Why choose a Yoga holiday in Costa Rica?

The Popularity of Yoga

Yoga holidays have become more popular in the last five years and Costa Rica provides a great location for them, with its fabulous endless beaches, beautiful jungles and wildlife. Practising yoga in the tranquil setting of Costa Rica is an unforgettable experience.

Sunflower Retreats has offered yoga holidays in Costa Rica for the last two years and we have enjoyed every minute of it. There is something special about Central and Southern America which helps you enhance your spirituality with famous places such as Machu Pichu not far in Peru. Our home will always be the yoga retreat in Casperia, Italy but Costa Rica doesn't make a bad second home.

To Relax

The main goal of the yoga science is to connect and harmonize with our inner nature or atman, which is said to be a reflection of the divine or source. Our yoga retreats and yoga holidays embrace yoga and meditation techniques each day. By practicing yoga we become more aware of our inner nature or atman so to see ourselves as a reflection of the divine.

Many of the techniques or yoga Asana (yoga positions) in are named after animals, plants and aspects of nature - guiding us to the ultimate goal of harmonizing with Mother Nature. This makes practicing yoga in this beautiful country so powerful, as when you practice you are surrounded by a huge variety of tropical birds and animals such as monkeys, deer,raccoons and wonderful Central American flora.

Nature

Meditation with the sounds of the birds lifts your spirits and reconnects you to Mother Nature making you feel part of nature, not separate.

The food in Costa Rica is perfect for yoga and wellness holidays, the main diet being rice and beans with a wonderful choice of tasty, nutritious vegetables and freshly caught fish.

Five Reasons to Go on a Yoga Retreat

Retreat (noun) /rɪˈtriːt/
'A quiet or secluded place in which one can rest and relax.'

The concept of going on a retreat is as old as faith itself. For thousands of years, people from all walks of life and spiritual practices have used retreats as a means of withdrawing from the world and devoting time to prayer, meditation and relaxation. Even the word ashram, in Sanskrit means ‘to not toil’; embodying the idea of focussing one’s energy on personal and spiritual development, rather than exhausting physical labour.

In today’s increasingly hectic world, the benefits of going on a retreat as opposed to a more traditional choice of holiday are in abundance. Yoga in particular lends itself to this setting: offering a wonderfully holistic opportunity to reset, reconnect and re-centre the body, mind and spirit - away from the stresses and pressures of everyday life.

Whether you are an experienced yogi, or have yet to attend your first class, there will be a retreat for you. Here are five reasons to go on one:

1. Full Immersion
   There are few opportunities in western culture to really shut off from the noise of everyday life and enjoy total immersion in an experience. A good yoga retreat offers just this. From the moment you wake up in the morning, to the moment you close your eyes at night – you have the choice to completely immerse yourself in all that the retreat has to offer. Nothing allows for living in the moment quite like this.

2. Personal Development
   Personal development through yoga comes in many forms. Be it the sense of achievement in perfecting an asana that has challenged you for so long; that moment of release when you finally let go in Savasana, or the warm sense of clarity and calm that comes from deep meditation. Even just being in a retreat environment encourages a constant level of self-awareness that will take you on a journey and open you up to new aspects of yourself you didn’t know you had. 

3. Being Looked After
   Though every retreat will differ in its level of ‘hands on’ support, the very nature of these holidays is to give guests a break from the hassle of mundane chores so they can focus their energy on themselves. From the daily classes, to the wholesome food and array of pampering treatments – a yoga retreat will free you from responsibility and nourish you from the inside out. 

4. Location
   Yoga retreats are renowned for their incredible locations – often sun drenched and isolated, away from the hustle and bustle of civilisation. With so many now dotted all over the world, you can literally make a wish list of the surroundings you would like to be in, and find a yoga retreat that fits. Sunflower Retreats, for example, has the beautiful hilltop village of Casperia; the sun, sea and sand of Sperlonga; or the exotic paradise of Costa Rica. 

5. Relax, Reset and Reconnect
   Yoga retreats are lifestyle holidays. They are created specifically to give guests the right formula to really switch off and relax, before then learning to reconnect with themselves. The combination of all the above points – the full immersion, the personal development, the location and the pampering – is a unique and valuable means of really getting to know yourself, without the constant distractions of work and home life.