YogiTriathlete (00:01.048)
Welcome back to the Yogi Triathlete podcast. We are Jess and Beige and we are fresh home from Costa Rica. We were down in Costa Rica for I think 10 days or so. I was co-leading a retreat down there, which was eight days, seven nights. And we always like to have a, you know, we land and then, you know, start the retreat the next day or we try and get in a couple of days early. And then we stayed an extra night, which is so nice just to
have a little bit of space to integrate before we came home, literally back to paradise. But pretty pumped to be here to just, I think a week after, it's like exactly a week since it ended, to just reflect now that we've had a chance to integrate and yeah, just like have another retreat in our bones. Yeah, and it's, I was reflecting upon the, just that process of
starting the retreat and it's similar to like what we would do with Ironman where we would get into town early and then you start to see the trucks come in and the people come in and it all come together. And so at the yoga retreat, I remember being in the pool where we were there a day early. Then we went to the place we're staying at and I'm in the pool and you just watch throughout the day. was in the pool for a while. I had prune fingers, but watching the people just come in and how they come in and interact with the hotel guests or the resort.
the resort manager and just watching all of that. It's really cool to see it all happen and then be immersed in it and then watch it all. And we move out into life again. Yeah, I mean, it's pretty amazing that a seed that was planted in 2024 then became this beautiful experience in Nosara just a few weeks ago. And...
If you're new to this podcast, we should probably say who we are. We're Justin BJ. We're the co-founders of Yogi Triathlete and we're celebrating 10 years this year. And I have our 10 year t-shirt on with our, right? have my 10 year super cool logo on the-
YogiTriathlete (02:10.158)
super cool logo on the back. years of showing up is our theme. Yeah, 10 years of showing up because that's all it takes guys. You just have to show up and the people, the ones who fail are the ones that gave up, right? And we haven't given up and that's why we're here and that's why you're here because you haven't given up either. So if you didn't get a t-shirt, we've been handing them out at races, just shoot us a message, yogicereathlete at gmail.com or reach out to us on Instagram.
and we'll make sure that you get a t-shirt because this is just our gift back to the community that has really helped us show up for 10 years. All of those little messages that we get and the big messages too, like you helped me through this time in my life or listening to the podcast really changed my perspective or people who have joined the team from here or connected with one another, guests that we've had with listeners, just really an amazing.
medium here with this podcast. We started it in 2016. We were one of the first endurance sports podcasts out there and we're still rolling. We don't do it every single week like we have, but it's still really special to us and just because we don't do it as often, we definitely do it with just as much care and intention that we always have done it. So we have over 460 episodes. So go back and browse around. have
plenty of amazing guests in there, but we've been leading retreats since 2017. And yeah, so we have some skin in the game. BJ's been to two of the Costa Rica retreats. And then I know we'll get into this, but literally in 36 minutes, I'm going to be launching our 2027 retreat, which will be our first Yogi Tarot athlete international retreat back to Nosorio, Costa Rica.
But before we get into next year, let's talk about this year. Let's talk about this year. I want to go. still riding the high from it. You know, it's already been a week after, but I can still feel semblance of it. did my first long ride today and definitely has shifted. Things are just a little bit different. How well the way that I look at things that the ability to be really like, I was super mindful of this ride. Like I was looking around and then
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I heard the birds, which are so, so apparent here because we, you know, we live in a quiet neighborhood so we can hear those first birds, but in, Costa Rica, that was just the birds and then the monkeys and then more birds and then more monkeys and the crickets or whatever they call them. It just, it was a symphony. So when I was out on the ride today, I really picked up on that and it beamed me right back to Costa Rica.
So definitely have a big, big part of my heart that I took that is taken up from the experiences there. And you equated it to like, you know, how we handle going into an Ironman and coming out of an Ironman. But once any of us cross a finish line of anything, Ironman 5K, like it's a part of us. It becomes a part of us. And these retreats become a part of us. And the experiences that we have along the way become a part of us. one of the things that
me and my two friends that were hosting this really realized was like, we've loosened up over the years. we just, I felt like this one was just this real, this like full integration of like, being human, being a yogi, being an athlete, you know, laughing, having a cocktail, deep rest, meditation.
challenging yoga classes, restorative yoga classes, community, training. And I love that. And that's what yogi triathlete really represents. It's, I think the message that really came through just through the experience of how I was feeling myself show up was like,
Nobody needs to be different than how they are. And it's more of like going in and being in communion with who you already are. And that doesn't mean that you won't evolve and you won't change and you won't grow and you won't shift. All of those things are necessary. We have anti-fragile minds that are here to grow and expand and they need adversity and they need us to look at ourselves and go, God, wouldn't do that again.
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And we need those experiences, but if we're not, and this really is so perfect for athletes, like if we're not able to accept or even look at where we are now, how do we even know where we're going? And it was just this really beautiful theme. Our theme for the week was like contentment and joy and joy not as a fleeting emotion, but as a state of being and this joy that we already are. And I felt like that was really reflected back to me in the experience of our guests.
