Costa Rica Yoga Retreat Featured Teacher: Melissa Eisler

By Liz Lindh

Meet our featured yoga teacher, Melissa Eisler. I met Melissa at a Yoga Teacher Training New Year's Retreat in Costa Rica a few years ago and am so happy that she will be hosting her own yoga retreat here at The Sanctuary at Two Rivers this November. She is lovely in all ways, and I am hoping that she is going to bring her guitar and make some music for us! This week, Melissa answers our interview questions and shares her inner most self with clarity and inspiration.

SATR: What is your idea of perfect happiness?

ME: To be healthy, at peace, and surrounded by love. (and traveling the world)

SATR: What is your most marked characteristic?

ME: My unrelenting curiosity and creativity

SATR: What do you consider your greatest achievement?

ME: Allowing that curiosity and creativity to be part of everything I do, from my full-time work as a writer and content strategist to my yoga practice, to the musician, traveler, and bookworm within …

SATR: What is your greatest fear?

ME: I have a great fear of being boring or uninspiring. I also fear rejection (but who doesn't, right?)

SATR: What historical figure do you most identify with?

ME: Can it be a deity? I think I would choose Saraswati. She’s the goddess of knowledge, learning, creative arts, music, and science. If you look at photos of her, she always looks wise and graceful. While I’m not always graceful, I aspire to be. Like her, I also have a passion for learning new things and taking in new cultures. And I’m a musician, so those sides of me really identify with Saraswati.

SATR: Which living person do you most admire?

ME: No one specifically as being #1 here. But I admire anyone honest, open and vulnerable. And those who answer the call to lead and inspire others. 

SATR: Who are your heroes in real life?

ME: My dad

SATR: What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

ME: My tendency to overcommit to things and not have the restorative space I enjoy

SATR: What is the trait you most deplore in others?

ME: Dishonesty

SATR: What is your favorite journey?

ME: Tough one. On a literal level, I think I would choose my first solo backpacking journey in 2009, when I spent a few weeks wandering around SE Asia on my own. This led to many other adventures with just me, my backpack and my guitar.

SATR: What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

ME: I don’t think there are any bad virtues. 

SATR: Which word or phrases do you most overuse?

ME: I overuse the word fabulous. 

SATR: What is your greatest regret?

ME: Not spending more quality time with my dad when he was alive. 

SATR: What is your current state of mind?

ME: Curious

SATR: If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be?

ME: Nothing, even the challenges are lessons

SATR: What is your most treasured possession?

ME: My guitar

SATR: What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

ME: Being stuck, stagnant, and unwilling to change.

SATR: Where would you like to live?

ME: Somewhere warm, with all of my friends and family within walking distance, where you can also find waves, mountains, and rainbows without traveling too far. (Hawaii? Costa Rica?)

SATR: What is your favorite occupation?

ME: I love to teach, train, guide, and coach. Yoga and writing are the subjects.

SATR: What is the quality you most like in a man?

ME: Vulnerability, self-awareness, intelligence, confidence. Don’t make me choose.

SATR: What is the quality you like most in a woman?

ME: Compassion, Courage and Independence

SATR: What are your favorite names?

ME: Bodhi. Stella. Mala. Sage. Mambo. Yoshi. Cilantro. (This is a combo of favorite names for children, pets and friends)

SATR: What is your motto?

ME: I don’t have one. But I saw this quote recently and liked it. “Be yourself, everyone else is taken.” (I don’t even know who said it!)

Melissa teaches Vinyasa classes at her favorite yoga studio in San Diego, meditation and yoga to kids and families in the oncology ward at Children’s Hospital, and yoga classes in corporate settings. Melissa’s favorite part of teaching is the challenge of discovering where people are in their journey, and figuring out how to open them to the practice with that understanding. It’s encouraging her students to challenge their bodies and open their minds and hearts each time they step onto the yoga mat. It’s finding the right way to connect with them … so they can understand, relate, and benefit from the practice of yoga and all of its teachings. 

If you would like to get to know her in person, journey with us on a healthy vegetarian Costa Rica Yoga Retreat November 9-15, 2015! Get the full details here.