Unfolding As I Go - Carole's travel blog

We've all worked hard for 21 days, sweat a lot and made new friends. We're all enjoying feeling very light, no more homework! We're done and have one last night together to chill, enjoy a delicious last veggie/vegan meal in this paradise place of Ojo del Mar :-) and take lots of pictures around the fire! Oh and they brought us a birthday cake, the birth day of 15 new yoga teachers today!   Concetta and Inka - our top-notch teachers striking a pose!

21 days have gone by, intense days, starting at 6am, finishing sometimes at 8pm or later, all day classes, yoga, theory and practice, ceremonies, rituals, homework, peer teaching self-reflection, sunrise gazing, adventures and bonding --- we open our eyes from a guided meditation, and here it is in front of us: our teacher teaching certificate! We are now all 15 of us Certified Yoga Teachers! Our graduation is a ceremony, we throw our hats and pose on the beach. 21 days of intense work and connections - leading us to a new level in our yoga practice and in our lives, we are now ready to share the gifts we have received! Get your mats out, we are all set to teach! We did it!  Deep gratitude to our 2 incredible teachers Concetta and Inka who gave so much of their heart during 21 days!

More sunrise pictures, just because it was so beautiful to have these sights every morning, and seeing those cute hermit crabs crawl all around the beach and the pelicans soaring in circles and suddenly plunging down to catch fish. What a sight, I wanted to share! Low tide sunrise Daily pelican show A few minutes of swaying in front of the sunrise before morning meditation at 6am - have a good day!

After 10 days of intensive yoga teacher training, we have another day off and this time I'm venturing outside of our little paradise, facing my fears and going on the 'combo tour': horseback riding, climbing a giant tree and rappelling down a waterfall. Let's do this! What convinced me was definitely my peers also going: I can share this adventure with great people I've grown to know well in just a week! So off we go on our horses: I ask for an 'easy' horse and get Falcon, little did I know that, yes he is very sweet and gentle, but he also LOVES to gallop! Very fast and without stopping! As much as I tried to make him slow down, nope I didn't manage. Luckily there are fences separating the fields in sections and to my relief he didn't jump over the fences but stopped and waited, phew! So there we are galloping across the fields, greeting beautiful Costa Rican cows on the way, our 6 horses just loving it, until at some point we slow down and tu

Hammocks overlooking the lush jungle, bamboo bungalows completely open to the outside, mosquito nets to help us feel nice and safe during the night, many spiders all around, usually at the same spot every night so we gave them names: Josephine, Zoe, Andre, were our 3 main spiders in the bathroom area. With Talyor, Marcela and Mary Kate I really felt at home in our open cabin, laughter and connection. It was like living with 3 sisters, getting along so well. Our shower was out in the open jungle, the big bamboo tree just outside was a favorite napping spot for Billy the super cute raccoon-bear (actually a coati ) and a corridor for the monkey families crossing the jungle. To make it all even better, our location is also right by the ocean, so every morning we have the chance to go see the amazing sunrise, walk on the sand, see the little hermit crabs crawl around everywhere and the pelicans soar and dive it to catch their fish, so graceful and majestic. Let's talk about food:

Can you imagine being in your downward dog yoga pose (photo above) with your head upside down and see through between your legs a giant blue butterfly glowing and floating through the lush green jungle? Or being in your seated twist gazing behind you and spotting a spider monkey make a leap-jump from one tree to another? Or lifting your hips up in your radical rainbow and realizing there is not just one spider monkey but about 4 or 5 in that same tree and one has a baby attached around her? Or being in your final Savasana corpse pose relaxing after an intense yoga practice yet wanting to open your eyes to find out what animal just did this sound right next to you outside the shala? Welcome to Costa Rica Yoga Teacher Training daily life at Ojo del Mar in the Peninsula de Osa! Our daily schedule: 6am meditation for 30min, then 2 hours of yoga class. Then 1h30 break for breakfast until our 10am morning theoretical classes during 3 hours about spirituality, the Shamanic Medecine Wheel