Retreats
& Trainings
Find the Experience you Need
"People find themselves here."
Restore and re-energize
Reconnect heart & mind - passion & purpose
Allow time and space to heal
Re-find a sense of balance
Explore & harness new insights or ideas
Support & empower yourself through the next phase
of your own growth or journey
Let the Experience Find You
Tula Vida horses are wise and experienced teachers of mindfulness, natural balance, energy management and self-discovery. The vibrant, joyful magic of this corner of Costa Rica enables the natural world to soothe, nourish and restore you as only nature can.
Join one of our organised retreats (or design your own) to find a supportive, beautiful and fun environment to go a little deeper into healing and self-discovery with transformational results.
Upcoming
Retreats & Trainings
UPDATE - EXCITING NEWS!
We have just announced our exciting transition to glorious Tula Vida Ranch!
We are in the process of revamping our website with beautiful photos of our new horse and human sanctuary and including details in our retreats, so if you are looking for a retreat or experience with us, please send us a message.
You can see upcoming retreats below with more details to follow. In the meantime you can see photos and read about our new home at Tula Vida Ranch here – and be one of the first to book!
Or join our email list to get all the upcoming offers and details.
Your own Private Retreat
Various weeks during 2025
Join us for a personal week filled with the rest & restoration activities of your choice.
You want/need a break but can’t make a group retreat or are looking for something different? Design your own private retreat & this way you get to enjoy the beauty of Tula Vida, experience the magic of the horses & spend your days here exactly how you choose.
In these private retreats, guests enjoy family style meals each day so you feel a sense of community even within your more private, personal experience.
Ask us for a list of available weeks & more details
Swimming with Horses
2-6 January 2025 (sold out)
A magical 4 night, 5 day experience riding horses along the stunning Costa Rica Pacific coast, with plenty of time to swim in the ocean and play in the sand with your horse, or share some hammock time as they munch their hay on the beach.
Limited places so book now!
Equine & Earth -
Reconnect to You
9 - 14 February 2025
Tula Vida is excited to collaborate with aligned & passionate facilitators Jane Marchant, Islena Faircrest & Tara Casagrande (physical therapist, IFS trauma informed therapist, yoga/meditation teacher).
An unforgettable journey of self discovery, centering & reconnection, including daily somatic practices that lead you to a reawakening of your wild soul, your vitality & your radiance.
Mindfulness with the Masters
28 April - 3 May 2025
Benefits = Peace, Positivity, Balance, Energy…
Stress is a word we use to describe many things but overall, whatever the cause, it doesn’t feel good and is actually toxic for our body systems. A powerful and scientifically proven way to reduce the impact of stress is to be in nature in a mindful way. This retreat, where you interact intentionally with horses in green, vibrant environments, will resettle your nervous system and shift you back into your natural rhythm, plus give you the tools you need to re-create this state for yourself.
Yoga, Mindfulness & Horses
9 - 15 June 2025
Imagine practising yoga surrounded by 3 volcanos & tuning into nature with these wise, sentient beings
Horses have much to teach us about mindfulness, balance and living in harmony - with ourselves, each other and the natural world. As well as deepening your yoga practice you will deepen your connection with yourself. This retreat is a dive into experiential, embodied movement and mindfulness practices and learning the gifts and secrets straight from the horses' mouth.
The Nature, Ritual & Renewal Retreat
13 - 18 July 2025
Valuing reciprocity, we’re not just here to take in the beauty, we will be giving back, honoring the land & the people who make it special
Designed especially for helpers and healers, this collaboration with Melissa Rosinski – expert in somatic & nature-based therapy – you are invited to dive into powerful experiential learning together with the land, the horses and other healers who ‘get it’.
Retreat to Recharge
3 - 9 August 2025
Co-hosted with Nora Kenney - not to be missed
Sometimes things need to be unplugged for a while to recharge and recalibrate. Stress activates the nervous system and we can get stuck on "go". Learn how horses, nature - and us too - can let it all go and find a more balanced state of being as well as just doing.
Take home mindfulness tools, insights & a refreshed nervous system, ready to dive into life again.
Practice Mindfulness with Masters
Connection & Belonging
23 - 27 September 2025
Imagine feeling like you understood yourself & could help yourself feel better?
In a fast-paced world of doing, it can be hard to know why we don't feel as good as we want to feel - or to find time or the means to figure it out. Here, we let the horses do it.
It may sound strange but horses know better than us what is going on inside us...thanks to 56 million years of developing their instincts and senses.
Experience how a horse reacts to you and connects with you, & learn more about yourself in these 5 days than you have in the last 5 years!
Wellness & Self-Connection
17 - 21 November 2025
The secrets to wellness & feeling good are within you - how do you find them & practice them?
