Why Choose Bodhi Sessions 14 Day Adult Surf + Yoga Camp

Welcome to Bodhi Surf + Yoga. We live and work in the best place around, and we are beyond stoked to share it with travelers (from solo vacationers to entire families) from all over the world.

What gets us up every morning is this incredible opportunity to share our passions and what we love with people from all over the world – educating and empowering them in the process.

We’ve developed a program, Bodhi Sessions 14 Day Adult Surf and Yoga Camp, which allows our guests to dedicate a solid amount of time to learning, unwinding, and having an unforgettable experience. Not to mention have a positive impact on the world!

And if the following blog doesn’t convince you, we encourage you to visit our TripAdvisor page, where over 200 of our beloved guests from over the years have shared their firsthand experience.

What is Bodhi Sessions 14 Day Adult Surf + Yoga Camp?

Bodhi Sessions 14 Day Adult Surf and Yoga Camp is a semi-inclusive, set date Costa Rica surf and yoga camp here in Bahia Ballena, Uvita.

Our thesis behind marrying surfing and yoga together is simple. They are two extremely powerful tools that allow us to connect to ourselves and the environment around us, and their benefits are really compounded when done together.

Aside from the physical benefits of surfing and yoga, you’d be surprised what this can do for your mental and spiritual health. It’s something you have to feel to fully understand!

The goals of these week-long camps are to:

• Immerse you in surfing and yoga,
• Encourage community engagement, and
• Provide you with ample opportunity to connect with yourself, to nature, and to the little place we call home!

We went to Bodhi for a week in February and had an immersive, incredible experience! We felt connected to mother earth and to the community. Bodhi isn’t just a vacation. It’s a lifestyle. It’s a community. It’s where life is slow and the friendships are fast. My only regret is that we didn’t stay longer! We’ll be back soon.

Hilary L, February 2020

Why commit to doing two full weeks of camp?

We understand that vacationing in one spot of the world — with so many places in the world to see — is a big commitment, especially if you’ve never been here before and don’t know what to expect.

Note that a large number of our guests return to see us, or they are friends or family members of past visitors who have heard of us through good old fashioned word-of-mouth.

We believe that this speaks volumes. There is nothing we love more than connecting with and welcoming family and friends of our past guests.

Here are the main reasons why you think you should make the leap and become a future return guest of Bodhi Surf + Yoga.

Take your surfing to the next level

Whether you’re an experienced surfer or a complete beginner, two weeks of intentionally crafted surf lessons are better than one.

In week one of Bodhi Sessions Adult Surf and Yoga Camp, your surf lessons will include theoretical elements, such as:

• What is a wave, and how are they formed?
• Creating a surf report
• Learning about your surf equipment
• Surf etiquette

And practical elements, including:

• Bodysurfing
• Catching whitewater waves in the prone position
• Popping up and getting to your feet
• Turning from a standing position
• Assessing and, if Mother Nature allows, catching blue-green waves

Each lesson is carefully planned and crafted to suit your experience level, but also to ensure your safety.

We feel that where a lot of surf schools go wrong is rushing their students into the water without fully teaching these important elements of surfing.

By doing Bodhi Sessions 14 Day Adult Surf and Yoga Camp, you’ll learn these important components. This will allow you to feel more comfortable in the water and it will make you a much better surfer!

In your second week, you’ll pick up exactly where you left off in your first week. The lessons, times, and conditions are intentionally crafted to suit your level of surfing and to help you improve on week one.

Our lessons are aimed to empower you. We want you to leave us and be able to surf back home, or wherever else you travel to.

Moreover, we proudly teach our surf lessons at one of the most beautiful places in the world – the Marino Ballena National Park.

The beach is wide and extends about two miles from end to end, meaning we never have to worry about it being crowded during our surf lessons.

Our students can have all the space they need on the sand and in the water, leading to a comfortable surfing experience.

