Camino Adentro, The Way Inside, is more than a five day, four night all inclusive Costa Rica retreat at the Aves Hotel and Retreat Center. It is an experience where you will journey inward to feel at home inside your own body. It's a way to bring alignment and equanimity while immersed in a tropical setting with like-minded people. This is a perfect retreat for those who need inner nurturing or are navigating:

✨overwhelm & burn out with work

✨loss of a loved one

✨anxiety around the future

✨creative blocks

✨emotional cul de sacs
✨chronic self-sabotage

Before moving to Costa Rica, I often felt a disconnect between my desires, emotions, physical health, and creativity. I wanted more time with my kids, more time to write, less of a work grind, less reactivity and trying to control. I was thrusted into healing: my husband was diagnosed with cancer, Covid hit, we received a 60 day notice on a house we loved and rented for eight years. I was juggling so much. 

You don't have to wait until the wheels fall off to care for yourself, to make a deep and lasting change.

Imagine yourself waking up in a tropical paradise with every detail taken care for you. Through beautifully crafted days that include yoga, hikes, Breathwork, Gateless Writing sessions, sound healing, and rest, you will feel nourished and supported as you release negative energy and blocks and have the time and space to align your mind, body, spirit, and creativity.

Retreats allow you to recalibrate, make lasting change and return home anew. 

*Friends with Benefits November Offer

If you sign up with a friend, you can each receive $250 off. Use the code FRIEND to activate the savings. 

More about our Practices

Transformational Breathwork is an accessible, efficient way to improve your physical, mental and emotional state. I've led hundreds of people in Breathwork sessions that bring real healing and major shifts in their day-to-day wellbeing. It's backed by science and spiritual traditions alike. We will practice a variety of transformative Breathwork techniques daily. 

Gateless writing, founded by Suzanne Kingsbury, is both a writing organization and a methodology of writing in community, from the body, and without criticism. Gateless writing isn't just for aspiring and professional writers; the methodology is used with parents and in counseling, theater, schools, prisons, and the medical field. A few years ago I completed the Gateless academy and was certified as a Gateless Writing Teacher, which changed my relationship to the written word and improved my writing. 

I love combining Breathwork and Gateless writing when working with clients to help them find clarity, tend to emotional wounds, and connect with their creative ideas. 

In addition to Breathwork and Gateless writing, we will be moving our bodies, practicing daily yoga with my soul sister and yogi Christine Falcon-Daigle along with yoga and sound healing with my local yogi friend Christine Morales. 

To top our time off, we are also including a 1:1 Brainspotting (one hour) session with Marcy Cates, a long time licensed therapist to guide you to release trauma responses or creative blocks. I have experienced and observed Brainspotting sessions and have felt their power. 

Finally, there will be free time to rest deeply, write, book a massage or spa session, use the onsite gym, lay by one of the two pools, take a dip or do laps, or take a short hike down a private path to the Montezuma river for a freshwater swim. 

Conscious Planning

We are also including surprise gifts from local artisans and must have retreat items. We'll spend one afternoon with a picnic lunch on the idyllic Montezuma beach.  Your attendance helps support the local community in Montezuma and Cabuya and sponsors a local Costa Rican woman's attendance who could otherwise not afford to attend. 

Before and Beyond the Retreat

A few weeks before we meet in Costa Rica, I offer a pre-retreat zoom where I  can connect with you and you can connect with other participants, ask questions, and get yourself prepared for the Camino Adentro experience. Once the retreat concludes, I will be reaching out with a integration call or zoom to offer support as you return to your home and community. 

In 2021, I moved my family to the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica, a place where I have felt the firsthand the healing power of nature on my family, in my body, and in my relationship with myself.  My two autistic sons Harrison and Lazlo were welcomed here, and my husband credits this more tranquil lifestyle to remaining cancer free for the last four years. 

Since moving to Costa Rica, I felt the pull to go more into the body with certifications in meditation, Pause Breathwork Facilitation, and Gateless Writing Teacher Training. In the last year, I've been teaching (online, in person with small and large groups,) Breathwork and Gateless Writing sessions and when I can, combining the two.--the sweet sauce!  In 2023 I offered my first retreat here in Costa Rica for families with neurodivergent kiddos, and I've cohosted more retreats in the SF Bay Area. 

Professionally, I am a college English instructor and have taught writing in person and online for 30 years, mostly in academic, creative and therapeutic settings. I also write poetry, essays, and memoir. I have guided several clients using Gateless editing and my years of teaching to complete their poetry, nonfiction, and inspired business manuscripts.

Aves Hotel and Resort is a luxurious, sprawling, consciously designed resort & retreat center recently built on the hills of Montezuma with views of the Pacific Ocean. It boasts various luxury suites in both shared and private room options. All meals are crafted on site and are included. 

During your down time, you can hike from a private trail that leads to the Montezuma River for a dip or enjoy the two spa service rooms for massages, facials, and body wraps--as well as visit the gym, where you can workout while soaking in the views.

Montezuma is a picturesque small village, known for its bohemian atmosphere and the stunning natural beauty of its beaches and waterfalls. There are restaurants, shops, two small grocery stores, and local artist stands. Nestled into a landscape of true tropical paradise, Montezuma is perfect for any beach lover and eco-tourist. The village is surrounded by jungle covered hills with small rivers forming scenic » waterfalls and pools. Groups of capuchin monkeys live in the forests and are easily seen. 

Fly into Juan Santamaria (San Jose) International Airport (SJO). Then walk 5-7 minutes to the domestic terminal to take a 20 minute flight (hopper plane) with Green Airways or Sansa Airlines to the Cobano Airport. We will arrange transportation for you from Cobano to the Aves Hotel (about a 10 minute drive) if you choose this option. 

The domestic terminal does not offer evening flights. 

(FYI: An hour and a half is enough time to get through immigration, customs, and to the domestic terminal. )

Flight times require a hotel stay in San Jose? We recommend The DoubleTree Hilton Cariari San Jose  for convenience as they offer free shuttle every 20 minutes to and from SJO airport international terminal and breakfast is included. They have a restaurant on site and very helpful, bilingual staff. (And, you are greeted with a warm chocolate chip cookie!)

If you want to extend your time in Costa Rica and want a car, there's Budget Rental near the Cobano airport. 

Greeted with cool drinks and snacks and shown to your room where you will find your gift bag. After time to get settled and view the property, we will gather in the yoga shala for an opening circle and intention setting. We will move to welcome dinner next to the pool followed by a calming breathwork and sound healing session. 

After morning coffee or tea and snacks, we will practice Yoga or hike and enjoy breakfast. After breakfast, we will have our Gateless Writing sessions, followed by time to swim, hike or use the spa or schedule your Brainspotting session. After lunch, we will have a little free time and then move to our Breathwork and second Gateless writing session. One of the days, we will have a picnic lunch on the beach. The evenings will include special surprises and dinner. Each day we will welcome ourselves home inside, Camino Adentro.

Morning yoga and breathwork, breakfast, and final nurturing circle