Renee K's Yoga

Friday, April 19th

This morning we were officially awoken very early by howler monkey’s grunting, the owners dog barking back at them, and all the tropical birds, as the animal world wakes up with the sun.

This morning’s 7am yoga was the most vigorous. With travel and the heat I only led 1 power yoga type class so as to not exhaust the attendees. We also recorded this class which you can participate in here (Renee K’s YouTube Channel).

Shortly after breakfast, a handful of adventurous yogi’s had the opportunity to take a surf lesson with our fearless excursion leader: Javier! I have taken lessons twice before in Costa Rica, one being with Javi, so I knew how exhausting (and exhilarating) it can be and as a leader of this retreat, I made the decision to stay on the beach to cheer on my friends and take some photos so they all had proof of getting up (or almost standing) and surfing to the shore!

Once we return from surfing, we are given lunch and prep to head out for another mini trip, this time nearby at Lola’s beachfront restaurant at Playa Avellana. We chill out, read in lounge chairs or hammocks, sip more drinks, watch the sunset, and take some silly yoga photos! Once the sun sets, and Lola’s closes, we walk our way about 10 minutes over to the Night Market. This was new to me, and a little area set up of food trucks, live music, bars, and more shopping! We ran into a few of the volunteers from Peace Retreat here as well, as this seems to be the place that most locals hang out on Friday nights.

Saturday, April 20th

Oh man, we are already at our last FULL day at Peace Retreat! Since the other group had left mid-week we had the campus to ourselves. I wanted my students to experience the Shala studio for some classes. Definitely a different feel as it is a breezier room with more natural light, a wooden floor, but ultimately a smaller space. After 6 days of being together, no one seemed concerned about being closer to each other!

Breakfast at 8:30am was vibrant and tasty as always. If you ever visit CR, be sure to eat as MUCH fresh fruit as you can.

At 9:30am, Javi picked up a few more adventurous yogis for a super relaxing excursion among the mangroves.

Paddleboarding is its own type of activity. Some say surfing is easier! This was my second time paddleboarding among the mangroves in CR and I figured out the way that worked best for me. Use your core, adjust your feet to avoid fatigue, and enjoy the quiet, and the other types of animals you see below, above, and around you! Literally, going with the flow… until you turn around and head back and have to paddle against the flow of the river haha.

Once the 4 of us returned from this last excursion, many of us had scheduled a massage or wellness treatments that ranged from a full body massage, facial, to a coffee scrub! A few of the attendees had scheduled more than one throughout the week as a treat but Saturday was the only day that worked for me and BOY did I need it :)

Saturday evening I wanted to lead my students through a yoga nidra class, also known as yogic sleep. An ancient meditation technique where practitioners lay in savasana (usually propped up on blankets, blocks or bolster) enter a deeper state of conscious relation moving awareness from the external world to the internal. In this dreamless sleep, we are free from the concepts of time, space and reason. When this happens, brain activity reduces and the body goes into a healing state. 

We did have at least 1 student fall asleep which makes sense after a full week of heat, yoga, and adventures, but the intent is to be fully relaxed but aware. My first time participating in a yoga nidra class induced dreamlike visions that one normally sees right before you fall asleep. 

“Know you are a vessel, these thoughts and feelings are free to come and go. You are now connected to yourself, connected to the world around you, connected to all of life.”

The students were led out of this meditation with my words and the sounds of nearby howler monkey’s enjoying their dinner right above the Shala! We even spotted some baby monkeys!

Sunday, April 21st

No class was scheduled for this last morning, as I wanted everyone to take the time to pack and say goodbye to CR in their own way. I made sure to take an extra early walk back to Playa Negra to say goodbye to the wild horses on the road, say “so long” to the ocean, and absorb any other memories I could retain knowing I was able to share this magical place with a handful of dedicated students and friends in my very first yoga retreat!

There were two transport vans heading to Liberia airport, and I was on the 2nd one as my flight back to the states was slightly later than the rest. We said our final goodbyes at the airport and headed back home hopefully fully rested, reset, and rejuvenated.

Take me back to Part 1

The tentative plan for this day was a bit more relaxing compared to the others. After breakfast we had time to play in the pool and enjoy a poolside popup market of local shops bringing their goods to us for some shopping! I am still dreaming about a kimono / wrap that I should have bought for myself. A few of the attendees tried on dresses, bathing suit covers, jewelry and more. This was a nice way to find a souvenir for yourself while also supporting a local business.

Then at 10:30am, I treated everyone to a trip to the closest “big” city: Tamarindo. Similar to my first visit to Costa Rica, it’s a nice mini getaway to see what other people see when visiting CR. This town which is only about a 60-75 min drive away is full of surf schools, a beautiful beach, shops of all sizes, restaurants of all levels, and bars. It felt like a true tropical vacation being able to browse and walk the shops at leisure. Stopping for a drink at a beach side cafe to cool off and then finding the best sunglasses or matching tank top to bring back home! Around 3:30pm we headed back to Peace Retreat for a relaxing evening in.

Thursday, April 18th

“When the heart chakra is in healthy alignment you will feel surrounded by love, compassion and joy and connected to the world around you. You will feel open to all experiences in life and it will feel like challenges, flow through you and are resolved with ease. An open heart chakra allows us to see all of the beauty and love around us, and truly connect to ourselves, our loved ones, and the natural world. This chakra also helps direct love back to ourselves to truly be able to love and accept our bodies.”

At Thursday’s 7am yoga, I finally found my groove as a teacher. I led a class focusing on open hearts and finally thought of taking photos (doh!). 8:30am breakfast featured some amazing bean, rice, and egg burritos and the howler monkeys finally joined us. They were in the trees right above our dining area!