[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":782},["ShallowReactive",2],{"catalog":3,"landing-yoga-retreats-in-costa-rica":400},{"destinations":4,"resorts":123,"concerns":200,"concernGroups":283,"landings":296,"markets":321,"modalities":361,"totals":392},[5,19,27,36,44,53,62,69,75,83,89,95,102,108,116],{"slug":6,"name":7,"country":8,"cluster":9,"modalities":10,"resortCount":13,"programmeCount":14,"fromPrice":15,"gatewayCode":18},"kerala","Kerala","India","asia",[11,12],"ayurveda","yoga",3,4,{"amount":16,"currency":17},128000,"INR","COK",{"slug":20,"name":21,"country":8,"cluster":9,"modalities":22,"resortCount":23,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":24,"gatewayCode":26},"rishikesh","Rishikesh",[12,11],2,{"amount":25,"currency":17},207000,"DED",{"slug":28,"name":29,"country":30,"cluster":9,"modalities":31,"resortCount":23,"programmeCount":23,"fromPrice":32,"gatewayCode":35},"sri-lanka-coast","The Ayurveda coast","Sri Lanka",[11,12],{"amount":33,"currency":34},2180,"EUR","CMB",{"slug":37,"name":38,"country":38,"cluster":9,"modalities":39,"resortCount":41,"programmeCount":42,"gatewayCode":43},"bhutan","Bhutan",[40],"sowa-rigpa",1,0,"PBH",{"slug":45,"name":46,"country":47,"cluster":9,"modalities":48,"resortCount":23,"programmeCount":23,"fromPrice":49,"gatewayCode":52},"ubud","Ubud","Indonesia",[12],{"amount":50,"currency":51},2070,"USD","DPS",{"slug":54,"name":55,"country":56,"cluster":9,"modalities":57,"resortCount":23,"programmeCount":23,"fromPrice":59,"gatewayCode":61},"koh-samui","Koh Samui","Thailand",[58],"thai-lanna",{"amount":60,"currency":51},1890,"USM",{"slug":63,"name":64,"country":65,"cluster":9,"modalities":66,"resortCount":41,"programmeCount":42,"gatewayCode":68},"beppu","Beppu","Japan",[67],"onsen","OIT",{"slug":70,"name":71,"country":65,"cluster":9,"modalities":72,"resortCount":41,"programmeCount":42,"gatewayCode":74},"okinawa","Okinawa",[73,67],"longevity","OKA",{"slug":76,"name":77,"country":78,"cluster":79,"modalities":80,"resortCount":23,"programmeCount":42,"gatewayCode":82},"baden-baden","Baden-Baden","Germany","europe",[81],"balneotherapy","FKB",{"slug":84,"name":85,"country":86,"cluster":79,"modalities":87,"resortCount":41,"programmeCount":42,"gatewayCode":88},"karlovy-vary","Karlovy Vary","Czechia",[81],"PRG",{"slug":90,"name":91,"country":92,"cluster":79,"modalities":93,"resortCount":41,"programmeCount":42,"gatewayCode":94},"bad-gastein","Bad Gastein","Austria",[81],"SZG",{"slug":96,"name":97,"country":98,"cluster":79,"modalities":99,"resortCount":41,"programmeCount":42,"gatewayCode":101},"quiberon","Quiberon","France",[100],"thalassotherapy","LRT",{"slug":103,"name":104,"country":105,"cluster":79,"modalities":106,"resortCount":41,"programmeCount":42,"gatewayCode":107},"montreux","Montreux","Switzerland",[73],"GVA",{"slug":109,"name":110,"country":92,"cluster":79,"modalities":111,"resortCount":23,"programmeCount":23,"fromPrice":113,"gatewayCode":115},"tyrol","Tyrol",[112,81],"mayr",{"amount":114,"currency":34},4310,"INN",{"slug":117,"name":118,"country":119,"cluster":120,"modalities":121,"resortCount":41,"programmeCount":42,"gatewayCode":122},"nicoya","The Nicoya peninsula","Costa Rica","americas",[73,12],"LIR",[124,129,132,135,139,142,145,148,152,155,158,161,164,168,171,175,178,181,184,187,191,194,197],{"slug":125,"name":126,"destinationSlug":6,"destinationName":7,"country":8,"character":127,"relationship":128},"somatheeram","Somatheeram Ayurveda Village","ayurveda-hospital","bookable",{"slug":130,"name":131,"destinationSlug":6,"destinationName":7,"country":8,"character":127,"relationship":128},"kalari-kovilakom","Kalari Kovilakom",{"slug":133,"name":134,"destinationSlug":6,"destinationName":7,"country":8,"character":127,"relationship":128},"carnoustie","Carnoustie Ayurveda & Wellness Resort",{"slug":136,"name":137,"destinationSlug":20,"destinationName":21,"country":8,"character":138,"relationship":128},"ananda-himalayas","Ananda in the Himalayas","retreat",{"slug":140,"name":141,"destinationSlug":20,"destinationName":21,"country":8,"character":138,"relationship":128},"six-senses-vana","Six Senses Vana",{"slug":143,"name":144,"destinationSlug":28,"destinationName":29,"country":30,"character":127,"relationship":128},"barberyn-reef","Barberyn Reef",{"slug":146,"name":147,"destinationSlug":28,"destinationName":29,"country":30,"character":138,"relationship":128},"santani","Santani Wellness Resort",{"slug":149,"name":150,"destinationSlug":37,"destinationName":38,"country":38,"character":138,"relationship":151},"amankora","Amankora","profile",{"slug":153,"name":154,"destinationSlug":45,"destinationName":46,"country":47,"character":138,"relationship":128},"como-shambhala-estate","COMO Shambhala Estate",{"slug":156,"name":157,"destinationSlug":45,"destinationName":46,"country":47,"character":138,"relationship":128},"fivelements-bali","Fivelements