Snogo in the Wild SITW April 24
YoSnogoer,
You know the saying “timing is everything”? Well, this month’s featured submission nailed its’ timing!
“The benefits of cacao” was the theme of this month’s blog post and we found tons of new, fascinating information on the subject. But we found so much, that when we got down to publishing it, we had way, WAY too much. Ultimately, we had to cut some stuff out. And some of that “stuff” was the research we did about the benefits of pairing cacao and yoga.
But, lo and behold! Marissa wrote in to SITW with a story about just that. Have at it!
My 3 best friends and I try to take a girls’ trip every year. We’ve been living on different ends of the country ever since we graduated – which was 21 years ago! INSANE!!! Of course we’ve missed some years here and there. Then because of COVID, and also because life gets crazy, we missed 5-years straight. So this year we went all-out and met up in Costa Rica for a 5-day yoga retreat.
Of the four of us, I’m the only one with a regular yoga practice, but we all wanted to do something other than just party, so we found a super laid back yoga retreat at a beautiful resort with a stunning bar and an impressive cocktail menu. Obviously, we’d have a blast no matter what. But I really wanted my girlfriends to enjoy the yoga too. Since yoga has become a pretty big part of my life, I wanted to share it with them. So as soon as we booked the retreat, I ordered 4 engraved SNOGOs (with necklaces). They say “Pura Vida 2024”.
A SNOGO might seem like a strange gift for a yoga retreat, but I’ve developed the habit of taking a small bump of cacao before my daily practice and it’s awesome. With a bump of cacao I can tune into my body and breath faster and deeper with more focus. Then, once I reach that place, my training takes me deeper. It’s basically a shortcut to Zen. Some purists might consider it cheating, but I’m not a purist and I knew my girlfriends weren’t. Also, gifting them cacao and SNOGOs would help alleviate the concerns about sunrise yoga.
Sure enough, the SNOGOs were a huge hit. None of us made it to all the sunrise sessions, but our attendance at them far exceeded our expectations. Snogo, we all agreed, you deserve a lot of credit for that.
I love yoga and, above all else, I love my friendships. Snogo you’ve touched both in beautiful ways. Thank you & Namaste.
Marissa
Phoenix, AZ
Marissa, thank you so much for that awesome (and timely!) story!
And FYI: using cacao to benefit your yoga practice isn’t a shortcut, it’s science! Here’s an excerpt from an article we found on Keith’s Cacao website.
“Pure Ceremonial Cacao is a plant medicine and an entheogen. Entheogens – a composite word derived from the Greek words’ theos’ (god) and ‘genesthai’ (come into being) are … compounds found in plants, pushing us beyond what is familiar into new and expanded states of awareness.”
You can google dozens more science-based articles about the wonderful alchemy between yoga and cacao. So gifting your friends SNOGOs for a yoga retreat wasn’t random at all. As they’ve already told you, it was PERFECT! Just like your SITW story!
Big Love, AY
