True Nature Travels Blog

Summer Sangha Retreat with Karina Ayn Mirsky & Friends

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426638_2774069488134_1808831123_nThe True Nature Community extends beyond the retreats we host in Costa Rica.  Our family or sangha reaches right into the heart of the teachers we connect with and supporting them at home, in their local studios and the students and communities they serve on a daily basis.

Karina Ayn Mirsky is more than family to True Nature.  She is our sister, teacher and friend.  We have worked, taught and served alongside her for over ten years – in Costa Rica and at home.  This summer she is bringing teaching a retreat at the Himalayan Yoga Institute to rejuvenate, inspire and uplift while in the company of other dedicated yogis.

580617_10201475583745110_1470843495_nShe is bringing together a group of bright beings to teach along with her during this retreat. True Nature co-founder Kristin Luna Ray will life voices and hearts with chant and kirtan during the immersion.  The spiritual head of the Himalayan Institute, Pandit Rajmani Tigunat, PhD is also a special guest presenter.

Dates for the retreat are August 6th-10th.  More details about how to register and accommodations at the institute here.

ALSO! Check out Karina’s 2015 Retreat Information with True Nature in Costa Rica! We are so grateful for our connection with this amazing teacher and human being.

 

479910_10151044555750812_1405883343_nKarina Mirsky is a certified ParaYoga teacher and the director of Sangha Yoga in Kalamazoo, MI. She holds a master’s degree in East/West Psychology and is an adjunct professor of Yoga Studies at Antioch University Midwest. Karina draws on her experience as a performance artist, massage therapist, and cancer survivor to convey yoga as a therapeutic science and catalyst for personal transformation. In the March 2008 issue of Yoga Journal, she was featured as one of 21 teachers under the age of 40 shaping the future of yoga in America. Karina hosts teacher trainings and conducts private practice at Sangha Yoga, leads seminars in the USA and Canada, and holds annual retreats in Costa Rica.

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Check out Luna’s music video for Sita Ram on the True Nature Youtube Channel!

True Nature Travels Blog

Merging Missions: Service "Karma" Classes at Shakti Power Yoga Nashville

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1969380_635261833189725_1469056757_nWe’re only a few months away from the Shakti Yoga Costa Rica Experience, led by Shakti Power Yoga owners – and sisters! – Lauren Farina and Kelly Farina-Carter. This all-encompassing yoga retreat will include yoga practices, meditation practices, hiking, an opportunity to surf the waves, and the joy of service.

Service yoga – aka “karma yoga” – is a shared value for both True Nature Education as well as Shakti Power Yoga. With a mission to empower students both on and off the mat, the Shakti community also offers weekly donation-based Karma classes to benefit the Nashville-based non-profit, Small World Yoga.

1939702_637296872986221_1138475371_nSmall World Yoga, created by one of the Shakti teachers, Liz Veyhl, brings yoga to other local organizations that need it throughout Nashville. All proceeds from the weekly Karma classes go directly to Small World Yoga.

The Shakti Power Yoga crew takes their commitment to service a step further by highlighting one organization per month that Small World Yoga works with. During the month of April, the organization highlighted is Hope Lodge, offering housing and care for those going through cancer treatments.

Since 2004, The American Cancer Society’s Memorial Foundation Hope Lodge has offered a solution to cancer patients who must undergo treatment far from home. The Hope Lodge provides housing free of charge on a first-come, first served basis to cancer patients and their families during their course of treatment. The lodge not only reduces the financial burden, but also provides a much needed supportive environment.

10172837_437255066410393_388228646_nSmall World Yoga, supported by Shakti Power Yoga, has become part of this supportive environment by offering yoga for those undergoing this process.

Along with SWY, Shakti is organizing two evenings at the end of this month to volunteer their time to help serve meals at Hope Lodge. Each week we hope to gain more support of Small World Yoga, and each month we will highlight a new local organization all with the hopes of supporting our friends, teachers and community through the power of yoga.

 

There’s still time to sign up!

July 21-28, 2014
Shakti Power Yoga Costa Rica Retreat
with Lauren Farina and Kelly Farina Carter

True Nature Travels Blog

Mind|Body|Fitness Yoga Retreat – Ready. Set. TRANSFORM!

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“The journey between what you once were and who you are now becoming is where the dance of life really takes place.”

~ Barbara Deangelis

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photos courtesy of mind | body | fitness

Andrea Dyer and her band of merry yogis dove right into their Annual Costa Rica Experience yoga retreat! From crossing items off bucket lists to sunrise yoga and full moons, the first few days of their journey together warmed up to become their home for the week quite nicely.

Andrea’s passion for adventure has led her to guide her second retreat in Costa Rica with us.  Andrea shares her experience leading a retreat with our experienced staff in this video here.