But it's been something that has been in the forefront of my mind for the last year and a half. Like really, really understanding that this isn't about cleaning up the past. This is about the full integration of everything that this girl has done. Good, bad, ugly, beautiful, all the things.
and realizing that that's a part of me and that's the person that I get to move forward with. So when we cross the finish line, that's a part of us and we get to move forward with that. When we step away from life and go on retreat, that becomes a part of us and we get to take that and we get to live that. So I also feel the jungle. The jungle is a really...
incredible climate to be in. We've been in the mountains, we've been in the ocean, but the jungle is one that, this is my fourth time to Costa Rica and I love the jungle. It's so alive. Yeah. Even down to the ants and the little, and the little like flying. The leaf cutters. The little, the leaf cutters. Talk about the leaf cutters. the leaf cutters. There was that one morning, it was like the last morning I was going for a run early in the morning and it had just rained and I guess they were all out there.
It was like, to work, get to work. You'd like had to watch where you're stepping because they were covering the steps. But that just shows like, you're so you're so in their territory. You're so in their environment. And then getting out of the little resort there and then being surrounded, like literally surrounded by the howler monkeys, like all around, you can just hear them crying and screaming, or whatever they're doing talking to each other. Howling, you look up and it's like, yeah, there they are. And there they are.
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You just look all around. remember being with Brenda and Sandy and we're just like, wow, they are all around. It's pretty cool. It goes back to the theme too of contentment, like letting whatever is be okay, right? And so you have moments of like, well, how am going to find my way to the beach? How am going to navigate around the monkeys? Whatever that challenge is. And I kept coming back. really kept coming back to like...
piggybacking what Bob tells us a lot is like, let whatever is be okay. Bob is our meditation teacher who we've been working with for a very long time, lifetimes maybe. My first session with him was February 2011, but I started working with him in a group setting in the end of 2010, like when we first moved back to Rhode Island.
But I want to ask you, what did you take away from the week? Cause you were, you were a guest and kind of an unofficial host, doing leading training sessions, open water swimming and, and running on the beach, which will be an integral piece of our retreat next year. But what did you take away? What's, what's your experience as kind of this unofficial host, but also a guest? Yeah. When I take away, I always take away the sort of like,
as in what you, Valerie and Meg provide us there. Like three totally different personalities, doshas, all of it, but you come together and everybody on the retreat feels safe, feels heard, feels listened to, feels like they can come to a session or not come to a session. I just feel like the environment is really conducive for expansion and growth.
So I took away, again, you guys have something very incredible that you've created. I also think.
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yoga classes are super challenging for all three of you. I feel felt sort of like Meg would be a little bit, you know, easier and that you would take it down at times or even Valerie, but it was like, it was intense. And then it was not intense. So you guys brought both and that to me was a little bit of a surprise. And so, you know, I took away that
go on retreat because retreat life is really good. It's so good. I also took away. I know you asked me one. I don't even know if you asked me one thing, but I noticed eating and while you're on retreat and away from your routine, I noticed I was very diligent about eating what was provided three times a day or four times. Cause in the morning we had that fruit and I didn't have any anything in between like the snacking and stuff that I normally do. I was just
I was holding to whatever we had at the meal, eat it slowly so that you're satiated, talk to people, fill up to your 70, 80 % and then move on with your day. And I noticed I wasn't craving the routine for things to snack on, which was just, I guess I took that away last time, but this time I really, really experienced that.
And it also helps that you don't have access. Well, and you you came back lighter. Yeah, I'm definitely lighter. I didn't do it on purpose. And I did very minimal training. So it could have been the weather, you know, we're sweating a lot. The meals as I just talked about and guys, no more peanut butter. I've got peanut butter. I don't even know why. It's just out of
I guess I'm on the kick of no peanut butter. So it's been about almost a month now of not having like a spoonful of peanut butter with every spoonful of oatmeal that I have in the morning. So that could contribute to it as well. But yeah, think retreat as a general consensus, like a 10,000 foot view gives you the opportunity to look at where your habits and routines are and how attached you are to them.
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because a lot of them can fall away while you're on retreat and then you get back into life and you may pick up back a few, but there's some you may not. And that's pretty incredible. Yeah. It's it's a really nice reset. Like whether that's your intention or not, like you get a reset on these trips and just, it's funny. I got on the plane and I had like this to-do list and I'm like, I'm going to need like a flight to Asia to get all my to-do done. And I did work the whole time on the plane and
And because I love to work on the plane, it actually goes back to when I was little and I used to travel with my dad a lot. They always pulled me out of school to travel with my dad and we'd have so much fun. And I'd always do my homework on the plane. And I think that's why, number one, why I love to fly, why I love to travel has so much to do with like that was being done early on with me and that they were pulling me out of school all the time and I was getting the work done, right? Cause I have that wet workout, thank you, even back then. But I think...
