True Nature Travels Blog

Adapted from the Mind|Body|Fitness Yoga blog. Update On-Retreat with Andrea Dyer on her 4th Annual Mind|Body|Fitness Yoga Retreat with True Nature Education:

We came to Santa Teresa this year to listen. The sound environment in Santa Teresa is rich with layers of the ocean, wind, monkeys, birds and life in the hotel and village.

I’m sitting in the hotel’s open air restaurant – using wifi and listening to layers of sound.  The backdrop is the non-stop waves in the ocean about 100 yards in front of me through the glade of palm trees. There is the din of silverware, Bob Marley and the chatter of the restaurant staff, the gurgle of the pool water and the call of birds in the trees. The monkey raised their voices in the pre-dawn hour.

There is no electronic curtain of sound here (other than the sound and bass of Bob Marley music). There is clarity and a distinct evidence of nature here. Human voices are hushed and relaxed.

My ears have always been invited to soak in the sounds available. There is nothing better than to rise with the monkeys and walk down the path to the beach and sit and watch the sun rise to the left over Mal Pais. The sound of the surf is soothing on a soul level. It invites you to listen more closely to your heart and soul.

So I have invited our retreaters to listen this week. Hear the sounds of Costa Rica and listen to themselves having this experience. Taking a sacred pause to soak in the sounds of contentment, excitement, and the silence in the space left when all the plans and analysis that kidnap us most days.

We took some inspiration from Milerepa and his iconic leaning toward the music of the soul in meditation, and from Rumi:

Where Everything is MusicMilarepa

We have fallen into the place where everything is music.

The strumming and the flute notes rise into the atmosphere, and if the whole world’s harp should burn up, there will still be hidden instruments playing, playing.

This singing art is sea foam.

The graceful movements come from a pearl somewhere on the ocean floor.

Poems reach up like spindrift and the edge of driftwood along the beach wanting, wanting.

They derive from a slow and powerful root that we cannot see.

Stop the words now.

Open the window in the center of your chest and let the spirits fly in and out!

This is my fourth trip to Costa Rica and each time I get here I am more relaxed and at ease in meditating and listening. Listening is dear and sweet to me here.

On retreat tons of pictures are captured to take the beauty and good feelings back to our regular lives, but I have taken to recording and journaling about the sounds here – somehow if feels closer to my soul. There still are pictures, but I am taking them as placeholders for the sounds so I can reconnect to the sounds and my soul when I see them. It’s my wish that everyone on this retreat will be able to open the window in the center of their chests and let the spirits fly in and out – like the sweet sounds of Santa Teresa.

Pura Vida!

True Nature Travels Blog

By Alana Roach
Alana is a part of our 2015 True Nature Education Faculty. She is leading her first retreat January 17th – 24th in Santa Terest, Costa Rica. First published on her blog.

Pura vida or PURE LIFE holds true in Central America for me. It was a big reason why I came back after visiting for the first time only 6 months ago. Despite my best efforts on the East Coast in the US, I still had some troubling symptoms that led me to believe I was less than healthy. Costa Rica inspired me to redesign my life because running from errand to errand to then sleep and dream about errands was not conducive to my well-being. My body and mind revolted. I would be so often tired by the end of the day that I had no time to even share my day with loved ones. I would fall sick from exhaustion. My mind felt fogged over. A general haze seemed to be engulfing every fiber of my being. I would get covered in tinea versicolor. I would have what they call, “Teacher burn-out,” and there is seldom serenity coming from within when a teacher is running on E. My hips hurt. My digestion got blocked up from God knows what because I ate as organic and healthy as I could.

During our vacation visit in March, I experienced my first dose of PURA VIDA. My mind started to de-fog, I slept more soundly, the food here felt more nutrient dense, I had energy despite rigorous hikes, I felt like I could BREATHE, omg… the air quality here is so magnificent, you should smell it! I became fortified and purified by Costa Rica. It became even more pronounced to me as soon as I left this paradise, that I needed to come back asap. When I left Costa Rica the haze crept back in, my energy body immediately felt sludgy, my mind felt chaotic, my digestion returned to it’s sensitive state, I got sick a week later, and I got consumed by consumerism once again. No longer than a month back in the US and I knew I had to come back to Costa Rica for my health.

So here we are in paradise, and I am here to share with you 5 Ways Moving to Costa Rica Improved my Health!

1. Vibrant skin. Tinea Versicolor Gone!

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I am prone to what dermatologist call Tinea Versicolor, which is a long term fungal infection. I have had it since I was 13 . TV breaks out in humidity and in being a yoga teacher that means I was covered in them. 2 weeks after arriving in HUMID Costa Rica, eating the local grown fruits and veggies, breathing the air, drinking the water, they went away. I have heard this is the case for some others who suffered from this fungal annoyance. It is gone, it is humid here, those two factors don’t usually line up for Tinea, but apparently PURA VIDA wins in this case. I won’t try and figure out the mystery, I will just enjoy (Thank you, Costa Rica).

2. Cardio Heaven.

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There is so much raw beauty here that I can’t stand being inside for more than shut eye, it is incredible how nature draws you out when there is a beautiful symbiosis between you and it. Since moving here we are surfing almost every day and walking EVERYWHERE. My body is thanking me for it. I would squeeze in 20 minutes on the tread mill when I could between errands before and now my whole day is rich with heart healthy activity.

3. Improved Digestion.

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Maybe it’s all of the locally grown fruits and vegetables that you can buy at any and all of the markets in town (There are about 5 to chose from.) Maybe it’s the quality of the water. Whatever it is, my digestion hasn’t felt so smooth in years. I am seriously boosting this as a reason why you should consider visiting here because I feel like digestion is KEY to leading energetic, happy, healthy lifestyles through all ages. I barely take any vitamins here and I don’t feel like I need them (I used to take about 20 vitamins a day) because everything has so many vitamins naturally.

4. Freedom.

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In the town I live in there are no McDonalds or shopping malls to speak of. There is no reason to bring your phone with you everywhere because the island life won’t allow for it. There aren’t tabloid magazines hanging in a checkout line. There are no sounds of traffic or sirens whirring by every second. There is mostly the sound of nature, ocean waves, and silence if you chose it. I can’t express adequately with words how freeing this all is, but you have to experience it for yourself or perhaps meditate with it in mind to get a taste. It is truely ineffable. I have found a new way of being and my body, mind, and spirit feel renewed by it.

5. Happy mind.

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I get to wake up everyday knowing that I am painting my life the way God intended it to be. I had a lot of, “What ifs,” “Can I really do this,” and “Am I worthy of this?” When I sat in silence and tapped deeply within the resonance of my Higher Self, the answer was always, “Yes.” Yes, I am taken care of. Yes, I can do this. Yes, I am worthy.” Moving to Costa Rica is another leap in my saying YES to my soul’s deepest yearning. I am co-designing my life with the Creator, sharing my passion for love through yoga with the world and let me tell you, my health is reaping the rewards more and more everyday because of it.

I look forward to resonating with you here in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica in the New Year, January 17-24 for Explorations of Self:A Costa Rica Yoga Experience. Register Here.
I’ll see you on your mats and in the ocean, PURA VIDA!

Love and light, and pura vida!

Alana Roach
CYT, E-RYT, Reiki, Retreat Leader & Travel Blogger
www.alanaroachyoga.com

alanaroachyoga@gmail.com

Follow me on facebook/twitter/instagram @alanaroachyoga