This Winter make time to slow down, deepen practice, open to insights, and nourish the body & soul in the sun.

More than another “yoga vacation” – this 7-Day Yoga Retreat Immersion with Jennifer Whitney, a lovely yoga and buddhist teacher from Brooklyn New York, weaves together the transformative practices of yoga, meditation, pranayama, dharma lecture and self-study. All with plenty of time to relish the warm sun and deepen your connection to nature in the heart of winter. 

A deliciously long two-hour challenging vinyasa flow class every morning will inspire you to break out of habit movements and ways of relating with your body. You can expect lots of movement, inversions and arm balances with time to workshop a peak pose each day. Jen’s yoga classes are designed to cultivate both strength and flexibility. Movement practice extends throughout the day with a group nature walk, and time for swimming and beach activities as nourishes you.

You’ll balance movement practice with three guided meditation sessions each day. A meditation in the morning breeze of the tropics is quite possibly the best way to start your day. Additional sits help ground the practice, and provide opportunity for deep insight and calm.

The middle of the day features a dharma discussion. Each day will explore a theme that is developed throughout the week. Dharma discussions deepen our understanding of how the practice applies to our lived lives, builds community, offers opportunities for questions, and provides a structure for your own internal explorations throughout the retreat. There will be opportunities for one-on-one dokusan interviews.

Jen offers a unique teaching that integrates wisdom from Yoga and Zen traditions into a style of practice that challenges you to question, investigate, grow and love more deeply.  She has been teaching for over a decade, and is passionate about living into the teachings herself, and sharing an understanding of how we can most fully express our unique lives.

Questions: jen@jwhitneyyoga.com  More information: jwhitneyyoga.com/2018-panama-retreat

Sample Schedule (subject to change)
6:45am – Morning Meditation
7:30am – Breakfast
8:00am – Nature Walk
9:00am – 2 hour Asana Flow Class
11:00am – Pranayama
11:30am – Meditation
12:00pm – Lunch & Free Time
4:00pm – Dharma Discussion & Meditation
6:00pm – Free time (Sunset walk)
7:00pm – Dinner
9:00pm – Restorative Yoga/Other Activities/Early Bedtime

Please note, the first and last day will run a half schedule to allow for travel.

Over the weekend of April 15-17, 2017 the Istmo Resort hosted a Qigong Workshop for the first, but undoubtedly not the last, time.  Led by certified U.S. instructor, Brenda Lyons, the workshop, officially entitled Qigong for Health and Energy was deemed a great success by all of the nine participants who attended.

Over a buffet of delicious Indian dishes served family-style at a long wooden table, we (the attendees) got to know each other.  After dinner, the workshop kicked off with a session that introduced the history and purpose of Qigong and gave us a chance to practice a qigong routine and start learning the Five Element Form.  Like the fire which followed, the introductory session combined a lecture format with guided instruction in the basic movements of the practice.

The weekend workshop resumed on Saturday at 7 AM with morning Qigong exercises on the beach, a five-minute walk away from the Resort.  After an energizing breakfast of oatmeal, yogurt, and fruit, the workshop resumed with the second-morning session in the beautifully enclosed pavilion situated amidst the forest and purposefully built for just such activities.  This session focused on the relationship between the Qigong movements, the life force energy of Qi, and overall health.  The physical practice included warm-ups, stretches breathing exercises and a walking meditation.

By then, the retreat aspect of the weekend was beginning to set in and there was a long break after lunch so we could rest, relax, or swim as they desired, with dinner to look forward to.  A luscious repast of tortillas, beans, vegetables, and yellow rice prepared the students for an evening of rest and relaxation.  Many of the participants remarked that they were now getting the first full night of sleep they’d had in months.

As Sunday dawned, we gathered on the circular platform that doubles as a labyrinth for walking meditation.  The quietness of the place was preserved, but mindful walking was replaced with the flowing movements of a Qigong practice.  The final session took place back in the pavilion and concentrated on the “microcosmic orbit”, the pathway of yin and yang energy that circulates up and down the front and back of the body.  This session also tied up the loose ends regarding the benefits of Qigong with time set aside for Q & A.  Brenda also provided the participants with a handbook and a set of movements (the Five Elements Form) that they could easily

use at home, thereby ensuring that qigong would become a permanent part of our lives.

Some of the students had commuted from Coronado and left before the delicious closing lunch of rice noodles in a scrumptious peanut sauce topped with steamed vegetables, but all of us realized that they had gone through a transformational experience that seemed to have ended far too soon.  It was widely agreed that Brenda did a wonderful job blending lectures about Qigong’s history and health benefits with movement sequences that unlocked the power of Chi, the energy that surrounds and flows through us.  There was no question that the weekend was a health retreat in every sense of the word.  You could see the aura of relaxation envelop us, leaving us refreshed and ready to tap into our newfound energy.

The success of the workshop was also due, in large part, to the graciousness of our hosts, Ayesha and Sean, and their two children, 4-year old Noah, and Kamila, who had just turned 3.  The wooden cabins we stayed in blended smoothly into the undulating grounds of the resort.  The greenery that surrounded us made us almost forget the extreme lack of rainfall in the area.  The rooms were extremely clean and comfortable.  Istmo is a great place for a weekend away at any time, but it is best suited for workshops like this one, which they hold on a regular basis for groups of up to 20.  In this case, both the Qigong workshop and the accommodations were excellent value.  And we have made a new set of friends with similar interests that we will surely keep in touch with.  Thank you, Brenda, and thank you, Istmo!