Bamboo YogaPlay is excited to announce that we will be partnering with Costa Rica Surf Camp to provide the ultimate surf and yoga experience in beautiful Playa Dominical, Costa Rica!!

Costa Rica Surf Camp and Bamboo YogaPlay will be offering affordable vacation packages. These packages include surf lessons, yoga, massage, accommodation, transportation, and additional tours. Whether you are planning a tropical vacation getaway or just visiting Dominical for a few days, we can work with you to create a surf and yoga package that fits your needs and desires.

Combining yoga with surfing yields many benefits such as increased flexibility, strength and endurance.  More specifically yoga can help improve your surfing strength, paddling power, balance, and help you get to your feet faster.  Yoga will leave you feeling calm and focused. With increased energy from yoga you will be able to catch more waves!

Costa Rica Surf Camp is owned and run by Alejandro Cerdas.  Alejandro grew up in the mountains of Costa Rica. He first came to Dominical to learn to surf when he was just 13 years old.  He has been surfing ever since.  Alejandro started his surf school with the goal of sharing his love of the ocean, surfing, nature, and Costa Rica culture on a personal level with others.  You can find out more information on his site: www.crsurfschool.com

Please send us an email and let us know when you would like to come, for how long, and any other activities you may be interested in.

Yesterday I read an article in the New York times about Charles Darwin, one of the greatest minds of our time, in my opinion.  The article mentioned that Darwin suffered  from depression, and he utilized his work to escape from it.  “Work is the only thing which makes life endurable to me,” Darwin wrote and later remarked that it was his “sole enjoyment in life.”  This has stuck with me all day, and has me thinking: well, what am I grateful for in my life? 

Many things.  I am grateful that I live in Dominical, and not some traffic-smog-crazed city.  I am grateful for my little social support group that love and understand me just the way I am.  I am grateful for my darling handsome husband.  I am grateful for my dog, my crazy spirited bull terrier that reminds me every day to live in the moment and not take myself so seriously.  I am grateful for working in Bamboo YogaPlay.  I wouldn’t go as far as say that is is my sole enjoyment in life, but I do love my job.  I get to meet new interesting people everyday.  I am the small talk queen. 

One of the things I love most of my job is the yoga class during work hours policy that we have.  To have the opportunity to deepen your practice in this gorgeous bamboo studio with many different yet equally gifted teachers is amazing.  A truly wonderful job perk!

So my question is, what are you grateful for?  Have you found that thing, or things, in life that bring you enjoyment?  I sincerely hope you have, and if you’re looking maybe you’ll find your answers in one of our yoga classes.  Look for me, I’m the one with the grateful smile on my face.

Laura

One of my favorite places to practice yoga in Costa Rica is Bamboo YogaPlay, in Dominical. Dominical is a sleepy surf town on the Pacific Coast, where the luscious jungle meets the ocean. Developed by Brendan Jaffer and Sofiah Jaffer Thom, Bamboo is a new ‘sanctuary for living artfully’ nestled just off the dusty road, in tropical paradise. This eco-friendly yoga studio is built above shipping container construction living units. With gorgeous bamboo floors and bamboo walls on 3 sides, the open-air studio overlooks the Baru river and jungle foliage as well as the nearby ocean. Practicing on eco-friendly yoga mats with a full view of the jungle feels so good! After class, feel free to lounge on the Balinese sofa, get a massage or acupuncture treatment, shower in the private outdoor shower (also made from Bamboo), or shop in the air-conditioned Bambootique, for organic and –yes, you guessed it: Bamboo fiber—yoga clothes and street ware, hand-crafted tribal jewelry, locally made healing salves, and Buddhist adornments. A truly holistic experience of wellness, with a loving touch of high-end artistry and full immersion in the natural beauty of Costa Rica, makes Bamboo Yoga Play my favorite place to take a savasana and come restore my batteries while I am in Costa Rica.  For more info. On Bamboo Yoga Play, please visit: www.bambooyogaplay.com.

Debra Rubin, MA, CMT, RYT

Founder of SattyaBody Healing Arts & Dance, empowering women’s health through Holistic Health Counseling, Yoga, & Tribal Fusion Belly Dance,
is based in San Francisco, CA.

www.sattyabody.com

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Hola from Dominical, my new little paradise home!

