Fort Myers Florida Weekly

When in zen

Find your peace at these great Florida spots



 

YENNING FOR MORE ZEN?

Meditative moments, peaceful settings and the chance to silence your mind abound in Florida. And it’s really no surprise many involve the signature specialties of the Sunshine State: sunrise, sunset, water, the beach and an infinite horizon.

Yoga with goats, kittens and other critters provides an instant dose of the warm and fuzzies until something goes awry — they are unpredictable animals, after all. Inspiring settings far removed from the farm provide the ultimate experience for tuning into your breath while taking it away: twilight yoga every Monday on the deck of the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse; balance-testing sessions aboard a paddleboard; and twice-weekly Mindful Moments evening classes at Manatee Lagoon — a favorite wintertime hangout for sea cows

Sure, it sounds a little cliché but yoga becomes is more magical when set to sand and surf. Visit Englewood Beach in Charlotte County any morning and you’ll see hundreds of arms reaching skyward in a very-apropos sun salutation or sun warrior pose. Since bringing their yoga practice from Naples to Englewood 14 years ago, Lata and Robert Coykendall’s sessions and following have grown. As many as 250 students may join them on the beach.

Donation Yoga Naples beach yoga provides opportunity to stop and just breathe. COURTESY PHOTOS

Donation Yoga Naples beach yoga provides opportunity to stop and just breathe. COURTESY PHOTOS

“People need this now more than ever,” says Mrs. Coykendall. “We’re guiding people to really connect to the heart and I know it’s helping them.”

Try mermaid camp at Weeki Wachee Springs, where you can peacefully swim like a fish.

Try mermaid camp at Weeki Wachee Springs, where you can peacefully swim like a fish.

The owners of Living Light Yoga & Healing Center also offer twice monthly sunset and full-moon beach yoga classes, some set to a crystal bowl concert performed by Mr. Coykendall. Each of his 22 bowls, from small to the size of a drum, produce different sounds and vibration therapy. “The tones of the vibration resonate with the different chakras, the brain and the nervous system,” says Mrs. Coykendall. “It balances the whole body and brings you into deep relaxation. It’s very, very peaceful and calming. Everybody says they can’t believe how it has changed their lives.”

Mr. Coykendall, a Qigong healing practitioner, also offers private singing bowl sessions.

Naples native Lauren Fox founded her donation-based yoga concept on the “idea of seeing peace signs over dollar signs.” Instead of a studio, students of Donation Yoga Naples strike their poses on Lowdermilk Beach. There’s no class fee for the daily sessions; participants — as many as 60 per session — are asked to donate. Fox gives half of the proceeds to local nonprofits — well over $100,000 in the last nine years.

“The beach is way better than a studio. It’s a wonderful way to get people together to practice yoga,” says Ms. Fox, a former dancer who discovered yoga in college. “Yoga resonated with me because it was a way to express myself and focus on the body-mind connection. People who come to classes are the most beautiful people because they open their hearts. At the end of the day, it’s about being nice and kind to each other.”

Fox and her four fellow teachers offer a variety of yoga styles — from the more athletic vinyasa to slow-paced yin yoga — and Sunday sunset sessions on Naples’ 18th Avenue South. “It’s a great way to end the week — seeing the sun set while doing yoga.”

Meditation, yoga and other Eastern practices focus on the breath, inhaling positive energy, exhaling stress. For Vanessa Rogers, a Naples-based photographer, serendipity led her to reiki, a Japanese practice promoting energy healing through touch.

You may find your zen underwater at The Great Florida Reef.

You may find your zen underwater at The Great Florida Reef.

“I have always been interested in alternative forms of healing — from acupuncture to cupping and homeopathy,” she says. “Coupled with my interest in Buddhism, it seemed that I didn’t find reiki but more reiki found me. I was gifted a book called ‘A Practical Guide to Vibrational Medicine’ and my curiosity became piqued but it wasn’t until years later when doing an extended cleanse that I dreamt about energy traveling through my body. A week later an email for reiki training popped into my inbox.”

You can try birding or walking the Fakahatchee Strand Big Cypress Bend boardwalk to brighten your inner peace.