Retreat Bali",{"slug":159,"name":160,"destinationSlug":54,"destinationName":55,"country":56,"character":138,"relationship":128},"kamalaya","Kamalaya",{"slug":162,"name":163,"destinationSlug":54,"destinationName":55,"country":56,"character":138,"relationship":128},"absolute-sanctuary","Absolute Sanctuary",{"slug":165,"name":166,"destinationSlug":63,"destinationName":64,"country":65,"character":167,"relationship":151},"suginoi","Suginoi Hotel","thermal-cure",{"slug":169,"name":170,"destinationSlug":70,"destinationName":71,"country":65,"character":138,"relationship":151},"hoshinoya-okinawa","Hoshinoya Okinawa",{"slug":172,"name":173,"destinationSlug":76,"destinationName":77,"country":78,"character":174,"relationship":151},"villa-stephanie","Brenners Park-Hotel & Villa Stéphanie","medical-clinic",{"slug":176,"name":177,"destinationSlug":76,"destinationName":77,"country":78,"character":167,"relationship":151},"friedrichsbad","Friedrichsbad",{"slug":179,"name":180,"destinationSlug":84,"destinationName":85,"country":86,"character":167,"relationship":151},"grandhotel-pupp","Grandhotel Pupp",{"slug":182,"name":183,"destinationSlug":90,"destinationName":91,"country":92,"character":174,"relationship":151},"gasteiner-heilstollen","Gasteiner Heilstollen",{"slug":185,"name":186,"destinationSlug":96,"destinationName":97,"country":98,"character":167,"relationship":151},"thalassa-quiberon","Institut Thalassa Quiberon",{"slug":188,"name":189,"destinationSlug":103,"destinationName":104,"country":105,"character":190,"relationship":151},"clinique-la-prairie","Clinique La Prairie","longevity-clinic",{"slug":192,"name":193,"destinationSlug":109,"destinationName":110,"country":92,"character":174,"relationship":128},"lanserhof-lans","Lanserhof Lans",{"slug":195,"name":196,"destinationSlug":109,"destinationName":110,"country":92,"character":174,"relationship":128},"park-igls","Park Igls",{"slug":198,"name":199,"destinationSlug":117,"destinationName":118,"country":119,"character":138,"relationship":151},"harmony-nosara","Harmony Hotel",[201,207,212,217,224,229,235,241,246,253,258,264,268,273,278],{"slug":202,"name":203,"group":204,"said":205,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":206},"sleep","Sleep","mind","I fall asleep fine and then I am awake at three.",{"amount":16,"currency":17},{"slug":208,"name":209,"group":204,"said":210,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":211},"burnout","Burnout & exhaustion","I am not depressed. I am just completely empty.",{"amount":33,"currency":34},{"slug":213,"name":214,"group":204,"said":215,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":216},"stress-and-anxiety","Stress & anxiety","My shoulders are somewhere near my ears and they have been for a year.",{"amount":50,"currency":51},{"slug":218,"name":219,"group":220,"said":221,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":222},"digestion","Digestion & the gut","body","Something has been wrong with my stomach for years and nobody can tell me what.",{"amount":223,"currency":17},286000,{"slug":225,"name":226,"group":220,"said":227,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":228},"weight","Weight & metabolic health","I have lost the same eight kilos four times.",{"amount":60,"currency":51},{"slug":230,"name":231,"group":220,"said":232,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":233},"back-and-joints","Back, neck & joints","My lower back has been a background noise for a decade.",{"amount":234,"currency":17},251000,{"slug":236,"name":237,"group":238,"said":239,"programmeCount":23,"fromPrice":240},"chronic-pain","Chronic & rheumatic pain","medical","I have a diagnosis. I am looking for something that is not another drug.",{"amount":234,"currency":17},{"slug":242,"name":243,"group":220,"said":244,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":245},"detox","Detox & the annual reset","I want to properly clean myself out once a year.",{"amount":234,"currency":17},{"slug":247,"name":248,"group":249,"said":250,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":251},"menopause","Menopause & perimenopause","life-stage","I am not sleeping, I am not myself, and I am tired of being told it is normal.",{"amount":252,"currency":17},185000,{"slug":254,"name":255,"group":249,"said":256,"programmeCount":41,"fromPrice":257},"fertility","Fertility & preconception","We are trying, and I want to give my body the best possible chance.",{"amount":252,"currency":17},{"slug":259,"name":260,"group":238,"said":261,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":262},"post-viral-fatigue","After illness","I was ill six months ago and I still am not right.",{"amount":263,"currency":34},2770,{"slug":73,"name":265,"group":238,"said":266,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":267},"Longevity & prevention","I am well. I would like