I have been moving around all my life. I was born in Germany, have lived in these beautiful countries England, New Zealand, Austria, Australia and finally I am living in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica, also known as the Banana Republic, has been exporting this well known yellow fruit all over the world. The banana had been the main source of economic income till the tourism sector took over. You still get this yummy fruit for less than 20 cents and every little tico restaurant makes you a refreshing banana smoothie to restore energies after a swim in the ocean, a long walk on the beach or the morning Yoga class at Bamboo YogaPlay in Playa Dominical, a little surfer’s town on the pacific coastline.

How lucky am I that my day starts at 5.30am with an early birds morning concert accompanied by mumbling horses having their breakfast. I live in the mountain village Escaleras, which means stairs, right at the top of the steep road starting from Dominicalito. Our wooden hut faces the wide ocean and is protected by a green wall in the back. This almost heavenly place let you disconnect from the rest of the busy world, listening to the wildlife feeling purity and peace. Tourist only come here for a guided horseback riding tour to the famous Nauyaca waterfalls, where you refresh in natural pools looking up the water falling down forty five meters.

When I drive down the dirt road with a 4×4 at the magic morning light, my surfboard in the back, a wave of joy comes to my heart. On one of the curves my blue butterfly friend waves out to me wishing me a good morning. Only after a few kilometers on the Ocean Road I find myself in Dominical, where at 6am the road life is still asleep. The sunrise lovers already are at the beach and the dawn surfers in the line-up. Can’t wait to paddle out and surf the every morning offshore waves. I love surfing at this time because the party surfers are still in bed and you do not have to worry about crowds. After playing with the ocean, I get a quick shower in the bamboo jungle rinsing down the salt water and sand to be ready for the morning Yoga class at 9am. Joining a yoga class after a surf session is a great gift for the body, especially for the muscles in the back and shoulder area. I am so glad that I can realize an internship at Bamboo YogaPlay. Thank you, universe for the opportunity to learn more about Yoga, massage, dance and running a recreation business in a touristy place!

Luckily Dominical is not one of those beach towns full of party life, sex tourism, handicraftshops over shops and sunburned lazy people laying neatly next to each other on the hotels sun chairs. No, Dominical is a relaxed spot offering you quiet vacation atmosphere but also unique places to eat out or have a drink after the most amazing sunsets I have ever seen in my entire life. Red fire balls falling to sleep in the arms of the powerful ocean. This magic spirit made me choose Dominical as my new home.

I hope one day your feet will carry you here one day that you get to know the beauty what I hardly can express with words.

Namaste, Vanessa

Surfing and Yoga, the ultimate combination for a holiday filled with adventure, discovery and fun!  Here at Bamboo Yoga Play we offer custom packages to compliment travelers surfing and adventure itinerary’s. 

Stella just showed up the other day wanting to practice yoga with us.  She has surfing every day with a local surf camp and was not able to join our daily yoga classes.  So, I created a special package just for her.  Stella was open to trying an Expressive Healing Arts session, something she had never even heard of!  So, we booked her one Expressive Healing Arts, one Private Yoga and one Thai massage.  I named the package after her!  The Stella Package!

We had our Expressive Healing Arts session yesterday, it is always such a pleasure to witness my new clients allowing themselves to drop into a place of authenticity in their movement.  I played music and guided her into different ways of moving through her body.  Stella has been praciticing yoga for a couple of years and this defintely came through her movements. 

Yoga and free movement is such a great way to open up and strectch those tight shoulders from surfing.  Stella is really enjoying the surfing, its so much fun to get out into the Ocean and practice a new kind of yoga on a surf board!

You can see in this surfing picture how much balance is the key to surfing, balance and core strength……at Bamboo Yoga Play we bring a lot of attention to our core and balance in all the movements we practice!  Yoga can improve your surfing!  Learn how to ride the waves of your own breath as you ride the waves of the Ocean!

We have some great surf instructors here in Dominical, together we can create the ultimate surfing and yoga package for any beginner or more experienced person.

Click here to see our Adventure tour retreats we have created for you!

Written by Sofiah Thom, founder of Bamboo YogaPlay.