Have you ever felt that your students were lacking connection to you and each other?

Would you like to teach them how to slow down and breathe?

Have you desired tools to make your classroom or program environment more manageable?

Would you like to spend 8 days this summer in a Culturally Immersive experience with other teachers & youth developers, honoring your self-care and building on your strengths?

Then join us for a Summer Solstice Celebration. This is a once-in a lifetime trip for  teachers, youth developers, yoga teachers, and others who lead. Whether you teach infants, adults, or anyone in between, we think you will benefit from this experience.

We’ll start our journey at Mar De Jade, a yoga and meditation retreat center on the Pacific coast village of Chacala, Mexico. Here we’ll spend 6 days and nights deepening our yoga practice, meditating, and learning and discussing brain development from infancy to adulthood and its connection to Yoga. Each morning we will begin with a seated meditation and a yoga class. During the afternoon, we will engage in lecture / discussion regarding ways you can bring the practice into your workplace. As each of us have different experiences working with youth, we will all have opportunities to share and practice leading the group in age-specific activities. 

We will finish our day with a Restorative yoga class and dinner.

All three meals are provided. All of the food is organic, and most is grown and caught right on the property. Activities between our classes may include: hiking in the jungle, stand-up paddleboarding, engaging in an Indigenous Sweat Lodge ceremony, enjoying a spa treatment, walking on the beach into the town of Chacala, or simply relaxing in a hammock overlooking the sea. https://mardejade.com/experience/

While we are at Mar De Jade, we will have an opportunity to visit their Montessori inspired K-8th grade school (El Jardin) and lead an activity with the students, as well discuss the differences in the education systems with their faculty. http://chacala.school/

We will also visit the El Rancho Organic farm, which grows all of the food we will eat at the center and provides living-wage work for the single mothers of Chacala.

https://mardejade.com/about/community-projects/el-rancho-organic-farm/

Our final two days will be a Cultural Immersion in the surf town of Sayulita. Here, we will take a Mexican cooking class together, practice our Spanish, and continue our yoga and meditation practice at the Yoga studio at Hotelito Los Suenos. https://www.hotelitolossuenos.com/

From Sayulita, we will journey back to the Puerto Vallarta airport to bid a fond Adios until next year. All you need to bring to this trip is an open mind and an open heart.

This is an unforgettable 8 Days, and we hope you can join us.

 - We are providing a Certificate of Completion to all attendees, which may be used for Professional Development units.

 - Registered Yoga Teachers through Yoga Alliance can earn 20 Continuing Education hours upon completion of our trip.

 - Partners and children are welcome to attend the trip, please email us with questions and rates.

Teacher Bios:

Rachel Rajput is a Yoga teacher & Studio Owner with a background in education. She worked as a Theater Education Teacher with the California Arts Council and as an admistrator at Marin Horizon School in Mill Valley, California for a combined total of 15 years. She now owns, manages, and teaches classes at all three Left Coast Power Yoga locations in Oakland. Rachel gained her BFA from the University of Illinois, her 200 hr yoga teaching credential through Laughing Lotus SF, and her 300 hr through Yoga Tree SF. Rachel has been leading local and international retreats since 2015

Nina Portugal:

As a public school educator for the past 9 years, Nina is passionate about teaching, and passionate about her students. Whether they are 9th graders or adults, she hopes to help them see their strengths and find joy. Nina first began teaching at Urban Prep Charter Schools in Chicago and then moved overseas to Spain to teach at a bilingual High School: Antonio Gala IES. She then joined Castlemont High in Oakland as their English Language Development teacher. Since 2015, Nina has been with Life Academy in the Oakland Unified School District.  If there is one thing that Plank and Chaturanga have taught Nina, that it is that with practice, dedication and honestly a smile, she not only can get stronger and grow, but also gain the confidence she needs to take on the world both on and off the mat. In 2015, Nina earned her 200YTT with Its Yoga International in Nicaragua to deepen her study of Ashtanga Yoga. She continued studying with Annie Carpenter Smart Flow in 2017 and most recently, Nina has furthered her education with Jason Crandell and his advanced teacher training. 

Both instructors have completed the Trauma Informed Yoga Teacher training with The Connection Coalition and have conversational fluency in Spanish.