to stay that way, and I would like some data.",{"amount":114,"currency":34},{"slug":269,"name":270,"group":249,"said":271,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":272},"first-retreat","A first retreat","I have never done anything like this and I do not want to get it wrong.",{"amount":50,"currency":51},{"slug":274,"name":275,"group":249,"said":276,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":277},"travelling-alone","Travelling alone","I am going by myself and I do not want to eat dinner alone for two weeks.",{"amount":263,"currency":34},{"slug":279,"name":280,"group":249,"said":281,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":282},"together","Going together","I want to do the programme. My partner wants a holiday.",{"amount":252,"currency":17},[284,287,290,293],{"key":204,"title":285,"note":286},"Mind & nervous system","Where a change of place does the most work, and where the evidence is best.",{"key":220,"title":288,"note":289},"Body & metabolism","Digestion, weight, joints — the concerns that respond to daily repetition over a fortnight.",{"key":238,"title":291,"note":292},"With a diagnosis","Alongside your own doctor, never instead. These pages are the most careful on the site.",{"key":249,"title":294,"note":295},"Where you are","Menopause, preconception, a first retreat, travelling alone or together.",[297,300,303,306,309,312,315,318],{"slug":298,"h1":299},"ayurveda-retreats-in-india","Ayurveda retreats in India",{"slug":301,"h1":302},"balneotherapy-retreats-in-austria","The thermal kur retreats in Austria",{"slug":304,"h1":305},"balneotherapy-retreats-in-czechia","The thermal kur retreats in Czechia",{"slug":307,"h1":308},"balneotherapy-retreats-in-germany","The thermal kur retreats in Germany",{"slug":310,"h1":311},"longevity-retreats-in-japan","Longevity retreats in Japan",{"slug":313,"h1":314},"longevity-retreats-in-switzerland","Longevity retreats in Switzerland",{"slug":316,"h1":317},"mayr-retreats-in-austria","The Mayr cure retreats in Austria",{"slug":319,"h1":320},"mayr-retreats-in-germany","The Mayr cure retreats in Germany",[322,325,328,330,332,335,337,340,343,346,349,352,355,358],{"slug":323,"shortName":324},"united-kingdom","United Kingdom",{"slug":326,"shortName":327},"ireland","Ireland",{"slug":329,"shortName":78},"germany",{"slug":331,"shortName":98},"france",{"slug":333,"shortName":334},"spain","Spain",{"slug":336,"shortName":105},"switzerland",{"slug":338,"shortName":339},"netherlands","Netherlands",{"slug":341,"shortName":342},"united-states","United States",{"slug":344,"shortName":345},"canada","Canada",{"slug":347,"shortName":348},"mexico","Mexico",{"slug":350,"shortName":351},"brazil","Brazil",{"slug":353,"shortName":354},"argentina","Argentina",{"slug":356,"shortName":357},"chile","Chile",{"slug":359,"shortName":360},"colombia","Colombia",[362,366,371,374,377,380,383,386,389],{"slug":11,"name":363,"tagline":364,"regulated":365,"count":13},"Ayurveda","India’s licensed system of medicine, practised as medicine",true,{"slug":12,"name":367,"tagline":368,"regulated":369,"count":370},"Yoga","A lineage, a teacher, and enough consecutive days to matter",false,5,{"slug":81,"name":372,"tagline":373,"regulated":365,"count":14},"The thermal kur","Europe’s prescribed cure, still paid for by health insurers",{"slug":67,"name":375,"tagline":376,"regulated":365,"count":23},"Onsen","Japanese hot-spring bathing, defined by law",{"slug":100,"name":378,"tagline":379,"regulated":365,"count":41},"Thalassotherapy","Heated seawater, under medical supervision, since 1899",{"slug":58,"name":381,"tagline":382,"regulated":365,"count":41},"Traditional Thai medicine","A licensed profession, not the massage on the high street",{"slug":40,"name":384,"tagline":385,"regulated":365,"count":41},"Sowa Rigpa","Himalayan medicine, delivered by the state in Bhutan",{"slug":73,"name":387,"tagline":388,"regulated":365,"count":13},"Longevity","Two very different answers to the same question",{"slug":112,"name":390,"tagline":391,"regulated":365,"count":41},"The Mayr cure","A medically supervised digestive rest, invented in Austria",{"destinations":393,"countries":394,"resorts":395,"programmes":393,"concerns":393,"modalities":396,"bookable":397,"highConfidence":396,"excursions":398,"extensions":399},15,12,23,9,13,76,45,{"landing":401,"resorts":409,"programmes":468,"destinations":469,"concern":602,"modality":603,"destination":602,"related":738},{"slug":402,"kind":403,"h1":404,"title":405,"description":406,"placeName":119,"countrySlug":407,"country":119,"modalitySlug":12,"resortSlugs":408},"yoga-retreats-in-costa-rica","modality-country","Yoga retreats in Costa Rica","Yoga Retreats in Costa Rica — Honestly Compared","Where yoga is genuinely practised in Costa Rica, which houses do it properly, and what the evidence actually