A typical itinerary might be:
Details
Travel to one of the most special places on earth, and celebrate the simple passions of life; vibrant nature, intoxicating food, invigorating and centering movement classes, healing bodywork, jungle adventures, and pristine beaches. Ojo Del Mar Shared Accommodations:
| Culinary Arts Movement Arts Retreat Includes:
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Celebrate the Creative Process of Cooking and Learn to Recognize the Language of Food
"What advice would you give to people who are looking to be happy? For starters, learn how to cook."
~ Charles Simic
Many people who come to Ojo del Mar keep asking that they want to know more about the "wholesome unique recipes," for example the "mole" sauce with homemade chocolate out of the garden,... using typical fresh local organic ingredients.
Owner and passionate chef Nico offers you the opportunity to learn hands-on about being creative with seasonal local ingredients. Nico ́s cooking classes are held is set in her spacious, beautifully handcrafted bamboo kitchen. You will harvest the majority of the ingredients like bananas, pineapples, papayas, star fruits, coconuts, ginger, curcuma, galanga, lemon grass, katuk (salad green), basil, oregano, cilantro, pepper, and curry leaves the same day out of Ojo del Mar’s gardens.
In this inviting atmosphere, you will learn how to bring greater intuition and even inspiration to your cooking. Following a recipe can be useful when first learning to cook. But great cooking should be more akin to meditation: you – and all of your senses – are in the moment. You are fully awake and aware.
About Your Guide
From her background as a Classical Homeopath, Nico has developed a better appreciation for the essence of ingredients and their energetic vibration. Ultimately, cooking offers the opportunity to be immersed in one’s senses and in the moment like no other activity, uniting the inner and outer selves. At these times, cooking transcends drudgery and becomes a means of meditation and even healing.
The preparation, cooking, and eating of food is a sacrament. Treating it as such has the potential to elevate the quality of our daily lives like nothing else.
Take your body, mind and spirit on a journey back home to your soul.
"Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter the flame."
~ B.K.S. Iyengar
About Your Guide
Shelley Williams has been an active student, practitioner, and teacher of mindful movement in southern California for over 13 years. She discovered her love of movement, however, long before that as a competitive teen gymnast, which then opened the door to the world of contemporary dance and professional modern dance performance. In 1996, Shelley was fortunate to find yoga and pilates as a healing addition and alternative to the rigors of training and performance. Since then, yoga has provided her with more than a moving expression of meditation; it has become a way of life. Her passion for learning, experiencing, and teaching yoga and pilates grew into a successful boutique neighborhood studio in Hermosa Beach, which Shelley co-owned and operated for 7 years.
Shelley continues this lifestyle as a local teacher in Los Angeles, and offers regular teacher workshops, trainings, and adventure retreats both locally and internationally. She is a certified teacher of Hatha Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Prenatal Yoga, the Pilates Method, and the Gyrotonic Expansion System. Shelley is also designated as a Yoga Alliance E-RYT 500 Teacher, and a Pilates Method Alliance Certified Instructor. Her teaching is influenced by elements of Reiki, Ba Gua Zhang Tai Chi, surfing, modern dance, and world music. Shelley is extremely grateful for the guidance and opportunities to study in-depth principles of yoga with inspiring mentors such as Max Strom and Shiva Rea.
Shelley is a graduate of UCLA’s World Arts and Cultures program, with an emphasis in modern dance, intercultural performance, West African Dance, and integrated arts education. Shelley also feels privileged to be able to share her knowledge by teaching yoga to at-risk students at Arena High Continuation School in El Segundo.
Shelley and her family travel to beautiful Costa Rica annually, and feel fortunate to share their love of nature with the wonderful people of the Osa peninsula community.