A Costa Rican Yoga Retreat: Pura Vida, the Pause, and a Return to Source

It rained for three straight days without reprieve. The canopy of trees with their massive scrolls of leafy greens, sturdy enough to show their elegant structure and flexible in a way that had them bending to the earth to roll off the rain. It was as if they extended a warm welcome and encouragement to flow with them throughout our time there. Surely, they pitter-pattered to us under our umbrellas: Pura Vida.

From a macro view, I pictured the western coast of Costa Rica and the village of Nosara, a district of the Nicoya Peninsula. It was rugged terrain rich with nutrients, mud, and the flowing rivers of Rio Nosara and the Rio Montana during the height of rainy season in November. As we’d learn over the course of our week at Bodhi Tree Yoga Resort in Nicoya, we were deep in Costa Rica's Blue Zone in the central part of the northwestern Nicoya Peninsula.

A Blue Zone is an area where residents enjoy an extraordinarily long, healthy lifespan. Residents of these unique locales often live to be over 100 years of age. To be considered a Blue Zone, certain criteria must be met. In 2023, only five places in the world qualify. Our group of four from Minnesota quickly noted to the larger group of yogis mostly hailing from Colorado, that the Blue Zone’s founder, Dan Buettner, is an explorer, National Geographic Fellow, award-winning journalist and producer, and Minnesotan.

This connection to home brought a familiarity to the concept I’d only read about in the media. I gathered other cues about the area including its prominence as a yoga center, its beaches with long surf breaks, and its population of coatimundi, howler monkeys, white-faced monkeys, and olive ridley turtles. As a first-time visitor this collective knowledge landed upon arrival, leaving me the week to experience Pura Vida, a term used in many contexts with origins tied to native Costa Ricans (or Ticos) that means a simple life, a pure life.

During the week-long yoga retreat with Buka Yoga, what started as curiosity and knowledge moved into interactions with locals and the environment, enriching my definition and a more intimate knowing of Pura Vida. These lessons were fittingly set to the backdrop of heavy rains that flooded the yoga resort’s sidewalk byways and inclines, and a softer warm rain that offered permission to go inward.

Allow what’s coming to come what’s going to go.

The mantra set for the week by retreat lead and yogi Brooke Page-Thompson, founder of Buka Yoga in Castle Rock, CO, would permeate our conversation, minds, and journals. Onsite at the resort in the Guanacaste province, we’d ebb and flow in our small group of four, aptly named #CancerQueens due to our shared astrology. That vibe would spill over to our larger group gatherings of 18 during daily meditation and yoga sessions and at the café.

With a Cancer astrology, water is our home. And while we generally get a rep associated with the temperament of a crab, for this journey I chose to embrace the turtle. This native Costa Rican creature is an alternate Cancerian symbol that signifies a hard shell of protection and the thoughtfulness of processing and sharing by going inward, then – when fully ready -- outward.

Tracking with astrology insights for the week, I tapped into November 5 insights by Sol W. Jonassen of New Paradigm Astrology. The knowledge drop at week’s end of our October 28 – November 4 stay, perhaps the most compelling. It centered on the waning moon in 12 degrees Leo, which says our real hunger is for the light of life via a contrast between Scorpio and Leo energies.

Sol writes, “It prompts us to move from passive to active, from death to life. Scorpio seeks autonomy and strength, uncovering where we outsource our power and leave it up to others to decide for us. Remembering how precious life is, we might also get a nudge to trust ourselves and know that we weathered many a storm and somehow managed to find land again. The storm itself was uncomfortable, but out of it, new life appeared, and that was the treasure we were seeking.”

In reflection, this resonated with my life’s recent significant transitions. Pairing this astrology with my word for the week: knowing, I found more meaning. Everyone in our group chose a word, then wrote a descriptor that embodied their word and drew an image representing it. I jotted, “return to source; the best version of me comes from within.” I drew a tree, later noting that my design derived from a jungle outing to a waterfall that exhibited the Kapok tree, a species that reaches 200ft and boasts trunks up to 10ft in diameter. Then, to the drawing, I added a turtle. A majestic tree and seasoned turtle. A fitting duo for expansion and wisdom in search of the light of life.