supports.","costa-rica",[198],[410],{"slug":198,"name":199,"destinationSlug":117,"area":411,"country":119,"modalities":412,"character":138,"knownFor":413,"why":414,"signature":419,"typicalNights":420,"priceNote":421,"accolades":422,"honest":424,"relationship":151,"confidence":425,"image":426,"imageAlt":427,"greatFor":428,"whoShouldGo":433,"team":434,"roomTypes":435,"facilities":445,"dining":452,"activities":459,"arrival":465,"destinationName":118,"programmeCount":42},"Playa Guiones, Nosara",[12,73],"The anchor of Nosara’s twenty-year yoga community, and the most established base on the Blue Zone coast.",[415,416,417,418],"Sits at Playa Guiones, the centre of a surfing and yoga community that has been building since the 1990s — the teaching depth here is real and long-standing.","Certified sustainable operation with its own organic garden, which in Guanacaste is a meaningful rather than decorative claim.","Ninety minutes from the inland Blue Zone cantons, so a fortnight can genuinely combine the villages with a daily practice.","Small enough that the yoga is the point rather than an amenity.","Daily yoga at the centre of the Nosara community, paired with trips inland to the Blue Zone cantons.","7–14 nights","Mid band; high season December to April carries a substantial premium. Indicative.",[423],"Long-standing anchor of the Nosara yoga community","Nosara is on the coast and the Blue Zone is inland — this is the base, not the phenomenon, and a hotel forty kilometres from the cantons cannot honestly sell you the longevity story. Come for the practice and the community, take a few days inland, and treat the demography as context rather than product.","medium","photo-1545205597-3d9d02c29597","A group practising together on a Pacific beach at sunset",[429,430,431,432],"Yoga and surf together","The Blue Zone","A gentler first retreat","Couples","Somebody who wants a yoga stay with an ocean in front of it and the Nicoya longevity story around it, and who is not looking for a clinic. It is the most relaxed house in this atlas and the least medical, and the page is clear about which of those it is.","Yoga faculty and spa therapists, with nutrition guidance built into the retreat programmes. There is no physician and no diagnosis, and we would rather say so than imply otherwise.",[436,439,442],{"name":437,"note":438},"Garden room","In the low buildings around the gardens, a short walk from Playa Guiones.",{"name":440,"note":441},"Suite","Larger, with a terrace and an outdoor shower.",{"name":443,"note":444},"Bungalow","Free-standing, for couples and longer stays.",[446,447,448,449,450,451],"Two open-air yoga shalas","Salt-water pool","Spa treatment rooms","Surf shop and board storage","Juice bar","Three hundred metres from Playa Guiones",[453,456],{"name":454,"note":455},"The Harmony Restaurant","Largely organic, much of it from the Nicoya peninsula itself — beans, maize, squash and fish. The Blue Zone diet as it is actually eaten rather than as it is packaged.",{"name":457,"note":458},"The juice bar","Cold-pressed, and the cleanse programmes run through it.",[460,461,462,463,464],"Yoga several times daily","Surf lessons at Guiones","Turtle nesting at Ostional in season","Mangrove and estuary walks","Finca visits inland",{"airport":466,"code":122,"transfer":467},"Liberia (Daniel Oduber Quirós)","Two to three hours by road; domestic flights to Nosara run daily in season",[],[470],{"slug":117,"name":118,"place":471,"country":119,"countryCode":472,"cluster":120,"fame":41,"modalities":473,"hook":474,"caseFor":475,"hardFacts":480,"caveat":486,"season":487,"seasonNote":488,"practical":489,"figures":502,"faqs":515,"image":522,"imageAlt":523,"gallery":524,"coords":535,"gateway":538,"tempC":556,"climateNote":562,"leisure":563,"extensions":589,"resortCount":41,"programmeCount":42},"Guanacaste — the inland cantons and the Nosara coast","CR",[73,12],"The Blue Zone with real published demography behind it — and the one whose discoverer published its disappearance in 2023.",[476,477,478,479],"Unlike most of this category, the claim rests on peer-reviewed work. The Costa Rican demographer Luis Rosero-Bixby followed roughly 16,300 older Costa Ricans and found a death-rate ratio of about 0.80 for Nicoyan men, independent of socioeconomic status.","The zone is defined administratively rather than vaguely: five cantons in Guanacaste — Nicoya, Santa Cruz, Hojancha, Nandayure and Carrillo.","There is even a biological marker in the literature: Rehkopf and Rosero-Bixby reported roughly 81 additional telomere base pairs in the immune cells of Nicoyans compared with other Costa Ricans.","The coast supports the other half of a trip. Nosara has a twenty-year Ashtanga teaching community, so a week inland and a fortnight practising is a coherent itinerary rather than two holidays stapled together.",[481,482,483,484,485],"The Blue Zone is five