To me too, it's like that translates to today of like, yes, step away from life, like do these things. Like it's all gonna be waiting for you. And so I have this like to-do list and I worked on the plane and I was actually working on getting the registration together for our retreat, which took the entire flight and I probably got like an eighth of it done. And then once we got to Costa Rica, it was like my sh-
It was like my memory was like wiped away. I could not think of one thing that needed to get done. I couldn't think of anything that was a priority for work. I couldn't think. I was like, I hope I'm not missing anything. just, it's amazing how you can just settle right into that life. And you were talking about the food and it was funny because anytime it was time to eat again, we'd be like, my God, it's time to eat again. It's time to eat again. So the...
The routine is typically like you wake up, you eat a little something, and we did yoga, and then we ate again, and then we played, and then we ate again, and then we played, and then we did yoga, and then we ate again. It was such a great day, day after day after day. And when I came back, all those things were still here for me to do, but
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When you're, we talk about environment being stronger than your will. And when you are on a retreat, it's like your whole system is just, whether you are conscious of this or not, your whole system feels this safety and this acceptance and this like, it's okay, this like permission to just slow down. It's kind of like when you walk into a yoga studio, it's like your system knows that's a safe space.
to be in a place that people go to feel peaceful. And when you go on retreat, and then if you add in like what we do with Costa Rica, you add in that it's a blue zone. You know, one of our world's blue zones and Costa Rican lifestyle is the Pura Vida lifestyle. So it's like flowing with life, you know, it's just going with the rhythm of life. And that energy is so contagious. just becomes a part of you so quickly. Come on, Clark.
Clark's getting a little riled up. Here, bud. Yeah, good boy. OK, I have a question for you. Why is Nosara a great place to train? Why are these retreats specifically, let's talk Costa Rica, because I know we did it in Maui too, but why is this a good place as a coach? Why do you want athletes down there training with you?
well, you know, I love the, the, again, the detachment from our routine, the detachment from like the pool and the lane lines and the bike routes that we always would ride on or running paths we always took or treadmills. Like we are immersed in an environment, which is so natural. We run on the beach on hard packed sand, nice wide beach. can jump in the ocean and swim in this buoyant.
salty, warm body of, of, of water. It's just incredible. And then we can balance that with the strength training and mental, mental training and breath awareness of the yoga flow. And that, that mixture just seems to really. tick all the boxes in terms of giving the body what it needs as endurance athletes.
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But there's a softer side which allows for it to sink into the bones, which then we understand hopefully with some some clearing away of the chaos of the world that we're used to that we this is enough like this can this can bring us to the place we want to go because we're slowing things down and we're really enjoying it a lot more and we're finding that we don't necessarily have to be attached so
Intently to the things that we thought brings us joy. We can actually go into the jungle and go have an epic training experience in, in what I feel are really conducive conditions to heat and humidity. Really good to train and get the fluids and, and hydration and to see how the body performs. So I think it's very nurturing. My body always feels really good down there. I mean, it could be we're doing.
plus hours of yoga. man. Every day. so strong after that week. You just feel so strong. The breathing too. We did a lot of breathing and we'll probably talk about that. Well, let's talk about that then. Because the first run I did when I got back here, the first run I did, I did my nasal breathing run and it was effortless at the pace that I left at, which I've worked like two years to get down to.
And I, I felt no rush. felt no panic. And that could also be, you're going to say, absolutely. The nervous system is like so chill. It's not on high alert. It's like, put a Vita feeling that like, go with the flow and you can carry that into, into your workouts and training. And that run back was like, was just like, like I felt like.
everybody was singing, singing this, this amazing song. And I didn't do much running down there. I didn't do much like targeted training. I just did just enough, you know? Yeah. I mean, you know, I'm a nervous system dork. it's just, if we're not nurturing our nervous systems, we're not giving ourselves much of a chance. And that safety that I talked about, like all the breath work we did every day, twice a day.
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the yoga, the breathing and moving, breathing calmly when it's intense, like all of these things translate to really wise life skills and mental acuity. And yeah, mean, even one of our athletes that were down there with us, she got caught in a riptide. Like riptides are real down there. In spot that we swam at two days earlier. Yeah, and...
I was asking her about it afterwards and yeah, she said she was calm. Like she was caught, like it was real. And the lifeguard was like right there and you know, she knew what to do, like swim horizontal to the shore. But she said like, you're swimming and it's like, it's longer than you think it should be, you know, to get out of the riptide. She's swimming horizontal and she's still getting taken out to sea. Like it was pretty serious.
but she was calm and that is such a superpower. I mean, to have her explain that pretty serious situation and be like, I was calm and she's no joke, she's top age group triathlete. She's pretty legit and very strong swimmer.
