Yoga Rica

Update, November 2026: We couldn't confirm Yoga Rica is still running. Its old website address is for sale, and we found no current retreats, listings or reviews under the name. Treat it as closed unless you find a current listing.

Yoga Rica was a small retreat program based around Montezuma and Cabuya, at the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula. The Tico Times profiled it in 2012: its creator, Ireni Stamou, a Greek Canadian dancer and yoga teacher, used the forests, rivers and beaches around Montezuma as an outdoor studio and invited students to move between yoga and free dance. Retreats were held at private, secluded venues that were announced to participants before each event.

The retreats it offered

Where dance and yoga meet. A retreat for dancers and yogis, using yoga to support a sustainable dance practice and dance to bring more freedom into yoga.

Mid-life adventure retreat (45+). A week for people in their mid-forties and older, built around daily outdoor yoga, beach and boat trips, a horseback ride along the coast to a waterfall that falls into the sea, and meals cooked by local chefs.

Bodywork. Thai yoga massage and somatic bodywork, a hands-on approach that focuses on how you sense and move your own body, were offered alongside the retreats.

Yoga in Montezuma and Cabuya today

Montezuma is still a small, laid-back village between the forest and the sea, with yoga classes, retreats and waterfalls within walking distance. Getting there from San José usually means the car ferry from Puntarenas to Paquera and about an hour's drive through Cobano, or a short flight to the Tambor airstrip. For current yoga options, see our profile of Montezuma Yoga, whose founder still teaches privately and runs retreats, and the Montezuma section of our guide to where to do yoga in Costa Rica. To compare retreat weeks across the country, read our guide to choosing a yoga retreat in Costa Rica.

[Updated on: 4 November 2026]