The Koshas: A Retreat to Nourish Every Layer of Your Being

“Love yourself without shame, without fear of being selfish or silly. Love yourself wildly, ridiculously, without a single ounce of restraint. Love your real, messy, gritty, raw, rapturous, divine Self. Because where has hating yourself ever gotten you?” Sarah L. Harvey

The Koshas in yoga represent the different layers of our being. We can picture the Koshas as Russian nesting dolls, each representing a part of the self that contributes to who we are as humans. The aim is to take care of every layer of who we are in order to release energy blockages and stagnation. When we do so, we can show up as our true authentic selves. Note that the nesting dolls start with the outer layer and move inwards. These layers are:

1. Our physical body,
2. Our energy (including our breath and energetic self),
3. Our thoughts and emotions (otherwise known as our ego),
4. Our wisdom, and
5. Our soul.

This retreat will offer guidance on how to relate to each aspect of our being in a productive and empowering way. It will offer tools to enable us to show up in life with more presence, intention, and direction.

When we don’t take care of ourselves in the present, it is impossible to be the person we want to be. If we are exhausted, overwhelmed or don’t take time out for ourselves, we are just a shell of who we are and it is challenging to find ways to regulate ourselves and stay calm in triggering moments. The more we push our own needs aside, the harder it is to be in relationships with others without resentment bubbling to the surface from feeling so overloaded and unanchored.

In the process, we may need to release what doesn’t serve us: stress and tension, dysregulation, overwhelm, exhaustion, a sense that we have to do it all, and our conditioning from childhood. In losing some of these “toxic” aspects of life, we can find the space to come back to who we truly are through well-deserved self-care and attention to ourselves. When we offer ourselves permission to find moments for ourselves to re-energize and reconnect with ourselves, we can show up and respond to life and others in our life with more intention, feeling more like ourselves. When we feel more connected to who we are, it is easier to engage our compassionate, patient, and kinder self with our interactions with both ourselves and others.

In this retreat, we will journal, workshop, practice yoga, breathe and meditate, hike, eat nourishing plant-based food, and immerse ourselves in nature. This is an opportunity to reset, find awareness about our needs and how to fulfill them, and to connect more deeply with our true self, so that we can show up in life from a space of more heart-centeredness.

Tentative schedule:

Friday: A Focus on the Physical Body
3pm Check-in
4pm Opening Circle - an overview of the Koshas and how they can help us
6pm Dinner
7.30pm Workshop on the Physical Body - learning to accept and love the vessel that we live in
8.30pm Slow Yoga Flow

Saturday: A Focus on the Energetic Body (Breathing, Thinking, and Emotional Layers)
8am Yoga with a Focus on Our Breath - using out breath to guide our energy
9.15am Breakfast
10.30am Workshop on the Ego - understanding our thinking mind and cultivating a healthy relationship with it
11.30 Hike to the River/Waterfall
1pm Lunch
6pm Dinner
7.30pm Bonfire and Movement - burning away what no longer serves us
8.30pm Breathwork - witness, understand, and experience our emotions

Sunday: A Focus on our Wisdom and Soul
8am Laughter Yoga - finding joy in being in the present and connecting with our silliness
9.15am Breakfast (in silence*)
10.30am Hike (in silence*)
11.30am Free time with ourselves (in silence without cell phones*)
1pm Lunch
2pm Workshop on How to Live from the Heart
3pm Closing Circle and Meditation
4/5pm Depart

*We will engage in a few hours of silence to practice connecting with ourselves and to get comfortable being with and accepting ourselves as we are.

Location

Casa Grande is located on 125 acres in the beautiful mountains of Utuado, a 90 minute drive from San Juan. It is nestled into a valley with views of the mountains that are covered in lush tropical vegetation. Bordered by a lovely river, it is possible to hike on the property as well as to the river, where there are waterfalls and swimming holes. Casa Grande is fully equipped with an airy yoga studio and an outdoor salt-water pool. For those without transportation, we usually find ways to carpool to and from San Juan.

Accommodation

Casitas are built on stilts and are surrounded by lush vegetation, fruit trees, and the sounds of nature. Each room comes with an en suite bathroom as well as a private porch and hammock. Rooms are tastefully decorated and boast comfortable beds with hypo-allergenic, organic bedding. Both single and double occupancy rooms are available.