And so my gosh, of course, we're so glad she's okay with the fact that she was out there and she was calm and she's because she's trained her mind and she's trained her system. And she just also intellectually like knew what you needed to do to get out of a riptide. But the lifeguard was saying that like if you're you're way waist deep or like from waist deep is like you're good. But she was a little bit higher almost like just below her shoulders. And he was saying like that's
like you can just, and a wave came in and just kind of picked her up and took her out. But the fact that like she was in a situation like that, she had sense about herself and was able to swim. The lifeguard was right there. He didn't have to get in because she was so, taking care of herself so well. But yeah, mean, being able to have that is the difference between panicking. It's the difference between living your life when you're worrying all the time.
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which we know that worry is praying for exactly what you don't want to have happen, happen. And unfortunately, I've seen it happen many, many times in the lives of those around me. so tending to our nervous system really needs to be top of mind for everyone, especially just in our modern day. And one of the things about stepping away, there's no TVs. Like you really are, it's okay to step away.
always have to know what's going on in the world. Like, that's okay. That's okay. Yeah. And then so cool how the community like, like we got there early and then everybody started to arrive, which is always just so cool. Like the first day, reminds me of the love boat when they would like check people in, when they would come onto the cruise. And then how by the end of the week, you're seeing these like elite athletes with, you know,
people who maybe have never run a 5K and everybody is family and there are no differences and maybe in another life they wouldn't have crossed paths and they're crossing paths and we had a lot of our community there and it was just so beautiful to see. I love when I see different areas of my life come together like that and there's something about retreat life that just brings in this, it's like, I don't know, just like this no barrier love.
Yeah, because if you look at if you zoom out and look at everybody that was there, because my sister like so many different backgrounds and personalities and stories and histories. And like you, you throw it all together and you're like, how is this actually going to play out? And it's just, think the, the mind's open a little bit because it is peace. is safe. It is, you know, it's an environment conducive to that, but also like
being willing to share because when you share and you can see people hesitate at first, but as the retreat goes on, people become more, more open and trusting. And then they share and you find out these amazing stories of like what it took to, put them in the position where they are today. Like who are they today? Like all the steps and experiences that led them to this moment. It's like mind blowing. then everybody is just having a blast. Like having
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the best time. And just as like, like you're you mentioned the pool, like the I love the weather down there. It's it's very jungle weather and it's warm and we'll be going next year in May. And it's very humid and the water is warm. But it's like the perfect temperature and the pool was like the perfect temperature. And I was in the pool one day for like three and a half hours and it was one of my
my dear friend Valerie, it was her birthday. She was one of my hosts. And you know, we all had like a cocktail at lunch. And so you're just like floating in the pool for hours and just chatting and having these like wonderful conversations without any like I have to return that call. I have to return that email. I have to do that thing. I have to go to the store. I have to drop off my stuff at Google. Like none of that stuff is there. None of the tasks are there. It's just an open environment for
connection and laughter and beautiful, beautiful conversations. And so many conversations were about how they're just not interested in having surface conversations anymore. Yeah, there's so much more. If you just saw Clark walk by in like a t-shirt, which is basically on the backside of his body, it's because Clark managed to give himself the largest hotspot ever known to any dog while we were gone.
Yeah, because he's a spoiled brat. So he's just, he's fine. He's just recovering a little bit. But the thing we realized we could just put a t-shirt on him backwards. And we had our heavily meditated, highly competitive t-shirt on, but he blew through that one. Now he's onto Canyon. Swim Canyon run. But it's just perfect because the cone is, I hate putting the cone on him. It's like a satellite dish and I think he hurt his neck last time he had one.
So yeah, he just has a t-shirt on backwards now. And he's so, he's so agreeable. Like he's so just like, okay, I'll wear this t-shirt on backwards. But we're in the final stages. It's really good. He's healing up. yeah, in case you- Clark is fine. Clark is fine. Yeah. So the retreat, like retreat life is so good. Retreat life is good. The pool is amazing. It was the perfect temperature and-
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You can find that that's where everybody was congregating at, you know, that was like the, well that's what you did between eating and resting and doing some of us, yes. So the cool thing is you can go into town, you can actually walk into town. If you go along the beach, can, you can go right up about a mile. I don't know, even not even a mile, maybe a mile down the beach and you can go into town. You can take these little tuk-tuks, these little red, like they're like motorcycles with three wheels, but they have like a big shed or a big.
like thing over them, where two people can sit in the back or three people, maybe a piece of luggage and then the tuk tuk driver in the front. And it is like a motorcycle because he was like, yeah, And you can just spin around and the roads the roads are not paved for the most part. Roads are pretty dicey. And it's just before their, their, you know, their seasons shift. And so the roads were a little bit more undulating.
Maybe they need to be graded a little bit, you can see how you can see how they the drivers know which roads have the smoothest side. They'll even like go out of their way onto the other side of the road to to take the smoothest side. So yeah, the walkability is pretty awesome, especially where we are in in nosara. Yeah. And
Yeah. So there's no cycling on the retreat next year. so some of you know that BJ and I did two years in a row, we did a cycling challenge down in Costa Rica, which was amazing. And those roads were, wonderful. Those roads were just outside of San Jose, which is like five hours away from where we're going to be. We're going to be on the beach, on the coast and, on the Nicoya peninsula. And I literally, I'm going to launch the retreat right now. do you want to talk a little bit about what we're doing next year? or any kind of wrap up on this year?