You can try birding or walking the Fakahatchee Strand Big Cypress Bend boardwalk to brighten your inner peace.

Ms. Rogers, a Level 1 reiki healer, offers sessions to friends, families and referrals. “I truly believe the power of energy healing lies in every one of us if we can learn to harness and focus this ability of every human cell.”

More to meditate on: Meditation and yoga retreat centers offer deeper immersion for mindfulness. The new Mindfulness Meditation Center in Palmetto north of Sarasota caters to group retreats and those interested in advancing their solo mediation practices. Operating on the principle of noble silence, guests are asked to limit communication. Accommodations and amenities include private rooms and cabanas, a meditation hall and outdoor destinations designed for reflection.

Zen Den Yoga School in Boca Raton takes to heart the meaning of the word ‘yoga’ — to yolk or bring together. The school offers yoga classes, retreats and a 200-hour yoga teacher training program.

Swim with the fishes

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NAPLES, MARCO ISLAND, EVERGLADES CVB

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NAPLES, MARCO ISLAND, EVERGLADES CVB

Water is one of nature’s most healing elixirs, initiating relaxation at its mere sight or sound. Underwater, it offers noise-canceling calm. For snorkelers exploring Florida’s shallower waters, the lull of the tide on the sea floor is hypnotic; go deeper on a dive and it’s just you and your thoughts. Tranquility set to the mesmerizing underwater ballet of schooling tropical fish and ever-changing aquarium-worthy sightings of octopi, squid, sea turtles, seahorses, frogfish and stargazers,.

The Great Florida Reef, the third largest in the world, runs close to the Palm Beach County shore as does the Gulf Stream, its strong current serving as a highway for sea life and drift diving from reef to reef. Most dive sites — 70 to 200 feet — are a 15-minute boat ride away. The county also has 150 artificial reefs, including historic shipwrecks, even a vintage Rolls Royse.

Much of the county’s snorkeling trail of natural and artificial reefs is accessible from local beaches. Phil Foster Park in Rivera Beach offers an 800-foot rock boulder reef, high visibility under the Blue Heron Bridge and a wreck just 175 feet offshore.

Paddle your way through silence and nature. COURTESY PHOTO

Paddle your way through silence and nature. COURTESY PHOTO

John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo boosts the most famous dive and snorkeling site in the Keys and a spiritual experience for many — the outstretched arms of “Christ of the Abyss,” a 10-foot statue submerged within the reef.

¦ Swim Like a Fish: The initial plunge into Weeki Wachee Springs’ crystal-clear 72-degree water may not exactly be nirvana inducing, but the women participating in the Sirens of the Deep mermaid camp say training with the former mermaids is life changing. For many, it’s the chance to channel the littlest mermaid and realize a childhood fantasy… if you’re lucky to get in. Friends of Weeki Wachee Springs State Park limits attendance to just eight for each of the 13 two-day sessions (one camp is co-ed) offered July through September. The camps are typically announced a month or so in advance and sell out quickly.

Look for some peaceful solitude, and gorgeous butterflies, in and around botanical gardens throughout the state.

Look for some peaceful solitude, and gorgeous butterflies, in and around botanical gardens throughout the state.

Put in a paddle

There’s almost something triumphant about going where no motorboat dares to venture — deep within the tangle of a mangrove tunnel, an estuary or shallow back bay only accessible by kayak or paddleboard. Away from the roar of engines, the methodical dip of paddle in water, a bird bursting into song and the surfacing snort of a manatee or dolphin create a zen-inducing soundtrack. The silence is golden. Wildlife foraging along the shore, turtles basking in the sun and birds nesting in rookeries continue about their business, oblivious to the presence of man.

Lee County’s Great Calusa Blueway Paddling Trail spans 190 miles of rivers, coastal waters and inland tributaries. Each leg is unique, offering a different experience, different sights. The warm water at Manatee Park is a favorite haunt for its namesake. Paddle west along the Estero River and you’ll see nature and residential communities, but head upriver and there’s more solitude, thicker foliage allowing in intermittent rays of sunlight, stalks of bamboo punctuating the landscape. Mazes of winding waterways at Lovers Key and along the Gulf Coast lead to secluded beaches and islands accessible only by water.

