Your Journey Begins!

Begin your journey with arrival in the heart of the cultural and culinary capital of Mexico – OAXACA!! Breathe, unwind, and relax. You are here!

Located in the mile high valley of the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico, this World Heritage site has long been Travel & Leisure Magazine’s #1 pick among the world’s cities, as well as one of our favorite yoga adventures. Oaxaca is HOT!

Your Home Base

Our home base for the week is Casa Murguia and Casa De la Tía Tere, perfectly located in Oaxaca Centro, only blocks from the bustling & captivating zocalo. Our good friend, Mary Jane Gagnier, a renowned author and authority on Mexican folk art, will be our host and source for all tips on local history, culture, and cuisine. The dates of our trip put us right in the middle of the city’s high holy, high energy festivities leading up to Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead).

Your Day’s Activities

Your morning opens with practice – personal prayer, meditation, movement, oh, and out of this world Mexican coffee.  Practice continues 24/7, as you joyfully connect with others, focus on present moment awareness, and train your mind in concentration, the secret to joy and happiness. Whether walking into town for a tour of the city, taking in a cooking class, or hiking the mountains with the indigenous shamans, you can touch peace of mind in any moment with practice. 

Every year we go a little deeper into exploration of magical Mexico – the food, the folk art, the theological history, the music, and the fabulous people. As you venture into this new culture and another world, let it be a metaphor for your epic journey to the world deep within, the home of your True Self, which sits patiently waiting to be discovered. Go beyond the everyday illusory world of the senses and the mad cacophony of thoughts and feelings and, through meditation and mindfulness, discover peace of mind, the joy of the yoga lifestyle, and the key to longevity, health, and happiness. 

Your Trip to Capulalpam

We will, again this year, head up to the mountains to Capulalpam de Mendez, one of Mexico’s 5 “Pueblo Magicos&” (magic village), high in the Sierra Juarez (8000’), and expand our sangha to include the indigenous shamans who have guided spiritual seekers in ceremony and meditation for millenia.  For our few mid-week days in Capulalpam, we’ll stay in modern ecotourism cabins, build fires, hike, walk, and meditate with the local Shamans for cleansing and healing. We will keep our rooms in the city so that we don’t need to haul all our stuff up to the mountains.

Your Nourishment

Post practice breakfast and dinners at Casa Murguia – plant based, organic, home cooked, specially prepared local cuisine by the celebrated Oaxacan Chef Daniel Garcia. One evening out on the town for dinner. Afternoons may include pranayama an foundation training. Our evenings wrap up with meditation and quiet conversation, preparing our minds and body for restful sleep.

Your daytime adventures may include (subject to change):

• A walking tour of the city – a bevy of galleries, museums, markets, botanical gardens, cafes, and restaurants & the16th century cathedral in the center of Oaxaca, the Church of Santo Domingo.
• Travel to the mountain villages of Benito Juarez and Teotilan del Valle, the weavers’ village (rugs & tapestries)
• 2 nights in the mountain cabins of Calpulalpam de Mendez
• Shopping the local Oaxacan markets for rugs, textiles, chocolate, coffee, Mexican folk art, mescal, chiles, spices, herbs
• Natural yarn dying methods of the famous Zapotec weavers.
• Early morning meditation at the pre-columbian archeological site of Monte Alban and the Sun Temple,
• Cooking class in Oaxacan cuisine