Vacation Yoga

I used to say that I loved "vacation yoga". Well, I still love vacation yoga, but I thought it was easier than New York City yoga. My body always feels more limber and ready to move when the sea air is blowing and the monkeys are climbing around.


I just finished my yoga teacher certification. That means I am licensed to teach yoga. What?! Ok, let's start at the beginning: I first got into yoga on vacation in Costa Rica (dots connecting) and over the last few years have found it to be something I gravitate towards more and more and more.

I absolutely hate to exercise. I am my mother's daughter on that front. But my mother is the least lazy person you'll ever meet. She is always doing pleasurable things which underneath are disguised as exercise. I like to surf because it's the greatest thing I've discovered in my adult life. It also happens to burn like 5 million calories an hour. But, who cares? I'd surf if I gained 10 lbs every time I paddled out. Point is, I like exercise that is actually wrapped up in pleasurable activity. And I think I gravitated towards yoga because I was learning it outside, in the jungle, in nature. Warrior one towards the ocean. Warrior two towards the jungle. I remember that moment. 

So maybe, and not surprisingly, 5 years after my first yoga class at NYI, I signed up for their teacher training. And man was that one of my greatest life choices thus far. No, I don't think I want to ditch flowers to become a yoga teacher. But I do want to provide an environment that evokes some of what I felt in those first few vacation yoga classes. 

So, fuck it - we're doing it. We're reorganizing the studio, giving away some vases to make room for yoga mats and come the Fall, we're going to offer some yoga classes (along with a slew of other creative classes - more on that soon) in the studio. My hope is to create a dreamy environment where you can really see something beautiful when you open your eyes and smell sweet smells when you close them. I'm excited. I love being around people. I love creating inviting environments. I want this to be a creative, physical hub in Greenpoint for people to explore. 

Yes, we'll still offering wedding services, event services, and home designs. We're growing our business to encompass more of the things that fill us up and less of the fluff.

Photos from our Pura Vida Peartree workshop and my "winter" in Central America.




 

COSTA RICA FLOWER WORKSHOP

Liza Lubell of PEARTREE FLOWERS has been visiting the sweet town of Nosara for 5 years, a magical town she’s come to call a second home. Her enthusiasm for collaborations and her love of this Costa Rican community has finally married to bring you this memorable curation of flowering, macrame, surfing, and yoga with an inspired group of teachers.

MORNING YOGA

Our days will start with morning vinyasa in the jungle taught by the incomparable EMILY SHAPIRO - A Nosara yoga darling. Emily completed her teacher training in Nosara at NYI and returns annually to teach, swim, and soak up the goodness. She teaches beautiful, inquiry based classes alongside unique soundtracks that simply make you feel good. These classes will focus on awakening our creativity for our afternoons of flowering.

AFTERNOON FLOWERING

We’ll spend a portion of our afternoons learning about Costa Rican flowers and making, making, making. November marks the end of the rainy season in Costa Rica which means the jungle is lush to boot. We’ll forage for materials, learn how to incorporate tropicals into our signature organic, lush arrangements, and work direct with local Costa Rican flower farmers to find “the good stuff.”

Guest Teacher - TAYLOR PATTERSON of Fox Fodder Farm

In addition to classes with Liza, special guest teachers include famed NYC florist Taylor Patterson: Taylor’s floral designs seeks to celebrate the materials themselves by appreciating the natural shape and movement of flowers. Her approach creates a beautiful sense of depth and volume that is light and airy yet still feels lush and full. Her work has been featured in Martha Stewart Weddings, Vogue, Elle, NYMag, among others.

MACRAME CLASS

Portland, OR macrame artist EMILY KATZ is going to join us, too! She’ll be teaching us her craft, a beautiful, original way to display our floral pieces. She has taught macrame to over 250 people around the country, from private lessons, beautifully curated workshops, and team building for creative companies. Her aim is to not only share her love of this simple craft, but also inspire people to be better versions of themselves. 

Emily has been featured in the LA Times, London Daily Mail, Buzzfeed, Nylon Magazine, Ku:nel Magazine, Popeye Magazine, and Elle France to name a few.

