Transformative Yoga Immersions: Living the Yoga Lifestyle in Sayulita, Mexico

Expand into your freedom and shift into transformation with this yogic lifestyle immersion. Imagine waking up each day to meditate, do yoga and enjoy majestic nature while exploring profound practices that call in divine wisdom and healing.

We designed Evoka Sayulita Yoga School’s 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training to be more than a teacher training certification journey — it's a life-changing immersion into the depths of yoga philosophy, practice and lifestyle. While immersion training is challenging, our unique program offers an experience that not only imparts the skills of teaching yoga but also cultivates a profound shift in lifestyle. In this way, it’s a well-rounded program for anyone wanting to deepen their knowledge and practice of yoga, whether or not they want to become a yoga teacher

What Makes a Yoga Immersion Life-Changing?

Participating in a yoga immersion in Sayulita offers a retreat from your everyday life to reset and create new habits and routines. 

Deeper Understanding of Yoga Philosophy. Yoga teacher training immersions provide a supportive environment for delving into the philosophical roots of yoga. The ancient teachings become embodied when lived daily in a healing environment.

Personal Practice Intensification. Immersions encourage a more intensive personal practice. Living and breathing yoga each day allows participants to refine their asanas, delve into meditation and explore breathwork, providing a solid foundation for teaching from personal experience.

Cultivation of Mindfulness and Presence. Embracing a yogic lifestyle during teacher training naturally nurtures mindfulness and presence. Teacher trainees often find this evokes more clarity in making intuitive decisions about their purpose and life decisions.

Community Building. Immersions give you the opportunity to thrive in a close-knit community of like-minded individuals. The shared experience of living yoga brings trainees together, creating a supportive environment where each person's journey contributes to the expansion and growth of us all.

Evoka Sayulita School's 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training: A Fusion of Learning and Lifestyle

Our 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training takes this immersion to the healing, tropical paradise of Sayulita, Mexico. We offer you an invitation to live and breathe yoga. The immersive experience transforms not only the way one teaches but also the way you live—a profound shift that will follow you beyond the 14-day immersion. You will emerge not just as a certified yoga teacher, but as the highest version of yourself. After the immersion, will not just return home with a Yoga Alliance certificate, but with life-changing insight and practices to support your transformation.

This Yoga Sequence Will Have You Vibin’ Vacation Mode

A vacation can be much more than a change of scenery. To fully renew, you can change your routine and take time to appreciate little wonders that you take for granted each day. It’s a time out to reflect and give energy back to yourself.

Taking a vacation is also an opportunity to leave behind our habits and routines. Intentionally using your vacation time to clear out and reset your habits can leave you relaxed and ready to live inspired to attain new goals when you return home.

I offer you this Vacation Mode all-levels hatha yoga sequence to help you reset and focus on yourself and your needs as you escape your day to day routine. Enjoy the indulgence with the mantra “I love and approve of myself.”

Responsible Travel: Your Decisions Impact Communities + the Planet

This week on the Wanderful Blog, I’ve shared my travel experiences both as a guest and a worker at all-inclusive resorts. Spoiler alert: Many of these accommodations often disrupt natural ecosystems and negatively impact the surrounding community.

Check out the blog post:

Ethical Concerns for All-Inclusive Resorts (& What Happened When I Stayed at One)

As travelers, it’s important that we understand the impact of our vacations and adventures. This was one of my motivations in offering my home as an Airbnb host in the Outer Banks. I wanted to offer vacationers an eco-friendly alternative that benefits the local community. My Airbnb staff and I are not investors who live out of town. We are the residents who work in the local service industry and contribute to the community and your experience. I’m a local yoga teacher, my co-host is a local nurse and our cleaners are retired life-long residents. When you visit OBX, you get a small town feel. Supporting small town businesses is what will preserve the uniqueness of our community.

Likewise, I’m committed to reducing consumption of single-use plastic and harsh chemicals that wreak havoc on our beaches and oceans. My mission is to run an eco-conscious vacation home that inspires my guests. Here’s my eco-friendly guide for Airbnb hosts and guests.

Thank you to my Airbnb guests who have chosen my eco-friendly vacation rental and offered positive feedback and encouragement.

Consider my coaching sessions, if you would like to make small habit changes to create an eco-friendly, holistic household, which in turn will improve your physical, financial, social, mental and emotional well-being.

An Eco-Friendly Guide for Airbnb Hosts and Guests

In 2018, when I began sharing my home in the Outer Banks of North Carolina via Airbnb hosting, I talked with other hosts in the area to understand how to efficiently prepare for guests. Many tips referred me to the Dollar Tree or Walmart, where I could get cleaning products and supplies at bargain prices. I headed to the store, walked the aisles and considered purchasing common household products, such as Palmolive and Softsoap, and I realized, this isn’t me. I thought, if I’m going to be sharing my home with others, I should be sharing my way of life with others. I left the dollar store, returned home, and started brainstorming how I could create an Airbnb hosting experience that would not only offer eco-friendly options, but also inspire my guests to consider using these options in their own homes.

