The Art of Cleansing. Spring Cleaning Redefined.
Most of us enjoy the feel and smell of our home after it has been cleaned.
Some of us even enjoy the process of cleaning while other appreciate the opportunity to have someone us clean our home and leave us with this magnificent gift of a clean abode as if ferries had come in and waved their wand.
To take this idea to a new level and apply to our bodies there are options as well – many of which fall under the name of “cleansing”.
Costa Rica is is a perfect country to offer several of these types of programs with a land that is teaming with life. Programs that focus on personal physical and emotional health through exercise, meditation, and nutrition.
There are many different flavors that will likely appeal to a variety of budgets and persuasions. Samara in particular is fortunate to have two well establish programs in just over an hour’s drive time and then several other smaller scale programs that are offered within the community of Samara.
One of these well-established programs is offered through Hacienda Del Sol. This beautiful rustic retreat center is located in the remote Guanacaste peninsula, where the ocean meets the jungle.
What started in 1995 as the home for the Kootenay School of Rebalancing Massage School has grown into a vibrant yoga, detox juice cleansing retreat center with eight acres of largely undeveloped land, one yoga studio, a raw food kitchen, and dedicated detox center that offers 7 to 21 day juice cleansing retreats.
Hacienda del Sol has many options:
- Yoga: In the high season drop in to regularly scheduled classes with residence yoga teachers plus workshops with visiting teachers.
- Juice Cleansing: Hacienda Del Sols signature all-inclusive 7 or 14 day juice cleanses, yoga, and meditation retreats are ongoing throughout the year. During the high season many have guest facilitators and yoga teachers while in the low season guests have the opportunity to enjoy personal juice cleansing retreats.
- Rates: Weeklong retreats range can include all meals, massage and spa treatments, yoga classes, and range from $500 to $2,000 depending upon accommodation options and facilitators.
If you go, don’t miss the opportunity after to jump into the ocean or have a massage or enjoy Hacienda Del Sol’s private mud bath to cleanse your skin with Costa Rica’s natural volcanic clay.
These programs are often life changes that help individuals change their relationship with food or for others the removing of the body’s toxins literally clears the mind. Learn more about this retreat center and cleansing at www.haciendadelsolcr.com
A Women with a Dream. How Hacienda Del Sol Was Born
Many people have had dreams or visions of creating a spectacular retreat center in a beachy destination… but few realize this dream. Menlha Bruneau was one that made this dream a reality.
“At the time it was so unique and I was so inspired to start a retreat center. I have always loved the idea of having a place for people to come together for support and healing in a beautiful setting that reeks of good vibes.” Menlha says.
The idea had been surfacing in Menlha for a big chunk of her life. Her fist experience in holding retreats was when she started an Awareness Center in Australia when she was 20 years old, which held various health weekend retreats.
In her early 30s she and her husband started Relaxation Plus clinic in Nelson, B.C, Canada. The clinic had floatation tanks and offered all kinds of bodywork sessions.
For Menlha the idea of a retreat center where people could stay was the next step. She had tried to start one in Canada a few times but the opportunities never came to fruition. Then the day came when she visited Costa Rica through encouragement of friends who had just bought properties here.
Menlha and her 10 year old daughter camped in a beautifully area and rode horses to further explore. It wasn’t long before they fell in love and moved forward with buying 5 acres, the current home and birthplace of Hacienda del Sol. “Disneyland was built on 4 1/2 acres” Menlha says with a laugh.
From the start Hacienda Del Sol felt right. They quickly returned as her daughter Crystal had school to attend and Menlha had her own school to return to at The Kootenay School of Rebalancing class of 1994. “The students were so excited about the retreat project in Costa Rica.” Menlha says.
Originally the idea was to keep the Rebalancing School going in Nelson Canada and then to offer a variety of other programs in Costa Rica. It did not exactly work out that way as putting the school together consumed much of their energy.
By the following February we had constructed a Buddha Hall for classes, Krishna Hall for the restaurant and bathrooms and twelve cabinas for accommodations. The class of 1995 was held in Costa Rica, at Hacienda Del Sol.
Instead of the 6-month training that was held in Canada we condensed the course into 4 and that first year it was a booming success with 24 students, 8 teachers, 2 cooks, 4 children and 2 tutors.
We also had several Costa Ricans working at Hacienda del Sol. That was our most intense Rebalancing course ever. We were not only teaching the school but also building the retreat center and learning how to live in Costa Rica.
They had to learn everything from scratch. Where to get food? What to do when the electricity went out, etc. There was so much creativity and so much love.
This year will be the 19th year The Kootenay School of Rebalancing will be held in Costa Rica at Hacienda Del Sol.
Menlha’s background as a healer began the day that Zasep Tulku Rinpoche and Lama Thupten Yeshe gave her the name Yeshe Menlha in Nepal when she took Refuge in the Buddha, Dharma,Sangha The name Menlha means Medicine Buddha. From then on she was guided into Healing work. She took a massage course in Australia and jumped right into that work.
Many other courses in self-healing drew her in over the years. She finally studied Rebalancing Bodywork in Rajneeshpuram, Oregon in 1984 and discovered that it took her into an understanding of the body and bodywork that was beyond what she could have imagined.
After the training, Menlha started her own Rebalancing practice in Nelson. She had so many clients that craved the work that she could not keep up. Eventually she was exhausted from leading 30 sessions a week and decided to train other people in rebalancing in order to fill the gaps and respond to the demands. Menlha Bruneau founded The Kootenay School of Rebalancing in 1987.
Rebalancing is a method developed to unite the body and mind through deep tissue bodywork and other integrated techniques. Once the body is reintegrated through Rebalancing there is an experience of greater wholeness, presence, energy, and enjoyment of life. The primary tools of Rebalancing are deep tissue massage and joint release.
The techniques were synthesized by Rolfers, Tregar, and Feldenkrais practitioners at the Osho Ashram in the 1970s and 80s. The aspects of meditative awareness and loving presence were inspired by the teachings of Osho.
Considering Your New Life in Samara, Costa Rica.
The Art of Cleansing. Spring Cleaning Redefined.
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The Art of Cleansing. Spring Cleaning Redefined.
Article/Property ID Number 3746
Andrew Makarik
to@welovecostarica.comAndrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.
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