How my trip to Costa Rica changed my life! Pt 1

I thought I was there for Yoga but it awakened my heart and soul!

Well hello my dear Serenity Seekers! It’s been quite a while, I know. I’ve been super busy building the Finding Serenity brand over the past couple of months and my writing had taken a little bit of a back seat. Sometimes we need to acknowledge that we can’t do everything and prioritize so that we can accomplish our goals, don’t we? The upside is that Finding Serenity is making it's way to YouTube and I've opened a brand new Etsy Store. I'll be working hard this coming week to add lots more products. Check them out, because if you love yoga, you'll love the designs that I have on there.

Anyhow, I’m so happy to be writing again! There is a story that I’ve been wanting to tell you for the past couple of months and today’s the day that I get to do just that!

Back in May, I took the trip of a LIFETIME! As you know, I practice yoga on a regular basis. I have been practicing for the past 15 years, the last 7 consistently and had always wanted to attend a yoga retreat. I would frequently subscribe to e-mail lists from various entities so that I could be updated on when they were being offered. I’d get “Yoga and Writing” retreat offers in my inbox quite often. They are two of my great loves so you would think that it would be a no brainer.

But something kept holding me back! I would make an excuse as to why I couldn’t go. Money being one. But then I'd spend money on other things (such as Starbucks once a day). Or the time. But when is it ever the perfect time to do things for yourself? Those were the two main reasons that I would come up with. The real issue though, was that I was afraid to take the leap and felt guilty to spend that time and money on myself (as a mom of three). Afraid that I wouldn’t fit in. Afraid that I wouldn’t be able to control my anxiety on the plane let alone a foreign country. Afraid of the creepy crawlies that live there. Afraid of pretty much everything to do with actually GOING on this trip. A trip that I claimed would be my dream come true.

So on what I consider to be a life changing day, a very dear friend, Lisa Gaglione posted on her Facebook page called Mind Body Soul Yoga that she was hosting a yoga retreat in Costa Rica. "Yoga Retreat in Costa Rica" has literally been rewritten as a goal in my journal for about six years!!! There was still something holding me back though. And I now know that it was FEAR!

I told Lisa that I would like to go and told her “if I don’t chicken out”. I mustered all the courage that I had though, and I booked that trip!!! I was going to Vida Asana School of Yoga in Costa Rica!!

Leading up to the trip, I was less excited than I thought I would be. Other people were so excited for me but it felt so surreal. I think the other reason that I was't as excited as I thought that I would be, was that I was also very nervous.

Getting off of the plane was absolutely nerve-racking! I wished that I had pre-arranged to meet some of the other retreat participants at the airport because I was a mess. I couldn’t find the driver that was taking us to the retreat immediately (insert lack of patience here) and several men approached me outside of the airport to offer help. Their offer made me suspicious and even more anxious. There were so many people that I started to panic. Soon though, I managed to find Mario, our driver, and the rest of our group.

As soon as I was in the van, I started to calm down and my panic attack subsided. That was the last time that I had a panic attack on that trip, though others observed that I was jumpier than some.

On our way to Vida Asana, Mario stopped close to what seemed to be a popular location close to a bridge. We all got out and walked over the bridge and looked down to find these amazing creatures lying under the overpass! Upon taking in the view, I remember stating, "this is worth the trip right here". I had never been that close to anything that scary in all my life. I felt something awaken in me that hadn't been allowed to surface in so very long. I was being brave and doing something that fear would normally hold me back from!

Once we got to Vida Asana, we were given a tour of the retreat (pictures below) and told where our rooms were. I had chosen to have a roommate so that I could have company is keeping the creepy crawlies out of the room and make sure that someone else was there in case danger found me. It didn't by the way, though I did have to escort a big ass spider out of the room later in the week. As I walked around the grounds, I was absolutely mesmerized at how beautiful and peaceful it was. By far, my favourite location became the yoga Shala.

Over the course of the week, the days consisted of coffee and fruit at 6:30 am followed by our morning practice. After we were cleaned up, we enjoyed more coffee and freshly made smoothies with our completely vegetarian and utterly delicious breakfast. We will talk more about the food later as it was so amazing that it deserves it's own post. Keep an eye out for it next week.

In the common area where the kitchen was, there were large wooden tables with benches which allowed our entire group to gather around one big table and eat with laughter, stories and the sounds of birds in the background. Oh the sounds of the birds!! I invite you to subscribe to my newsletter so that you can find out when I post my video on YouTube compiling all of my favourite moments. The sound of the birds were almost at the top of the list!

There were a number of excursions that you could sign up for which we were told about before attending the trip and then in more detail the night that we arrived in the even that we had questions. The schedule was then made for the week taking into consideration all of the activities that the group wanted to do. If you were someone like me and wanted to relax next to the pool and read most days, you could do that. If you wanted to bike or walk down the road to the beach, you could do that. Or if you wanted to go zip-lining, surfing, paddle boarding, or shopping, you could also do that.

Stay tuned for the 2nd post in my Costa Rican Yoga Retreat series to find out which of the excursions I chose and how this trip became even more life changing as a result!

Until then my friends.

Namaste

xo, Kat