Here are 10 ways I’ve created an eco-friendly Airbnb stay for my guests, which are inspiring ideas for Airbnb hosts or anyone seeking a more eco-friendly household.

10 Tips for Creating a More Eco-Friendly Airbnb

Encourage recycling

Offer separate bins for Recycling and Trash inside the home. In the Outer Banks, where I live and host Airbnb stays, there’s a paid curbside service that collects our recycling. Joining the program is very affordable, which makes this an easy option to offer guests.

Choose upcycled goods and handmade crafts

Rather than purchasing cheap new furniture, decor and household items that probably wouldn’t last, I purchased quality used items and handmade goods from artisans to create a unique and eclectic living space. A lot of my furniture was purchased at local thrift stores and then fixed up and painted. One of my Airbnbs even uses the vintage Corelle dishes that I ate off of as a child. I’ve never found another set of dishes as durable and it just so happened I could match the pattern and buy additional pieces when I searched enough thrift stores.

Provide Reusable Shopping Bags

Living at the beach, plastic bags are more noteable environmental concern as we appreciate the magnificent ocean each day. A few years ago, the Outer Banks enforced a plastic bag ban. But it eventually was overturned and local businesses all went back to providing plastic bags. Offering reuseable shopping bags can help limit the use of unnecessary plastic.

Provide an alternative to plastic water bottles

Limit single-use plastic consumption by providing an alternative for clean and portable drinking water. My home and Airbnb have a water filter built into the refridgerator as well as a Brita pitcher. I provide my guests with refillable, reuseable water bottles to take to parks and the beach.

Offer Reuseable Food Containers

I stopped purchasing Ziplock bags and plastic wrap about 10 years ago and was challenged to come up with ways to keep food fresh and portable. I offer my guests glass containers for keeping leftovers and chip clips for storing snacks.

Use Natural Cleaning Products

Natural cleaning products (biodegradable and free of harsh chemicals) are more common and affordable these days and using them benefits not only the environment, but your health. It did take a little training at first for my cleaning staff to understand my commitment to natural products, but all the products are getting the job done. Sometimes we use Meyer’s cleaning concentrate and sometimes we use simply vinegar and water (for Covid concerns, we do also use disinfectant). We clean the floors using a steam mop. Another must-have is Charlie’s Soaps concentrated laundry powder (only a tablespoon is needed per load of laundry!).

Provide Natural Hygiene Products

For guest amenities, I offer Dr. Bronner’s for handsoap and Giovanni Eco Chic Hair Care and Alba Botanica. Admittedly, guests are probably wondering why the hand soap is so watery (Dr. Bronner’s says “Dilute! Dilute!), but I’ve never had any complaints. I am able to buy both of these products in bulk and then refill smaller bottles, reducing waste.

Use Biodegradable Trash bags

This is a little tricky. It’s actually really hard to come by trash bags that are made with recycled post-consumer plastic and are biodegradable. I happen to live in Mexico part-time, where these are very common. I have flown a stash to the States in my suitcase to use in my Airbnb. But if you aren’t going to Mexico anytime soon, consider reusing any plastic bags you’ve collected for bathroom trash. Meanwhile, when these bags finally become more common in the States, purchase them and use your consumer power to show your demand for more eco-friendly products.

Energy Efficient Light Bulbs

No excuse here, these are easy to find and last much longer than traditional bulbs. One swap out will last you years.

Killer Karma!

I ask my guests to be mindful of their plastic usage and to keep the beach clear of litter. I let them know that using the thermostat mindfully is appreciated. It’s not enough to just do our part, we have to encourage, inspire and help others. This is how you enjoy killer karma!

OBX Best: Lighthouses

When I’m not teaching yoga or writing, I’m running my Airbnbs in Outer Banks, North Carolina. These “OBX Best” posts are my personal travel guides to help anyone visiting OBX to have a wonderful visit.

Historic Lighthouses of the Outer Banks Shine On

Spend a week in the Outer Banks and you will notice the waters change from one moment to the next. Depending on the day, you may find gentle waves and a calm current, glassy barrels begging for surfers, or even an eruption of wind and choppy waters, resulting in red flag“no swimming” warnings. Just peering into the ocean from the shore, it’s easy to see why the Outer Banks is considered the Graveyard of the Atlantic.

Off shore, there are two forces that make the ocean hazardous for seafarers. The arctic Labrador current collides with the tropical Gulf Stream current, which can be blamed for a long history of shipwrecks along the coast. Built in the 1800’s lighthouses of the Outer Banks were designed to help ships navigate rough seas safely to harbor. Before that, captains had to rely on hand-drawn maps and descriptions of the coastline.