Yeah, this year. is so fun. I'm like literally launching it right now. I don't know this. think we pretty much covered this year was, know, every time I was having a moment of like, this is so awesome. I was just, I think I was posting all the time, like take a trip, take the trip. You see the trip that you may want to go on. You're like, I think I should go. probably should go. I'm due for a vacation. I have hours. I haven't been on a trip in a while. Like take the trip. And a lot of that starts with
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the mindset of.
the willingness to have experience, right? Like, and I felt like that was constantly on this, on this particular trip, like, be willing to go walk down to the beach and find your way be willing to jump into the ocean, and find if that was, you know, a good place to swim, be willing to go for an early morning run in the dark and, and wait till the sun rises be willing to to go into town. When we first arrived and find an awesome coffee shop.
You know, there's just this willingness, willingness, willingness to go on the catamaran tour on Friday where... I just posted it. Yay! Yay! So make sure you check out Instagram, Yogi Traathi. So it had been beautiful weather all week and then Thursday night into Friday morning, it was just raining and Friday turned into be more downpouring. It was rainy, rainy, rainy and people were like, is it going
Katamaran tour is still gonna happen today at two. And so I really, I don't know if I shared this with anyone, but I just knew like we were gonna go. Like I knew it was gonna happen. I knew it was gonna clear up and I knew we were gonna have a magnificent sunset. Okay, that's what I knew. I have no evidence of that except for the previous five days, which were just gorgeous. And so the evidence of now is like- and it's Costa Rica in the jungle. it's gonna Yeah, it's gonna rain. Yeah.
It was raining and so we just kept moving forward and some people didn't go. Majority people went and we had one of the most sensational experiences out in the ocean that I think I've ever had, which included scuba diving. Snorkeling.
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not scuba diving, snorkeling, which I had done for the first time. think that was the first time I snorkeled. Yeah, snorkeling's so fun. Saw eel, saw bunches of fish. huge eel. Huge. With like its little, like its little mouth opened up and it was like looking up at us and we're all over it. Like it was big. It was probably like, if you're watching the video of this, was probably like, it kind of looked like thin, didn't it? But then had like this like meaty center. was probably like this. It stacked that big, but it very Yeah, but then it was probably like...
five or six feet. Yeah, it was pretty big. And puffer fish and parrot fish. And then we got to go on pink sand beach. Is it pink sand beach or pink beach? Yeah, it's pink sand beach, which you had tried to get to the last time we were there, but we were on the other side of this little outlet. Well, now we know where it is. We can get there. Yeah, we can get there from where we're going. But that was a cool experience standing on this beach where you're like, it's pink, like it literally is pink.
And it's really small. And then we hopped back on the boat and we were like heading out to sea, like going out away from land. And we were doing it for a long time. And the sky just kept getting like the thing about like a day with torrential downpours is like when the sky breaks, it's just so contrasting and so beautiful. And it was like dark and then it was blue and then the sun, was like, and all the fog was lifting over the mountains on the coast. The coastline of Costa Rica is just stunning.
It's so awesome. So awesome. And then we kept going out, out, out. kept saying that you were like, we just like keep going on like, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. have a margarita. five, like, and all of a sudden they kind of like, started to turn. No, the turtle was after. The turtle was before the sunset before we jumped off. It was? Yeah. So then we saw this, they were slowing down and you could see this. They were calling out turtle or tartuga.
and you could see like the shell of it on top of the water. And I'm like, how do they pick that out? But then it all of a sudden started to turn and it was coming right for the boat. And I got this on video, which is part of the part of a reel I have up there and just came coming to us to and it, it played with us a little bit, picked its head up like two or three times distinctly to look at us. And then it was going down and it was swimming. And then it got right close to the boat, took one more look. And then it went down.
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into the water and it showed us its belly and then it was gone. Yeah, that was really cool. That was a really cool experience. Yeah. mean, those guys like this cruise doing that all the time, right? And so those guys are always, it kind of reminds me like Galapagos is like that too. Like they're always scanning the ocean for, you know, dolphins and turtles. And it's amazing that they can see it from so far away, but that was super cool. And then we jumped off the boat into this warm, like deep.