cantons in Guanacaste: Nicoya, Santa Cruz, Hojancha, Nandayure and Carrillo.","Rosero-Bixby’s follow-up of ~16,300 elderly Costa Ricans found a death-rate ratio of ~0.80 for Nicoyan men.","Rehkopf and Rosero-Bixby (2013) reported ~81 additional telomere base pairs in Nicoyans’ immune cells.","Rosero-Bixby’s 2023 paper in Demographic Research (vol. 49, art. 27) reports the advantage vanishing across cohorts — men born in 1905 showed roughly a third lower mortality; later cohorts do not.","Guanacaste runs a hard dry season from December to April with near-zero rainfall.","This is where the gap between the science and the sales pitch is widest. The longevity advantage is cohort-bound and historical — the demographer who discovered it published its disappearance in 2023 — and an Ig Nobel-winning line of criticism argues that a large share of Blue Zone data reflects poor record-keeping. Almost everything sold as \"Blue Zone Costa Rica\" is also a beach resort forty kilometres from the actual communities. The inland villages have very little tourism infrastructure, by design.",[23,23,23,23,41,41,41,41,42,42,41,23],"December to April is the reliable window: Guanacaste is the driest province in Costa Rica and the dry season is close to absolute, which matters for the inland roads more than for the beaches. September and October are the wettest months nationally and access to the villages becomes a genuine problem.",[490,493,496,499],{"label":491,"value":492},"Getting there","Liberia (LIR) is much closer than San José — two to three hours by road rather than five. Domestic flights to Nosara run daily in season.",{"label":494,"value":495},"Vehicle","Four-wheel drive for the inland cantons, non-negotiable in the green season. Transfers are included in our programmes.",{"label":497,"value":498},"Language","Spanish inland, with very little English. Our village hosts are bilingual; almost nobody else is.",{"label":500,"value":501},"Health","Dengue is present. Take repellent seriously, particularly in the green season.",[503,506,509,512],{"value":504,"label":505},"5","Cantons in the zone",{"value":507,"label":508},"16,300","In the cohort study",{"value":510,"label":511},"2023","The advantage vanishes",{"value":513,"label":514},"Dec–Apr","Dry season",[516,519],{"q":517,"a":518},"If the advantage has vanished, why go?","Because the habits that produced it are still visible and still practised by the generation that has them — physical work outdoors into old age, a maize-beans-squash diet, family within walking distance, an early night. Going will not extend your life. Watching people live that way for a week sometimes changes what you do at home, which is a smaller and more defensible claim.",{"q":520,"a":521},"Is the water really the reason?","It is one hypothesis among several and it is not settled. The calcium and magnesium content is genuinely unusual and has been measured; whether it explains the longevity is a much bigger claim than the data supports. Anyone selling you Nicoyan water has gone well past the evidence.","photo-1476231682828-37e571bc172f","Tropical forest canopy on the Nicoya peninsula",[525,528,530,532],{"src":526,"alt":527},"photo-1441974231531-c6227db76b6e","Sunlight through the forest",{"src":426,"alt":529},"A group practising outdoors",{"src":522,"alt":531},"The forest canopy from above",{"src":533,"alt":534},"photo-1470071459604-3b5ec3a7fe05","Green hills above the coast",{"lat":536,"lng":537},10.15,-85.45,{"airport":539,"code":122,"city":540,"routings":541,"transfer":554,"flightNote":555},"Daniel Oduber Quirós, Liberia","Liberia — two to three hours from the Nosara and Santa Teresa coast, and far closer than San José",[542,546,550],{"from":543,"how":544,"time":545},"North America","Direct to Liberia from a dozen US cities and Toronto — this is the point of the airport.","3–5 hours",{"from":547,"how":548,"time":549},"London & western Europe","One stop through a US hub, Panama City or Madrid into San José, then a domestic hop or a five-hour drive.","15–18 hours door to door",{"from":551,"how":552,"time":553},"The Gulf & India","Two stops, almost always through Europe or the US east coast.","24–28 hours","Two to three hours by road from Liberia — the last thirty minutes is unpaved and slow, and a 4×4 is not a luxury in the green season. Domestic flights to Nosara run daily in season and turn three hours into thirty minutes.","Fly into Liberia, not San José. It is the single most useful piece of advice about this destination: San José adds five hours of driving each way for no gain. If the fare difference is large we will price the domestic connection from San José against it and show you both.",[557,558,559,559,557,560,560,560,561,561,560,560],33,34,35,32,31,"Hot and dry from December to April, hot and green from May to November with afternoon rain rather than all-day