While, GPS navigation has largely outdated lighthouses, they still remain a magnificent symbol of the coast’s treacherous history and offer a wonderful option for sightseeing and photos on the Outer Banks. Their beautiful architecture and distinct exterior patterns and colors add to the beauty of the natural shores. And for the lighthearted, lighthouses are a symbolic reminder that there is direction and guidance for times when we find ourselves lost in the stormy seas of life. 

There are four lighthouses located along the coast of the Outer Banks, all of which still shine their beacons today (listed from north to south).

A short trip while visiting the Northern Outer Banks

The Currituck Beach Lighthouse, Corolla, NC

Approximately one million red bricks make up the impressive tower of Currituck Lighthouse, with a beacon that can be viewed from up to 18 nautical miles. Admission for climbing the spiraling 220 steps is $10. Bring your binoculars and scan the panoramic view for wild horses. You can also check out the museum quality exhibits for more information about the history of the lighthouse, the Fresnel lens, the lighthouse keepers and shipwrecks. 

Bodie Island Lighthouse, Nags Head, NC

Recently restored in 2013, Bodie Island Lighthouse is located at the northern end of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The lighthouse is open for climbs from the third Friday in April to Columbus Day.  The tower is painted white with two black horizontal stripes, making it unmistakable for a seafarer’s point of reference. It’s rumored Bodie Island was named for the large number of bodies that washed ashore from shipwrecks!

A bit farther down!

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

One of the most recognizable lighthouses in the country, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, is North Carolina’s tallest at 193 feet. Its black and white candy-cane-like stripes and history for protecting passing ships from the deadly Diamond Shoals make it the most popular lighthouse with visitors. In an engineering feat in 1999, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was moved 2,900 ft. inland to a safer location from beach erosion, making it the tallest brick structure in history ever to be moved. The 248 steps spiral steps, about 12 stories, can be climbed between the third Friday in April to Columbus Day.

Ocracoke Lighthouse

At 75 feet tall, the southernmost lighthouse in the Outer Banks is Ocracoke Lighthouse. The tower has a white exterior of mortar spread over brick. Built in 1823, it’s one of the oldest operating lighthouses in the country. The lighthouse is not open for climbing,  but visitors are welcome to visit the site.

OBX Best: Coffee Shops

When I’m not teaching yoga or writing, I’m running my Airbnbs in Outer Banks, North Carolina. These “OBX Best” posts are my personal travel guides to help anyone visiting OBX to have a wonderful visit.

Coffee Shops

Vacation is a time to step away from the routine of everyday life and enjoy a more relaxed pace. My first coffee recommendation is to make a pot of French Press and take it in a to-go tumbler down to the beach. That’s how I spend my own mornings in Kill Devil Hills. But the Outer Banks offers many locally owned coffee shops, so you can enjoy that coffee goodness each morning with a unique OBX style! 

Front Porch Cafe 

With locations in Kill Devil Hills at Milepost 6, Nags Head at Milepost 10.5 and in Manteo, Front Porch Cafe offers a full coffee menu, bagels and pastries. The Nags Head and Manteo locations are perfect for productivity, offering high-speed wifi and plug-in stations. There also are cozy couches and tables to meet and catch up with friends. The Kill Devil Hills location is smaller in a shared space with retails stores. Front Porch Cafe specializes in artisan “micro” small-batch roasting, which can be seen during roasting hours in the Nags Head location. Order a cup in-house or buy a half or full pound of coffee to brew in your rental cottage or home.

Morning View Coffee House and Roastery

Just blocks from the beach in Nags Head, Morning View offers an eclectic and cozy indoor and outdoor garden setting to enjoy relaxing with coffee or tea or spending time online with free wifi. The coffee shop is dog friendly, and offers a limited selection of snacks and fresh-baked pastries. You will often see and smell the coffee beans roasting as you enter the shop. In addition to ordering espresso drinks and fresh brew, you can purchase a variety of fair-trade, sustainable, farm-to-cup coffee bean varieties to brew back at your rental cottage or home. 

Outer Bean Juice and Java

Outer Bean in Kitty Hawk offers fresh coffee along with a full breakfast menu and juice and smoothie bar. This is where the health conscious start their day. You can enjoy a creative variety of espresso drinks all day long, as well as healthy lunch and dinner options as the day progresses. The Outer Bean offers fair-trade and organic coffee as well as a large selection of vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free menu options and beer and wine.

Waveriders Coffee, Deli and Pub

Waveriders in Nags Head offers coffee and espresso drinks with just about any syrup flavor you can think of, fresh bakery items and a breakfast and lunch/dinner panini menu. The deli prides itself on offering a healthier alternative to fast food, featuring Boar’s Head meats and cheeses. Waveriders also sells beer and wine, and you’re likely to find live music entertainment at this casual hangout in the evenings. 

Each of these coffee shops showcases local art and offers a unique OBX community experience! Dine-in for a full coffee house experience, or take that coffee to go and sip it at the beach watching the sun come up and the waves roll in. Either way, coffee is a delicious way to start your day in OBX!