Yeah. Ocean. Yeah. And they put out this big foam raft that we could get on, but they, and they threw us like, they were hocking beers at us, we were jumping off the top level of the catamaran. And then that was the most, brightest moment of the sunset. just like showed itself beneath the clouds and it was lighting up the ocean waters. And we were just, everybody was just in such gratitude and
Enjoy. They were in joy for sure. my God. Everybody's face was just lit up by the golden hour. And it was, yeah, it was incredible. And they were throw it. We jumped off and then they threw us a noodle. So we all had like noodles that we were floating in and then they started hocking beers at us. And one woman had like a full on margarita cocktail. And no noodle. And no noodle. So that was big skill. And it was interesting because I think
all the breathing, all the meditating, all the, you know, like deep conversations and meaningful connections. It was like, we got onto this catamaran and everybody just let loose. They started playing music. We were dancing. Like people were having up on the top deck, having conversations. And yeah, I mean, it was just, it was so fantastic. It was top five night.
It really, I've had some nights. I can tell you I've had some pretty good nights in my life and some pretty epic experiences that I think I feel like that was like a top five night for me. And so the first thing we did when we got home was we booked that catamaran. May 8th, 15, 2027, we're going back. We're going back to Costa Rica. We'll be leading the retreat ourselves right here. And we're going to be going on the boat.
YogiTriathlete (36:37.359)
Again, same experience that we just shared with you. is booked. And in addition to so much, so much more, I mean, we're talking about celebrating 10 years of Yogi Traathlete. Next year will be 11 years, but we're also incorporating the previous 10 to 15 years that we have been living this lifestyle and bringing this all together into one week of, of, um, experience down there in a blue zone. One of the
very few blue zones in the world. And there's no mistakes. There's no mistakes. This is meant to happen. It's time that it happens, merging the science of the mind with dynamic swim and run training down there, breath work, eating good food, being in community and strengthening the bonds with ourselves and what we're capable of. That's what this retreat is about. And you don't have to be a top tiered elite athlete.
We're, we, this is a, again, we're providing the environment for, for the space for you to grow, for you to see challenges and then work with the tools that we can help provide. This big toolbox that you can walk away with, which will allow you to maybe meet these experiences when you get back home, these challenges with a little bit more presence, a little bit more.
confidence and then this trajectory is the very one, you know that I know we've been on where we've Felt the resistance felt the challenge, but yet we keep moving forward and that's built over time So that resilience time and time again is as challenges come up What decisions you make really form the path that you continue to take? In this life. So yeah, I know that was getting a little bit a little bit deep but I think this is what we're gonna be doing down there is
growing, becoming that best version of ourselves. We're gonna be better. On the other side. I'm actually a little shocked that you have not mentioned the word coffee yet. man, you're right. Yes. Can we talk about the Costa Rica coffee? And then I wanna talk a little bit, I'm just gonna give a little overview of Costa Rica and why we think this is...
YogiTriathlete (39:06.819)
a great place to go. yeah, I can't believe you haven't talked about coffee yet. What has happened? Coffee nonstop. They have the coffee pot when the orange light goes on, it was ready. I had my cup ready. Coffee is so good. It's so good. I drank it all day. think I was down. My coffee intake was up. My water intake was down.
so definitely when we got back, that was a routine idea. Bring back. Everybody had a bar bill at the end of the week. And some people had like rosé and margaritas and BJ's was all ice coffee afternoon. yeah. The bar tab afternoon ice coffee, which is so good. Like it was so good. So yeah, the coffee was amazing. And then even on the last night when we stayed, they had a French press in the room and they had two little servings of coffee. So we had.
two French presses and it was such a treat. That was the best in room coffee I've ever had. Like French press, come on. That was pretty awesome. that, yeah, yeah, that was awesome. So yeah, coffee, guys, if you're wondering, like, are you going to be able to get coffee? Coffee, 100 % and it's going to be, it's so good. It's classic.
So a little bit about Costa Rica, if you're not familiar with it, a lot of times it's on people's bucket lists, whether they know somebody who have been there or it's just so well known for being a place to lead yoga retreats. But a couple of things about Costa Rica that I really love is, of course, this pervita life, which is, you know, learning to flow with the rhythm of life. But it's also this tiny little country that holds four percent of our world's biodiversity. It's a country that got rid of
abolished its army well over 50 years ago and reallocated all of that money into education and healthcare. There's a 97 % literacy rate. English is a language that the kids are taught in their primary school years. And so as a traveler from the US, if you are not like somebody who's done a lot of international travel, this is such a great entry point. It's like Mendocino 50K is a great first ultra. This is a great first international trip.
YogiTriathlete (41:21.133)
you can use USD. Like you don't have to change your money over. can, and their local money is Cologne's. And so anytime you go to buy something, it'll, they'll be like Cologne's or USD. And so super easy. You can use your credit card, keep some cash on you for tips and things like that. English speaking, you don't have to, there's very little language barrier. There's like no language barrier. And even like Jose, our tuk tuk driver, he just had Google translate.
Remember he was like, gave him the address and then he like talked it into it. Cause I didn't have, I didn't have cell. All I had was like access to the internet and things like that through wifi. So I didn't even have like international calling or anything like that. You, the flight, the getting there is pretty easy. Fly into Liberia airport or San Jose. I recommend flying into Liberia, but also check San Jose and then take a
take a flight on either Green Airways or Sunsa. It's like a half an hour flight. It's not even super easy right into Nosara. And then you just get a tuk tuk. They know the flight schedule. So there's always a tuk tuk guy there. And you just get a tuk tuk to Blue Spirit where we are hosting the retreat. But it's a really accessible country to come in and out of. Customs was super easy.