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Andrea packed a week of daily yoga, meditation, stand up paddle boards, waterfall hikes, visits to the hot springs and plenty of personal time for her students to enjoy.  It’s in that individual space, whether you are taking in the sunset or listening to the symphony of sounds in the jungle that true transformation really takes place.

And, of course it is in clinking coconuts and building community that

Read more

True Nature Travels Blog

Luna's Kitchen: Super Easy Dahl

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183212_4066559055946_2027869845_nTrue Nature Education co-founder “Luna” Kristin Ray balances her days between being a full-time mom, wife, musician and whipping up yummy and amazing recipes in her kitchen to keep her family healthy, clean and green.   Her super easy (and very yummy) dahl recipe is one you might find yourself choosing to make a staple in your own kitchen, making some at the start of every week to keep and have for lunch each day.

f0c6e9c0c549217307dfc5922e476bd8Luna’s Super Easy Dahl with Coconut Rice

1.5 cups of pink lentils
5 cups water
3/4 tsp of turmeric
5 tbsp olive oil
5-6 cloves of garlic
1.5 tsp salt

Put turmeric, dahl and water in pot, and bring to a boil.  Then simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Turn heat off and with a fork or mixing spoon beat the lentils so they break up and get soupy.

Cut the garlic cloves lengthwise but thin, and then flash fry the garlic in the olive oil in a separate pan.  (high heat, and the garlic cooks for about 1-2 minutes and turns brown) Add the garlic and oil to the lentils, and add salt.  SO YUMMY~

BASAMATI RICE
1cup of rice
1.5 cups of water
1tbsp cumin seeds
1.5 tbsp of coconut oil
1/3 cup of shredded coconut
salt to taste

Combine rice, water, cumin and coco oil, and cook until rice is done.
Add coconut and salt to taste.
Enjoy with your dahl!
Love,
Luna
OSHAlbumCoverFinalRGB2-274x243p.s. Here is a FREE download from Luna’s new CD, One Shared Heart.  Enjoy this mindful music for the heart while you make this food for the soul!

True Nature Travels Blog

On Synchronicity and "Being in the Flow"

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IMG_20140130_161940You know when everything feels connected?  Maybe you’ve run into a long lost friend at the grocery store who you’ve been meaning to catch up with.  Perhaps your yoga class focused on the exact part of your body that needed your attention. You feel like you are in the right place at the right time, and things are going your way.  I like to refer to this experience as “being in the flow.”

Being in the flow is when there is a sense of ease to your way of life.  You listen to the plan of the universe, and you act accordingly.  Rather than exerting a lot of energy to create what you think you want, the universe effortlessly provides you with what you really need.   The truth is that being in the flow just feels good.

IMG_20140206_093400Currently, I am living in Costa Rica on retreat with True Nature Education, and life here is different.  Conversations with people who I just met begin to feel like talks with old friends.  I practice yoga effortlessly, and my ability to listen to my body is more attuned.  My rhythms for sleep have matched those of nature; I wake up with the birds and the sun, and the stars and crickets lull me to sleep.  Life has become a living meditation, and this is what being in the flow is all about.

As I experience this way of life in Costa Rica, I aspire to create a life at home that feels as consistently connected and in the flow as I’m experiencing here.  True Nature is giving me tools to be able to tap into living with this essence of ease.  On retreat, I practice yoga, have communal meals, and spend my time outdoors in nature.  These are all meaningful ways that I will bring home with me, as a way to connect with the flow of life.

True Nature Travels Blog

Just For Now: Wrapping Up the Mind|Body|Yoga|Fitness Retreat

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Just for now, without asking how, let yourself sink into stillness.

Just for now, lay down the
weight you so patiently
bear upon your shoulders.
Feel the earth receive
you, and the infinite
expanse of sky grow even
wider as your awareness
reaches up to meet it.
 
Just for now, allow a wave of breath to enliven your experience. Breathe out whatever blocks you from the truth. Just for now, be boundless, free, awakened energy tingling in your hands and feet. Drink in the possibility of being who and what you really are so fully alive that when you open your eyes the world looks different, newly born and vibrant, just for now.
I shared this poem by Dana Faulds in class in Costa Rica, reminding the group to allow themselves time to really be in the beautiful magic of Costa Rica and use it as a space and time to take care of themselves and to get back to who they are.
 
Over the course of the week, we softened our grip on our lives and responsibilities and let ourselves sink into stillness (or something similar).  Staying at Finca Luna Nueva Lodge, a biodynamic farm, allowed us to have a direct connection to nature. We ate food that was grown and compassionately raised by inspiring land stewards; we practiced yoga surrounded by the cacophony of of the rainforest; we observed nature in her own pace – the sun rising, the sloths traveling up and down trees, watching the weather shifting constantly.
 