The beach’s beauty is indescribable. Looking back from the water at the luscious jungle backdrop takes our breath away… every single time.

My wife and I have stayed at Bodhi for three weeks over two trips. It was magical. It is a small and intimate retreat venue with great people that you will get to know and love. The surf instruction is excellent. During our first trip I went from never having surfed to riding green waves in the first week and have since spent all my time outside the white wash. That was very gratifying. Pilar’s yoga instruction is excellent as well.

Bernie G, April 2020

Here at Bodhi Surf + Yoga, we don’t teach surf lessons just for the sake of learning to surf.

For us, surfing is an extremely powerful tool, and there’s so much good that can be done with it.

By staying with us for two weeks, you’ll continue on your path to becoming an Ocean Guardian. (Watch this to get a better idea of what we mean.)

But in essence – we believe that by surfing, you’ll fall in love with the ocean. In fact, it’s very hard not to.

You want to protect the things you love, right? Therefore, our ethos is that by taking surf lessons with us, we’re in turn producing an Ocean Guardian — someone who’ll look after the ocean.

After all, the ocean looks after us, doesn’t it?

Doing two weeks of Bodhi Sessions 14 Day Adult Surf and Yoga Camp, you’re also sure to get a healthy fix of what we call “happy hormones.”

Your body releases hormones such as dopamine and serotonin when doing something that makes you happy (like surfing). These hormones help you stay focused, positive, and lower your blood pressure – helping you stay calm and relieve stress.

You owe yourself two weeks of just that at the very least!

We find the science behind these happy hormones extremely fascinating. Read our blog about how surfing and releasing them can change your everyday life.

Continue centering yourself in our yoga classes, and let go!

Putting your body through a second week of surfing most definitely calls for another one of yoga as well.

Surfing and yoga go so well hand in hand. Not just in a recovery and reactive way, but in a proactive way.

You’d be surprised at how much of what you do on the yoga platform, you also end up doing on a surfboard.

During our Bodhi Sessions 14 Day Adult Surf and Yoga Camp surf lessons, we constantly make references to different yoga poses that you will have practiced in the yoga classes.

For example, when learning how to properly stop your surfboard from a prone position, your body positioning will very much mirror that of child’s pose.

So joining us for two weeks not only means you will improve your yoga practice, your surfing will benefit, too.

Aside from the physical benefits of practicing yoga, a large portion of our guests actually seek the emotional and spiritual benefits of our yoga classes.

The Bodhi Yoga instructors place a huge importance on breathing throughout their yoga classes.

Pranayama: one of the eight limbs of yoga that focuses on breathing, involves controlling your breath. We breathe all day every day without even thinking about it, but how often do we actually control this breath?

Being intentional with your breathing isn’t just something that helps your yoga practice. Learning to take control of and using your breath can be a powerful tool in your everyday life.

Take a look at our blog, The Benefits of Pranayama Breathing, where we go into a bit more detail on how. It can change your life!

“Breathing helps us to focus and purify our bodies and minds, making it easier for us to eventually calm our minds. This is why the rhythm of the breath is important in the yoga practice. When the inhale is neutralized or joined with the exhale, then perfect relaxation and balance of body activities are realized.”

Breathing is something that we do all day everyday. It’s worth learning to do better, and reaping the benefits from it.

One of everyone’s favorite parts of the Bodhi Sessions 14 Day Adult Surf and Yoga Camp yoga classes are the “talks” that accompany classes.

It’s not uncommon for guests to head up to our yoga platform a few minutes before the class starts, and have interesting and liberating one-on-one conversations with the yoga teacher.

Aside from being the best yoga instructors, they are also excellent listeners. Our yoga classes are a safe space. You really can let go of what it is that you’re holding onto. It’s not uncommon for us to share laughs and tears together during the classes.

Also, what better way to start your day than practicing yoga to the early morning sounds of Costa Rica?

