We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Christi Love Idavoy a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Christi Love, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
In 2020 the world was faced with the unknown. My husband and I were both self-employed. With 2 businesses in the USA and one in Costa Rica, we lived and worked between the two countries. When the lockdown started we were in Costa Rica and had to decide whether to go back to the states and forfeit the costly and lengthy residency process we had began in Costa Rica or stay right where we were. We thought, like most people, that the lockdown would last a few weeks so we decided to stay and wait it out. As the weeks and months passed, we realized that it wasn’t going to be resolved as quickly as we anticipated. Three months of no income, accumulating debts and the threat of a virus, we had to decide whether or not to keep going or shut everything down and cut our losses. Shutting the businesses down meant letting go of what we had been working for for decades. Continuing with our current situations meant that we could be incurring thousands of dollars of debt of month with no sign of being able to reopen and ‘go back to normal’ any time soon. We chose to risk it all. Sell what we could and completely change our lives and start over… we are still in Costa Rica and have a completely different outlook on life and daily reality. Our priorities have shifted and we have learned to live with less, which has increased our quality of life and ironically has allowed us to live with more abundance and in harmony with nature.
Extended version below:
As a young child I always found my happiest moments outdoors. I am pretty sure that we can all relate to that feeling. Playing in the snow, climbing trees, swimming, going to the beach… all of the things that really filled me with exhilaration and joy took place outside. So it is not surprising that the first time I visited Costa Rica in the late 90s my heart felt right at home. My grandparents retired to the green country and I decided to start my graduate studies there in order to justify moving to a place where most retire when I was only 21. What I thought would be a semester or two turned into 8 years of living in Costa Rica pretty much full time. As I approached 30 life was showing me that it was time to go back to the states, specifically to NYC and Northern NJ, where I spent my early years of life and still had family. While I was in Costa Rica for those 8 years I studied Latin American Literature at the University of Costa Rica, went to the United Nations University for Peace where I pursued Peace Studies with an emphasis in Political Economy, and worked as a yoga instructor, dance teacher and performing artist. While I was at the UN University I dreamt of being a diplomat somewhere in Central or South America. I dreamt of being a part of the forces driving equity, human dignity, conservation and the basics needed for a peaceful and humane planet. Just a month before graduation I realized that I was in the wrong place… I will spare you the details of that experience here, but let’s just say it was gut wrenching, heart breaking and I was forced to re-evaluate my life plan and turn my sail in a different direction… All I was sure of was that somehow, I wanted to end up back in the jungle, spreading love and unity in an inspiring and creative way.
When I met my husband through our childhood friends on Miami Beach (I’m the daughter of Cuban and Puerto Rican immigrants so yes, we ended up in Miami) he first became a friend with benefits and as I could see us quickly falling in love I knew I had to tell him that I was eventually moving back to Costa Rica, so if we decided to continue and see where our love would take us, I needed to know if moving to Central America was an option for him. We’ve been together, with some hiccups along the way, ever since.
For about 10 years we worked to create financial stability for ourselves and started a small family. My husband, Edgar, is a Pisces and an ocean man. He worked as a boat captain and was self employed. I also went into business for myself and opened a Polestar Pilates Franchise studio in Miami, FL. Polestar Pilates is a global school offering Pilates Education in about 25 countries. Polestar allowed me, in the years prior to being the school’s first franchisee, to travel throughout most of South America. I was, as I like to say, spreading the gospel of Polestar! I had the opportunity of leading loads of teacher trainings, lecturing at local universities and developing the relationships we would need to spread our message of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health through Pilates. Polestar had satisfied my diplomatic desires in the Southern part of our continent through the lens of sound movement education, which I already knew was certain to bring the world peace and love.
We were both self-employed, which was both a dream (and a nightmare) come true. Despite how rooted our lives in Miami were, I had never stopped dreaming of moving back to Costa Rica. I knew that I couldn’t do it alone and that I would need a Costa Rican partner. I prayed for my Costa Rican business partner. I wanted a Tica woman that spoke English with a background in physical therapy, yoga and Pilates with an interest in Polestar Pilates.
Months before the official opening of my studio in Miami this woman appeared! A year later, in 2017, we inaugurated Polestar Pilates Costa Rica. For all of 2018 and 2019 I worked diligently to develop both of the studios and spent a lot of time traveling between Miami and San Jose. My family and I spent the holidays in 2019 in Costa Rica and were scheduled to travel back home at the end of March 2020. We never made it back…
On March 17, 2020 I was sitting in the car listening to the radio and heard that the country was basically shutting down. I didn’t really understand what was going on, as the virus wasn’t being spoken about in Costa Rica, at least not in my circles. I was supposed to go back and open the studio for the afternoon classes but based on what I was hearing over the radio, I wasn’t being allowed to go back to work. All non-essential business were to shut down and a curfew was imposed that day. Like everyone else, we had to stock up on food and go inside.