¡SURFING!

Liza took her first surf lesson with Andrew Delgado in 2011 and has never looked back. He now runs the Tico owned Surf School AGUA TIBIA in Nosara which consistently receives glowing reviews from happy surfers. Liza would be remiss to offer a workshop in Nosara that doesn’t share the pure happiness surfing has brought to her life. The retreat offers 2 lessons with Agua Tibia though we highly encourage you to take more. 

ACCOMMODATIONS

Our workshop will take place at the Harmony Hotel at their Healing Center. For ease, we’ve reserved rooms for you at the Harmony Hotel and The Sunset Shack directly across the street. 

HARMONY HOTEL - our luxury option (top photo)

Inspired by old school tropical destinations of eras that appreciated low key glamour and total escape, The Harmony Hotel is situated a stone’s throw from a pristine surf break with consistent year-round waves. But it is much more than that. It is a place for community and ideas—an ideal space for contemplation and deep relaxation.

SUNSET SHACK - where budget meets boutique (bottom photos) An old school surf camp at heart, this boutique hostel is almost nostalgic and reminiscent of simpler times. Clean, down-to-earth design with a sense of community will inspire and invite you to experience your surroundings.

                    HARMONY HOTEL  (Update: cocos rooms sold out, only 3 Bugalows left)              

            Shared Bungalow (2-3 people)            Single Bungalow 

            $3750                                                     $4800 per person

SUNSET SHACK

          Shared Room (2 people)             Single Room

           $3295                                            $3695 per person

INVESTMENT INCLUDES

transportation to/from the airport

accommodations (breakfast/lunch included)

welcome dinner

final dinner party

yoga each morning 

flower workshop

a special macrame class

photographs of your work

two surf lessons

and mesmerizing sunsets each evening

All you have to do is get there!

To register, or for more information, email Liza : info@peartreeflowers.com

We cannot wait to see you in Costa Rica!!! 

FAQs:

How much do I need to pay now?

A 50% deposit is required to secure your spot. That is because we need to pay for your hotel, transportation, meals, etc. upfront, all of which is non-refundable for us. The remaining 50% will be due on October 1st, 2015.

How shall I pay?
You may pay by check, credit card, paypal, chase quick pay, or carrier pigeon. 

What is the refund/cancellation policy?If you decide to cancel, you will forfeit your deposit (though we will make exceptions for illness, injury, etc) or you can transfer your spot to someone else. The workshop organizers reserve the right to cancel if we are unable to secure 8 participants at least two months in advance of the workshop. In this unlikely scenario, we'll refund you in full if you've already signed up.

Is there a limit to the number of participants?

Yes, we are capping the workshop at 15 people. That way, we can ensure that everyone gets plenty of individual attention and instruction, and the workshop stays small and intimate. 

If you build it, they will come ***

It snowed a lot yesterday. I didn't even realize it was supposed to snow until all of a sudden about a foot of snow was engulfing my car. Like a dutiful car owner, I grabbed my shovel and broom and went to rescue my poor beach car (a '97 cabriolet convertible. Yes, I use this car for flower jobs. No, I have no idea how I do it.) She was sad. Ice around the tires, fluffy snow encasing her. After an hour of sweeping and shoveling, I got her free and drove her in the heart of the blizzard to get an oil change after the light started flashing and incessant beeping followed suit.

A week ago, I woke up wide awake at 5am to go surfing with my friend in Costa Rica. Caught some of the best waves of my trip. Head high, no wind. Riding green waves till there's no more wave to ride. I think i'm living a double life. Bikini clad - freely using the word "stoked" and talking about "5 rhythms" as if everyone has danced their way through a sunset on a mountain with 50 hippies via "flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness" dances. (guys, i'm not joking. I did this and you all HAVE TO!) And then boom - wearing soooooo many layers of fabric the next day, bouncing down 28th street, hailing taxis with a mission, and generally hustling.

The thing is - i'm into it - this double life.  And i'm willingly (eagerly) digging deeper into it. Starting to take on more projects in Costa Rica which is thrilling, nerve wracking, and hilarious.

