True Nature Travels Blog
Yoga. The word alone conjures up all sorts of meanings and images. I bet you are thinking of someone doing a crazy yoga asana or pose right now, like standing on their hands or putting their legs behind their head. Yes, this is yoga, too, but in fact, the real reason humans have been practicing yoga for over 5,000 years simply reconnect with their innermost selves, or their True
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
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
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
During the 2nd Annual Rhythms of Joy Retreat led by Tiina Kivinen with True Nature Education, we took an opportunity to be in silence. This activity opened space to go deeper within ourselves, disconnecting from the daily chatter we partake in. We were to be silent throughout the night until after the following morning’s meditation. I spent the night listening to my higher self, journaling, meditating, and resting. I woke up earlier
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
Just a couple of hours ago our Chant Together: A Family Bhakti Yoga Celebration with David ‘Durga Das’ Newman, Mira Newman, and Friends departed. It was a wonderfully rich week of retreat. Bhakti Yoga is also known as the yoga of devotion and love. The essence of this week was just that. Standing on the incredible Finca Luna Nueva Lodge property, I gaze into the distance at the vast rainforest
We’re nearing the end of our Chant Together Kirtan yoga retreat with David Newman (“Durga Das”) and Friends, and it has been such a delightful journey! Our group is wonderfully diverse, with participants ranging from age 2, all the way up beyond 60. It has been so sweet to have parents and kids, husbands and wives, and friends all here to chant together. The power of retreat is something I
We’re so excited for this special partnership with our neighbors and dear friends at Asheville Community Yoga Center. Joshua and Luna will be leading the retreat along with ACYC’s Michael Greenfield, Kelly Gilmore, and Amber Acheson. Check out this link for more information about the retreat, and click on the video below to meet each of the leaders!
Mindfulness is an integral part of True Nature Education. We have found by subtly utilizing mindfulness in our programs our participants are able to have a more memorable, rewarding, and profound experience while traveling with us. Why is this? Because when we are mindful we are able to experience the moment more fully, and therefore can truly enjoy the fruits of our life. These “fruits” are especially rich and inspiring are
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,
Our trip to Costa Rica and Finca Luna Nueva has allowed me and the eight remarkable women on this trip time to relax, reflect and connect in conversation in the awesome beauty of the rainforest and the powerful shadows of Arenal volcano. The nine of us have a common denominator: We are “driven” and bear a lot of responsibility. Relaxing and being still are practices that present challenges. In the
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
This was written by Tiina Kivinen, retreat leader of our first yoga retreat of the 2013 season, the Rhythms of Joy: A Costa Rica Experience, from 1/12-1/19: Love from Nosara Costa Rica! We just completed the Rhythms of Joy Costa Rica Yoga Retreat last week, and I am basking in the afterglow. The experience brought people together from Peterborough, Bobcageon, and Thunder Bay Ontario, Alberta, Minnesota, New York City, Holland,
