This retreat’s legit: Cosmic Mind/Cosmic Body

Vital Stats

What: Cosmic Mind/Cosmic Body retreat with Sandy Sitron and Ashley Newsome
Where: The Goddess Garden in Cahuita, Costa Rica
Duration: Six days
Cost: $1270-$1670, depending on your room choice
Frequency: Once a year (the next retreat is February 24-March 1, 2019)

Vibe: Morning yoga, afternoon astrology workshops, and adventures in between (plus super-clean , super-delicious Ayurvedic meals served all day long) means you’ll never got bored.

Go solo?: Although there are some duos that attend, insiders recommend leaving the friends at home so that you can really open up and dig into your relationships with others (and yourself).

Vacation or nah?: There are definitely relaxing elements of this retreat—after all, you’re in the middle of the Costa Rican jungle enjoying morning yoga sessions—but with the daily astrology workshops (that often inspire a lot of emotional honesty and demand a bit of self-work), you’ll be getting more out of it than just a tan.

What You Need To Know

Some people dream about a yoga retreat with a cult-fave instructor. Others might be into spending a week doing a deep dive into their astrology charts. There are even some who are looking to just peace out in the middle of winter and escape to Costa Rica.

And then there are the people who want to do all three…at the same time.

Welcome to the Cosmic Mind/Cosmic Body retreat, which is the perfect option for someone who wants a little bit of everything (or just isn’t willing to compromise) on a retreat.

In the morning, you’re getting your asana on with Ashley Newsome, a beloved Brooklyn yogi and Intensati instructor who customizes each class according to the day’s theme. (Did we mention that there’s a daily theme? Yup—more on that in a sec.)

After breakfast, you break off into small groups and dig into your astrological lesson with Sandy Sitron (one of The Glassy’s fave astrologers), who will help you understand your birth chart, dig deeper into your ruling signs and planets, and understand how the elements impact everything you do.

Then? You’re free the rest of the day to do it up—think horseback riding, hiking, ziplining—or do nothing at all. (There’s a beach nearby, and a pool even closer.)

Although the digs at the Goddess Garden retreat center are far from luxe (our insider described them as “on the rustic side”), you won’t go hungry; attendees rave about the healthy-but-delicious Ayurvedic meals served up three times a day. And with the jungle as your backdrop, it’s hard to not feel like you’re far removed from the day-to-day grind.

Notes From The Inside

Our insider this week is Kristin Simon, a self-proclaimed “digital nomad” who founded the travel blog Pink Neon Lips. She attended the inaugural Cosmic Mind/Cosmic Body retreat in 2018—here’s what you need to know.

No two days are the same
“Each day had a different theme based around astrology and the four elements—fire, water, earth, air. If the theme was fire, for example, there would be a heated yoga session, and then in our session with Sandy we’d learn about that element and dive into our charts.”

You don’t have to be a horoscope pro
“At first, the astrology part wasn’t even what I was interested in, and I didn’t have any knowledge of what it was besides what you read on the daily sites—I went into it for yoga and relaxation in Costa Rica. But Sandy explained the basics of astrology and helped us apply it to our own personal lives and our own birth charts. So each day was a personal get-to-know-yourself workshop.”

Choose your own (healing) adventure
“How much you put into it is how much you got out of it. For me personally, the retreat was more on the emotional, self-work, self-love side of things, rather than relaxing. I felt so accomplished and amazed with where I was at afterwards. I now understand my chart enough that I can go back to it and reference it—see where a planet might fall and what area of my life it might affect, and that’s something I would have never known to do before the retreat.”

There’s plenty of free time
“We had the afternoon free—you could hike, there’s a beach that’s a 10-minute walk away, a pool right there. I rode horses on the beach one evening, and another day there was ziplining in the jungle. And they have an amazing onsite masseuse who’s also a reiki healer—word got around that he was amazing, and then everyone did that.”

Nurture and nature
“You feel fully immersed in the jungle—like, you could feel the healing energy of the trees and the property. I literally had never heard a howler monkey before, and that first morning we woke up to them at 4 a.m.—I was absolutely terrified! I thought a dog was dying!”

Ch-ch-ch-changes
“I went on the retreat following a breakup, and I wasn’t feeling the greatest about myself—you know, a little bummed out and sad. I left it feeling almost completely better, like a completely different person. I was surprised by how emotional and deep the retreat got, and there was just something about being immersed in the jungle and having super-close connections with everyone there. It all felt really high vibe.”

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