IKARA RETREAT CENTRE
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Pranadive


Through freediving and pranayama

​you will learn how to control lifes energies.


​Prana - breath, life's force, life's energy.
Dive - to submerge, to descend
 

Our PRANADIVE experience is to submerge and descend into life's energies through the practice of freediving and the fourth limb of yoga - pranayama. Explore this concept for 5 days and 4 nights at Ikara Retreat Centre.

​​Our retreat harmonizes the yogic limbs of pranayama and asana with free diving. ​What unites these practices is the control and utilization of the breath, the prana, lifes energy. Through the control of the breath via pranayama you will be able to push the bodies physicality in the freedive process.

This is an official PADI certification course.
BOOK NOW
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Pranayama is the conscious prolongation of inhalation, retention and exhalation. Inhalation is the act of receiving the primeval energy in the form of breath, and retention is when the breath is held in order to savor that energy. In exhalation all thoughts and emotions are emptied with breath: then, while the lungs are empty, one surrenders the individual energy , 'I', to the primeval energy the Atma. The practice of pranayama develops a steady mind, strong will power and sound judgement." - B.K.S Iyengar, Light on Pranayama

​Freediving triggers the mammalian dive flex which is your bodily heritage, knowledge that is contained within cells of your body. By observing and participating actively, we learn to encourage the bodies natural response and co-create its processes to optimize health, minimize stress responses and set a life long course for binding the mind and the body.,

B.K.S Iyengar once said that the body is in the past, the mind resides in the future, in the present they are aligned and only here is where we find truth. The more we actively breath and practice yoga and diving we train to assume control of the bodily functions and its optimization. 

We want you to leave this retreat recognizing the importance of your body, of giving it direction, consciously providing what it needs  and to present the individual with skills for the unification of the body and mind.

Bilingual Retreat - Everyone Welcome
​
Retiro bilingüe: todos son bienvenidos

DATES:
  • ​4 - 8th Oct 2021

DURING THE RETREAT YOU WILL:
  • learn about the physics, physiology, equipment, and techniques of freediving
  • practice restorative yoga and pranayama to complement your diving. Yoga sessions will be held on our purpose built yoga deck with a glorious view of the ocean. Our restorative yoga practice is designed to instruct and impart specific movement, positions and alignments through  the utilization of props. We will focus on opening up the chest to allow the breath to operate freely. You will take this knowledge underwater.
  • participate in confined water sessions on site in the pool at the retreat centre. You will learn about static apnea (breath hold), dynamic apnea (breath hold horizontal swim), and rescue techniques.. 
  • participate in open water sessions off the coast of Manuel Antonio National Park:. You will learn about free immersion (using a line to pull yourself down and up), constant weight (duck dive and swim down and up), and rescue techniques
  • become an officially certified PADI freediver
  • have an allocation of time for yourself to relax, explore and digest the information that has been presented.​

PREREQUISITES
  • ​Must be able to swim
  • 15 years or older
  • No prior experience with yoga, pranayama, or freediving required.
  • Once you pay your deposit you will receive a link to complete your PADI Freediver E-learning module (physics, physiology, equipment, and techniques of freediving). This must be done before attending the retreat.
 ​
OUTLINE
​
  • Day 1: Bienvenidos! Arrival day with a restorative yoga session  before dinner. 
  • Day 2:: Morning meditation, introduction to pranayama. Confined Freedive training in pool
  • Day 3: Early Light Breakfast 0600hrs. Travel to Quepos. Open Water Free Dive Training 7:30-1030am; You will be tired from the mornings activities so a free afternoon is provided. In the evening, restorative Yoga & Pranayama then dinner 
  • Day 4: Early Light Breakfast 0600hrs. Travel to Quepos. Open Water Free Dive Training 7:30-1030am; Lunch and free afternoon in Quepos; Restorative Yoga, Pranyama then dinner
  • Day 5: Morning Yoga followed by breakfast then a trip to Matapalo Beach (optional). 
COST $1150 PP
​INCLUSIONS
  • 5 days, 4 nights accommodation
  • Transport to/from open water dives
  • All freediving equipment
  • All yoga equipment will be supplied but you may bring your own if preferred.
  • Yoga sessions are optional if you are tired and is not required to obtain your PADI certification
  • All meals and snacks
  • Transport to/from the airport can be arranged at additional cost.