When I was in CR this year, I kept idiotically reciting that Field of Dreams quote to myself "if you build it, they will come." It just kept popping in my head.

(photo by Karen Wise)

Thing is, good stuff keeps happening (please click on that link!!) and it's as complicated as: if you build it, they will come. Intention (work, drive, more work) is key. Of course. It's just so surreal that I started talking about doing events in CR a few years back and now it's happening. Placing flower orders, figuring out logistics, skyping (so much skyping!), and bringing my friends along for the ride. We're plotting a workshop/retreat for November filled with flowering, macrame, sunrise yoga, and sunset surfing. I'm titling it: "your best week ever."

(that's me in the middle, photo by Eric Kurzbard)

So thank you, Kevin Costner (or rather, the mystery voice) for being my self help book while I rode waves, plotted flower escapades, and generally decided this is the year.


***i think the original quote is "if you build it, he will come" but lets be gender neutral here. ;)

OMG

All i can say is - I'm so sorry. This blog, which probably 17 people look at (6 of them being family members), has always been a place where I can pause for a few minutes, strip away the professional hats I sometimes wear, and write a few dumb things, post a few too many photos of the same arrangement, and relax a bit.

I suppose since I imagine there are only 17 people viewing this here blog, it allows me to be a less hashtag, adjective heavy, and a little more clumsily me. So, I apologize to myself, as well, for hiding behind the busy schedules, personal dramas and resolve/welcome the opportunity to get back to basics. I hope you'll join me as I get back on track here.

Yo

Oh, hey there. How are you? I'm great, thanks.  My 2 posts a month plan fell by the wayside when the new year hit, my flight to Costa Rica took off, and then it snowed for a year. I'm back. Flowers are back. This shit is about to start moving at the exact opposite pace it's been moving the last couple months. I'm ready. Looking forward to coffee highs and adrenaline pushes. Being lazy was fun but then it's boring and it's time to hustle again. Here we gooooooo!

2014

First post of this new year. Does this make it more important? I guess so. New beginnings. Clean slate. Sort of. Not much has really changed in the first 18 days of twothousandfourteen. I have been going to yoga somewhat obsessively, but I think that always happens when work slows down. I have to put my energy somewhere if I'm not running around the city playing flower games.

I decided not to make any resolutions this year. Any real resolutions, that is. But I do have one looming under the surface. More of a declaration than a resolution. (Wait, is that disguised as the same thing?) I want to do really great work this year. Like REALLYYYYYY great work. Like whoa I can't believe we made that kind of work. And not just pretty arrangements but expanding to more challenging projects, different avenues, more awareness, and on and on.

I have a hard time thinking I'm any good at this stuff (which I know sounds like i'm fishing). I probably rely on the feedback from others too heavily to give me a clue as to whether i'm "good" "great" "average" or "dumb" (cue instagram). But this year, I want to do more work that I know deep down is closer to great. Which brings me back to the obsessive yoga (hadn't planned on this circle.) I took a class a couple weeks ago and the instructor asked us to pick one word to come back to during class. Just a word. Not a mission or a problem to solve. Without dwelling, the word "trust" came to mine and I found myself saying it in my head throughout the class like a TOTAL hippie.

It's about trusting a lot of parts with earnest, I'm learning. So yeah, it's a biggy. I guess for 2014, I want to go with the flow a bit more and trust I'm heading in that positive direction of interesting work, amazing flowers, diversified projects, etc. without needing to control every ounce of the happenings. Ha! Yeah, good luck with that.

an updated look

Since it's the end of the year and one of my new years resolutions for 2013 was to get a little revamp going on the 'ol website, I justtttt managed to sneak this in under the wire to avoid epic disappointment with myself. I only kept about 10 images from the previous gallery so there's a nice assortment of new photos to look through.

Now that I've been starting at these images for weeks, I'm already ready for another update. BUT, I'll let you take a good look before I threaten to redo it all again. Happy New Year, everyone! I think for 2014's resolution, I'm going to start smoking and work on gaining 10 pounds. Gotta aim high, you  know?!