Costa Rica Yoga
Yoga, an ancient Eastern practice, has gained popularity in recent years as an activity that promotes physical well-being. However, yoga is much more than that. It is also a spiritual and cognitive discipline that scores of people in some of the world’s most practiced religions have incorporated into their lives for centuries. For some, it is an entire way of life.
Benefits of Yoga
Yoga has gained such popularity in recent years because people of all kinds have seen and experienced the benefits that it has to offer. Because of its ability to be personalized, yoga is an activity that can be beneficial to everyone who practices. Its pace can range from slow and meditation-focused to physically intense; moreover, it also places great attention on breathing, self-awareness, and holistic health, something that nearly everyone in our fast-paced society can use!
Yoga is also a healing practice, so it is great for those with injury, illness, disease, or other physical limitations. It is also a holistic practice, meaning that it aims to do more than just focus on symptoms; instead, yoga aims to be a preventive measure. Yoga can be complementary to nearly any other physical activity. It is especially beneficial for those who surf because it goes beyond simple physical strength and ability: it also incorporates awareness of one’s own self and one’s environment.
Yoga in Costa Rica
Bodhi Surf School offers a variety of classes and packages for those who want to incorporate yoga into their Costa Rica surf vacation. You can participate in a single class, a Sunrise Yoga and Surfing Session, or a 6-Night Holistic Yoga and Surf Package.
Is Previous Experience Required?
Most basic yoga classes do not require that the practitioner have any previous experience. There are places that offer more advanced and technical classes, but any basic Hatha yoga class will most likely be appropriate for all levels. Yoga is considered by most to be a personal activity: it is up to each of us to decide our own comfort level rather than making it a competition (either with ourselves or others). Any good yoga teacher will adhere to that basic tenet, and not try and push their students beyond where any particular student wants to go.
Previous yoga experience is not required in order to participate in a yoga class at Bodhi Surf School. Our yoga instructor, Pilar Salazar, recognizes that everyone has different strengths and limitations. She strives to help us all utilize our strengths while at the same time improving on the areas that might need a little work. However, our utmost priorities are always that participants be safe, have a good time, and hopefully learn something new.
Types of Yoga
There are many different types of yoga: Rāja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Hatha Yoga. The most well-known is Hatha yoga, which involves the asanas (postures); it also focuses heavily on breathing, meditation, and purification. There are several subgroups of Hatha yoga, each with a slightly different focus. Bodhi Surf yoga instructor, Pilar Salazar, specializes in a combination of the following:
- Asthanga yoga – uses sequential poses that are usually in the same order which help synchronize the breath. The time span between poses can be shortened to make the practice more intense and help promote a profuse, purifying sweat that detoxifies the body. The end result is improved circulation, a lean body, and a peaceful mind.
- Viniyasa Flow yoga – a dynamic and creative system for which breathing is a central facet and is always synchronized with a variety of Viniyasa postures and sequences.
- Anusara yoga – a fairly new type of yoga that aims to inspire spirituality. It places a lot of focus on alignment — Anusara translates directly to “flowing with grace.”
Yoga and Surfing
Yoga and surfing have a lot in common. Both are more than mere physical activities: they are more like entire ways of life, and each has its own corresponding philosophy. Because yoga focuses on breathing, balance, flexibility, and strength, it is a great complement to surfing.
Yoga also teaches us to be aware of both what’s going on inside ourselves as well as what’s happening in our surroundings, aspects that can only make us better out in the water. While Bodhi Surf School is primarily just that – a surf school – we believe that the essential teachings of yoga are important. We try to incorporate this way of thinking – awareness of self, environment, and the interconnectedness of each – into each lesson we teach.