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WHAT'S UNIQUE ABOUT THIS RETREAT?
There are many retreats on offer in Costa Rica and which one to choose may be the only dilemma in your life - lets hope so..  First and foremost, we at Pranadive are purveyors of a philosophy and conductors of information that is designed to be shared. Through sharing our skills we hope to improve our participants lives. This is a shared learning experience. An integrative experience that just so happens to be set amongst some of the most beautiful landscapes this country has to offer. That is the bonus. Our vision is for participants to feel safe, expansive, exuberant and abundant in learning. To recognize, even if it is only a small recognition, their unified potential. To capture the mind-body relationship and set a course for this relationship to blossom into all aspects of life. These two disciplines aligned, we feel, facilitate and become a catalyst for this union.

Each retreat will have 4 participants only. This enables the trainers to give specialized attention and instruction plus will satisfy all COVID-19 restrictions. Each participant will have their own private room with ensuite in the Jungle Cabinas. A double room is possible if you are attending the course with your partner and would like be together. If there are 4 of you who wish to do the course as a group, you will have the whole retreat to just you and and your friends!!
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ABOUT IKARA RETREAT CENTRE

We are located high in the hills above the authentic Tico village of Portalón. We have the best of all worlds here -  quiet and secluded, set amongst old growth tropical rain forest. close to Matapalo beach, the beautiful Portalón river, and the Hills of Portalón Wildlife Sanctuary, We are located only 15 minutes from the community of Dominical and 30 minutes to Manuel Antonio National Park, Quepos. 

​We are biased of course, we chose this place and it is now where we call home so we should let the images speak for themselves!
Visit Ikara Retreat Centre Gallery

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FOOD

Our private chef provides vegetarian meals prepared with local, organic ingredients that are ethically obtained from within the southern pacific zone. In Costa Rica, we are privileged to live amongst abundance and it reflects in our food and food choice. The water at Ikara springs forth from the mountain and is mineral rich. Our guests may be assured, that during their stay, they will be nourished and fueled optimally for the retreat. All dietary requests can be catered for.  Our food we serve you is not served out of necessity and obligation, rather it is a gift assigned with living intent as an extension of the wholistic experience of the retreat itself and our philosophies at Ikara

Meet Our Team

BRAD STEPHENS

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PADI FREEDIVING INSTRUCTOR
​​
Originally from the windy and chilly city of Chicago, Brad moved down to Quepos, Costa Rica in 2013 to pursuer a career in scuba diving. He discovered freediving shortly after moving down here and learned to enjoy it even more than scuba diving! He enjoys the discipline, control and freedom that you learn from freediving. In 2017 he became a PADI Freediving Instructor and has been teaching ever since.
​

JAMIE ATHERTON

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HATHA YOGA INSTRUCTOR

Jamie is a certified Hatha Yoga Instructor and dedicated student of Iyengar yoga. He has 20 years of plant medicine experience, Jamie has a life long, self perpetuating, commitment to all things promoting the individual. A passion for accelerating and learning the great esoteric wisdoms of bridge building between mind, body and soul through Yogic science. Ongoing continuous research into undivided wholeness through comparative philosophies, disciplines of science, including epigenetics, earth bioenergies and archeoastronomy. A devotion to the great minds and sages that have come before and laid the foundations for the eternal knowledge that we all receive the priviledges of. .
​Most importantly a devotion to the active observance and awareness of the self for without the self, there is no truth

MELINDA ATHERTON

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HOST
​
​Melinda is a Certified Hatha Yoga Instructor and also a dedicated student of Iyengar yoga.  

​She will be your host and the person to go to if you need anything at all during this
​retreat.
OBSERVE YOURSELF WITHIN THE NATURAL WORLD


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