New Moon & Karma Yoga Retreat
Guaranteed to be a vacation you’ll never forget, this Yoga, Adventure & Volunteer retreat combines karma yoga, eco-tourism, and goal setting to inspire personal growth and enjoy the abundant natural resources this beautiful country has to offer.
Montezuma, Costa Rica
Sunday July 19th to Saturday July 25th 2009
Retreat Price Includes:
7 days 6 nights at Hotel Los Mangos
10 Yoga Classes with Gigi Yogini (6 Vinyasa Flow and 4 Restorative)
2 Organic Vegetarian Meals per day (Breakfast and Dinner)
2 Guided Waterfall Hikes
1 Adventure Excursion (Zip Line Canopy Tour)
2 Goal Setting Workshops
2 Beach Clean Ups
1 New Moon Ceremony
Retreat Prices Per Person (tax included):
Shared Room ~ (3 people) with private bath – $850
Bungalow Double ~ with private bath and hammock - $950
Bungalow Single ~ with private bath and hammock – $1250
Yoga with Gigi Yogini is offered daily 7 days a week
7 am Monday – Saturday – 90 minute YogaWorks-inspired Vinyasa Flow
4pm Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday – 90 minute Restorative Yoga
All classes are 90 minutes long and are offered in the open-air yoga pavilion overlooking the ocean, amidst the Costa Rican wildlife including monkeys and birds.
Accommodations for the week are at the beautiful Hotel Los Mangos, which is a hotel and group of private bungalows in a Mango Orchard next to the jungle overlooking the ocean. The hotel has a Pool and Jacuzzi, beach access and is only a five minute walk to Montezuma village. It also has a beautiful, open-air yoga pavilion overlooking the sea where all classes will be held.
Breakfast and Dinner is served at Organico, the vegetarian restaurant in the town of Montezuma. It is a fun place to hang out with an “organic lounge,” serving pure food with love and it across the road from the town’s bookstore.
Dinner might occasionally be provided at the beach front restaurant, Playa de los Artistas, which serves Mediterranean food with vegetarian and vegan options. Playa de los Artisas has been mentioned 3 years in a row by The New York Times as one of the best places to eat in all of Costa Rica. We might also have a dinner at Taganga BBQ, the best wood grilled BBQ in town!
Morning Yoga will be a soulful and fluid YogaWorks-inspired Vinyasa Flow, generating heat to warm up our bodies for a beautiful day in paradise.
Afternoon Yoga will be a deeply blissful Restorative Yoga class using props and blankets to help relax the body and mind after a day of fun activities.
Classes are open to all levels, although previous yoga experience is suggested.
Gigi Yogini is a certified Yoga Instructor and Adventure Specialist based in Los Angeles. Gigi believes yoga is for everyone and encourages her students to explore, evolve and express themselves during her classes which are open to all levels. Gigi honors each student’s search for personal growth and well being and leads her classes with love, compassion, and a sense of humor. She received her training from YogaWorks in New York City and practices regularly with Santa Monica Power Yoga.
The New Moon is invisible from the earth and is often associated with the season of change. A time of growing energy, newness, rejuvenation, growth, renewal and hope, the new moon is a good time to be reborn and thus a perfect time to end bad habits or relationships.
Montezuma, Costa Rica, is a small beach town located on the southern Nicoya Peninsula. This remarkable location hosts adventurers from around the world and has a thriving community of artists, conservationists, musicians, chefs, and creative visionaries.
Costa Rica has plenty of opportunities for Karma Yoga and EcoTourism with the largest percentage of protected areas in the world. With a name that literally translates to “Rich Coast,” this beautiful paradise serves as home to a wide variety of plants and animals, but also attracts tourists from around the world.
The True Story Behind the Karma Yoga Tour
Brigitte Kouba, aka Gigi Yogini, is a practitioner of Karma Yoga, or Yoga of Action, which focuses on the selfless act of helping others, detached from reward. Similar to selfless motives for volunteer work, the definition of Karma Yoga is outlined in the sacred teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.
As a world traveler, part of how Gigi Yogini practices her Karma Yoga is by being an EcoTourist. A popular buzz word, Ecotourism is traveling to natural areas to observe and learn about the wildlife, refraining from damaging the natural environment and instead, strengthening conservation and improving the lives of local people.
Unfortunately, in November of 2008, Gigi quickly learned that too much tourism in Costa Rica, the “paradigm of EcoTourism,” had begun to ruin the natural environment, the country’s greatest attraction. When Gigi, a Yoga Instructor and Arts Educator from Los Angeles, visited the beautiful town of Montezuma, she was shocked and disappointed to find hidden beaches covered in trash.
Gigi specifically noticed plastic sandals and collected enough shoes from the polluted beaches to install an artistic protest entitled: “Lost Soles in Montezuma. ” The Shoe Project looked like ghost shoes walking through the entire town of Montezuma. For photos and video visit: www.ShoeProject.wordpress.com
As Oprah recently discussed on her Earth Day episode, “years of bottles, bags, toys, packaging and plastic trash from all corners of the Earth are swirling in a plastic whirlpool in the North Pacific,” killing immeasurable amounts of wildlife and washing up on otherwise beautiful beaches.
With a problem so big and ugly in a country so small and beautiful, Gigi devised a plan to shed light on the trash problems by hosting a series of EcoTourism retreats incorporating Yoga, Adventure, and Volunteering.
Starting July 2009, Gigi will begin a Karma Yoga Tour teaching yoga, facilitating volunteer opportunities and connecting with wellness communities throughout the Nicoya Peninsula and Central Pacific Coast. She is hoping that bringing intelligent, motivated, and creative people to Montezuma to participate in the Karma Yoga, that might help solve the problem.
During the retreat, every day will have an optional itinerary including yoga, meals, guided waterfall hikes, beach clean ups, goal setting workshops, etc. While guests are not required to participate in all activities, guests will not receive a refund for any unused classes, meals, etc.
To reserve your space, email GigiYogini@yahoo.com or go to the Facebook Event.