Experience how a horse reacts to you and connects with you, & learn more about yourself in a few days than you have in the last few years! And spending 5 days immersed in nature, fully supported & well-fed, is a tonic for the mind, body & soul.
What you focus on expands. What are you putting your attention on? Imagine putting it here on this hill with this horse & imagine how it feels....
Mindfulness with the Masters
8 - 14 December 2025
What if you could find a way to feel peaceful & calm whenever you wanted to?
Horses can get scared of something, then relax and quickly go back to grazing, shaking it off & calming down. They support each other in horse herd to do it too. How do they do this? They can show us.
Experiencing things with horses is like fast-track coaching - their split-second reaction is visual feedback when we are stressed, calm or on the right track. Somehow they seem to know what we are feeling & let us know too. And if we become aware of it, we can choose to do something about it...this is where the magic happens.
Tula Vida Trainings
Learn more about how & why the horses and we do what we do...
We love to understand the psychology, horse dynamics, neuroscience, somatics & more of why this work is so powerful. We have some great teachers & we want to share what we know so more horses & people can benefit.
We offer bespoke trainings on mindfulness with horses, equine facilitated learning, nervous system regulation (Polyvagal with horses) & more. We often teach in collaboration with experts in the field such as Shelley Rosenberg, one of the original team at Eponaquest with Linda Kohanov and founder of
My Horses My Healers sanctuary, as well as the renowned Polyvagal Equine Institute.
Your own Private Retreat
Various weeks during 2025
Join us for a personal week filled with the rest & restoration activities of your choice.
You want/need a break but can’t make a group retreat or are looking for something different? Design your own private retreat & this way you get to enjoy the beauty of Tula Vida, experience the magic of the horses & spend your days here exactly how you choose.
In these private retreats, guests enjoy family style meals each day so you feel a sense of community even within your more private, personal experience.
Ask us for a list of available weeks & more details
Our mission is to provide a deeper connection with self, through horses, nature and experience.
Switch Off and Switch On Again
Everyone experiences stress or challenge differently and, during this unprecedented period of social isolation, economic change and global health fears, for many it feels like riding an emotional rollercoaster.
This obviously has an impact on physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being and - just like when a computer starts to freeze or overload – if you consciously “switch off and switch on again” you create a reset for yourself, and go home ready for the next phase.
Sally Nilsson, Eric Kolesar and the Tula Vida horses are offering private retreats for rest, healing and rejuvenation for anyone who wants or needs it.
Come alone or with a group and, supported by Eric and Sally, let nature and the horses work their magic.
Change your relationship with stress
It is accepted wisdom that being in nature is one of the best ways to calm your nervous system and get out of the survival mode “fight, flight, freeze” reaction we have been experiencing for many months. When you feel safe, relaxed and connected to nature all your healthy and positive energy can flow. This is your optimum state for learning - and through experiential activities with the horses and with us, you will find the tools that work for you to keep recreating your own natural balance after you leave.
What They Say
Recover, Restore and Renew
In these reflective experiences, you will join our extraordinary horses in their home - the vibrant green fields, rivers and rainforest near the Arenal volcano in Costa Rica – and experience becoming part of the herd, tuned in to your own senses, safe and free to be yourself, connected to the great wisdom of Mother Earth for healing, balance and growth.
Let the horses show and teach you how to just “be” rather than doing or thinking. Take a dive into your own consciousness through the transformative modality of Equine Facilitated Sand Play Therapy and find healing at the deepest levels. Allow yourself to play in the bubbling, carefree streams. Cherish and nourish your body with healthy food, gentle movement designed to get your energy flowing, beautiful natural surroundings and healing massage. Feel held and supported by the natural world.
Create extraordinary shifts within by:
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Examining your own reactions to equine behaviour, which leads to powerful new insights into your own natural abilities and talents.
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Stepping out of your comfort zone while feeling accepted and not judged by a large, powerful being, growing your confidence and self-trust.
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Working with self-reflection and discovery to enhance and promote personal and professional growth.
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Working deeply with horse activities like:
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Learning how horses use clear non-verbal communication – and practicing your own
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Understanding how your own “energy” and vibe impacts others, and learning to modulate it
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Asking your horse to follow you freely without a lead rope (through energy connections and natural leadership models)
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Achieving a personal set goal with your horse
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Practicing setting and responding to effective boundaries, both energetic and physical, and see how this creates mutual trust
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(Activities will be mainly on the ground – no need to worry if you don’t have any horse experience!)
Explore our other options...
There are different options here at Tula Vida, tailored to suit your needs. We offer individual, group and family experiences with the horses. Perhaps you are looking to design your own experience, or would love an internship...we can help with that too. Take a look at the options below, and if you don't see what you are looking for just get in touch.