Within a few weeks it became obvious that things wouldn’t be ‘going back to normal.’ We found out that if we were to travel back to the US we would loose our residency process and have to start over, which had already been quite expensive and tedious. Like so many business owners, by June 2020 we had not had income for 3 months. We kept our classes going on zoom like all movement teachers did, but as we can all recall, no one was spending money as they had been. We were able to fulfill class packages that had already been purchased, keep our relationships and share time while emotionally supporting each other, but it was definitely not enough to sustain our family. The financial stress was also accompanied by the very palpable energy of fear. Fear of the virus, of loosing our loved ones, of getting sick, of not having funds to sustain ourselves… how long would it go on for? Three months into the shut down we had to make a very hard decision. Do we continue to hold out in the uncertainty with our debt increasing exponentially on a monthly basis, or not? This was the biggest decision we had ever been faced with as a family.
Something I haven’t shared yet is that during 2016 and 2017, while so many of my dreams were materializing, I was being visited by anxiety and panic. I took on owning 2 studios in different countries, supporting and inspiring my amazing team of staff and instructors, caring for my clients, breastfeeding and being a full-time mom… yes, I burned myself out. My symptoms were really bazaar and scary and I knew that if I went to a traditional doctor I would be medicated, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just not the solution I was looking for. I went to a functional medicine doctor and had extensive blood and urine testing. Turned out I was the healthiest person the doctor had ever seen. Sure, there was a need for some vitamin drips, an increase in certain minerals and I needed more fat since I had breastfeeding for a couple of years. My anxiety and panic were being brought on by excessive hours spent thinking, planning and teaching. I knew I wanted to continue with my lifestyle for the time being and also return to my joy. My family and I began to prioritizing spending time in nature, turning off our phones and being fully present for at least one day a week. I slowly began to understand myself and learn how to dance with the perceived heaviness of responsibilities rather than be weighed down by it.
With the uncertainty of 2020 I could feel myself slipping into episodes of anxiety. I think most people did. Wether it was choosing to close a business or keep it running, to take a trip to see loved ones or not, to loose or keep a job, suddenly we all had to make decisions that felt like our lives depended on them.
With our fragile mortality presented to us in the way that it was getting clear on our priorities was the only way to know which move to make. And with my history of anxiety, I knew that I couldn’t think my way through this, I had to feel my way through. We both could feel it. With the unprecedented level of uncertainty we were in, we allowed ourselves to imagine a better future by reflecting back on our happiest moments, asking ourselves questions like, what if we have very little time left here, how would we want to live?
As we sat with the challenging questions, the answers began to appear.
We decided to dissolve our businesses, sell what we could and move to a remote village where we could live a simple and very affordable life.
While the feeling of what to do was clear, actually going through with it was not. It meant letting people down, dissolving partnerships with people I really care for and love, letting go of my credit score and starting over. It meant reinventing how I had been doing life.
As we started making moves and practicing our values by living with less and closer to nature and therefore our food supply, we began meeting like-minded people. Slowly, we began having encounters with what I call our soul family. It is a feeling that goes beyond being like-minded. When you connect on a heart level you don’t even need the mind or thoughts, you can feel the connection and you know it because you feel safe to be genuine.
Fast forward 4 years later, brings us to today. We now live in a biological corridor in the Southern Pacific Area of Costa Rica. Located at the foothills of primary, or old growth forests, the biological corridor is made up of communities mostly interested in sustainable land use plans and reforestation. We live next to one of the cleanest rivers of the country and live across the road from a reforested private reserve. The population of our village is of about 100 people. Members of the community come together to give maintenance to our water supply, which is still provided by the river. Through volunteering with the locals to care for the water source, we have come to realize that there is still so much that needs to be done. We also have neighboring coffee plantations using harsh chemicals in close proximity to the river, as well as a lot of cow pasture that needs to be reforested to protect the waters, animal crossings and overall balance of the eco-system. We are now a community start-up working to create jobs and educational opportunities for the locals while buying the barren lands within the biological corridor. Through our participation in biological corridors we protect landscapes and key habitats for the conservation of tropical biodiversity, not to mention, ensure that future generations will have clean water and a safe haven in the world.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Exploring movement, rolling around on the floor, getting into shapes I later learned were yoga poses, dancing, etc… has always been an important part of my daily life. As far back as I can remember I have had the ability to deeply understand and know movement and the feeling of being in my body.
