A couple of months ago, I returned to Miami from another trip to Costa Rica, the land of “Pura Vida”. A country that is impossible not to fall completely and madly in love with. With so much of the country untouched, beaches, and forests still undeveloped; many places remain where you can still connect with the wildness of the earth, just as it always was. In many towns, the conscientious expats that call Costa Rica home, have chosen or been encouraged (legally) to tread lightly on the earth. Environmentally conscious living is a common theme throughout the country, and “Pura Vida” is a deeply rooted way of life. In a country that has no formal military, you can imagine the peaceful demeanor of the Tico’s (Costa Rican natives).
This most recent trip, I crisscrossed the country, going everywhere possible with the time available, places old and new. From Nosara, to Montezuma, Dominical all the way south and all the way to the high mountains of the Poas Volcano Range.
Its possible to write a short book filled with all the experiences I shared while in this wildly beautiful country but perhaps the most raw, wild experience was in Cabo Matapalo, the furthest southern point of the Osa Peninsula, surrounded by dense, pristine, virgin Rain Forest; forest with a canopy so thick that the high noon drive through (sometimes treacherously dangerous) at times seemed like a nightime dusk. This is the highest density biodiverse forest in the world!
In Cabo Matapalo, I had with the opportunity to teach Yoga and offer Therapeutic Massage at a local property; staying in an open air accommodation. Just imagine a bed, a mosquito net around the bed, but no walls and no protection from the wildness that surrounded the place where i would rest my eyes each night. What an amazing experience! I didn’t realize that such fear of the unknown wildness could arise in me once the sun had completely set.
After the sun sets in the wild dark forest, you can’t see further than your own hands. You can’t see the immense and diverse life that awakens after dark, but you can HEAR it! The rustling, the steps of some unknown creature, the sounds of large flying insects that land with a heavy thud. All the activity on the forest floor, all the activity in the forest canopy. It took a night to realize, that after living so many years in comfortable cities, there was a part of me that had felt a disconnect with the nature and wildness that I AM. It took a moment to reassess and readjust. Especially waking up the first morning to decapitated land crabs in my shower! So the second night in the wild darkness, i closed my eyes, and this is what came up:
In the jungle, sounds unfamiliar raise your ears, hairs and eyes
Heightened state of awareness necessary to survive
So many years primal senses dulled by city life
So much of city life conditioned only to “get by”
Inside a self created, self important world made mostly in our minds
In the Jungle only nature, raw thrives
In the Jungle, no room for fear
It will only cloud your mind
Making it impossible to appreciate
The star speckled skies
Balancing awareness with abiding calm
The only way to feel truly alive
Feel the earth breathing, pulsating
Every single atom radiating life
At peace with the animals, the insects
Both predator and prey
Some just out for play
Each existing in its own unique way
All together
Life, is what we call this play
You may be the eater or the eaten
But there is another way
Sharpen the instrument of your being, your perception
Be conscious, become one with the play
Be above the tides of life
And anew you will see the nights
Peace within renewed
You will see your life
Such a beautiful reminder that as humans we embody ALL aspects of life, the most complex to the most simple, the most refined to the most raw, fear is just a distortion of a reality that we have become separate from..intentionally..or unconsciously. Our own nature, is nothing to fear. It is always with us. Embrace and Embody.
Thank You Costa Rica