COURTESY PHOTOS

COURTESY PHOTOS

The Paradise Coast Blueway in Collier County also offers a variety of paddling experiences, including trails through the heart of the Ten Thousand Islands and Everglades, some requiring overnight camping. Ibis Bay Paddle Sports in Key West leads nighttime excursions aboard its fleet of clear-bottom kayaks illuminated by LED lights and hosts in-the-dark yoga on lighted paddleboards.

Gardens of zen

Gardens are sanctuaries for the senses, offering serene scenes, beauty and aromatherapy perfumed by plants and flowers. The Peace River Botanical and Sculpture Gardens in Punta Gorda blends water, art and the power of flowers into a peaceful riverfront setting with 840 feet of boardwalks, reflecting ponds, a butterfly house, oversized sculptures and preserved ecosystems.

Visitors at Naples Botanical Garden tend to linger under the shaded canopy of the Asian Garden or a trellised bench offering a wide vista of the colorful Brazilian Garden and its many bromeliads. “Walking around is also very healing and calming,” says Jenny Fuentes, the garden’s content manager.

Sunset Wednesdays, offered weekly February to April, provide a different perspective. “People always gravitate toward the beach but the sun setting over The Preserve is phenomenal,” Ms. Fuentes says. “The beauty of golden hour seems to follow and shine through at unexpected vantage points along your evening stroll.”

The garden is hosting an ikebana exhibit Feb. 18-20 demonstrating the meditative Japanese art of floral arrangement.

Mounts Botanical Garden in Palm Beach packs 25 display gardens and over 6,000 species of tropical and subtropical plants into 16 tropical acres. Visitors can now meditate with the moai — three replicas of the iconic Easter Island statues (one stands 20 feet tall) have been permanently installed in the Tropical Garden Forest.

Inspired by the famous gardens of Japan, Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens near Delray Beach offers six gardens and hosts a therapeutic garden stroll for well-being within its 16 acres.

¦ Teatime: Tea boosts a myriad of healing and calming properties. Guests attending monthly garden tea parties at Shangri-la Springs Resort & Spa in Bonita Springs partake in a pre-tea stroll of the organic garden, harvesting herbal leaves they want to sample. “We change the leaf and herb recipe for each tea party but we do consistently use cranberry hibiscus,” says Cecelia Morales, garden manager. “The leaves have significant levels of vitamin C and give the tea a pretty pink color.”

The next parties are Feb. 15, March 15 and April 19.

¦ Butterfly effect: Duval Street in Key West isn’t exactly known for invoking mediative moments. But stepping into the swirl of birds and 1,500 butterflies at the Key West Butterfly Garden and Nature Conservatory is breathtaking, says Clarisa Fluker, general operations manager. “It’s all-immersive. You’re completely surround-surrounded by birds, butterflies, tropical plants and music. You can’t help but be zen.”

The stars of the garden are the blue morpho butterflies, among the center’s 50 or so species. “They’re absolutely stunning and they’re always in flight.”

Take a walk on the wild side

Mental health professionals have long advocated the benefits of ecopsychology, aka immersion in nature. Communing with nature reduces stress, anger and fear and invokes happiness. And Florida offers plenty of opportunities for full immersion: Hiking trails and boardwalks through preserves and swamps, bird and wildlife sanctuaries, and the untamed wilds of the Everglades and the always possible experience of catching a glimpse of an endangered species.

J.N. Ding Darling National a Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island is ranked among the best destinations for bird watchers. For optimal viewing at your own pace, skip the tram tour and hike or bike the park’s four-mile Wildlife Drive as it weaves through a variety of ecosystems. Pause for a moment of reflection whenever the urge hits.

Explore Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Collier County on your own or register in advance for a naturalist-led walk, including early morning birding hikes, night walks and sunset strolls.

Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge is a must for a nature lovers in Boynton Beach. An intimate pavilion at Grassy Waters Preserve in West Palm Beach overlooks a jungle-like forest and provides an idyllic venue to be in the moment. So, too, does the covered observation platform at Pondhawk Natural Area in Boca Raton. ¦

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *