Costa Rica Yoga Archives - Page 4 of 4

Memories of Asheville Community Yoga Trip to Costa Rica

Always slow breath of the Pacific calming,

Body blooms in warm moist air,

Scent of Ylang Ylang perfuming the night.

I am cradled by rocking warm waves

Shared with whales, dolphins, turtles, birds.

Over boulders a stream plunges,

I float in a rain forest cold hole,

Ancient Ajo trees arc above

Cicadas shriek, rattling eardrums

Mute as head dips below surface.

Alone where once dinosaurs roamed

Crunching giant fern, philodendrons

Still here luxuriant.

I have said nothing of listening to a small child

Lead our adult group in call and response –

I am happy, I am free

Guru ji, Guru ji

Or of dancing with you

Joyful, tears overflowing.

Or Luna’s songs of surrender to Divine Mother

Or lying under the vortex dome before dawn

Weeping and dissolving.

Or that Josh promised to be at my deathbed.

We are always together saluting the rising sun.

Reflecting Through Poem on the Rhythms of Joy

Following the 2nd Annual Rhythms of Joy Retreat with Tiina Kivinen in January 2014, one of the retreat participants, Rick, shared with us this beautiful poem that he used to reflect on his experience with True Nature Education and time in Costa Rica. He spent a week on a birding expedition following his time on the retreat with us, during which he said he had ample time to process his time with us.

Rick furthermore shared with us that, “I remember, during one of the (many) sharing sessions, comparing our group to a 15 petal lotus. It strikes me now just how apt that descrption – – – each perfect lotus petal finds even greater perfection in its place within the blossom. You were all perfect, and it was fantastic to bloom with you. My heart was emptied and then it was filled. Sweet blessings to all.”

A cold, dark heart, frozen by loss
Unable to grieve, unable to let go
The fragile ebb and flow of her life
The memories of her journey so new

Candlelit yoga with twelve gentle souls
Magic Moon’s words crack the shell
The vibration of kirtan like Jericho
My soul exposed, my centre revealed

My heart now opened to strangers
The pain unleashed but so welcome
The well of tears no longer held back
The depth of acceptance enveloped me

A mother not lost but transcended
As the cross through the woods revealed
She is with me, now a part of me

Her unconditional love surrounds me

On Synchronicity and “Being in the Flow”

You 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.

Currently, 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.

On Synchronicity and "Being in the Flow"

You 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.

Currently, 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.

A Journey of the Heart through Service and Adventure – Asheville Community Yoga Retreat Experience

On our third day of the Asheville Community Yoga Costa Rica Yoga Experience, we visited the village of La Florida, the home for many years of Joshua Canter and Kristin Luna Ray, TNE Co-Founders. It was a sweet reunion with some dear old friends along with the special local Costa Rica community, which represented, in many ways, the foundation of True Nature Education.

We left the La Casinga Eco-Lodge and Retreat Center and traveled about an hour and a half to the village, where we began our exciting day of service. The Asheville Community Yoga Retreatants first took on the task to give the recycling center a makeover with a fresh coat of paint to give it new life. It’s truly amazing how much a new layer of color can accomplish!

At the La Florida school, there is an organic vegetable garden in which the students work and contribute to as part of their curriculum. In anticipation of the commencement of school again next week, we put in some love in the garden, helping to prepare the beds and tidy things up.

The village has a small library, which True Nature Education and CREER Service Organization initially helped support to be built. Long time friend and CREER Representative, Amy Schrift, helped to coordinate the projects. She shared her incredible story during a traditional lunch served by some of the women in the village.

We then took a journey to the Nauyaca Waterfalls after

Tag: Costa Rica Yoga

Memories of Asheville Community Yoga Trip to Costa Rica

Reflecting Through Poem on the Rhythms of Joy

On Synchronicity and “Being in the Flow”

On Synchronicity and "Being in the Flow"

A Journey of the Heart through Service and Adventure – Asheville Community Yoga Retreat Experience

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