Yoga. Travel. Recovery. Adventure!
Move, breathe, and reconnect in a community that honors all paths to recovery and healing. We blend trauma-informed yoga for nervous system care with mindful travel and the joy of being outside. Plus plant-based, Ayurveda‑inspired meals. Reset, recover, and remember who you are.
Trauma-informed, plant-based retreats & YTTs in the U.S., Costa Rica & beyond.
“Yoga is not just a workout; it’s a work-in.” — Rolf Gates
Yoga is more than poses. It is a spiritual practice that supports recovery, nervous system healing, and mindful living in everyday life.
Yucatán Mexico Adventure Tours
Travel with us! Enjoy local foods, Mayan ruins, turquoise waterfalls, and underground swimming holes!
Plant Medicine for Recovery Retreat in Guatemala
Yoga, meditation, breathwork, and two professionally-guided plant medicine ceremonies with ayahuasca.
Yoga Teacher Training in Guatemala
Immersive 200-hour trauma-informed yoga teacher training at Mystical Yoga Farm.
Doors to the Wild Self: Monteverde, Costa Rica Yoga Retreat
Join us in the magical cloud forest of Monteverde, Costa Rica for a life-changing experience of yoga, tree climbing, adventure, and self care!
Thailand Yoga & Adventure Retreat in Chiang Mai
Join us to learn about Buddhist philosophy, visit Elephant Nature Park and other incredible sights, plus practice yoga in the peaceful rice paddies.
Upcoming Adventures
Transformational yoga and adventure retreats to inspire connection, growth, and healing!
Yoga Retreats and Adventure Experiences for Deep Healing
Because everyone is recovering from something.
Our yoga retreats and adventure retreats are designed to support healing, reconnection, and nervous system reset. As founders in long-term recovery from addiction and PTSD, we understand the healing power of mindful movement, nature, and community. That perspective shapes every alcohol free retreat, vegan yoga retreat, and sober travel experience we offer.
Recovery looks different for everyone. You may be healing from burnout, trauma, stress, heartbreak, or disconnection. Our retreats create a supportive, judgment-free space to slow down, reconnect with yourself, and feel grounded again.
Whether you are sober, sober-curious, or simply seeking a clear and intentional travel experience, you are welcome here.
Stay connected and explore upcoming yoga retreats and adventure retreats through our blog or newsletter below.
We Help People Reconnect Through These Core Elements
Adventure Retreats
Explore new destinations through thoughtfully guided adventure retreats that encourage growth, confidence, and self-trust. Each experience is designed to gently stretch your comfort zone while reminding you how capable and resilient you already are.
Nature Immersion
Our yoga retreats and adventure trips take place in carefully chosen natural environments that invite rest and perspective. You’re invited to digital detox, slow your pace, and reconnect with the rhythms of the natural world through conscious travel and outdoor exploration.
Supportive Community
Healing happens in connection. Our sober travel groups and alcohol free retreats bring together people on similar paths, creating space to show up without labels, expectations, or pressure. Shared experience and genuine connection often become one of the most meaningful parts of retreat.
Trauma-informed Yoga
Yoga is the foundation of our own recovery journey, our retreats, and yoga teacher trainings. Through trauma-informed yoga, breathwork, and mindful movement, we support nervous system regulation, presence, and embodied healing. These practices are accessible to all bodies and all levels of experience.
Who Our Yoga Retreats Are For
People who want to travel in a group setting
Our group yoga retreats and sober travel groups offer a supportive way to explore new places with built-in community. Travel alongside like-minded people in an alcohol free, intentional environment where many guests arrive solo and leave feeling deeply connected.
People on a healing or recovery path
Our alcohol free retreats support those already engaged in recovery or personal healing who know that intentional time away can unlock more joy, clarity, and fulfillment. You do not need to identify as sober. Recovery can mean healing from stress, burnout, trauma, grief, or disconnection.
People seeking authentic community
Our retreats attract people who value real conversation, shared experience, and adventurous connection. If you are looking for a like minded community grounded in presence and curiosity, you will feel at home here.
