

A few months later, after tips from some friends, I spontaneously took a journey to Costa Rica to explore the country and to continue the search for our new home. During the two-month period, I looked at over 100 pieces of property up and down the country. Property in this country was inexpensive compared to where we were looking before, and the land was abundant in resources beyond what I could find anywhere on the west coast, with rivers, waterfalls, tropical fruit trees, rich soil, springs, wildlife, clean air…and the list went on. Costa Rica, the “Rich Coast,” was named by the Spanish after they came through and found no gold at the time. But because the land was so rich in natural beauty, they fittingly gave it its name.

On New Year’s Day, 2004, after purchasing the property, we settled on our land and True Nature began. True Nature is located in the rural farming village of La Florida. For generations the Costa Rica Natives (“Ticos”) have lived simple, sustainable, and rich lives, with almost nothing to show for it. Most of them grew up subsistence farmers, working with the land they had, using it to provide the necessities for the family. Each family in the village helped one another with growing food, caring for the children, building, and sharing resources. The families, most of them having 10 children, also grew together as they participated in celebrations, played soccer, sang traditional “rancho” songs, danced salsa, rode horses, and so on. As we arrived in the village at our new home, we soon realized we were moving into a community that had been flourishing for generations, in our eyes with almost nothing.

We showed up on our land with only the goods we could each fit into two duffel bags. Coming from the states, the four of us each had our different standards of living, but with the limited resources we had brought, we would each be leading a more materially simple existence. During the previous four years, our group had been meeting together, creating vision documents, timelines, and plans to create our community, True Nature. It was to be a flourishing education center, filled with an art studio, yoga center, community lodge, several cabins, houses for the residents, and more. I remember sitting on a stump outside the small Tico house which came with the land, looking out at the vast valley which was our property, and thinking, “How are we going to afford to do this?”

With the example that surrounded us in the Costa Rican community of La Florida, our vision began to shift drastically. We witnessed a flourishing community, as rich as we had ever seen before in many ways, living with nearly nothing. In our councils we began to ask questions like, “Why do we need a car, when we can ride a horse? Why do we need a washing machine, when we can wash by hand? Why do we need a lawnmower, when we can use a machete? Why do we need such a large vision, when we see the simplicity and harmony of a multi-generational community surrounding us?” The discussion went on for months and still goes on today.

The average wage in Costa Rica is approximately $3 an hour, and with this we understood that if we wanted to work we would either have to create our own businesses on the land, or go back to the United States to work. We also realized that because we had decided to live here, we had no mortgage; the land had been paid off completely. Many variables came forth and created lively discussions at our council meetings and around dinner time. 

The cultural mentality of wealth, scarcity, and abundance became more and more clear as time went on in the village and in the creation of our own community. I watched my Costa Rican neighbors, on pieces of land on either side of me, wake up at dawn, work in the fields until sunset, come home to their families and their simple little homes, and do it again the next day. I would visit them often in the evenings and on the weekends and be amazed at how happy these people’s lives were. Children would run from house to house in the village; the men would sit on their decks and watch the sunset after a long day’s work; the women would visit each other often. All they had was all they needed, and they were genuinely happy. In Costa Rica, the mantra of the country is “Pura Vida” (pronounced pooda veeda), which means “pure life.” Wherever you go in the country, people say proudly, “Pura Vida.” The pure life I witnessed in the village of La Florida was a reflection that continues to guide our community today.

In the US, I had grown up in an upper class family in Los Angeles. Richness was not seen through natural resources and quality of life, but through the vacations we took, the cars we drove, and the clothes we wore. America today, more than ever, is looking at the question of “What is enough?”

