Posts In: Costa Rica

by Laura McCorry

Why go on a regular vacation when you could go on a yoga retreat in paradise? Here’s my idea of the perfect yoga retreat:

• Tropical Location is an absolute must. Trying to pack enough layers for variable weather without overpacking is annoying. I want to be able to step outside my villa directly onto a beach and feel 100% comfortable in just my skin – clothing for decoration only. Okay, maybe a pair of yoga pants for evening when I want to get “dressed up.” 🙂

• Which leads us to: Accommodations. I don’t need a king sized bed with ironed sheets – this is a retreat, after all (but if it comes with the package, I won’t complain.) I can “rough it,” in the romantic, island-casual sense of the term. A fluffy pillow top, fresh towel and jaw-droopingly gorgeous view will suffice, please and thank you!

• Healthy, Delicious Food and Beverages must be available at multiple times during the day. If I’m doing more yoga than usual, you better believe I need those green smoothies that taste like fruit at 10am. Bonus points if they are delivered by an adorable, rescued sea tortoise who cannot return to the wild but has found a new home and employment as resident mascot and keeper of midnight kombucha-inspired secret telling. Maybe his name is Sandy. Maybe I’ve put too much thought into this. #Sandyisreal

• Yoga. Wait, did I just put yoga last on this list? But seriously, the yoga matters. It’s what makes the difference between just another vacation and an honest-to-goodness life-changing, revelatory retreat full of camaraderie and memories you will treasure for a lifetime. The yoga needs to be daily (so I don’t skip out.) It needs to be accessible, no matter my ability. Most of all, the yoga needs to be real, I want to get to know the instructor and the other students and enjoy those moments of human connection through breath and movement. It doesn’t get any better than that.

You don’t have to dream about a life-changing yoga retreat, Yoga One has teamed up with Kairos Fitness to offer just such an experience*! 

Costa Rica Retreat to Las Catalinas 
with Yoga One Co-Founder and Head Instructor Amy Caldwell
April 29 – May 4, 2017

For more information and to register go here.

The inspiration for this post came from Eventbrite, an online resource to promote, manage and track online RSVP’s for successful events.

*Sandy is a fictional character. We hope any tortoises you see on retreat are enjoying happy, prosperous lives in the wild.

Laura McCorry
Contributing Writer

Yoga and Laura had an on-again-off-again relationship from 2004 until 2009 when they decided to move in together and there’s been no looking back since. Passionate about both yoga and writing, Laura loves to introduce others to the joys and benefits of yoga and healthy living.

Contact: laura@yogaonesandiego.com

Meet Heather Fenwick, a yogini who embodies her practice on and off the mat. Heather’s classes are well thought out and peppered with illuminating nuggets of wisdom. Come check out her Monday night mixed level, Flow class at 7pm. You can find the rest of our schedule here.

1. What is your favorite style of yoga? 

I don’t have one favorite style of yoga. This ancient practice is so constantly evolving and recreating, just like humans do! I have enjoyed dabbling in Iyengar and Anusara, but my favorite style is the day-to-day off-the-mat practice style.

2. What first attracted you to yoga when you began your practice?

After my first yoga class in 2002, I felt a serenity that I’d never felt before. It was lasting and deep. I first loved the “yoga buzz”, but noticed that I was becoming more agile, balanced, strong, and graceful – that’s what keeps me coming back.

3. What is your favorite yoga pose right now?

Supta Baddha Konasana (lying down bound angle pose) with props. This pose is a gentle restorative space, where a backbend is effortless. It literally lifts the heart and opens the body to the breath, and to the present moment. I feel that balance between upliftment and ease so naturally here.

4. What pose is still the most challenging?

I have an injured hamstring and wrist that have prevented me from enjoying some more advanced postures like hanumanasana (splits) and adho mukha vrksasana (handstand). I would love to get into these poses one day, but injuries are “patience testers”, and I remember over and over again that being attached to the form of a pose is as un-yogic as it can get.

5. If you were an animal, you would be:

I would be a stray dog in Costa Rica. Those dogs have the best life, just running up and down the beach all day and all night, napping in the shade, swimming in the ocean, playing with other dogs, and they have enough to eat. They are freedom and joy.

6. Describe what yoga means in your life using just 6 words: a shedding, a letting go, to let light shine

7. What might your students be surprised to learn about you?

I actually come from a family of staunch republicans.

8. Do you have any words of wisdom or advice for new students?

I think that new students are ultimately the best teacher for everyone else because they approach yoga without any expectations: an empty cup.

I let all my students know that yoga is a non-competitive venture, and to go no further than a deep breath allows you to. No pushing, no forcing, and in fact a cultivation of “what is” and trusting that that’s enough, and even perfect.