What else you can also take and this is something that will organize for you is shuttles from the airport. So if you've never been and you want to see the countryside, it is a really beautiful ride from Liberia airport to nosara because you go through the mountains San Jose it's pretty long. It's like a four and a half hour drive because you're hitting more mountains. It's a little bit further. But this is something that will include this will be my fifth
time leading a retreat in Costa Rica. So I'm really familiar with how to get there from the East Coast, from the West Coast, and everything in between. And yeah, it's just a really great entry point. And even if you are a well versed traveler, like all the better, come on in. And we are hosting it at Blue Spirit, which is a world class yoga and meditation center. And the owners who own it also own Omega Institute New York, which is a very well known
YogiTriathlete (43:38.823)
Ayurvedic and Yogic center there where they do a lot of seminars and things like that. But Blue Spirit itself is on private land and it's on this protective cove. So that's one of the reasons we chose it for swimming. Like BJ said, at low tide, the beach is huge. It is the most runnable beach I have ever been on in my life. we've had a guest before be out there open water swimming and have a tortuga just go right underneath her like a
you know, huge sea turtle and Blue Spirit itself is on a turtle refuge. So the beach is a three mile long white sand beach and you cannot build on this beach. So when you go down, you'll see like some houses and they're pretty rustic houses that were built long ago before they started protecting this land. And actually Blue Spirit itself reclaimed the land and brought it back to life because there was a lot of
raising animals, animal ag that was happening down there. And they purchased this land, brought it back to life. It's so vibrant. and we're very much immersed in the jungle where we stayed this year. We were up on a ridge line and I did notice a difference between the, just all the creatures. Like remember the little red crabs at, like the land crabs that are at blue spirit and monkeys like everywhere. I, I did notice that there was a little bit.
less of that because there was more housing and things like that where we were, but nothing to say where we were. It was absolutely pristine and magical because it absolutely was. But Blue Spirit's pretty darn special. private access to the beach. So you walk down this like 700 foot path, which also happens to be, think, one of the best hill repeat paths. And I've done some hill repeats there. and tested it. It works. Yeah.
And so yeah, so those houses on the beach are these beautiful, they're not modern. There's like these beautiful kind of rustic houses that are really built into the jungle and they can never be sold. So they have to be passed down in families or given away. And that's it. And other than that, you cannot build on this land. So it is so pristine and it's so private and it's a really, really special place. this will be, next year will be my fifth time leading retreat in Costa Rica and my
YogiTriathlete (46:01.327)
fourth time leading at Blue Spirit. And so it's not just beautiful, it works. It's perfect for what we're planning. The other thing I like about Blue Spirit is the buffet. Yeah. I love the buffet. Oh, that's the other thing I should, I want you to speak about the buffet, the buffet. And it's not like the one at Caesar's Palace in Vegas. It's a very different kind of buffet. Costa Rica,
has four different climate zones. And so you can get like all the different kinds of food within this small little country. Most of the food that we'll eat is grown in their organic garden on property. Everything else is no more than 80 miles away. So the food is ridiculously fresh. Like this food is going to restore your body. Like, I'm sorry, no recovery shake ever could. So we talk about the buffet, babe, the papaya. So
I love oatmeal and I usually have the same things here but when I was down there it was just extra pineapple and papaya. Like those two things alone, they're just like cut fresh every morning. It's so savory and if you're not used to having that in your meals but you start adding it, it adds a huge pop of juicy flavor. So I mean the fruit there is awesome. The buffet, I'm talking about that because there's...
Lots of options on the buffet. have vegan options and majority of it's well, it's all vegetarian. So there will be like a couple they'll have egg options in the morning. They'll have like fish maybe one or a couple nights they will have that offering but no meat. I want to say no dairy but I'm not sure about that just because there's so many allergies to dairy.
But if you have any sort of preference, like, I don't like red peppers, like that's something you just let us know and we take care of that. And they'll make sure that there's always something on that line that is for you. But there'll always be plenty of vegan options, because I know we have a lot of plant-based folks in our community. And I've eaten fully vegan down there the last three times and I've never
YogiTriathlete (48:21.135)
I never had anything but a very satiated belly. One time I was there, I mean, and I had a lot of nut butter. That was where I used the peanut butter and I started mixing it in my oatmeal. We'll see what happens next year. Yeah, I mean, I'm not eating any. So we'll see. What if you give up coffee before then? I've done that before. I've done that before. You tried. I remember you did that when we lived in Newport. You're like, I'm giving up coffee. I'm like, great, I'm not.