Slowly, as time went on at True Nature, we began to want more and more. Our vision was not to live as the Ticos do, and some of us more than others were eager to move forward and begin to grow the vision that we came with originally. Struggles began to arise amongst the group as some began to propose that we begin to obtain more and more resources to help us move forward with our vision. After a year and a half, one community member purchased the first vehicle. We followed by deciding to ship an overseas crate from the United States, containing tools and materials we could not get in the country.
Around the same time that we bought our vehicle, a few other foreigners bought property in the village to start their own community projects. They came with their own mission and vision. It was to “build, and build fast.” Just as many Americans have done in the country, they came with all of their wealth from the states and created what they wanted, at the pace that many people create in the states. As this began to happen around us, it affected our community and affected the village. As the new people in La Florida brought their own form of wealth, everyone, including the Ticos and ourselves, began to watch and feel the result of this new form of abundance.

Subtly we began to desire more. We watched the new people get new cars, washing machines, chainsaws, and hot water. And naturally, we wanted these things. We watched people build structures within months, and already begin to host groups of people, a vision we had years ago; and we wanted these things. And most of all, we were struck by the effect it had on the simple native people of the “rich coast”; they wanted these things.

The next years became dynamic years of change, growth, and learning at True Nature. The key to our growth was acceptance: acceptance of all the dynamic ways and all the many forms in which life provides us gifts.

In response to the changing times, two of the founding partners of True Nature began the CREER Service Organization. The mission of the organization is to provide a bridge of education, awareness, and a global perspective from the world to the villagers of La Florida, helping to support the native culture through changing times.

We began to accept more and more the delicate balance we were finding in living in the village of La Florida and at True Nature. We understood that change was inevitable and we acknowledged also our roots, values, and each other’s diverse upbringings.

We embraced the vehicle which took us to town each week, and we also embraced the machete which cut down coconuts so efficiently. We shared gratitude for the hot water which cleaned our dirty bodies, and also marveled in the cool waters of the waterfall on our land. We used the telephone and the dial-up internet to communicate with our families and spread the word of our community and sprouting education center, and we visited our new adopted Costa Rican family nightly. We learned that truly, all we have is all we need.

Many of the experiences of the past four years have melded into who I am today, and also how I see scarcity and wealth within myself, my community, and the world. After seeing such drastic differences between the lifestyle I grew up in and the lifestyle in which I started my new life at True Nature, I feel that I have a broad perspective on this facet of life. Deep within myself, I have a knowing that if I need to, I can live with very little and appreciate the richness of life. If the resources of our apparent “abundant” American culture run out, I will be one of the minorities of people who will be okay, accepting “all I have is all I need.” I understand that with this, life does not come easy, and it takes hard work to live in a way that is so simple and truly rich. I also have a deep gratitude and appreciation for living with the material abundance I grew up with and that I have today in its various forms. I cherish the opportunity to have the plethora of experiences, education, and resources I have, that the Ticos in the village of La Florida may never have. Through this, I also have learned my greatest gifts: acceptance and compassion. I have an understanding that abundance, wealth, richness, means something different to everyone. I understand people have deep feelings about these topics that are sensitive and trigger some of the deepest primal parts of our selves. And I understand that throughout time, people will continue to evolve and learn more and more what the gifts of life mean to them.

Just yesterday I received an article sent to me from my grandmother. The article was about a research project that studied the top four areas of the world where people live to be the oldest on the planet. To my surprise, one of the areas is just north of where True Nature is, in a village similar to La Florida. The scientist interviewed one of the oldest women of the village, who was 100 years old. He asked, “What is the secret to living such a long and healthy life here in such a simple village?” She answered, “Oyeee… I am blessed.” It is my wish that no matter what life gives us, we can realize that we are all, in our own unique ways, truly blessed.

Joshua is an educator, facilitator, and consultant, whose mission is to support people interested in exploring and learning about the many facets of living in community. He is the co-founder of the True Nature Community and Education Center (truenaturecommunity.org) in Costa Rica and The CREER Service Organization (creerbelieve.org). Through his work he hopes to help people discover how they can create ways of holistic living filled with connection, support, and interdependence. When Joshua is not living in Costa Rica he resides in Asheville, North Carolina, where he is the coleader of the Asheville Communities Network (ashevillecommunitiesnetwork.com).
For more information, contact Joshua: Joshua@truenaturecommunity.org.