Learn about our various vacation options aside from Bodhi Sessions 14 Day Adult Surf + Yoga Camp, choose your dates based on our availability calendar, and book quickly as spaces are limited to a maximum of 10 special guests per week and fill up quickly!

Will the Bodhi Surf + Yoga experience be a good fit for you?

Many of our guests comment that visiting Bodhi Surf + Yoga is like visiting friends (in a really, really cool place). The thing is, at Bodhi Surf + Yoga, we’re a family — and that includes you, too!

We sit together at a “family style” table for breakfasts and dinners. We have a limit of 10 guests per week. This allows us to keep a close and more intimate setting.

Not only does this allow our guests to get to know eachother better, but also us staff!

Our absolute favorite thing in the world is sharing conversations and stories with our guests over a delicious meal (or maybe a fresh fruit cocktail).

You’d be surprised at how close you can get as a group in just one or two weeks. We create an extremely safe space for our guests to share things about themselves. It’s not uncommon to know each other’s life stories by Monday night!

We always say that we have the best jobs in the world. Week in and week out, we get to see the support that our guests have for one another.

One of the best parts of our jobs as staff is being there for our guests. One of our main goals is to support you as best we can, but to also empower you to be an independent traveler.

Our priority is to make you feel safe, comfortable, and heard.

We appreciate that there are many reasons as to why our guests come to us – we want to help you fulfill whatever it is that you’re here to do.

Whether that be something as simple as to relax and recharge, or to fulfill a more emotional/spiritual goal.

One of the hardest parts of our jobs is saying goodbye. Departures on Friday afternoons can be quite emotional – it’s sad to see our time together come to an end!

It makes it even harder to say goodbye if you spend two weeks with us, but think about all the extra laughs and connection that can be had in that time!

Fall in love with our little community

One of the most popular things that our guests share their gratitude towards is our local community – our home.

As a part of supporting our guests to be independent travelers, we encourage that they go out and support the local community.

We purposefully don’t have dinners every night, giving guests the opportunity to venture out and explore Bahia Ballena – Uvita!

Being based in a small town, you really get to know the locals and the people around town – park rangers, restaurant owners, local surfers, etc.

Our guests often leave us after a week or two having made a few friends. The locals here are extremely friendly and welcoming.

Although Uvita is a small town, there’s quite a lot going on! Take a look at our blog on things to do in Uvita. It is by design that you have a free day — to give you the opportunity to support a local business and book a tour.

There are also some delicious food options here — too many to try in just one week, so you might as well stay for two!

As a Bodhi Surf + Yoga guest, your trip benefits the local community as you will be patronizing its local businesses. By signing up for two weeks of Bodhi Sessions 14 Day Adult Surf and Yoga Camp, you’re having double the positive impact on the community!

In addition, we donate $20 from the price of each guest’s trip to Fundación SOMOS, our local community foundation which is dedicated to supporting sustainable community development.

Also from a sustainability point of view, staying with us for two weeks has a smaller environmental impact than going on two different trips.

“We had the great fortune to have the ‘national treasure’ that is Fanny, prepare each of our meals. While we had no dietary requirements, there were lots of opportunities to provide them if we did. There was alway plenty of fresh delicious food.”

Ian H, 2022

Eat the most delicious food in Costa Rica

Now, we can’t talk about running a Costa Rica surf and yoga camp without mentioning our nourishing, local food.

We’re huge foodies here. We might as well be called Bodhi Surf + Yoga + FOOD!

We’re extremely lucky to have our very own Costa Rican chef, Fanny, who is so much more than a chef. She really takes care of all of us here – both staff and guests alike.

Often referred to as the mother of Bodhi Surf + Yoga, Fanny shares so much love with all of us through her healthy and delicious food.

We genuinely believe we have the best chef in Costa Rica with us here at Bodhi Surf + Yoga – and our guests agree!

She really goes above and beyond to make sure everyone is fed a healthy and nutritious meal, and caters for all dietary restrictions!