We explored beyond Finca Luna and our comfortable limits: stand up paddle boarding on Lake Arenal, the world’s largest man-made lake, hiking the resilient ecosystem that surrounds Arenal Volcano, rappelling down waterfalls, rafting the rapids, and sinking into the healing warmth of the hot springs.
Between our multiple yoga practices each day and our explorations, we found time to practice sinking into stillness – massages, reading, walking & running on the property, and napping in hammocks.
 
Throughout all of this we discovered “moments” in which we had insights into who and what we really are.  Some of these moments were in the quiet reverence of nature, and many were in the time we spent together at meals, on bus rides, on porches, and during our yoga practices.
These “moments” were revelations that we are boundless and free and that we have access to the energy within us.
 
These “moments” showed us that maybe we do give too much of ourselves and offer ourselves too little protection. Maybe we don’t make enough time to do the things that make us happy. Maybe we don’t step out of the cacophony of our wired trance to see, hear, and experience our lives as unique.  Maybe we don’t recognize how much energy we have to spend on our own lives and how beautiful life is.
This energy and these insights are not to be squandered – they need to be nurtured and protected. Leaving Costa Rica, we understand that this is special and belongs to us. It should not be doused by jumping back into old patterns that block us from this knowledge.
So, pardon us if we seem a bit different as we return from Costa Rica. Excuse us if we become more deliberate like the sloths. And don’t mind us if we take more risks and have different perspectives on our day to day lives. We just got back from Costa Rica – newly born and vibrant, just for now.
 
We send out much gratitude to the staff of Finca Luna Nueva, True Nature Education, and the dozens of Ticos that made our trip to Costa Rica so wonderful.  PURA VIDA!

True Nature Travels Blog

2nd Annual Mind|Body|Fitness|Yoga Costa Rica Experience Begins…

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Our journey to Costa Rica began months ago as we planned to return to Costa Rica again in 2013 after a fabulous adventure to the Guanacaste coast in 2012. Most of us were able to arrange life to get back to Costa Rica this year, some were off to other adventures and we have added a few new faces to our tribe of travelers.

We flew to San Jose on a Saturday. Up with the sun and off to the airport – all meeting up in San Jose – with the exception of one straggler, our flight was oversold and Lynn had to stay back and fly on another flight. 5 of us arrived at immigration in San Jose to be greeted by Lisa’s smiling face. We navigated immigration, cash conversion and the duty free store and caught up with Sandy. When we got through immigration we found our guide, Mary and decided to go to a hotel for lunch while we waited for Lynn to catch up with us.

We navigated the colorful streets of San Jose to a hotel where we stayed last year – the home of the Marilyn Monroe bar at the Orquideas Inn- and home of K9 Marilyn Monroe. Lynn’s plans changed and we were to meet her at Finca Luna Nueva so we headed out into the twilight with our driver, but not before we did a headstand bomb.

We were warned that the drive would be foggy, but I don’t think any of us have ever been is such thick fog as we rode into the higher elevations of the rainforest. Our driver knew the roads so well that he knew when there would be speed bumps and sharp turns. It was slow and arduous, but we got to Finca Luna Nueva and moments later, the wayward Lynn showed up. All was well and we settled into our rooms.

Sunday was our first day here. We’ll call it Day 1 as we really arrived into the rainforest. We started with a tour of the biodynamic farm led by founder, Steven. The farm is really amazing and Steven’s dedication to enriching the planet is truly inspiring. We toured the gardens, the livestock areas – the pigs were a favorite and had our first sloth sighting.

We ate fresh plants and learned a lot about ayurvedic applications for using food to heal and cultivate energy.

Our tour ended with a yoga practice so we could stretch and then sit with all we had experienced that morning.

The afternoon was filled with exploration, the massage appointments began and we did a Yin & Flow practice to set ourselves into taking time for ourselves on this journey.

We spent the evening relaxing and getting to know each other with a post-yoga class happy hour – a circle where we shared some journal entries from last year’s trip and got to know each other a little better – catching up with old friends and learning all about new friends.

Impressions from the first day echo a deep appreciation and love for the environment here on the farm – the sounds, the scents the scenes; an appreciation of the warmth after leaving the colder climbs of NC and the opportunity to take our yoga into nature on the beautiful yoga pavilion.

Yoga is our cornerstone as we progress through the week. Our second day here is pointed toward more exploration of the property, more yoga and great community with strong, interesting women – recharging and celebrating life on this planet! Tomorrow we head out for a tour of the Volcano and Stand Up Paddle boarding. Adventure and stretching our limits in paradise!

Peace and lots of love and laughter ringing through the jungle!

Blogging from Costa Rica:
Andrea Dyer

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