True Nature Education is truly blessed to have some unbelievable retreat leaders on our team. These teachers take their students to the end of the earth, and guide us on a remarkable journey of inner peace, growth, and adventure.

Sabre’ is no exception. The sense of community she builds with her students, along with her fun and knowledgable teaching style, makes Sabre’ a rockstar leader. True Nature Education had the privilege of getting to know Sabre’ a little bit better and weget to share the interview with you! Check out Sabre’s vibe and don’t forget, she still has spots available for her Guatemala retreat! More information and registration can be found here.

TNE: What does it mean for you to “be something more” as part of your yoga practice, teaching, and your intentions for your retreat?
S: Through yoga, I believe we can begin to taste what it feels like to cut loose from those mental ropes that bind us so. We focus on ourselves in a deeper way, becoming the Witness to what we observe within ourselves and within our bodies. We then create deeper connections in our relationships and in our communities, and then our earth and the Universe.
When we add to the yoga the glorious adventure of travel and retreat from our daily lives, a whole new level of liberation takes place. We have the opportunity to connect with people from other cultures, with nature, and we experience different food and activities, all of which adds to our perspective and broadens that deep feeling of being so very present and so very alive!
My pleasure is traveling through the world with open-hearted, open-minded people who love yoga. I will do my very best, on each retreat, to provide beautiful and clean surroundings, delicious and healthy food, safety, and adequate information to cover most details! I will be sensitive to the dynamics of each group, and it is my intention to co-create community within each, that is magical.
TNE: Who has been your greatest influence and why?
S: The greatest influences in my life are, without doubt, my children and my yoga students. From them I have learned more than I could ever hope to teach.
TNE: If there was a yoga pose or mediation practice that described you – what would it be and why?
S: This variation of tree pose (Vrksanana) is expressive, fun, a tad improper, Ultimately, like the tree, my growth is deep and inward like the roots, and, at the same time, up and outward toward the sun.
TNE: Other than yoga and meditation – what are some of your passions?
S: There are no limits to my passions! Practicing yoga is amazing, of course, but teaching is even more of a passion for me because of the transformations and the building of communities to which I witness. I love travel, which is why the retreats are such a perfect combination of these passions. Back home in Colorado in the warm months, I am an avid hiker, taking full advantage of our wonderful Rocky Mountains and the beautiful vistas; the journey to those peaks brings such connection and joy for me. I love music, especially live music outdoors in the warm weather. Colorado has enough festivals and concerts to support that habit, and I also try to get a taste of that wherever I travel. Creativity is an important slice of my life. I paint, mostly brightly colored pet portraits, and I love to play with fused glass art and beaded jewelry. My background is writing, so reading and writing are long time friends and companions. 

TNE: What is on your “Guatemala bucket list” and what are you most excited about?
S: I chose Guatemala for a retreat destination after traveling in Oaxaca and being immersed in the colorful Mayan culture. I wanted more! I also stayed on Lake Arenal in Costa Rica after Mexico last year. Villa Sumaya and Guatemala seem to blend the best of both of those worlds. I’m looking forward to the colors, the warmth of the people, learning about the culture, and sharing my experience with my retreat peeps. Building community and bonding amidst the special qualities of Guatemala will be a highlight.

TNE: Is there a saying or quote that really resonates with you and your upcoming retreat?
S: “And then she knew. There is no beginning and no end, and in giving herself space to become better, she set herself free.” ~me 🙂

“When under, remember the surface; when on the surface, remember the deep,” -Mark Nepo

It’s getting hot in here…..