People who are sober curious or yoga curious
Many guests join us because they are exploring a more connected way of living. Whether you are new to yoga, curious about alcohol free travel, or simply ready to slow down and feel more present, our retreats meet you where you are.
People craving digital detox and intention setting
Yoga retreats offer rare space to unplug from screens, reset the nervous system, and reconnect with what matters most. Time in nature, mindful movement, and shared meals create powerful conditions for reflection and renewal.
People in need of a break from burnout and stress
Modern life rewards constant doing. Our retreats create permission to simply be human – no performance, no productivity required, no impressing anyone required. If you are running on empty and longing for a pace that actually feels human, this is the reset your nervous system has been asking for.
Testimonials
Book a Free Discovery Call with Carrie
Book a free call for a voice or facetime connection with Carrie, our founder. Ask your questions about any retreats, trips, or programs, or just get to know us a little bit more before you book!
Three nights in the land of the People of the Blue-Green Water.💙💚
Zach and I just got back from backpacking down Havasupai Creek in the Grand Canyon, a paradise only a few hours from our home. We are immensely grateful to the Havasupai for allowing hikers to visit their incredible waterfalls, camp in their campground, and see a glimpse of their village, which has no road access.
When I stood on the South Rim in wonder as a kid, I never imagined all the miles I would trek inside the canyon later in life. Living out of a tent and backpack with no cell service, I remember that life is really so much more simple than we make it. We are a part of nature, not separate from it. And we are so much stronger than we realize. Get outside, move your body, and do what you can to protect the Grand Canyon, the Colorado River, and all of these sacred places. 🏕
Curious what a multi-day hike could feel like for you? Our Catalina Island Hiking & Yoga Retreat with gear haul support happens again next April 29-May 3. Spots are already booking so we’re down to 6 left! 🎒🥾🌴
#havasupai #goforahike #hikeandyoga #yogahikingretreat #grandcanyon
Food is one of the ways we take care of you on retreat.
Last month at our Majestic Mountains retreat in Colorado, every meal was 100% plant-based and made from scratch by Zach! Cozy risotto, savory chickpean omelettes, warm cashew-cheeze mac, roasted carrots with gravy, and a matcha-chocolate-peanut butter dessert that disappeared fast. Real fall comfort food, made with a lot of love.
What we love most is watching people slow down around the table together. Mountain air, a full plate, and nowhere else to be.
We’ve been dreaming up an idea for before we leave the US this winter: a fall flavors online cooking demo class with Zach, so you can bring a little of this into your own kitchen. Would that be something you’d want to join? Tell us in the comments. 🍂
(Thank you @lauracarrollphoto for so many of these great food shots!)
#plantbasedfood #veganretreat #coloradoretreat #fallrecipes #soberyogaretreat
Picture the first morning. Mist lifting off Lake Atitlán, volcano views revealing themselves in the distance, an intimate group of us on the yoga deck, a little nervous but completely ready.
This March, Bigger Life Adventures is leading a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training at @mysticalyogafarm in Guatemala. We built it on one belief: trauma-informed teaching isn`t a module, it`s the foundation. You`ll learn to hold space so every student feels safe and empowered to make the best choices for their own body and nervous system.
It starts at home with 20 online hours, then we gather for 21 days on an art-filled, inspiring, zero-waste, sustainable farm. Three plant-based meals a day, fire, cacao and temescal ceremonies, and a lake that`s always there for a swim. Carrie, Sydney, and Zach will be right there with you, and the support continues with mentorship after you fly home.
Swipe to see the rooms. Choose a shared dorm or your own private room, solo or with your partner. A $500 deposit holds your spot, with monthly payments after that. Pricing is accessible and fair, with 2 scholarship spots already awarded.
Only 11 spots remain. If something in you is quietly saying yes, we`d love to hear from you. The application is at the link in bio.
#traumainformedyoga #yogateachertraining #lakeatitlan #200hourytt #yogaretreatguatemala
“This was the most immaculate place and temple to come home to yourself.” Thank you, @misssahara , for these words. 🤍
The temple at Casa Floresta is waiting for our small circle again January 23 to 28, 2027. If you’ve been curious about sitting with plant medicine in a safe, recovery-friendly, trauma-informed space, join us.
