2024 Mexico Yoga Retreat with Roy Holman & Liz Gross in Yelapa

Theme of this Retreat: Balancing and Renewing the Mind

Where is Yelapa, Mexico and why would I want to go there?
On our Yelapa Yoga Retreat we offer yoga, meditation, and much more for every body, an affordable, wonderful opportunity to relax, renew, and rejuvenate. Yelapa is a delightful Mexican fishing village, located on a sleepy little bay just south of Puerto Vallarta. Since there are no roads to Yelapa (one of the things we love most about the town!), we take a 45 minute boat ride from Puerto Vallarta to the village. As there are no roads in Yelapa, there are no cars, less noise, less pollution and less stress. The donkeys used for transport make their own noise and pollution, but we’ll manage! Temperatures in January: refreshing 60-65 at night, 75- 85 in the day. Note: This is the dry season, so normally lots of sun. The food is fresh and delicious, including local fish, chicken, enchiladas, tortillas, ceviche, beans, avocado, pies, fruit (papaya, banana, pineapple, melon, etc.). Fresh fruit beverages. Yum!

Upon Arrival in Mexico
We meet for one night in romantic old town Puerto Vallarta, staying right on the beach at the Emperador Hotel. On Saturday morning, we walk right across the walkway to the pier and boat that takes us on a beautiful 45 minute ride to Yelapa, often visited and welcomed by dolphins or whales enroute. In Yelapa, we walk 10 minutes to our home for the week, Pura Vida Wellness Center. Located a nice beachfront, rustic walk from town, we enjoy an incredible view of the bay, sometimes spotting whales while we dine on the patio, or as we stretch with our patio yoga. Note: There are uneven paths and steep steps to our hotel, so please talk to us about any physical challenge you are concerned about.

Casa Isabel Retreat Center
Casa Isabel is a beautiful retreat center, located in the jungle, with many rooms that open up to the bay. Casa Isabel offers a variety of unique ocean-view accommodations, their privacy insured by lush shrubs and flowering vines planted a long time ago. It has been fully, sustainably, and artfully reconstructed in 2009. Huge trees form a jungle canopy over an enchanting garden hillside. Hotel has some wifi. Included are two meals each day, which gives us freedom to explore town for some delicious local foods. Single, if available, $1,995

Yoga on the Pavilion
Overlooking the bay, accompanied by the birds. We generally do sunrise and sunset yoga, and various profound teachings, meditations, processes and workshops. We will have plenty of activities scheduled, yet keeping things as flexible and open as possible to allow people to create their own experience, with free time to relax, swim or snorkel every day, roam the village, hike the river valley, play in waterfalls, sip from coconuts, or drink fresh fruit juices on the beach. There are extra options available for a very reasonable fee, including massage, whale watching, fishing, snorkeling and other boat trips, island visits, parasailing, etc. Note: Everything is optional, but we encourage you to attend as many of the yoga and oneness classes to help create a sacred energy for the group.

Theme: Being, and Slowing Down
I asked a local during our 2020 visit to Yelapa: “Do you have police in this village?” He responded: “No es necesario.” It’s not necessary! Isn’t that cool? A place in this world where police are not needed!

Our theme this year is …. balancing and renewing the mind. Let’s face it, our minds and brains are taking a beating on earth. We are moving too fast, thinking in faulty ways, and we are all experiencing tremendous pressure to be on our electronic gadgets, social media, and keep up with news and information, which can further imbalance us. And then there is the subtle and not so subtle conditioning, programing, even mind control tactics we must be honest about.

Note: I once met a woman who had just written a book on how to handle the information overload–which I found ironic, another book to read 🙂

What does a typical day look like?
Sunrise yoga (with an optional meditation beforehand), then breakfast. Then we either have an activity (playshop, hike, island or beach visit), or just leisure time to stroll town or visit the beach for swimming, sunning, eating lunch, etc. Then sometimes a second yoga class before sunset. Then dinner, usually at the hotel, but a couple times we will go out to sample some of the excellent local restaurants. We will also offer a couple playshops (open to suggestions, possibly meditation, breath, healing, etc.). We also include a trip to a beautiful little beach with good snorkeling. We also guide you on a nice hike up the river valley and swim at a waterfall. Also included in your price is a traditional temescal, or native sweat lodge, to purify and heal.

What is included :

• 7 Nights Hotel: 6 nights at Pura Vida in Yelapa and 1 in Puerto Vallarta.
• Meals in Yelapa : Healthy buffet breakfast each morning after Yoga, and one other delicious buffet meal each day (lunch or dinner). Open to food requests and suggestions.
• Classes: All Yoga, Meditation, & Playshops
• Guided hike to waterfall up beautiful river valley
• Boat trips to Yelapa & return included.
• Traditional Temescal sweat lodge for all levels, not too too hot!
• Infinity pool and hot pool (salt water, no chlorine!).
• Snorkel and beach trip to Majahuitas

Extra expenses and Options
Taxi ($20) or bus ($3) from and back to airport in Puerto Vallarta, other meals (eating out), souvenir shopping, tips, massage or watzu (water massage, about $75), optional extra activities (island trips, parasailing, mule trips, etc.)

About the instructors: Roy Holman & Liz Gross

Roy Holman: I am a 500 hour Certified Yoga teacher, in the Viniyoga tradition. I teach a safe, gentle, body-friendly, grounded, breath-connected, meditative, flowing traditional hatha yoga – a meditation in motion really. I like to move slow, give time to breathe deeply and savor the poses. I also teach breath-work (pranayama) and meditation, and also try to incorporate the many aspects of emotional healing and balancing I have learned. The meditation is a mindfulness style, with focus on breath awareness, heart opening, body senses, emotional clearing, and connection on all levels (body, breath, emotions, Earth, Spirit).

Liz Gross: “I believe all healing involves alignment of the soul with the body.” Liz is a gifted sound and vibration healer, and teaches with Roy on retreats. Liz teaches yoga, meditation, Oneness and often does some of the cooking on our retreats. “When you’re consciously in touch with the life energy within yourself, you have awareness & communication with the flow of energy that connects you to spirit. I feel very passionate about Vibrational Medicine and love working with others in this way & helping others to connect with their purpose and passion in life. Vibrational Energy Medicine brings the physical, emotional, mental, & spiritual bodies back into balance, which opens the way for rebuilding the healing systems of the body.”

Note: Note: Please contact Roy prior to making air reservations for details. Basically, you fly into Puerto Vallarta, take a taxi to the hotel (to be announced in details later), and plan to fly home on or after Saturday. Some of us pay for an extra night (Saturday) and fly home Sunday.