Mama Goddess Retreats Bloomed!

I could not have designed two more perfect pregnant women to have on my first Prenatal Yoga Retreat! Rannveig took the short journey from ICELAND (only a 20 hour trip- PREGNANT) to join me in Nosara, Costa Rica. Long time resident, Joy, owner of Inward Bound Retreats, also participated in some of the week’s happenings. Both women came with open minds, loving hearts and healthy attitudes. Rannveig stayed at The Harmony Hotel, and enjoyed getting pampered with a specialized Prenatal treatment each day at The Healing Centre.

I taught a couple of the prenatal yoga classes and local Tica, Katherine Silva taught two. One of the days, Rannveig went to a Therapeutic yoga class with Jane Fryer, who also gave modifications and tailored the class to Rannveig’s growing belly. On the sixth day, we all went to Prenatal Pilates with Ali. WOW! What a great change up to do a lot of strengthening exercises for our cores and mid-sections. Ali had many nice props (our favorite being the Elvis Pelvis) for the pregnant women and was constantly giving them adjustments and modifications so that they would feel their bodies working in all the right spots.

The week wasn’t all yoga and pilates! One day we went on a river kayaking excursion with Experience Nosara. Even though the video might make it look (and sound) like the week was more of a boot camp for pregnant women, it wasn’t!:) Well, for Rannveig, at least. She had Spencer in her kayak, and poor Joy had me attempting to paddle her around. The highlight of the experience was definitely the “baby” crocodile that we saw. I sure am glad my baby isn’t THAT big. Spencer calmed all of our nerves though. Apparently, crocodiles study their prey for 4-6 minutes before they attack. Good thing we were paddling UP stream with a pretty strong current. Good thing Joy was a good sport and helped Emily paddle, otherwise I think we would have been in the same spot for 4 minutes.

Rannveig, Joy and I took three of the afternoons to talk about pregnancy and the birth of a baby. AND the birth of a mother, father, grandmother, etc etc.  Some of the highlights of our little workshops were: practicing contractions with ice (I might be biased because I didn’t have to hold the ice:), making birth art, exploring our fears, and learning some different pain relieving techniques. We also talked a lot about life with a baby. We had a special guest appearance from 15 month old, Gavin. He came to demonstrate baby sign language to the girls and how he can communicate his basic needs with people by using just 8 signs. He can sign, “food, milk, water, more, all done, book, bath and sleep” as well as some others that make life more fun/ funny. (Dog, please, car, moon, fan, light, and many more). Keep on signing, Gavin!

On the last night, Rannveig and I walked on the beach to La Luna for dinner. The tide was low, the sunset remarkable, the moon was rising, and flowers were out to play! What a wonderful way to end the week.

My experience with Rannveig and Joy was like a dream. I found myself holding and rubbing my belly, walking with my feet turned out, and even Gavin pointed to my belly and said “Baby?” No…not yet, Gavin! Working with these two Mama Goddesses was a blessing! Thank you, Ladies!