#plantmedicineretreat #lakeatitlan #traumainformedyoga #soberyogaretreat #comehometoyourself
We’re overdue for a podcast episode, so the next one coming out will be a LIFE UPDATE including news on our house build, which is also long overdue. 🤣🤣
You know what they say, “Make plans; make god laugh!” Although this has been a long stressful project, there is peace and satisfaction found in working with our hands, seeing the results of our labor, and feeling tired after a long day. 🏡😴
It’s especially rare and valuable to do work like this in a world increasingly driven by corporate culture and AI and invisible power structures.
What are you making, moving, creating that you can see and touch? Let us know! And make sure to follow Bigger Life Adventures on our @patreon for when our next podcast drops! 🎧🕉️
#yogiclifestyle #yogaoffthemat #offgridliving #tinyhouse #yogaentrepreneur
When people reach out to us about our annual plant medicine retreat, they rarely ask about the itinerary. They ask about more nuanced things. "Am I ready? Will I be safe? What if I get there and feel overwhelmed?"
Those are exactly the right questions, and we love talking them through. There`s naturally going to be some uncertainty because everyone has a different plant medicine journey. But we can ease your nerves by making the logistics of getting to Guatemala and preparing for ceremony clear and easy. Every potential guest has a personal screening conversation with Zach or me, plus a preparation call with Paula, one of our ceremony facilitators. If we decide together that this isn`t the right path for you right now, we will refund your deposit or help you find a retreat that fits you better.
Plant medicine isn`t for everyone, and "not yet" is a completely valid answer.
One guest shared after joining us for this in both 2025 and 2026, "Everything was organized and communication was so clear for traveling outside the country...You create lifelong friends you never know you needed." 🙏🏻
If any part of you is curious, reach out to talk with us. Only a handful of spots are still available, and the perfect group for our 3rd year doing could include YOU.
#plantmedicineretreat #traumainformedyoga #soberyogaretreat #psychedelicsinrecovery #psychedelictherapy
One of our favorite parts of retreat is watching how people choose to slow down and absorb all the beauty! Some take photos. Some just sit and observe. Laura took a sketchbook.
On our Majestic Mountains Colorado Retreat, these two mountain goats stopped us all in our tracks! It was like they were posing just for us on the side of Quandary Peak! 🥾🐏
Thank you @carrollfamilyfive for letting us share your beautiful sketch and photos! Your presence on our retreats always amplifies all the beauty for everyone!
If your creative self has been waiting for some quiet inspiration, hop on one of our next retreats with your art supplies! 🎨🖊️🏔️
#coloradoyogaretreat #soberyogaretreat #yogaforrecovery #yogaandhiking #yogaandart
“These retreats are truly life changing! 🌿✨ I’ve been on 5 retreats with Carrie and Zach, and each one pushes me out of my comfort zone — solo group travel 🌍, facing fears 💪, conquering challenges 🧗♀️, immersing in new cultures 🌺 — the list goes on.
Some of my favorite memories over the past 5 years have been on these retreats. 🧘♀️ Carrie’s yoga classes are personalized, challenging, fun, and foster intuitive movement. 🙏 And chef Zach creates some of the most incredible vegan meals you’ll ever taste. 🥑🍲
Forever thankful for these two — they’ve helped me grow in ways I never imagined. 💫 I wouldn’t be where I am today without attending their retreats. 💚”
-a gracious repeat guest!
Come see us in 2027, and discover why 60% of our retreat guests come back for more! 🙏🏻🕉️🔥
All of these retreats are already filling up, and we offer 2 half price recovery scholarships for each one! 💵
What makes BLA retreats unique:
Sober/recovery supportive without dogma 🦄
Trauma-informed yoga for all levels 🧘🏻♂️
Plant-based (w/ lots of protein) 🥗
#YogaRetreat #veganretreat #adventuretour #ecoadventure #soberretreat
Yoga welcomes ALL of you 🤍 - the parts of you that feel alive, the parts of you that feel “too much”, the parts of you that might be numb or in survival mode.