rain. September and October are the wettest and the emptiest.",[564,570,575,580,584],{"name":565,"kind":566,"duration":567,"note":568,"when":569},"Ostional and the arribada","nature","Half day, at night","Olive ridley turtles nest in mass arrivals here, usually on a dark moon between July and December. Numbers are unpredictable and no guide can promise them — go on the chance rather than the booking.","any",{"name":571,"kind":572,"duration":573,"note":574,"when":569},"Surfing at Playa Guiones","active","2 hours","A long forgiving beach break that works almost every day and is the reason Nosara exists. Genuinely good for a first lesson at any age.",{"name":576,"kind":566,"duration":577,"note":578,"when":579},"The Nosara Biological Reserve","Half day","Mangrove and estuary walk at dawn — howler monkeys, crocodiles and roughly two hundred bird species inside a small area.","rest-day",{"name":581,"kind":582,"duration":577,"note":583,"when":569},"A finca lunch in the hills","food","Inland from the coast, where the Blue Zone diet is actually eaten: beans, maize, squash and the traditional nixtamal corn. Far more convincing than any longevity brochure.",{"name":585,"kind":572,"duration":586,"note":587,"when":588},"Rincón de la Vieja","Full day","An active volcano with fumaroles, mud pots and waterfalls, on the way back to Liberia. Best combined with the return leg rather than done as a day trip.","after",[590,594,598],{"name":591,"nights":592,"note":593,"side":588},"Monteverde cloud forest","2 nights","Three hours inland and 1,400 m up into permanent mist. Quetzals, hanging bridges and a twelve-degree temperature drop.",{"name":595,"nights":596,"note":597,"side":588},"Arenal & the hot springs","3 nights","The volcano, the lake and the thermal rivers — the natural bridge between a Pacific coast stay and San José.",{"name":599,"nights":600,"note":601,"side":588},"Manuel Antonio & the Osa","4 nights","South along the Pacific to the biologically densest place in the country.",null,{"slug":12,"name":367,"tagline":368,"origin":604,"regulated":369,"regulationNote":605,"indications":606,"cautions":612,"whatHappens":617,"minimumNights":618,"recommendedNights":619,"image":620,"imageAlt":621,"originPlace":8,"body":622,"hardFacts":626,"evidence":633,"treatments":655,"glossary":680,"confusedWith":708,"figures":711,"faqs":724,"destinationCount":370,"resortCount":737,"programmeCount":14},"The Indian subcontinent; the modern schools trace to named twentieth-century teachers.","Not regulated anywhere. Anybody may call themselves a yoga teacher, and a two-hundred-hour certificate can be bought in a fortnight. We list schools by lineage — Krishnamacharya, Sivananda, Bihar, Iyengar, Ashtanga — and name the teacher and their years on every page, because that is the only signal that carries any weight.",[607,608,609,610,611],"Persistent low-grade stress and a nervous system stuck in the on position","Back and neck pain of postural origin","Building a practice that survives contact with an ordinary week","Breath and sleep, through pranayama rather than asana","Learning to teach, properly, over four weeks rather than two",[613,614,615,616],"Uncontrolled high blood pressure and glaucoma rule out inversions","Recent surgery, disc herniation or joint replacement — bring imaging and tell the teacher","Pregnancy needs a teacher trained specifically for it, not a modified general class","Hot rooms and vigorous flow are poor choices during illness or exhaustion","Twice-daily practice in a small group — a longer, slower morning session before food and something quieter at dusk — with pranayama, meditation and, on the immersions worth attending, philosophy taught rather than sprinkled. Expect to be corrected in your first week and to feel worse before you move better.",7,14,"photo-1544367567-0f2fcb009e0b","A single held posture in silhouette at sunset",[623,624,625],"Yoga as it travels is a practice rather than a profession: there is no country on earth where \"yoga teacher\" is a licensed title, and that fact should shape how you choose. Yoga Alliance, whose RYS-200 and RYT-500 designations appear on most school websites, is a voluntary registry — it confirms that a school filed a curriculum document, not that anyone inspected the teaching or that it is safe.","What that means practically is that the school matters far more than the certificate. The lineages with real institutional history — Sivananda, Satyananda, Iyengar, Ashtanga, Krishnamacharya’s line at Chennai — have syllabi, senior teachers and a body of correction that a four-week training in a rented hall does not. Rishikesh has several hundred schools; this site lists three.","The other thing worth knowing is that the physical practice is the smallest part of the classical system and the largest part of the market. A serious residential stay will