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Doing yoga outdoors has many benefits, and the beach in Costa Rica is an ideal place to practice your poses. Besides fresh air and killer scenery, your body has to work a lot harder to do yoga in the sand. It takes balance, concentration and strength to hold yoga poses on an uneven unstable surface, so you get more of a full-body workout.

Here are six reasons why yoga is fun on the beach, from Nancy Goodfellow, resident yoga instructor and co-owner of Pranamar Oceanfront Villas & Yoga Retreat in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica.

1. You tune into nature more easily. You feel the Earth with the sand in your toes and the sunshine and fresh breezes on your skin.
2. The beach helps you relax. You do yoga to relax; and at the beach the sound of waves and seabirds, soft wind and warm sand combine to bring you peace. Doing yoga at sunrise or sunset on the beach adds an extra gentleness.
3. Wave rhythms mirror breath rhythm. One of the most important elements of yoga is breathing – stimulating calmness and giving your muscles much-needed oxygen to perform well. The sound of ocean waves crashing on shore reminds us of the waves of the breath. Deeply breathing in fresh ocean air cleans out your lungs and gives you an energy boost, besides the negative ions found at the ocean that give you positive vibes.
4. Your balance is challenged. Sand isn’t stable. It is uneven (even if it seems flat) and moves and shifts underneath you, so you constantly have to reposition and focus to keep your pose. The result is you use more muscles in your feet, legs and core than you might use on a flat wooden floor. Once you get the hang of it though, you may find you can shape the sand for better support, and end up gaining a stability you didn’t know you had.
5. Sand is a cushion. Sand is much softer and more shock-absorbent than a wooden or ceramic floor – think: gentler on your joints. And more challenging postures like handstands can be practiced with less fear of injury with the sand to cushion any falls. No mats needed!
6. You can go for a swim afterward!

At the beachfront Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, hotel Pranamar Villas, you have the best of both worlds for practicing yoga. Yoga classes and yoga retreats at Pranamar Villas are held in their stunning open-air Yoga Shala, looking out to the blue Pacific Ocean, palm trees and white sand. Step outside and you are right on the beach.

Pranamar Oceanfront Villas & Yoga Retreat holds daily yoga classes open to hotel guests and the public. International yoga retreats are open to anyone to join. Private and semi-private classes may be scheduled at any time.

Article by Shannon Farley