Meals

The retreat includes all meals from dinner on Friday night to lunch on Sunday. All meals are plant-based with much of the ingredients sourced from local farms. Our communal meals will be enjoyed in a covered outdoor space, overlooking the pool area and the mountains. Tea, coffee, infusions, and snacks are also included. Please note that alcohol will not be served during the retreat.

About Your Retreat Leader -- Daniella Gould

Daniella Gould is Owner and Instructor of Santosa Yoga and Health based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She holds a MA in Asian Studies from UC Berkeley, is RYT 200, Y12SR (addiction recovery), and breathwork certified. She has also attended multiple trainings, including on trauma, resilience, self-regulation, inner child work, parenting, social justice, meditation, and mindfulness.

Daniella has applied yoga philosophy to many facets of her own life. It has changed how she views and relates to herself, her husband, and her son in such a transformative way that she loves to share the practical benefits of yoga, meditation, breathwork, and yoga philosophy with others.

​For Daniella, yoga is about connecting people with their bodies and breath in order to quiet the noise and distractions that often accompany our hectic lives. She loves to help students apply yoga philosophy to their lives in a practical, understandable way. Ultimately, she thinks that yoga allows us to find contentment and satisfaction, making it easier to navigate life’s challenges.

She enjoys working with students of all levels, and believes that everyone can benefit from yoga, meditation, breathing practices, and yoga philosophy regardless of flexibility and/or experience. She teaches with humor and playfulness, and she aims to make all students feel welcome and at ease in a supportive, safe space.

Daniella has taught retreats in a number of locations, but Casa Grande is her favorite space-to-date to take people on transformative journeys.

Testimonials About Retreats Led by Daniella

Amazing experience
This is my 2nd retreat with Daniella at Casa Grande Mountain Retreat and it has been a life changing experience. If you have a chance to take a yoga class or attend a retreat with Daniella, do not hesitate, just do it! You will not regret it. Daniella provides knowledge, wisdom, humor, and kindness... Daniella provided us a safe space so we could be vulnerable and imperfect but also providing us with guidance, tools, and materials to understand ourselves and our emotional needs; to heal/love ourselves. Daniella is a treasure, the community she has created is amazing, and I hope I will be able to attend more retreats with her in the future.

Give yourself a mental reset!
I can't say enough good things about Daniella and her workshops! I attended her Inner Child Work Retreat this past weekend at the beautiful Casa Grande in Utuado, Puerto Rico. From the start of the booking experience, Daniella was very responsive and offered advice and resources about how to get to & from the airport to Utuado, which is something I was worried about as I was traveling from off of the island.

This truly was a one-of-a-kind experience to disconnect from work and the struggles of life in general. Our group was able to spend valuable time in nature and workshops to better connect with ourselves and with each other which I will carry with me for the rest of my life. If I lived in Puerto Rico, I would be attending Daniella's workshops and classes all the time! From the minute the retreat started, she offered a safe space for everyone and continued support throughout the process, which is truly unforgettable.

I'll be back to visit someday (hopefully soon!) and would give 10 stars if I could!

Gift for yourself!
Daniella hosted a retreat and it was so much more than I expected. A weekend in beautiful Casa Grande, Utuado filled with amazing people and life changing experiences.
Daniella’s guidance during workshops and yoga enabled us to be aware of our feelings, emotional needs and our power to heal ourselves. Highly recommend for anyone who wants to feel re-charged and just better at showing up for yourself and others.

Weekend yoga and wellness retreat
I rarely give 5 stars but in this case it was easy. My wife and I had an absolutely wonderful time at the Santosa weekend retreat. Had never experienced yoga, meditation or had vegan cuisine, and did it all in one weekend. The retreat took place in the most serene and beautiful Caribbean mountain resort with hiking trails and a river with a waterfall and a natural swimming pool. Made a ton of friends that were all there for self improvement. My wife and I are looking forward to our next retreat with Daniella.

Don't overthink it! Just do it!
I just came back from a yoga retreat with Daniella. I wouldn't know how to classify the retreat because it is all this and more. Daniella has attracted a curated experience of wellness and merged it with the experience of having an awesome community to help people heal and grow from within. What makes Daniella great is her openness to listen empathetically, fostering a safe space and non-judgmental facilitation style. Her authenticity (and the fact that she has been able to incorporate what she teaches to her own approach in life) showed all throughout the weekend.
I came out understanding that I don't need to be perfect and that nobody is but I can confidently say that Daniella was perfect for us over the 3 days we spent together. Oh! And the food at Casa Grande Retreat Center in Utuado was also outstanding, and the setting in the luscious mountain!