Blue Zones and Pura Vida

​What is a Blue zone and why does it matter?
 
The Costa Rica Yoga Spa finds itself in the heart of the Nicoya peninsula, one of the world’s 5 known “Blue Zones.”  The term Blue Zone was coined around 2007 and refers to areas of the world where people live the longest, and healthiest lives.
 
Nicoya, Costa Rica, along with regions in Japan, Greece, and Italy stand out. Of course we wanted to find out what makes these places so special, that people live longer and have less diseases. 
 
What is it about the Pura Vida lifestyle that contributes to living happy, healthy, and long lives? Well, we’re no scientists, but we have a few guesses:
 
1-It’s in the water. The water in Nicoya is hard water, which means it has a high amount of calcium. This can mean your soap lathers less well, but after some time, it contributes to bone strength. Not to mention living in proximity to the beach, where salt water is cleansing of both the body and spirit.
 
2-The sunshine. Vitamin D is also known as a happy vitamin. Those of us who have known long winters in dark climates understand first-hand how much a deficiency of this important nutrient can affect us. One can understand that day to day happiness and sunshine contributes to less stress, and promotes health.
 
3- Work. Most Nicoyans work physically, and enjoy that work. Keeping a body moving seems to be the best way to keep it working long term.  
 
4-Connections to family, friends, and spirituality. Most Nicoyans are very close to their family, cousins and grandparents, and harbor lifelong friendships. They see each other daily, and this seems to contribute to overall, long term happiness. Having great neighbours makes all the difference, so it’s easy to see why having people you love around you makes a big difference in your quality of life.
 
5-No Stress. This is purely anecdotal, but in my experience ticos don’t stress much. For myself, who comes from a big city, big busy, big stress lifestyle the pura vida nature of accepting situations as they are, and moving forward with solutions is a great lesson for me. No point in stressing over what can’t be changed.
 
Get a taste of the pura vida lifestyle and see how it contributes to your health and happiness even in a short time by joining us for one of our awesome retreats!!