VINYASA YOGA + BIG MIND MEDITATION INTENSIVE

with Teacher + Author Rolf Gates

June 27th-July 4th, 2009-Pura Vida, Costa Rica

Featuring, Zen Teacher KC Geperide + Empowered Yoga/Plexus Fitness Founder, Johnny Gillespie

“If we are to live the joyous life we came forth to live we must allow ourselves to be that which we have become.”
~ The Teacher Abraham

{The Yoga}

The yoga will be a synergy of dynamic flow and alignment-focused sessions dedicated to facilitating within us the vibrant aliveness so unique to a yoga practice. The alignment sessions, enhanced by the phenomenal teachings of Empowered Yoga’s Johnny Gillespie will move us through a series of understandings of how the body works. They will also be opportunities for us to take a look at the larger implications of the word alignment. The flow sessions will be as beautiful as they sound--in a place where the jungle meets the sky, our practice will be a hymn to life.

{The Meditation}

In a life that works from the inside out meditation is indispensable. At its essence meditation is simply the willingness to listen, to feel, to see, to take an interest in what is happening right now. The first yoga teacher in the U.S. said “You yourselves are the beings that you seek” and that truth is felt directly just by getting still and feeling into, bringing our attention into, the quiet that is already there.

Unfortunately many of us feel as though we have had a hard time with meditation. The meditation instruction and meditation sessions this week will be dedicated to bringing down the barriers some of us have to meditation and deepening the practice of those who are already meditating regularly. As our understanding of meditation deepens we will come to see that it is a means for allowing ourselves to be that which we have become.

For more information on Big Mind Meditation: www.bigmind.org
For more information on Zen Teacher KC Gerpheide
For more information on Johnny Gillespie

{The Company and the Fun}

By now you probably have some sense of how fun yoga people are. Now, take those people on the adventure of a lifetime and what do you think it is going to be like? We will literally have it all:Pura Vida, meaning ¨pure life¨, is located on a private mountaintop estate in Costa Rica's Alajuela province surrounded by coffee plantations and lush foliage. The whole estate commands fantastic views of Irazú, Barva, and Poás volcanoes and of the central valley with the capital, San José. There are plenty of tranquil spots on the seven acre property with hammocks, benches and grassy areas for meditation, reading or just hanging out talking to friends about nothing in particular while taking in the sheer beauty of a Caribbean afternoon. Having gone on many of these weeks the only problem I have ever had is that they are not longer.”—Rolf

You may also wish to view this stunning oasis and learn more at www.puravidaspa.com

Read Pura Vida Wellness Resort and Spa Media Reviews

{The Food}

We will be enjoying delicious, energizing, low-mucus producing foods throughout the intensive. This vegetarian fare (with some fish) will be optimal in supporting our practice on all levels this week.

{A Final Word}

Most of came to yoga to find peace and health and you would not be reading this if you had not found both just by spending some time on your mat. And that would be enough if we did not have jobs, families, bills to pay, along with expansive visions and dreams we would love dearly to see happen in our lifetime. How do we care deeply about the people places and things of this world and remain peaceful and joyful at the same time? Connected to the truth of who we are, unwilling to move out of alignment with that truth, there is literally nothing we cannot do, be, or have. It is not necessary that we move into this posture all at once we need only be willing to move in that direction. This week we will start moving.