What Leadership for Life does in Costa Rica

What Leadership for Life does in Costa Rica

Leadership for Life vacations in Costa Rica each summer (their winter, actually) to provide time and space for renewal – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.  Leadership for Life explores each aspect of holistic health individually and then assists our clients in tying them together in practical ways so that we might continue to practice holistic living in everyday life.   We find it is always much easier to live well and to feel healthier and more alive when on vacation or retreat, away from the every day stresses of life.  The real trick is to keep it going when you return! 

We begin by looking at physical health, asking each client:  Where am I now?  Where do I want to be?  And what do I need to provide my body to get there?  Pretty straight forward.  And, not surprisingly, vast amounts of research, including studies in traditional Western medicine at Harvard Medical School and the findings from holistic practitioners at the University of California at Berkeley, generally agree on three major aspects that contribute to maintenance of health and physical well being.  There will be no surprises here, except perhaps how obvious this has been from our childhood.

Balanced nutrition, moderate exercise, and adequate rest are the foundations of lifelong health and a sound strategy for staving off the major illnesses that cause most morbidity in our contemporary populations (i.e. cancer and heart disease).

I told you.  No surprises.  And, unfortunately, no loopholes.   But that may not be such a bad thing.  Each of these aspects of physical wellness provides a wide variety of ways to reach our goal of physical health.

While we learn more about each of these topics, we actually put into practice the concepts during our time in Costa Rica.  The client chooses which aspects of nutrition (for example:  more fish and fruit in the diet); exercise (surfing, yoga, biking, hiking, or just regular walks on the beach); and rest (perhaps getting a full night’s sleep, or taking afternoon siestas) that they wish to focus upon during their stay in Costa Rica.  And the hope is that you will take, at least some, of these healthy habits back with you.  Naturally, you can (and probably should) translate this into what will work for you in your everyday life.  Only you can do that.  However, trying out new healthy habits, in a time and space that affords experimentation with what works for you, may go a long way to choosing practices that you’ll keep when you return.

My hope is that these reflections will find some resonance within you and that they may be useful in your own search for better health and deeper fulfillment.