Yoga Retreat. . Not as it seemed
I attended a yoga retreat/ work exchange in Costa Rica and things were not as it seemed.
The program was hosted by the owner, at The Yoga Sanctuary in Costa Rica. Also known as The Brown Girl Yoga Tribe.
Everything started out normal from the interview process to the on-boarding. During this process I was told
- Most of the herbalist information and knowledge of the land will be coming from the owners assistant
- The retreat/home was a sober environment
So here comes the set uppp
When we landed in Costa Rica the attendees found out the assistant that would be leading the knowledge of Costa Rica’s herbalism quit!
The first official dinner off the premises was at the retreat next door. As we walked over the host asked nonchalantly who is 4/20 friendly. That caught me a little off guard…wine was also introduced at this dinner. Which blurred the standards and purpose of this retreat at the get go.
From here some of the logistics of the home and lack of understanding of appliances and how things worked could have been explained to start off seeing that none of us were from the country.
The also the host kept making a statement like “no one can create a safe space for other people..” or something like that…
As the first few days went we all managed to lead the needed practices that we were assigned. Side note things and times were being adjusted throughout the day as the host lacked management and scheduled personal appointments to collect herself.
Light Trigger warning,
During one of our scheduled classes the host held a cacao ceremony where she asked us to place sacred artifacts down. The host went through a PowerPoint and an addition shared her life trauma which included being abused by people of multiple genders (she said she does not always share such things). And we all sympathized with the situation..
Going back to logistic issues, the next day we prepared to go to a cabin… the host was aware that a few of the attendees did not have sleeping gear. In which case she set some by the door. Once we got to the cabin the host and everyone realized the sleeping bags were missing.
The people relying on the sleeping bags did not make a big deal of it. The hostess response was “I had the towels…and I’m sleeping in the hammock”. As we all wanted to create a solution eventually the host called the owners and they provided extra sleeping material.
Here is where things got spooky… day 5 or 6
The following day we left the cabin to return back to our quarters at the “retreat/sanctuary”. That night we did our nightly routine of a burn ceremony where we were encouraged to share not one thing but everything we wanted to release and welcome in.
Right before doing so she said my friend is joining us. A male walked up the stairs, the host did not introduce him by name or explain why he was there… the male took it upon himself to shake everyone’s hand and introduced himself. He joined the ceremony and started breaking down weed as we all departed the space for dinner.
As we headed downstairs there seemed to be a pluming issue in one of the shared bathrooms. The host never said a word about it as an attendee of the retreat stressfully cleaned it up.
The next morning a few of us reflected on how we had trouble sleeping just about every night. As we started to head up the stairs we saw the man from the night before…unbeknown to us he stayed the night… the host said nothing.
The man join us for our morning meditation and yoga class. After it was brought to the host’s attention that some of the attendees felt uncomfortable. The host said they would take care of it. Yet she proceeded to take a few people to store while the male stayed back and ate breakfast.
The host returned after dropping people off at the store, she set down at the table finally mention the pluming issue and that someone was coming to fix it. The host then got up still leaving the male at the retreat as she went to go pick up people from the store. Reminded you it is a house full of females from out of country…
This is when a meeting was called for the group to speak about our concerns before going into a 2nd week of the retreat. The host returned and her male friend was already preparing to leave when the host said “oh are you leaving I was going to take you”….
Then he left on his own and the meeting happen.
People vocalized their concerns to say the least,
The host lied saying she didn’t know about the pluming issue until this morning, while also saying she knew about it when it was brought to her attention the night before…. Along with excuses and lies for other concerns. And she told us before you came “I told you all to watch the bathrooms and let me know about when tissue runs out and things” that’s coming straight from her mouth…remind you we are talking about an appliance issue at this time.
On the male staying the night she said it was typical of her space and she needed a friend. She also brought up the fact that “we had other guest join earlier”
Side note those were additional guest we were introduced to during the day, they joined us for dinner outside of the home and at dinner the whole table invited them to join us the next day for yoga. Leaving time for people with concerns to voice such….and they did not stay the night…
As the meeting came to an end the host had no closing statement and left of saying well when is the next class…
Talk about awkward… more could be said about what continued to go down in the following days.
Along with details coming out that this was not the first time the host lacked transparency about a grown male being present and staying at her “retreat/sanctuary” while host a retreat and her charging more money for people to come with health conditions when the host had even worst living conditions..
Some chose to make an early exit. With one making a public group speech about the host’s lack of holding herself up to the standards she has set for others and her lack of accountability.
The host responded with she didn’t feel like any money was owed back even for the excursions and airport shuttle fees that that individual did not attend or use….crazyyy right!
Then as the person was departing the host tried to speak to the individual again saying she cared. The individual asked did she really,
Seeing as the host was not going to issue any funds back and the host said,
“I didn’t say that”
… another lie…
When they repeated what the host said back to the host, the host responded with “maybe I shouldn’t have said that but if we are talking business I don’t think I should”… and the convo ended there…
I would advised others to be aware of this facility The Yoga Sanctuary in Costa Rica. Also known as The Brown Girl Yoga Tribe.
If you have attended or familiar with the facility or the host I encourage you to share your experience here good or bad.
As if you know anything about google reviews the owners can delete the worst of the worst…