THE DANYASA TRIBE

OUR TEAM

We love our team. You will too.

MEET OUR CORE STAFF AND YOGA TEACHERS

Our team goal consists of crafting an experience that gets you out of your day to day and into nature, into your body, and more connected to inspiration.

We strive to create moments that you will remember for the rest of your life. Our amazing teachers and staff excel in helping find just what you need… be it that hidden waterfall down the road, that amazing adornment in our boutique or that inner peace and joyous glow we see on people’s faces after a yoga session.

Where it all started.

Sofiah Thom and Brendan Jaffer are visionary leaders known for their transformative contributions to the world of conscious festivals and sustainable retreat spaces.

As the co-founders of Envision Festival and Danyasa Eco Retreat in Costa Rica, over the past 17 years, they have pioneered a movement of healing arts, music, sacred movement, and environmental awareness in the Southern zone of Costa Rica.

MEET OUR

Core Team

Sofiah Thom

Owner + Co-founder of Danyasa

Founder of Temple Body Arts, Teacher, Trainer and Mentor

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Brendan Jaffer

Owner + Co-founder of Danyasa

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Paula

Boutique & Operations Manager

With Danyasa for 7 years. A staple of our centre.

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Amanda Jean

Mindful Flow, Massage, Body and Energy Work

@thewayomm

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Eve McDermid

Yoga Teacher

Yin, and Restorative,
Hatha Flow

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Kaitlin Ferrel

Yoga Teacher

Online & In Person Classes

@kaitlin_loves

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Vajra Luz

Yoga Teacher

Breathwork, Meditation

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Patricia Grimaldi

Yoga Teacher

Inversions, Assists, Hatha & Vinyasa Flow

@growshineinspire

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“WE ARE the artists of our lives. And our artistry is our ministry.

It’s time to value ourselves as artists, creatives, healers, guides, midwives, and priestesses of the light.“

~ SOFIAH THOM

OWNER – FOUNDER OF DANYASA & ENVISION MUSIC FESTIVAL

Creative Director and Co-founder of Danyasa Eco-Retreat | Creator of Temple Body Arts School of Sacred Sensuality and Dance.

Sofiah is a creative muse and mentor, Sacred Movement Artist, Teacher and embodiment coach, committed to guiding women to connect with their brilliance.

Sofiah believes that every person possesses an inner artist — a unique, individual creative spark that just needs to be allowed or inspired to show itself. Sofiah’s mission lies in nurturing this creative spark in others with the aim to inspire them to live to their fullest creative potential, sharing her wisdom through retreats, yoga teacher trainings, private sessions and public classes. In Sofiah’s presence one feels her grace, strength and sensuality as she invites you to get out of your head and into your body.

As a daughter of parents who are also healers and teachers, and as an interdisciplinary artist with a B.A. in Dance Therapy and Performing Arts from Naropa University, studies at the Tamalpa Institute in Expressive Healing Arts, and a myriad of trainings in Bodywork, Tantra Yoga and Dance, Sofiah’s deep understanding of the body shines through her work. Her experience and collaboration with certain key mentors laid the groundwork and sparked a deep sense of inspiration for her work.

She is the creator of The Temple Body Arts™ School of Sacred Sensuality and Dance, offering in-depth immersions and teacher trainings, on-line and in person to help women access their creative potential and Live their YES.

She is the co-author of The Path of the Priestess Book: Discover Your Divine Purpose.

Sofiah’s inspiration as a yogini stems from Tantra and Vinyasa Flow and she received her 200 hour Yoga Alliance RYT through the teachings of Anusara. Sofiah’s yoga classes are a fusion of Tantra Yoga and movement arts guiding students to connect with their creative power through the body. When it comes to dance, Sofiah fuses all of her technique background including ballet, modern, African, Indian and Belly Dance into a unique and beautiful performance art, which she calls Temple Fusion, which originates from the recognition of the body as a temple, melding and fusing multiple dance and movement modalities in a sexy, sensual and spiritual dance offering. She dances the winding path between inner landscape and external environment, always embracing the succulence and sensuality of the goddess archetype.

Today, Sofiah combines dance, yoga, expressive healing arts and ritual into her work and has appeared as a performing artist and workshop facilitator at International events for the past fourteen years including the Bali Spirit Festival, Bhakti Fest, Earth Dance, and Wanderlust to name a few. She has been featured in Yogi Times, Conscious Dancer, The Bloom Documentary Series and Elephant Journal. Sofiah lives and works on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, where she and her husband opened Bamboo Yoga Play, A Sanctuary for Living Artfully in 2007.

In 2011 Sofiah, her husband and a small group of individuals founded Envision, which quickly burgeoned into a world renowned transformational festival offering Music, Art, Education and Sacred Movement in the raw nature of Costa Rica. In 2013 Sofiah and her husband began the expansion of Bamboo Yoga Play Studio into the Danyasa Eco-Retreat, with the intention of creating a permanent hub for the essence of what their Envision Festival represents through art, community, co-creation and transformative experience.

She is certified by Yoga Alliance as an E-RYT-200 yoga instructor.

Join Sofiah in Paradise live for one of her transformational Temple Body Arts retreats or facilitator trainings.

THE DANYASA TRIBE

OUR TEAM

Owner + Co-founder of Danyasa

Owner + Co-founder of Danyasa

Boutique & Operations Manager

Guest Liaison + Retreats

Guest Liaison

Yoga Teacher

Yoga Teacher

Yoga Teacher

Yoga Teacher

Yoga Teacher

Yoga Teacher

Yoga Teacher

Yoga Teacher

Yoga Teacher

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