Pura Vida Series: Part Seven (Finale)

Sit back, breathe, and enjoy the ride.

When my travel buddy and I decided to visit Costa Rica, we decided to split our time between “mountain” and “beach”. Thankfully this lush country offers a bit of both. The drive alone from the main city of San Jose to the beach 40 miles away involved over 2.5 hours of windy roads through many hills and valleys. During the first half of the trip we had a blast at the beach of Manuel Antonio. We met several guys and even received invites to a small pool party (we gays have a way of finding each other on the interwebs). The first half of the trip met my requirements for a fun-filled vacation: beach, meeting new people, sun, speedos, parties and tropical cocktails.

The second half of the trip involved traveling to the famous Arenal volcano. We booked a nice resort with the best natural hot springs on site. It was quite nice and most rooms came with a view of the volcano. I very much enjoyed soaking in the hot springs and even getting some time alone to write (hence a 7 part blog post). Our resort was nice, but definitely a slower pace than our time at the beach, and my extroverted nature craved interaction. I knew this would likely be the case. So, I made a point to find ways to satisfy my extrovert tendencies.

The fun thing about being an extrovert is you don’t necessary need to have human interaction. I enjoyed listening to music while writing, I worked out a bit at the small resort gym, and of course there were the occasional run-ins with my fellow extroverts who were there with their spouse or family. We tend to find each other no matter where we are. To give myself some much needed adventure, I made a point to try something new and face my one of my fears. During our second day, we booked a horseback riding tour and canopy zip-lining. I’ve always wanted to go horseback riding, but never had a chance to do so. I’ve also heard most people say how sore you get from riding your first time, but we had the hot springs to soak in for another day. So, that set my mind at ease, perfect situation. Zip-lining, on the hand, brought up a lot of fear and anxiety. I mean, you are hanging from a rope with no net below to catch you if you fall (AH!!). Sure there are lot of things to keep you secure, but the thought of doing it scared the bejesus out of me. Needless to say, there were no casualties during our experience. The horseback riding was awesome. My horse “Chinco” was mild tempered and responded well to my direction. We even go to speed up a bit along the way. The views of the volcano up close were beyond breath-taking. It was only partially visible, due to the constant rolling fog surrounding it, but we stood in awe at every view point along our tour. Zip-lining was beyond exhilarating, and definitely an Adrenalin pumping activity. In order to prep for myself for this, I had to do a lot of mental talk to prevent any moments of panic, and I decided to re-frame my thinking and visualize myself as a human roller coaster. My final strategy when we arrived on the platform, was to go first and “get it over with”. No need to build up anymore anticipation, just enjoy the ride.

There’s no need to belabor things in this post.  In short, I’m learning to be more open to the adventures of life. Maybe it’s my background of organizing ropes courses and team building activities, but I tend to look for deeper meanings during everyday activities. It makes the time go by faster and I tend to get more satisfaction out of life. By re-framing my thinking and visualizing a deeper meaning beyond hanging from a rope, I was able to take in the views a bit more, laugh a bit and reflect on the beauty around us every day. Despite all the challenging we face, perspective is everything. As we enter into a new trip around the sun, here’s to taking a moment to look around and focus on those people and experiences that make life enjoyable and worth it.

Oh and here’s video of one of the longer rides.

Happy New Year and #Pura Vida

Pura Vida Series: Part Four

Tree Pose… it’s more than just a yoga pose for me.

Yoga is one of my favorite athletic and meditative activities. When you fully invest in the practice, it calms the mind, focuses your energy, promotes healthy reflection, and provides a powerful workout of strength, stability, and endurance. One of my favorite yoga principles is listening to your body. In many ways, humans tend to simply use their body as a vehicle to get stuff done, which can create total havoc on this precious vessel we’ve been given. Unlike my Christian upbringing, yoga provides an opportunity to connect mind, body, and soul. If we are intentional, we can incorporate this interconnection into all areas of life. But, rolling out the mat is a great place to start. I’m not one of those competitive yogis who’s always looking to try a new pose or push my body to extremes (although I admittedly admire and ogle at those who do…guilty grin). But, rather, I simply appreciate the sun salutations and basic postures that challenge the mind and body to find a stable position, activate muscles rarely used in regular activities, and focus on the here and now. I enjoy a good warrior one, and two… reverse warrior, side angle, and even plank…. But the posture that brings me home is Tree Pose. On the surface, I feel most confident in this pose, because I’ve always had pretty good balance. But, deep down I feel it connects to my childhood (ok, adulthood too) desire to be a trained dancer. Growing up I never felt very attractive, one of those things when you grow up subconsciously knowing you are different than others around you. However, as a child I was always flexible. I could bend my body in odd ways and even through my teens (ok even today) I can be found sleeping in the oddest positions. As my body matured, I noticed that I inherited a healthy blend of my father’s lean build and my wee bit of height from my mother’s side (her twin brother is slim and quite tall). I also noticed, that I could eat constantly and never grow beyond a 32 inch waist (I know. I know. Rough life!). Whenever I look in the mirror one of the first things that comes to mind is wondering what my life would look like if I had pursued a life of dance.

As I’ve progressed through my late-20s and now mid-30s (how the hell did that happen?!), standing in tree pose makes me feel A-LIVE!! For those few brief moments, I feel like I’m that principal ballet dancer I aspired to be as a kid, or perhaps that gymnast that wins the gold at the Olympics. But mostly, I find myself focusing on staying balanced and grounded on one foot and breathing through the slight adjustments my foot, leg, core, and overall body need to make to stay in posture. These micro-adjustments fire up all sorts of muscles, and while my body is busy adjusting, my breaths provide me moments to reflect on the challenges of staying grounded and balanced in all of life. Of course, occasionally, I’m not able to hold the posture as long as I would like, and may even have trouble setting up the pose from the outset. Those moments also remind me to laugh through the mishaps and give myself permission to try again and again and again. After all, life is lived breath by breath and it all balances out at the end.

#PuraVida… or perhaps #Namaste :)

Pura Vida Series: Prelude

Deciding to visit Costa Rica started with a desire to visit Central America and let’s face it, cheap airfare (thank you Alaska Airlines #iflyalaska). But as the days grew closer, I realized this location is just what I needed to re-center myself and spend some time reflecting on where I am in life right now.

Pura Vida (the Costa Rican motto) translates in English as “pure life”. This phrase is a standard response to “Como estas?” (How are you?), and you will even hear it as you end most conversations with Ticos (term for the Costa Rican citizens) as a casual salutation. It’s clear that simple living and enjoying life as it is dealt to you is common and core to all Ticos. I helps to live in a lush and beautiful area of the world, but still quite admirable.

Regardless, this phrase struck a chord within my inner being. I know, I know. Here goes David overthinking things. But, hey, at least I own it, right? The truth is, while I feel life can be so complicated and nuanced, I strongly desire to live an authentic life or shall I say “Pura Vida”. I prefer to explore what I don’t understand, question what could be, love freely, reduce unnecessary stressors, and try to find ways to coexist with most people around me. On the surface it may appear to be a bit naiveté, but I actually think pursuing moments of mini-utopia can be the healthiest food to the soul. And let's face it, the reality is this pursuit comes with a lot of challenges and I seemed to have faced a few of them more this year compare to those prior. This is a prelude to a few reflections I explored during my travels and the days following. Who knows, maybe I’ll just maintain the PuraVida theme for all future blog posts. But, judging by my infrequent posting, the next series will occur when I take another long vacay. Either way, stay tuned…if you'd like.

#PuraVida