Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
Four Ways Into BEing
Horses
Horses
Horses
Being Seen
Horses meet us in the immediacy of relationship.
They do not require our résumé, our history, or an explanation of who we intend to become.
They experience the human standing before them, and they respond to what is happening between us now.
In their presence, we can experience what it feels like to be seen without first construct
Being Seen
Horses meet us in the immediacy of relationship.
They do not require our résumé, our history, or an explanation of who we intend to become.
They experience the human standing before them, and they respond to what is happening between us now.
In their presence, we can experience what it feels like to be seen without first constructing a story about who we are.
No horse experience is necessary.
Yoga
Horses
Horses
Being With
Yoga brings the exploration into the body.
The body carries history. It exists in the present, and it is continually changing.
Our practice isn't about asking the body to become more flexible, stronger, younger, thinner, or better.
Instead, we explore a different question:
Can I be with this body, exactly as it is?
No previous yoga experience is necessary.
Nature
Horses
Nature
Being Part Of
All of this takes place within a living system that has very little interest in our timelines.
The river moves and has been moving long before we arrived.
A tree contains its beginning, its present form, and the possibility of what it will become.
The rainforest is simultaneously growing, dying, decomposing, and being born.
Noth
Being Part Of
All of this takes place within a living system that has very little interest in our timelines.
The river moves and has been moving long before we arrived.
A tree contains its beginning, its present form, and the possibility of what it will become.
The rainforest is simultaneously growing, dying, decomposing, and being born.
Nothing is static, and yet nothing appears to be rushing toward completion.
Nature doesn't teach us how to escape time; it reminds us how to live within it.
Art
Horses
Nature
Being Expressed
Then there are the inevitable gaps—the places language cannot quite reach.
Art gives those places form.
Color, texture, line, shape, and image allow something intangible to enter three-dimensional space.
A feeling becomes a mark.
A memory becomes color.
An emerging possibility takes shape before we fully understand what it mean
Being Expressed
Then there are the inevitable gaps—the places language cannot quite reach.
Art gives those places form.
Color, texture, line, shape, and image allow something intangible to enter three-dimensional space.
A feeling becomes a mark.
A memory becomes color.
An emerging possibility takes shape before we fully understand what it means.
Art makes visible something that, moments before, existed only within us.
Honestly, no artistic skill is necessary.
A Week Lived Differently
Rhythm Rather Than an Itinerary
The Experience
There will be times when we converse with our bodies, times when we partner with a horse, and times when art gives form to what we didn’t have words to express.
Some experiences will happen together. Others will unfold in the hours between them, when you are sitting beneath a tree, wandering through the gardens, sharing a meal, or realizing that something within you has shifted without knowing exactly when it happened.
Different ways of encountering the same human being. You.
We will move with the group, the weather, the horses, the land, and what is emerging. Each experience will become part of the next.
We usually understand our lives as a line: the person we were, the person we are, and the person we are becoming. But imagine your life as a piece of music. The volume rises and falls, different instruments come forward and recede, yet it remains the same song.
The child you once were may still be playing.
The wisdom of the person you are becoming may already be audible.
A memory may suddenly become present. A possibility may feel strangely familiar. Something expressed through a painting may seem to have been waiting years for your hand to give it form.
For a week, we become curious about it all.
HUMANS BEing is a place to experience yourself as wholly perfect, just as you are, while remembering that you are part of the whole.
The Lodge
High in the mountains, in the same village as Eponicity, between Costa Rica's Southern Pacific coast and San Isidro, lies an extraordinary private estate.
Think Swiss Family Robinson!
It is a private family property surrounded by more than 100 acres of rainforest, rivers, waterfalls, gardens, animals, and working land.
Trails wind through the property. A treehouse, reached by a suspension bridge, rises into the forest.
The farm has a wood-fired sauna, a pool, and food growing throughout.
The property even generates its own power from the river.
For seven nights, this remarkable place becomes our shared home.
Guest Rooms
A Different Kind of Stay
Guest rooms on the finca are not typical hotel rooms—and that is part of their charm. Whether you decide to brave the suspension bridge to the treehouse or choose accommodations a little closer to the ground, you’ll be comfortable, welcomed, and well cared for by the staff throughout your stay.
The accommodations reflect the character of the estate: rustic, unique, immersed in nature, and authentically Costa Rican.
Meals
From the Farm to the Table
You’ll be invited to gather fruits, vegetables, and other foods growing right on the farm. If you feel like joining in, you can even lend a hand with the daily chores and get acquainted with the wonderful menagerie of animals who call the finca home—including emus!
Our onsite cooks lovingly prepare meals using fresh local ingredients and the authentic flavors of Costa Rica. Food here is more than something served at the table; it is part of living for a week within the rhythms of the farm.
The Facilitators
Deborah Draves Legg and Susanne Streidl
Our paths have crossed in some wonderful ways over the years. We have both lived and worked in Costa Rica, owned and managed destination hotels, and collaborated in tourism. Creating experiences where people feel welcomed, cared for, and at home comes naturally to us. We share a genuine curiosity about being human, a love of creativity and nature, and an appreciation for experiences with depth that still leave plenty of room for laughter, play, and spontaneity.
HUMANS BEing brings all of that together, with enough structure to hold the experience and enough space for the unexpected moments that often become the ones we remember most. Together, we hold the central question of this retreat:
What becomes possible when we stop trying so hard to become—and experience what it is to BE?