Aside from the food, our coffee is also to die for. They say that coffee always tastes best when brewed with the water it was grown in. So even if you’re not a coffee drinker, we encourage you to give it a try.

And of course, Fanny has her own secrets of making it taste extra rico. We’ll let you in on one of them: she says that she makes her coffee con mucho amor (with a lot of love).

Every single breakfast and dinner is planned around the surf and yoga schedule for the week. This allows us to serve lighter and heavier food when they best suit the activities of the day.

Trust us. After trying Fanny’s food and coffee, you will NOT want to leave after just one week. She gets asked all the time by guests to “come back home with me in my suitcase!”

“My kid for one still says ‘the best thing about Costa Rica was Fanny!’”

Ellenandshelley S, 2021

What you can expect on a Bodhi Sessions 14 Day Adult Surf + Yoga Camp

We know there are many Costa Rica surf and yoga camp options out there. That’s why we always share our eternal gratitude to our guests for choosing us!

What’s included?

Our Bodhi Sessions 14 Day Adult Surf + Yoga Camps start on Saturday and run for two consecutive weeks. Each vacation package includes the following:

• 12 night at the Bodhi Lodge
• 1 night in a San Jose hotel
• 10 surf lessons
• 10 yoga classes
• 10 breakfasts
• 6 dinners
• Snacks at surf lessons
• Walking tour of Bahia Ballena
• Waterfall visit
• Round trip transportation between San Jose and Bodhi Lodge
• Shuttle service from San Jose airport to San Jose hotel
• National Park entrance fees for surf lessons
• Travelers’ Philanthropy donation

Also, you get the benefit of staying at a quaint lodge with a group of passionate individuals, some of whom have lived in the community of Bahia Ballena for decades and who have a ton of local knowledge to share.

Opportunities for independence

We leave some flexibility in the Bodhi Sessions 14 Day Adult Surf + Yoga Camps, because we know you’ll love getting out into the community. We have a ton of recommendations for meals to eat out and activities to participate in.

We’re here (literally onsite) to help — all you need to do is ask!

Our ethos here at Bodhi Surf + Yoga is one of responsible travel. We have opted to be semi-inclusive so that our visiting guests get out into the community and visit its shops, supermarkets, and restaurants.

There is no better way to experience connection with a place than by immersing yourself in it!

The community of Bahia Ballena – Uvita is mostly comprised of small, family-owned and operated businesses. Guests provide a big economic benefit to our community by patronizing these businesses.

Offsite meals and activities

For any meals that are not included, options abound. If you opt to stay in one of the larger bungalows, you will have kitchenette access and can purchase ingredients at one of the several supermarkets which are walking distance away.

There are also many restaurants — some within walking distance, others which are accessible by taxi.

If you’re interested in squeezing the juice out of your vacation, note that there is ample time to do activities outside of the surf and yoga program. As mentioned above, there is plenty to choose from!

We hope you will come see us!

Bodhi Surf + Yoga is a small family-owned and operated business that was founded in 2010. We feel blessed to be able to offer our multitude of passions to visiting guests from around the world, and do it in a responsible and community-centered way.

We sincerely believe that business can and should be conducted in a way that uplifts its workers, protects the environment, enriches its patrons, and benefits the community.

What sets us apart from other Costa Rica surf and yoga camps is our devotion to using surf and yoga as a force for good; take a look at our documentary, The Bodhi Wave, to get a feel of what it is that we mean by this.

In our 12+ years of being operational, here are a few of the accolades that we are most proud of:

• We have been awarded with TripAdvisor’s Travelers’ Choice Award multiple years running
• We’re a certified B Corporation, and a recipient of their “Best for the World” honor in 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022
• We have been a proud 1% for the Planet member since 2018
• We’re a Transformational Tourism Council partner and a proud Platinum Sponsor of the Center for Responsible Travel

If you have any questions that have not been answered in this blog post, please feel free to email us at [email protected]! We are happy to speak to you directly as well.