Today marks the 2-month mark of my Costa Rican Adventure. Time has flown and seems to keep zipping by.
My first month was spent in Puerto Viejo, and was incredibly nurturing for me and I’ve learned so much: Hanging out with Rachel at Hidden Garden, Taco/Tasty Tuesdays at Tasty Waves, coffee and chocolate and Caribean’s, and spending time with some of the most amazing women I’ve ever met. Studying healing herbs went from an idle interest to something I can’t imagine a future without.

At the beginning of May, I migrated (two buses, 13-hours of transit through the glorious countryside) from the southern Caribbean coast to Blue Osa Yoga Retreat & Spa, an impeccable oasis on the Osa Peninsula. I traded my adorable jungle cabina for sweet digs on a luxury resort. There are other differences too: not only is the location much more remote, but we are served meals and my work here is much more computer-based.
The cooking thing is big for me: I’m so used to cooking my own meals, and I love being in the kitchen. The food here is delicious, but I miss my Vitamix, eating what I crave when I’m hungry instead of adhering to a menu with mealtimes, and going to the market to buy produce. In a way, though, Blue Osa serves as a place to digest the changes that are coming up from being away from familiar surroundings. I don’t have to think about the minutiae of my day-to-day, like meal-planning, which leaves room to work and hone my yoga and meditation practices. It’s a true exercise in the art of surrendering.

I continue to meet the most amazing women here: Lara, Valentina, Shelby and Lezah are all living The Lifestyle as traveling yoginis, and it’s inspiring to be around ladies that are so ignited by the same things I am. We serve to inspire and challenge each other, lead each other in practices, spend time in the garden, and laughing until we can hardly breathe.
In other news, my tan is coming along quite nicely, and I’m working on forearm stand in the middle of the room. I’ve gotten more reading done in the past two months than I have in the past six in Chicago. It’s a blessing to slow down and assess where I am and what I want to do from a place of distance. It’s almost like I’ve pressed the pause button on my life to explore the options. And there are so many!

This is the question I’ve been meditating on lately. I like to get really quiet with some breathwork, focus on that little place in my heart that holds all the answers I could ever want, and ask: What’s the next step?
So what IS next?
To round out my 3-month tropical getaway, I’m visiting Colorado! I keep bumping into people who call Colorado home or who just moved there or are in the process, and I’m tired of hearing them gush about how astoundingly gorgeous and inspiring their state is, and how much I would love it if I went. Plus I’ve been looking at Naropa for grad school for years. Ok, Universe: I get it. So Fort Collins and Boulder, here I come. I head to Denver on June 21st, 24 hours before my 90-day visa expires. (Ninety days! It seems like a blink!) I will see sweet home Chicago in the beginning of July, just in time for some exciting workshops and classes I’m teaching (details to follow soon).
Now for what I’m listening to lately in a playlist I like to call Wandering Hearts. You’re welcome.
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