I just kept making coffee. You can do whatever you want, but I'm not jumping on board. I did a year of decaf when we lived here. I remember that. But I'm definitely not going to go to Costa Rica and not have coffee. That just sounds so absurd to me. But yeah, I loved Blue Spirit. I loved the stairs. There's like tons and tons of stairs to get everywhere. I think it's three flights to get up to the Sky Mine Hall where...
We do most of our yoga up top there. And then there's stairs down to wherever you're staying. There's just so much activity. You get really fit. You don't have to come to any of the swims or the runs and you would get super fit and healthy on this trip. Well, the other thing is everything is optional. Yeah, everything is optional, but you're coming on retreat. Immerse yourself into the experience. And like I was talking about before, the willingness to have experience, be willing to have an experience.
So if you're listening to all of this and you're like, that sounds awesome. And I saw your videos and you guys were having a great time and it was awesome. It looked cool. I wish I was there. Like be there, like take the trip. I can't stress enough the importance of nurturing your nervous system, stepping away from routine and exploring this, just one of the few blue zones in the world where people are living the longest.
So they are certainly onto something and you can immerse yourself in a little bit of that culture by coming on retreat here and also being, being with us on our first international retreat together. Yeah. So take the trip. Yeah. I mean, I just, I don't need to oversell this. Like this is like, I've been, I've been doing this long enough to know that, alignment is everything and
YogiTriathlete (50:43.131)
there'll be a lot of people that feel the call and they'll be they'll be just the right amount of people that that answer that call and the the communities that come together. I mean, what do we say? What do we say on this one? Best group ever. I come back from the Galapagos. Best group ever. Come back from Patagonia. Best group ever. Come back. Like it's always the best group ever. Because we provide the space and we're here to we're here to help if you have questions if you feel hesitant.
and you want help with that. We're here for that, but we will not force you. We're not here to persuade you or force you into anything. That doesn't work well for you. So we're here to provide the space. It feels very clear to me that this is my purpose on this earth is to create the space for people to have these experiences that change the way that you
look at things and when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. And that's how, that's like how you shift a life where the better it gets, the better it gets, no matter what's going on around. And that your system doesn't have to take such a hit from life because it's going to squeeze you for as long as you're breathing on this earth. But when we nurture from within and we,
know, free ourselves from our minds to whatever relevant degree. just, yeah, it's a freedom that is unshakable and it's undescribable. my wish is that I am able to, yeah, create offerings that allow people who want that, as many people as possible while I'm breathing on this earth, get a chance to do that. And I would love for you to do that alongside us because
We have a hell of a good time as well. And lots of laughs. Yeah. Lots of coffee. Yeah. Don't pack as many clothes as you think you need because it's hot and humid. Flowy. Let us know if you have questions, like if you have questions or if you're like, don't, like write down your questions, send them to us. We can, we can help you, we can help you work through anything. Yeah, absolutely. I just want to give a shout out to Petronilla Pants, P Pants.
YogiTriathlete (53:07.374)
Petra is a woman who, friend of ours, who came on the first Costa Rica retreat. She needed clarity from her corporate job. She was in a high paying corporate job and she was miserable. And she came to Costa Rica, came home from Costa Rica, quit her corporate job and started Petronella Pants.
And so these are the big flowy, like super comfy jammy pants. BJ has a pair that we always wear on retreat. They are the best Costa Rica pants. So yeah, she's Patronella pants on Instagram. And then the other person I want to give shout out to is another beautiful artist, Remy. And Remington underscore jewelry underscore is her
Instagram and she made she just came with all of these gifts. We didn't ask for anything. We didn't pay for anything. She just wanted to give and she gave everyone she made all the men beautiful jewelry and bracelets. She made all of us bracelets and they're so gorgeous. And then our dear friend Andrea also has a beautiful jewelry company and she made all the guys bracelets and that was one of our gifts that we gave to them.
But yeah, so check out Patronala, check out Remington underscore jewelry underscore. These are incredible women who understand the value of retreat and the value of giving and receiving. So just want to give them shout out and yeah. All right. That's it. I don't know. It's out into the world. Go check the internets, interwebs and or Google Costa Rica retreat, Yogi Traathley.
Or just go to yogicetriathlete.com slash Costa Rica, Costa dash Rica. And all the details are there, but we would love to see you there next year. You've got a whole year, more than a year, because it's May 8th through the 15th, so not even May, it's May 2nd. So you got plenty of time. Yeah, it's perfect timing because the Giro d'Italia starts on May 8th. So you know what I'm going to be doing for 21 days.
YogiTriathlete (55:19.969)
I will not be launching retreats. will be focused on five to six hours of cycling every single day for 21 days. That is my next event. What are you guys training for? We'd love to hear. Beige is going to be in Lake Placid. We're going to be up in Santa Cruz. And you might see us at some other Ironman events this year, but we'll drop that information when we're ready to do it. All right, guys. Have a fantastic rest of your weekend. And we'll see you again soon.
All right, wrap it up. Be better. Just be better at it up. Just be better. All right, bye guys.