Susanne
I love bringing people together, creating spaces where curiosity can unfold, and inspiring people to discover their own creativity, joy, and aliveness.
Life has taken me through many different worlds. German-born and shaped by a life across cultures, my journey has led me from working as a flight attendant and educator in human and social development to becoming a yoga teacher, retreat facilitator, and hotel manager in Costa Rica.
Along the way, I’ve been part of international teams and social projects in different countries, always guided by curiosity, a love for people, and a desire to explore new perspectives.
I speak four languages and feel most at home and alive across cultures and with all kinds of people.
This unique mix of experiences shapes my BEing today: connecting professionalism with curiosity, experience with intuition, and structure with the freedom to do things differently.
Creativity and design are another important part of my life. I love painting and creating, inspired by beauty—in people, in nature, in little things, and in those special moments that make life feel alive.
Whether it’s yoga, meditation, art, singing together, or a walk in the forest – I invite you to SIMPLICITY, something that feels good for your soul and awakens your childlike joy, and to LET YOUR INNER SUNSHINE OUT.
Deborah
I love the places where certainty ends and curiosity begins, where horses, nature, creativity, and honest human experience help us see ourselves from a different perspective.
Like Susanne, my life has moved through many worlds. I spent more than thirty years in nursing, from the intensity of neonatal and pediatric critical care to the deeply human work of hospice and end-of-life care.
Alongside that journey, horses became some of my greatest teachers, eventually leading me into equine-facilitated learning, transformational coaching, retreat work, writing, and exploring the many ways we make meaning of our lives.
For more than twenty years, I have brought people and horses together through Eponicity, creating experiences that help us discover what becomes visible when we pay attention.
I am endlessly inquisitive about consciousness, creativity, intuition, science, spirituality, and the mystery of what it means to be human. I love the places where these worlds overlap rather than trying to separate them.
Living in Costa Rica has deepened that curiosity. Here, surrounded by horses, rainforest, rivers, wildlife, and the constant movement of nature, I am reminded every day that being is not a state of stillness. It is a living relationship with life as it is happening.
During Humans BEing, I’ll invite you into experiences with the horses, the land, one another, and yourself—not to find something that is missing, but to remember everything that is already here.
Retreat Investment
$3,800 USD per person
Seven nights | March 7–14, 2027
HUMANS BEing is limited to six guests.
Living together is part of the experience—sharing meals, mornings, conversations, laughter, silence, and the ordinary spaces between everything else.
HUMANS BEing is intentionally communal.
Accommodations are shared. Private rooms are not available for this retreat.
From the Mountains to the Sea
During the week, we will leave our mountain home for a day on Costa Rica's Pacific coast.
We'll travel to Uvita and Marino Ballena National Park, home of the famous Whale's Tail, where two beaches meet to create a natural formation extending into the Pacific.
When tides permit, we'll walk the Whale's Tail and spend time along the beach before enjoying lunch at one of the local restaurants in Uvita.
What's Included
- Seven nights shared lodging at Finca Mario
- All meals at Finca Mario
- All HUMANS BEing facilitation and experiences
- Equine experiences at Eponicity
- Yoga and movement experiences
- Art experiences and retreat materials
- Day trip to Uvita and the Whale's Tail
- Private group transportation throughout the retreat
- Round-trip group transportation between Quepos Airport and Finca Mario
Not Included
- International flights to and from Costa Rica
- Domestic flights to and from Quepos
- Meals eaten at local restaurants, including arrival-day lunch in Dominical and lunch during our Uvita outing
- Alcoholic beverages and soft drinks
- Tips and gratuities
- Personal expenses
- Travel insurance
Reservation & Payment
A 50% non-refundable deposit ($1,900) reserves your place.
The remaining balance of $1,900 is due 60 days before the retreat.
All retreat payments are non-refundable.
Payment may be made by credit card, PayPal, bank transfer, or Venmo.
Travel Insurance
Travel insurance is required for all participants. Your policy should include coverage for:
- Trip cancellation and interruption
- Emergency medical care
- Medical evacuation to your home country
- Pandemic-related disruption
- Force majeure events
Because payments are non-refundable, we strongly encourage you to purchase comprehensive coverage as soon as you reserve your place. Each participant is responsible for travel arrangements. Please allow generous connection times when coordinating international and domestic flights. Retreat activities and timing may be adjusted in response to weather, land conditions, the horses, or other unforeseen circumstances.
Arrival and Departure
Arrival: March 7, 2027
Our time together begins at Quepos Airport (XQP).
A private group transfer will meet participants at the airport, and we will travel south along Costa Rica's Pacific coast.
We'll stop in the beach town of Dominical for lunch before turning inland and beginning the climb into the mountains toward Finca Mario.
Lunch in Dominical is not included.
By afternoon, the road, the ocean, and the towns will have fallen behind us.
We'll arrive, settle into our shared home, and begin.
Departure: March 14, 2027
A private group transfer will take you back to Quepos Airport (XQP).
Travel Planning
For international travelers, the easiest route is generally to fly into Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) near San José and then take a short domestic flight to Quepos Airport (XQP). SANSA Airlines offers service between San José and Quepos.
Depending on your international flight schedule, you may prefer to spend a night near SJO before or after the retreat.
We are happy to offer guidance on your international flight, SANSA connection, and overnight airport stay.