Three Trees Yoga Retreats

Three Trees
Yucatan Adventure:
Yoga, Ayurveda & Maya
featuring Jeni Martinez, Emily Navar and Alfred Rordame

February 14th - 22nd, 2009

You’ve been practicing yoga for some time now. You yearn to deepen your yoga practice and explore yogic philosophy, meditation and ayurveda. You thrive on adventure and would love to combine your passion for yoga with your desire to explore an ancient and mysterious culture. This is the week you’ve been waiting for.

Click on images for a larger view

Class with Emily Navar

Eight night package includes: comfortable accommodations in a Mayan style room with private bathroom; outstanding breakfasts and dinners featuring the freshest local ingredients; use of natural rock bottom pool; 28 hours of yoga and yoga-related classes including meditation, ayurveda, philosophy and kirtan in an open-air palapa.
(Airfare and ground transportation not included.)

Per person pricing:

Triple Occupancy Room: $990 per person
Double Occupancy Room: $1090 per person
Single Occupancy Room: $1225 per person

$350 deposit to register; $350 more by November 15; balance by Jan. 15, 2009; No refunds after Dec. 15.

Come to deepen your yoga practice; quiet your mind and renew your zest for life.

*massage; personal Jyotish readings (Vedic astrology); and chartered side trips available for a small extra charge

Registration

Visa & M/C accepted. Payment plans available upon request.

About the Instructors

Fountain at Macanche

Jeni Martinez, RYT, has been teaching Hatha Yoga since 1990. She blends her background of Kripalu, Kundalini, and Iyengar influences in a playful, yet challenging format. In 2005, along with her partners, Suzy Cindrich and Karen Schwisow, Jeni opened Federal Way, WA’s first yoga studio, Three Trees Yoga & Healing Arts Center. This Yoga Intensive is an extension of her passion for building a yoga community and for helping others to incorporate the deep spiritual truths of yoga into their daily lives. This will be the fourteenth yoga retreat that Jeni has hosted since 2002. She combines her business management skills with her yoga teaching to create retreats that are as organized as they are inspirational. Jeni is thrilled to be returning to Macanche for the third time with her husband, Rocky, and her twin boys Devin and Cody.

Spectacular meals

Emily Navar, RYT, teaches an Iyengar-based Vinyasa style with a deep understanding of the body from years as a professional dancer and a licensed massage practitioner. She creates an atmosphere of trust and confidence supporting and developing her student’s strengths and guiding them to a deeper understanding of yoga. In addition to teaching yoga, she has taught anatomy to yoga teachers and is a Certified Clinical Ayurvedic Specialist. She delights in weaving her knowledge of yoga, dance, massage and Ayurveda into each class. Emily and Alfred left their Seattle home in 2005 and purchased the Macanche Bed and Breakfast (see www.macanche.com) with the goal of creating a space not just for vacationing but for retreat and reflection.

Alfred leads a kirtan session

Alfred Rordame is an intrepid explorer of Sanskrit, Vedic philosophy, Jyotish (Vedic astrology) and the science of yoga. He will lead Jyotish classes and sutra studies (yogic philosophy) as well as kirtan (the call and response style of Indian music and chanting). Alfred is also known for his gourmet talents in the kitchen and promises some fresh, delicious dinners with a Yucatecan flair. Alfred will draw on his knowledge of Vedic astrology to offer personal Jyotish readings.

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow mindedness...Travel helps us discover we are family after all" - Mark Twain

Why the Yucatan? The Yucatan is renowned for its wealth of ancient and mysterious Mayan ruins; stately, restored haciendas; colonial cities; beaches and friendly Yucatecan people. Macanche is located in Izamal, a quaint pueblo close to Yucatan’s capital city of Merida, and very near the Mayan ruins and Cenotes (underground caves.)

The Mayan people retain a clear vision of their ancient ways, living in harmony with Nature, keeping time with the rhythms of the seasons. Nature and the ancient ruins remain sacred books, calling softly with the voice of many thousands of years.

Mayan Bedroom

Getting there:

I have been doing the airline watch for months now waiting for the flights to the Yucatan to come down. I am pleased to report that today (10/23) I found a great price to Cancun. In general the flights seem to have come down a bit but flying Continental to Cancun was the best value I could find- 1/2 the price of flying into Merida. I wanted to share it with you in case you are interested in joining us. We were able to get roundtrip airfare for each of us for $415 ($517 including all taxes and fees). This fare was based on a two week stay so your price may be slightly higher if you need a shorter stay.