spend as much time on breathing, on the philosophy, and on what you do at six in the morning for the rest of your life, as it does on postures.",[627,628,629,630,631,632],"Swami Sivananda founded the Divine Life Society at Muni Ki Reti, Rishikesh, in 1936.","The UN General Assembly proclaimed 21 June the International Day of Yoga by resolution 69\u002F131 on 11 December 2014, with a record 175 co-sponsoring states.","Maharishi Mahesh Yogi established Chaurasi Kutia at Rishikesh in 1963; the Beatles stayed in February 1968.","\"Yoga teacher\" is not a regulated or licensed profession in any jurisdiction. Yoga Alliance is a voluntary registry, not an accreditor.","Alcohol and non-vegetarian food are prohibited within Rishikesh municipal limits.","Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras define asana in one line — *sthira sukham asanam*, steady and at ease — and devote the rest of the text to everything else.",[634,638,641,645,648,652],{"claim":635,"status":636,"note":637},"Yoga reduces chronic low-back pain and improves function","good","One of the better-supported claims in this whole atlas. Multiple randomised trials and systematic reviews find yoga about as effective as other active exercise therapies, and several national guidelines list it as an option for persistent low-back pain.",{"claim":639,"status":636,"note":640},"Slow breathing lowers physiological arousal","Extending the exhale relative to the inhale raises vagal tone and lowers heart rate within minutes, in almost anyone, for free. The mechanism is uncontroversial; what a retreat adds is doing it thirty times instead of twice.",{"claim":642,"status":643,"note":644},"Yoga helps anxiety and depressive symptoms","mixed","Reviews are generally positive with real caveats — small samples, weak blinding, active-control problems. It is a reasonable adjunct and it is not a treatment for a diagnosed disorder.",{"claim":646,"status":643,"note":647},"Yoga improves sleep quality","Consistent modest benefit across several reviews, particularly in older adults and in menopause. Yoga nidra specifically is the single most useful thing most anxious people take home.",{"claim":649,"status":650,"note":651},"Yoga is inherently safe and injury-free","none","It is not. Shoulder, wrist, knee, neck and lower-back injuries are all well documented, and headstand and shoulderstand carry specific risks. Injury rates rise with unqualified teaching, which brings you back to the school.",{"claim":653,"status":650,"note":654},"Particular postures detoxify organs or \"wring out\" the liver","A common teaching-room metaphor with no physiological basis. Twisting feels good and does not clean anything.",[656,660,664,668,672,676],{"name":657,"duration":658,"body":659},"Asana","60–120 minutes","The physical practice. In a serious school it is taught with correction, and a good teacher will spend the fortnight removing postures from your practice rather than adding them.",{"name":661,"duration":662,"body":663},"Pranayama","30–45 minutes","Breath regulation — ratio breathing, alternate nostril, and in some schools retention. The part with the best evidence and the least glamour. Retention practices are not appropriate with a panic disorder, uncontrolled hypertension or in pregnancy.",{"name":665,"duration":666,"body":667},"Yoga nidra","30–40 minutes","Guided rotation of attention through the body, lying down, awake. The most useful thing most guests take home and the easiest to keep doing.",{"name":669,"duration":670,"body":671},"Meditation","20–60 minutes","Usually concentration on breath or mantra rather than anything mystical. Expect it to be uncomfortable for the first week; that is the practice, not a sign of failure.",{"name":673,"duration":674,"body":675},"Kriya","20–30 minutes","Cleansing practices — neti for the nasal passages, kapalabhati breathing. Some, notably the swallowed-cloth and saltwater-flush practices, we would not take without a teacher who knows you.",{"name":677,"duration":678,"body":679},"Philosophy and chanting","45–60 minutes","Sutra study, Vedanta talks, Sanskrit chanting. Optional at most houses and the part returning guests say they came back for.",[681,683,685,687,690,693,696,699,702,705],{"term":657,"meaning":682},"Posture. One of eight limbs, and the one the West took.",{"term":661,"meaning":684},"Regulation of the breath.",{"term":665,"meaning":686},"\"Yogic sleep\" — a guided lying-down practice, awake throughout.",{"term":688,"meaning":689},"Vinyasa","Movement linked to breath; a flowing style rather than held postures.",{"term":691,"meaning":692},"Hatha","Broadly, the physical branch — used loosely to mean a slower, held practice.",{"term":694,"meaning":695},"Ashtanga","A fixed vigorous sequence in set series. Demanding, and the injury profile is real.",{"term":697,"meaning":698},"Iyengar","Precision