arline jernigan

Warning: this is kind of long, but please read me :)

HI everyone, I missed you while I was gone, and wish you coulda come with me.

Costa Rica is wonderful, beautiful and amazing. there is so much to see and do. The first day was a bit of a trek, and very long, because once in costa rica, our ride from the airport to the retreat center is about four and a half hours long depending on traffic and road conditions (a lot of the roads there are not so great). By the time all of the planes had landed with my people, (and a couple were were three hours late), we loaded up into the van and made our way to Samasati. When we got there, it was dark, we were hungry and exhausted from the arduous journey. We were greeted with loving open arms, ate, got introduced to our rooms, and most everyone crashed, hard.

The first night, I slept well, just not long. Because of the time change, and my funky cellphone clock (it showed a two hour time difference, when there was only one),I had no concept of time when I got there, which is very unusual, as my time sense is very keen. In many ways, it was quite refreshing, and I enjoyed letting go. I woke up at a ridiculously early hour (even for me), and headed, into the darkness and quiet, to the yoga/meditation hall. I put my music into the sound system, and began my practice. I went for an hour or so before l realized that it was still rather dark, so I turned the music off, and stayed in the yoga room, went back to my mat and fell into a deep savasana (relaxation). After a bit, sounds began to fill the space. It was pretty incredible, and have chills just remembering. It started with this heavy, deep rich and almost haunting sound. Its resonance was quite powerful in and of itself. These were the howler monkeys, which wake and start to sing at about 4:30 am (Yep, I got up really really early). Then the tree frogs and insects began another layer of sound and provided a constant undercurrent of different pitches, next the many different bird sounds gave melody and percussion. I was amazed at the beauty of the music that these creatures provided. Yes, GOD is in fact a DJ, and a very talented one at that, orchestrating things so beautifully.

I won’t go into the whole trip, but will write about some of my favorite parts. Oh, I will say this, I packed poorly, clothing wise (which was OK, I was not there to look ravishing), and I forgot my adapter for the camera to the laptop, my memory card is very limited, so there are very few pictures for me to present.(bonks herself on head). Though, in truth, I am not really one to stop and take pictures when I am in the midst of experiencing something. Others had cameras and video, so I will rely on those folks for the visual memories (wink).

Samasati was created by a small group of people who studied with a spiritual teacher in India. After the teacher died, they wanted to create a place where healing and all forms of spiritual practice could take place. They researched places, and decided on Costa Rica, found a good amount of land pretty much in the jungle, and went to work. They hired people to test the land, and found spots where they did not have to cut down any trees. They used the fallen trees to build the bungalows, and had a very clear vision. The center is located on a very steep hill that is just under a mile, but is 600 feet up above sea level, and tortuous. I walked up everyday, and the last day, I did it twice (great use of energy). My room was lovely, very rustic and cabin like, but not too rough, at all. It had two single beds as you walk in, a very nice sized closet, as well as other storage, just in case. There was this great patio that had a hammock to sink your body into, and an amazing view of the trees and the ocean. There was also a loft upstairs with a double bed, which is where I chose to sleep. I took all the pillows from the other beds, so I was very cozy. Normally in life, I take time to nap, welcome them, though there was no napping here, one because I was busy most of the time, and two because natures music never really stopped until well after dark, and it was too loud to sleep. I did chill on the hammock for a few minutes one day though, and that was wonderful.

One of the excursions was the zip lines through the tree canopy’s. Basically you are in the upper layer of the forest. Apparently, the canopy’s are layers of trees, made because birds drop seeds, and the seeds land in the branches, which take root, and begin to grow. Yes, there are trees growing on trees, you can see the roots dangling. It is very cool. A guide harnesses you in, and you fly from tree to tree, each line a little more thrilling. It is so awesome! Sarah, Steve, and I all got adventuresome, and (with the guides permission, hung upside down on some of the lines, while flying to the next tree in line, SUPER FUN!!!

Here is what totally did it for me though, SURFING. I see why people become addicted. We went surfing, and I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!

Now here is where some choices had to be made. I had planned to go on at least three excursions,( of course they all seemd fun, but you could spend a small fortune to do them all, so three was my allotment), and get two massages, that I really needed (still do actually). Instead of doing the final excursion, and second massage (the massage that I did get, was OK, but I felt no wish to return to her for another, so my choice to forgo the second one was simple), I decided that two more surf lessons were in order,I would have done ten. That is what I had been looking forward to all year anyway (besides teaching yoga :)). so a few of us set two more lessons up, and could hardly wait. Of course things change, and you have to be flexible. We had our heart on surfing two more days, but our surf teacher could not do it on one of the days that we picked, so we only got one more surf lesson, which was on the last day of the trip (don’t worry we found plenty of things to kind of fill the space). I guess I did well at surfing, because the teacher kept telling me so, and was calling me little ripper. All I know, is that I had a blast, and want to surf some more!!!!!!!!! I certainly plan to for sure.

I love the group I went with. Everyone being interesting and full of life, happy to leave the craziness of everyday existence for a week, and come with me on a journey to do yoga (which admittedly can be an adventure itself), and play in the jungle. WOW, I feel so blessed, and got teary a couple of times because I feel so grateful. Several people in the group had to leave early for various reasons, and their energy was really missed, but life falls like that sometimes. Hugs to everyone who came with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you all.

I plan to do many more retreats, in new and different places, so the journey has just begun. So fasten your seat belts, relax, and come with me.

The travel home was interesting as well, and fortunately the peace of the week left me feeling un-harried, in fact, we all rolled with what came our way, and had fun with it. Our flight was delayed for two hours, and of course we missed our connecting flight , so at around 12am (we began at about 7am) got into the hotel, slept for a couple of hours before catching a morning flight to memphis. We came close to missing that one too, because the shuttle to the airport would not start. Fortunately there just happened to be another shuttle about to head to the airport, WSHOO, Thank you Ganesha for guiding us, and helping us to get home safely.

I feel tired in the best way. No fatigue, just great use of a lot of energy. I had a wonderful time.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 15th, 2007 at 12:50 pm and is filed under Journal, travels, yoga retreats. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.