Allow what’s coming to come what’s going to go.

At the micro level, I began to inhale Pura Vida. The daily pace of life at the retreat with its beautiful open-air studios and thatched roofs, allowed for the sounds of the jungle and breezes to infuse our practice. We spent time journaling, appreciating the “pause” this week allowed us to contemplate and reset. Our days were mostly free to do as we chose. By late afternoon we’d come together again for a yoga nidra practice before dinner. Yoga nidra surfaced some powerful messages and visions, often going so deep I checked out completely. Not easy for the average monkey-mind to do.

Amidst the structured morning and afternoon sessions, the #CancerQueens carved out time for spa treatments, a half-day cooking lesson at Tropical Garden Cooking School with the full group, a farmer’s market trip, and a local-goods shopping morning. We hailed Nosara’s form of a taxi, the tuk tuk, to get us to closer destinations. We dined out on the beach one evening at Restaurante La Luna and in the spirit of Halloween, shared our ghost stories and experiences with death and the passing of loved ones.

On day two, I ventured out with my very own tour guide, John, who I met in Minnesota over a conversation about sauna and sobriety. John lives in Costa Rica and is opening a recovery retreat center 6hrs south of Guanacaste, and had driven up to stay with a friend in the area. He pointed out Pura Vida and its existence all around, especially in the daily life and mannerisms of the people. We chatted with locals over delicious paninis and coffee at Sunrise Coffee Nosara, walked on the beach, and waded through the quaint town, mostly deserted due to rainy season.

When the tropical setting called for adventure and exploration, we booked two days to venture out from the resort. In one outing, we sought out a waterfall with a local guide as the relentless rain tried my patience until I let go completely. Following our guide’s cues and enthusiasm for an eco-tourism conversation, we moved through the waist-high currents of the river, mud and brush, until the waterfall revealed.

In another more challenging outing, our group of four completed what is now known as the Zipline Tough Mudder. Relying on the resort recommend and without much research, we embarked on a MissSky Canopy Tour. Over the course of our jolting climb in an army vehicle to reach the pinnacle, we discovered our day would be spent experiencing Costa Rica’s longest zipline at 6.5km with 13 cables and an average speed of 35km/hr.

We had many surprises that day. We would need to wear a glove with a hardened palm area and apply downward pressure to brake. I couldn’t override the natural instinct to grip – in fact, only one enlightened one in our crew got it. This meant we had a lot of hand-holding from our guides, who also took some awesome video of us flying over Rio Montana. Mid-zipping we broke to hike to a waterfall, and end-zipping we hiked a steep incline for 20min to return to base camp. It was a day to test our limits and we agreed: a definite bucket-list adventure.

The resort also offered serenity. A private outdoor shower open to the forest above. A few days by and in the pool, reading and relaxing. Several sofa swing sessions in the coffee and juice bar. A sound bath evening with 7.83 hertz in tandem with the earth’s resonance. A community evening to experience sunset on the beach with our fellow yogis. Nourished three times daily by phenomenal food and Costa Rican coffee, the conversation flowed between our group of 18 as we came to know of each other and our stories. In our #CancerQueen oasis, we hosted rounds of questions on topics not often intimately discussed. In the process, growing in understanding of each other and ourselves.

What an amazing setting to re-discover oneself and what gives you energy and light. Gratitude to the nurturing Costa Rican environment; our fearless leader and host, Brooke; my dear and generous friend, Renita, who had the foresight to plan this in early 2023; Audra and Dawn, trusted friends who I’d travel and do life with any day; and fellow yogis on the journey with us.

The experience has me feeling grateful to be open and expansive enough to continue to create deep relationships and friendships as I move through life. It was a gift to have this time to retreat. To pause. And finally… to exhale.

Allow what’s coming to come what’s going to go.

Pura Vida.