alignment with props and long holds. The best entry point if you have an injury.",{"term":700,"meaning":701},"RYS \u002F RYT","Yoga Alliance registry designations. A filing, not an inspection.",{"term":703,"meaning":704},"Shala","The hall you practise in.",{"term":706,"meaning":707},"Sthira sukham asanam","Yoga Sutra II.46 — \"steady and at ease\" — the whole definition of a posture.",{"name":709,"difference":710},"A yoga holiday","A yoga holiday is a good hotel with two classes a day and a teacher flown in. A yoga stay is a school: the same teachers all year, a syllabus, one-to-one correction, and a timetable that starts before six. Both are worth doing and they cost about the same, so it is worth knowing which you have booked.",[712,715,718,721],{"value":713,"label":714},"0","Countries licensing yoga teachers",{"value":716,"label":717},"1936","Divine Life Society founded",{"value":719,"label":720},"8","Limbs; asana is one",{"value":722,"label":723},"2 yrs","Practice before a 200-hour training",[725,728,731,734],{"q":726,"a":727},"Do I need to be flexible or experienced?","For a retreat, no. For a teacher training, yes — two years of regular practice, and the schools worth attending ask. Arriving at a 200-hour training as a beginner is the commonest way to get injured and the commonest reason people do not finish.",{"q":729,"a":730},"How do I tell a good school from a bad one?","Ask who teaches — by lineage and years, not by name — and whether the same people teach all year or rotate. Ask the maximum class size. Ask what happens if you cannot do a posture. A school that answers all three concretely is a different proposition from one that sends a brochure.",{"q":732,"a":733},"Is a 200-hour training worth it if I never intend to teach?","Often, yes, and many people do exactly that. It is the only format that gives you a month of daily correction. Just be honest with yourself that it is a month of hard physical work and philosophy exams, not a holiday.",{"q":735,"a":736},"What about the more intense breathing practices?","Strong pranayama and breath retention are not appropriate with a panic disorder, uncontrolled hypertension, epilepsy, glaucoma or in pregnancy, and a good teacher will ask before they teach it. Declare these; a school that does not adapt is the wrong school.",11,[739,746,754,761,768,775],{"slug":740,"kind":741,"h1":742,"title":743,"description":744,"placeName":119,"countrySlug":407,"country":119,"concernSlug":279,"resortSlugs":745},"couples-wellness-retreats-in-costa-rica","concern-country","Couples wellness retreats in Costa Rica","Couples Wellness Retreats in Costa Rica — What Actually Helps","The houses in Costa Rica that treat couples wellness properly, how long a stay actually needs to be, and where the evidence runs thin.",[198],{"slug":747,"kind":748,"h1":749,"title":750,"description":751,"placeName":752,"countrySlug":407,"country":119,"destinationSlug":117,"concernSlug":73,"resortSlugs":753},"longevity-retreats-in-nicoya","concern-destination","Longevity retreats in The Nicoya peninsula","Longevity Retreats in The Nicoya peninsula — The Shortlist","Which houses in The Nicoya peninsula treat longevity seriously, the right season, and the minimum stay worth booking.","The Nicoya peninsula, Costa Rica",[198],{"slug":755,"kind":403,"h1":756,"title":757,"description":758,"placeName":8,"countrySlug":759,"country":8,"modalitySlug":12,"resortSlugs":760},"yoga-retreats-in-india","Yoga retreats in India","Yoga Retreats in India — Honestly Compared","Where yoga is genuinely practised in India, which houses do it properly, and what the evidence actually supports.","india",[125,133,136,140],{"slug":762,"kind":403,"h1":763,"title":764,"description":765,"placeName":47,"countrySlug":766,"country":47,"modalitySlug":12,"resortSlugs":767},"yoga-retreats-in-indonesia","Yoga retreats in Indonesia","Yoga Retreats in Indonesia — Honestly Compared","Where yoga is genuinely practised in Indonesia, which houses do it properly, and what the evidence actually supports.","indonesia",[153,156],{"slug":769,"kind":403,"h1":770,"title":771,"description":772,"placeName":30,"countrySlug":773,"country":30,"modalitySlug":12,"resortSlugs":774},"yoga-retreats-in-sri-lanka","Yoga retreats in Sri Lanka","Yoga Retreats in Sri Lanka — Honestly Compared","Where yoga is genuinely practised in Sri Lanka, which houses do it properly, and what the evidence actually supports.","sri-lanka",[143,146],{"slug":776,"kind":403,"h1":777,"title":778,"description":779,"placeName":56,"countrySlug":780,"country":56,"modalitySlug":12,"resortSlugs":781},"yoga-retreats-in-thailand","Yoga retreats in Thailand","Yoga Retreats in Thailand — Honestly Compared","Where yoga is genuinely practised in Thailand, which houses do it properly, and what the evidence actually supports.","thailand",[159,162],1788869507074]