Presence and acceptance are gifts we want to give you in Guatemala next March. Twenty-one days on the shores of Lake Atitlán 🌋, volcanoes watching over us, learning to teach from a place of safety and truth instead of performance.
This is a trauma-informed 200-hour training with nervous system regulation and devotion woven through every single day. We’ll sit in temazcal and cacao ceremony 🔥, eat plant-based meals cooked with love 🌱, and live off grid in a zero-waste community with a small cohort who will become your people.
Today is the last day for early bird pricing ✨, which saves you $300 on every room option. A $500 deposit holds your spot, and monthly payments are available until we begin. All experience levels are welcome to apply.
If something in you has been whispering yes, we’d love to hear from you 🙏 The link to apply is in our bio... fill out your application today and receive the early bird rate whenever you’re ready to make your deposit. ✍️
#yogateachertraining #traumainformedyoga #lakeatitlan #soberyoga #200houryogateachertraining
HUGE heartfelt thanks to @standardfitwellness and all my new Sonora, CA friends for welcoming me & this Yoga & Ayurveda Workshop!
I love teaching this so much and my cup is so full! 🙏🩻🕉️
#travelingyogateacher #yogaayurveda #ayurvedichealthcounselor #yogaworkshop #soberyogaretreat
Pitru Paksha = “the Ancestor Fortnight” in Sanskrit. It’s happening now through Oct. 10, the next new moon. 🌕
So let’s use our Morning Sadhana time this week to learn a new mantra and honor those who came before and still influence our lives each day. 🍁👻🧘🏼
I’m leading the Zoom Sadhana this Monday-Friday, 6:30-7am each day, Pacific time.
$5 per class or $22 for the week! 🙏🕉️
DM if you wanna join live and need the zoom link!
#onlineyoga #traumainformedyoga #vedicastrology #pitrupaksha2026 #fallvibes🍁
Nature heals.
Connection heals.
Service heals.
What else has helped heal the YOU you were 10 years ago???
#soberyogaretreat #yogaandnature #yogaandhiking #soberyogaretreat #soberglowup
I (Carrie) am so excited, I’m heading to Gold Country, CA, and teaching a Yoga & Ayurvedic Wellness Workshop at @standardfitwellness on September 28th! If you’re in the area, come move with me.
We’ll spend two hours diving into your Ayurvedic mind-body type, your dosha, and what it actually means for how you move, cook, eat, and rest. This is hands-on and personal, not theory you’ll forget on the drive home. You’ll walk out with something real to build from.
6-8pm, $45, advance booking encouraged (DM to secure a spot!). Bring a notebook, a pen, your mat, and clothes you can move in.
Any other friends in that area— I’d love to see you! Thank you @suebreezey & Standard FIT for welcoming me into your community!🙏
#yogaworkshop #yogaayurveda #traumainformedyoga #ayurvedichealth
It was an incredible Majestic Mountains Colorado yoga & hiking retreat! 🏔️🥾🕉️🧗♀️🧘🏼
We tried out a new retreat base in Alma, near Breckenridge, the highest incorporated town in North America - 10,578 feet! 🙌🏻🌞
Moose and elk and Aspen views in the yard ✅
Quandary Peak & Captain Zipline Challenge Course✅
Mr. Princeton Hot Springs
So much good yoga & good vegan food!!! ✅
Massages & sound healing thanks to @mindfully_intouch ✅
And much-needed time to journal, hot tub, and slow down!
Should we do this destination again? Wanna join next year if we do? 🍁🍂
#yogaandhiking #traumainformedyoga #yogaretreat #coloradoretreat #soberyogi
A lil CACAO gets everybody singing and dancing to the Bigger Life Adventures bangers! 🎶🔥🎸🙏
For real, we are so grateful to be HERE and NOW!
#yogaretreat #yogaandhikingretreat #cacaoceremony #adventureretreat #soberyogi
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