The summer heat wave is in full swing here in North Carolina. Those warm sun rays are bringing with it new growth, possibilities, and constant daydreams of hitting the beach.But, nature is not the only thing heating up.Hot yoga has hit the yoga scene hard and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, anytime soon. Originally, hot yoga derived from the practice of Biikram Yoga which was brought to the U.S. in the early 70s and became the most widely known form of hot yoga performed typically at 105 degrees. In the past 5 years hot yoga started to come more mainstream and has flowed over to many different styles of yoga, including studios devoted solely to the practice.Personally, I am a creature of habit. My practice, love, and obsession with yoga really developed during my young adult life in Los Angeles. And what a place to discover this passion! Options, teachers, and styles were endless. I really found my niche with power yoga and as a creature of habit stuck to this practice.Nothing in life is constant, and changes are what makes us who we are. I decided to make a major life change and relocate to the beautiful mountains of Asheville North Carolina. Once again, I found myself in an area whose yoga scene made my heart jump with joy. Embracing this opportunity, I widened my perspective and made a choice to try new styles of yoga.

And this brings me to where I tried hot yoga.

Hot yoga, seems to be a controversial subject. Some people dig it and some people don’t. There are multiple studies out there, declaring this practice is terrible for your body, and other studies that sings it’s praises. The debate boils down to whether or not it actually detoxifies, the amount of calories burnt, and whether or not the heat helps with the stretching of muscles, or causes artificial flexibility leading to injury.

Yoga anymounous does a great job simplifying the benefits and you can read more on this here if you are interested: http://yoganonymous.com/eight-benefits-of-hot-yoga/As for the counter argument, Time Magazine did an interesting study and can be read here: http://time.com/2967716/you-asked-is-hot-yoga-good-for youand-for-weight-loss/I will let you decide on your own thoughts on the health benefits and risks. Both sides seem very valid to me.

What I learned from the practice did not really have to do with the physical, but more of the mental lesson, to trust ourselves.

It was 6 am on a Monday morning in North Carolina. Mist still laid heavy on the mountain and I entered the room. It was hot. Really hot. Granted, I have been spoiled by the constant 75 degree and low humidity of southern California for the past 8 years, so perhaps I was being a little dramatic.

I rolled out my mat and began my Ujjay breath. It felt heavy and difficult. The air felt thick and I was already breaking a sweat by breathing. I told myself to embrace it, that this was a new challenge of staying present and calm in an environment I was not comfortable or use to (which seemed to be a underlying theme the past couple months of my life as a whole, moving from the west coast to the east, is not necessarily a walk in the park). My body was gradually adjusting to the warmth, I tried my best to clear my thoughts, embrace the current situation, and then I was ready to dive on in.

The teachers Irish accent was as heavy as the air and I adored her. The class flowed and was a combination of vinyasa flow with heavier stretching. Overall, the difficulty and pace was less intense then my usual power yoga flow.

But, it felt hard. I struggled. My mind wandered, I was pouring sweat, and I had a difficult time getting to my zen zone. Following the class, I felt dehydrated, my head ached, and overall I felt slightly frustrated.

My dear friend joined me in this class. When the class was ending she rolled up her mat with a gleaming smile and said “Wasn’t that fantastic! Doesn’t your whole body feel alive?”

I thought about this for a couple days. How could two experienced yogis taking the same class have such a different experience? And how far should we push our comfort zone to truly expand our perspective?

So I tried another class. And once again, my body did not like it. Nor did my mind.

I realized something very important, we need to listen to our hearts and to our bodies. We need to trust our internal instinct. Each one of us are on our own journey and what might be right for someone else does not mean it is right for you. And that is ok. That in fact, is what makes this world such a thriving and beautiful place, diversity. By tapping into our gut feelings, listening to our physical bodies, and allowing space to try new things, we get closer each day to honoring our true self.

As for hot yoga, it is not for me. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t for you. Do a little research, try a class, and listen to your body. After all, life is just one big experiment and learning experience. Trust yourself and explore more!

I would love to hear about your personal practice with hot yoga. Feel free to share below!