Doors to the Wild Self: Monteverde, Costa Rica Yoga Retreat

Monteverde’s cloud forest is one of the most alive places on earth, with six ecological zones, howler monkeys, and tropical birdsong at dawn. Our week-long retreat there is designed for TSC readers who want to feel fully awake in that kind of beauty. Days combine trauma-informed yoga and meditation with a guided cloud forest hike, tree climbing, and a traditional temazcal sweat lodge, all from a peaceful, alcohol-free home base at Finca Camino Nuevo.

My husband Zach and I are both in long-term recovery, and this retreat reflects what helped us most: moving our bodies, getting outside, eating well, and being with people who understand. Zach and a local sous chef cook every plant-based meal, and new for 2027, guests can join a cooking class to take the flavors home.

Many guests arrive solo and burned out, and leave lighter and connected. One 2024 guest wrote that the retreat was an intangible feeling she will remember always. For readers planning a spring reset, it’s an adventurous, nourishing way to practice sobriety somewhere unforgettable.

Carrie Hoffman and Zach Minnich are a married couple in long-term recovery from alcohol addiction. Carrie has been sober since 2016, and Zach followed soon after. They founded Bigger Life Adventures in 2018 and have since hosted more than 100 alcohol-free yoga and adventure trips in six countries and four US states, and about 60% of their guests come back for another trip. Carrie is an E-RYT 500 yoga teacher, 800-hour Ayurvedic Health Counselor, trauma-informed and teen yoga teacher (Prison Yoga Project, Yoga Ed.), Wilderness First Responder, and permitted Grand Canyon guide who runs the yoga program at Flagstaff’s juvenile detention center. Zach is a holistic nutritionist, Reiki master, Wilderness First Responder, and the plant-based chef behind the cookbook Plants on Plates. Together they ran Grand Canyon Eco Retreat for five years and have traveled to 44 countries.