kath: yoga training, montezuma, costa rica

30 August - 30 September, 2014

So, I'm now a fully qualified yoga teacher! Yep. After a month of living in the jungle, at the beautiful Anamaya in Montezuma,  I and 21 other students  successfully completed our 200 hour intensive yoga teacher training course. Woot!


The highlights

• The course content... My inspiring yoga teacher, Jackie... And all the gorgeous students from the world over I had the privilege of spending a full month with. (I know it's three highlights in one, I'm going for the trifector.) We learnt SO much in such a short period of time. About yoga postures, anatomy, breath work, meditation, ayurvedic medicine, chakras, teaching, leading students, and more. And I can't wait to share everything I learnt with ya'll when I get home..! (Oh and I may have learnt a few Americanisms as well...)
• Living in the jungle. Woah. Between the 4.3 richter scale earthquakes, lightening literally striking my back garden with firey explosions, huge thunderstorms that were on par with the earthquakes in terms of hut shaking ability, epic rain and even a night rescue situation, the jungle had it all. It also had lots of friendly creatures. Geckos, bats, scorpions, iguanas (even as I type this there is a meter long iguana parading past my hammock), howler monkeys, humpback whales (particularly distracting when you're trying to hold a balance posture and they insist on splashing in your line of sight) and weird looking wombat sized mammals that sulked about our yoga decks when were trying to meditate. 
• Speaking of yoga decks, we practiced for hours and hours each day and night on two of them. Both of which had spectacular views. I'll leave it to the pics to explain this one.
• I can't NOT mention the food at anamaya. It was out of this world. We were fed five times a day. And the food was so fresh (grown on their own farm down the road!). Amongst other things, they make a daily brekkie cake that's not only delicious but it's also GOOD for you!? Its like eating vitamins (my way of rationalising 3 cakes in one sitting). Gluten and dairy free too. I don't know how they do it. And most dinners were not one, not two, but THREE courses. Spoilt.
• And finally, one of the biggest highlights was all the fun things we got up to in between our lessons: paddling in the speccie pool, power walking up and down the hill we lived on to vent out the days frustrations, doing hilarious night time zumba classes on the deck, drinking copious amounts of herbal tea and costa rican coffee with coconut milk (given booze was off limits!), sweating it out in the sauna, watching sunrises at 5am cause they were so bright they wouldn't let you sleep in even if you wanted to, studying and reading lots of yogi books, going for virgin drinks in town, and simply sitting around chatting for hours about all things life and yoga. Best.


The Summary
Weather: hot and stormy. Epic earthquakes and lightening bolts. There's a small part of me thats grateful we all made it out alive..!
Surf / yoga / scuba: yoga, yoga, yoga! All day, everyday.
Food: so much food! Amazing. No red meat, some chicken and fish, almost no diary or gluten, but somehow seriously delicious cakes, pancakes, eggs, salads, noodles, burgers, tacos, etc, etc. Yum.
Beverages: i may have drank montezuma out of tea, coffee and coconut milk. 
People: beautiful! Not just my fellow students, but the staff as well.
Accommodation: a basic jungle hut, called the temple, with my stunning temple sista, Lia.
Budget: oh boy, totally blown.
Overall: so glad I had the chance to do this course. I had my ups and downs, but it's certainly been an amazing journey - I have a much deeper understanding of yoga as a lifestyle and I met some incredibly inspiring people along the way. I can also now do some rad arm balances - the real achievement of this last month!

Now I have a few more days in costa rica before I fly on up to nyc to see my love and partner in travel crime, Damo! Yay! I am suuuuper excited. And I can't wait to catch up with the two boys and hear about all their adventures together, before continuing our travels up into Canada. Bring. It. On.

Namaste,
Kath






That's me, official yoga teacher, in the monochrome leggings! Getting my fabulous students to "walk their dog" (that's yogi speak for "walk your feet out whilst in Downward Dog").

Everyone gets about in the grooviest pants.

Yoga at sunrise.

Yoga at sunset.

Yoga all damn day.

Thank goodness for savasana.

Blind yoga too.

Yogis and yoginis! After our final group practice. All ready to go out into the world and teach.

Storm rolling in... brace yourselves.

My office. That's my purple yogi towel work station. It's open plan. Just like my other office at the big red W..!

Our dining area. None too shabby. 

Food glorious food! Another creative meal fashioned by Lau and La, the twin chefs with basically the same name. True story. 

Everyone is secretly tryng to turn their water into wine...

Winning! One of just five meals we enjoy each day.

Our zucchini seeds, for planting and giving back to mother nature. Let's see if I make it on to "border security" when I smuggle this little guy home.

Yay! I passed my final exam! I'm a yoga teacher, with a certificate to prove it!

Two of my fave yoginis! My temple sista Lia and my namesake Catherine. 

My inspiring yoga teacher, demonstrating a little "brahmacharya" (which means "moderation" in sanskrit) by making up for our last four sober weeks with alllll the bubbles! 

The end. Namaste xx