I began dancing as the age of 6 and by the time I was 18 I was working as an aerobics instructor while getting through college. When I was invited to my first yoga class, within 20 minutes of the class, I knew that I would do this for the rest of my life. I was studying philosophy and yoga was the first place where my philosophical interests and deep understanding of movement could come together. Shortly after I began working at East West Books in NYC, which I didn’t realize was the home of the Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science & Philosophy in NY. I was invited into the first teacher training cohort ever offered from the NYC location. 24 years later, everything I teach and practice is permeated by that experience.
I continued to dance into my 20s and developed some chronic pain in my hips, lower back and neck. In the magical way that life works, I later found a gentleman that had studied with Thomas Hanna and taught me about somatics and Feldenkrais. These practices began to sooth my body and mind and slowly heal the pain I had been experiencing. That same year, I was working as a choreographer and was called to create a piece for a teenage theater group. When I arrived to meet the group I found myself in a Pilates Studio. I had really no idea what Pilates was at that time and again, I was invited into a Teacher Training, so of course, I said yes. An interesting note is that I never had to pay for any of these trainings. I know that God, Creator or Creatress, has been guiding my path and all these skills are a part of my cosmic contract in this lifetime. Listening to my soul’s purpose also led me to meet Brent Anderson, the founder of Polestar Pilates. I have been the manager of the Polestar Center in Miami, the Director of Polestar Latin America and am currently a Polestar Pilates Senior Faculty member and the USA Polestar Faculty Manager. At Polestar I am involved with developing Pilates curriculum and its implementation. Through Polestar I also received training as a Mindsetting Coach and trainer through the teachings of The Pacific Institute.
I am very interested in the practical application of philosophical concepts, which is why movement has been such an important alter in my career.
I offer a Transformational Retreat in Costa Rica, Earth Spirit Retreat. This experience really address our collective need to commune with nature and remember that we are a part of nature. The idea that nature does not need us or that we are separate is an absolute lie. We come from the Earth and return to it. The retreat is a space for deep rest and gentle releasing of what we have outgrown. Life moves in a spiral, just like the seedling moves into a sprout. Every time we cycle through the spiral we shed skin and become a new version of ourself. The retreat is a space to identify how we are, what we want and what our purpose is. The clearer we are in our desires and priorities the easier it becomes to make choices.
Within all this work and my life path, I have had the opportunity to become a Cacao Ceremony Facilitator. Last year I spent a week with the largest indigenous group in Costa Rica, the Bribri Tribe. I work with cacao produced by Bribri woman under the guidance of Cacao Magic Costa Rica. On the retreat we work with cacao and experience the plant from fruit to the cacao in the ceremonial setting.
I also work with individuals to reset their nervous systems and organize their body and mind with gentle somatic work on the mat and journaling. I call this Mindmapping, with the understanding that the mind is in the body and through the body we tap into our subconscious, where all of our belief systems are and in this way, begin to unravel the unseen.
Part of my online offerings also includes a 28 day Lunar Journey. I created a journal and hold 3 online ceremonies during a lunar cycle. This experience guides people inward while reflecting on their connection to the cosmos and each other.
Unraveling the unseen in order to give it a place and have the ability to expand beyond old systems, has lead me to the study of Family Constelaciones this year.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
‘Work hard, play hard.’ ‘Your goals should be placed beyond what you know is attainable.’ ‘The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.’ At an early age I learned to idealize working hard. I love working hard and getting exhilaration and exhausted from it. It is one of the most satisfying things I know how to do. That wasn’t the issue. The real problem with this mentality is that there is never enough. You can never work hard enough. You can never be too rich or too skinny… all of these concepts of not enoughness pushed me to the edge and into the pit of burnout.
I learned these lessons from my private school education, which I am very grateful for! And from social circles and society in general. The messaging I got from home was more about taking care of myself and resting when I needed too. I had to learn to come home to the self love programming I got from my mother and grandmother in order to balance the culture of idealizing busyness and burn-out
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
The most important thing for succeeding in my field, is to be your living proof of concept. As I tell my teacher trainee students, don’t by into these concepts because they are written in books and you need to pass your exam, but rather, get on the floor, get into your body and discover them within yourself. Wether it is movement, mindsetting, any healing work, your have to be your priority first. Schedule time for your own rest and self practice on a daily (minutes to hours), Weekly (an entire day if possible), and yearly (a whole week or two). Carve out the space for yourself for reflection and filling your own cup. Trust yourself knowing that the only way to trust yourself is to know yourself and you are constantly changing, which means you need to be in a life style of observation and acceptance of yourself to be in your fullness in every living moment. Question yourself. Be curious. If you think you know then that is a red flag to stop, let go and question what you think… As healers we are explorers, as artists we must be curious and as scholars and teachers we are eternal students. Make sure you are willing to be vulnerable and to be wrong… otherwise, perhaps this is not the aligned path for you.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.christiidavoy.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christiidavoy?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/earthspiritretreat/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@christiidavoy2595
Image Credits
Heather Slesar