Rocky and the boys and I are planning to leave Seattle on Tues. Feb. 10th at 7:55am on Continental Flight CO166. We will connect to CO764 in Houston at 3:50pm and continue to Cancun, arriving there at 6:10pm. I know that some of you will need to fly in closer to the weekend in order to accommodate work schedules. If you would like to fly into Cancun, please arrive sometime
before Saturday, Feb. 14th in the afternoon. We will then take a shuttle together to Izamal to begin the actual retreat. It will take 3-4 hours to get to Izamal by shuttle. We will split the cost of the shuttle with whoever decides to go this route. The shuttle is very reasonable in price.

Please note: A couple of participants have chosen to fly into Merida instead of Cancun. They are flying Continental flight 1766 from Seattle to Houston on Fri., Feb. 13, 2009; connecting from Houston on CO 1842 to Merida. They plan to return on CO 1843 from Merida to Houston; and CO 267 from Houston to Seattle on Tues., Feb. 24. If you decide to fly into Merida instead of Cancun, you can join them on a shuttle from Merida to Izamal on Sat., Feb. 14th, 2009. The price of the shuttle will be divided amongst the number of participants who choose this route. You will need to book a hotel room in Merida on Fri., Feb. 13th.

There are many nice hotels in Cancun and Playa del Carmen. After researching them, we have decided to stay at Sandos Playacar Resort. I have included the link here for the deal that we found.
Sandos Playacar Resort

This is a full-amenities hotel that also sells timeshare. Because we are travelling as a foursome, we jumped at the chance to stay at a fine hotel for a little less money in exchange for sitting
through a 90 minute timeshare presentation. (We can do anything for 90 minutes, right?) This hotel also has many non-timeshare rooms that you can book without having to stay four nights or sit through a sales presentation. You can go through www.bookit.com; enter Cancun as your destination and scroll down until you find the Sandos Playacar resort. Currently it is showing $159 per person/per night which includes all meals. If you go the timeshare route, airport transportation to the hotel is included. If you opt for just a night or two, then you will pay a fee for transportaion to the resort. Staying at this hotel is optional! Feel free to stay anywhere you
like and just meet us at our hotel on Saturday the 14th.

On the return trip, we may stay at Macanche for a couple of nights after the retreat is over and then take the shuttle directly to the airport in Cancun on Tues., Feb. 24th in time to catch the 2:00pm flight (Continental Airlines Flt.465, connecting to CO1888 in houston at 6:55pm and arriving at seaTac at 9:42pm). We also are looking into the option of staying at Macanche on
Sunday the 22nd and returning to another place in Cancun for one night before flying out on Tuesday. I will keep you posted on that decision. If you decide to stay additional nights at Macanche, there will be an additional cost. The retreat technically ends on Sunday, Feb. 22nd after
breakfast. If enough people decide to return to Cancun at the same time, we can share the cost of a shuttle so let me know what your plans are and when you have to leave paradise!

All passengers must have a valid passport for this trip. We recommend you apply as soon as possible to avoid having to pay extra for expedited service. Passport photos are available at Costco or the UPS store.

Air fares vary. Check Travelocity, Priceline or Expedia for competitive fares.

Duplex View

History of Izamal: Izamal, known also as The City of Three Cultures, represents both the collision and assimilation of Catholicism and Spanish cultures on top of the original Mayan tradition. The ancient Mayan pyramids lie among the downtown blocks, incorporated into the modern town. Long before the Spanish arrived, Izamal had been a prosperous ancient city, occupied continuously from the late Pre-classic period onwards (from about 300 BC). Twelve large pyramids made the city one of the most impressive in the Yucatan.

Izamal was dedicated to the worship of Itzamna, patron of learning, science, and the arts, who was also associated with healing and medicine. The pyramid of Kinich Kak Mo, which has been translated as "Fiery Sun's Face" or "Fire Macaw -- Face of the Sun" was built to honor the god, Itzamna. According to legend, offerings left on the pyramid were collected by Itzamna, in the form of a macaw. Already established as a major pilgrimage center for the Mayan people, it was converted to a Christian pilgrimage site by the Franciscan order after they arrived in 1549.

For more information on the Yucatan, visit travelyucatan and yucatantoday.