Meet The Staff
Jacqueline Bürkler – Owner
Jacqueline was born in Switzerland where she grew up and achieved a pH. D. in natural sciences from the prestigious Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich. She always liked to travel and in early years traveled through Europe, Asia and the continent of America. She lived 13 years in Colombia before changing her home to Costa Rica in 1999. The serenity of the rainforest and the pristine beaches of the Caribbean Sea inspired the idea to create an intentional place for transformation: The Goddess Garden Retreat Center.
Marcelo Ruiz – Keeper of the Land – Owner
Marcelo was born in Ecuador and at the age of nineteen went to live in Chicago where he got a degree in Art. He also attended Northwestern University where he obtained a teaching certificate. He taught algebra and geometry in public schools.
Among his interests are spirituality, meditation, shamanism, films, poetry,indigenous tribes, community service and Argentine tango dancing.
Yoga
The Goddess Garden is a yoga teacher training center and yoga retreat center and most of all, an intentional place for yoga, meditation and transformation in Cahuita, Costa Rica.
This yoga teacher training and retreat center is surrounded by huge jungle trees, which follow the path of a small creek. Just a step away, you will find the oldest and most amazing tree in Cahuita. Its roots, as tall as a man, will leave you breathless… in reality it is a temple. This beautiful setting will invite you to practice yoga and meditation.
The Goddess Garden Retreat’s spiritual center has two floors, where the view of the rainforest expands to almost 360 degrees. It is designed to give you a wonderful feeling, putting you in touch with nature during your yoga and meditation sessions.
Costa Rica is a peaceful country that disposed of the army many years ago and has a consciousness geared for peace and taking care of the environment, making it perfect for yoga and meditation practice.
So choose to come to our yoga retreat and yoga teacher training resort to practice and learn yoga in Costa Rica, in the midst of awesome natural surroundings.
Room Rates
- Shared Room
- En Suite Bathrooms
- 3 Delicious Meals Daily
- Access To All The Amenities
- Spacious Porch With Jungle View
- Yoga classes can be booked for 25 USD per hour (2 persons minimum)
- Massages can be booked according to our current massage menus
- Private Room
- Private En Suite Bathroom
- 3 Delicious Meals Daily
- Access To All The Amenities
- Spacious Porch With Jungle View
- Yoga classes can be booked for 25 USD per hour (2 persons minimum)
- Massages can be booked according to our current massage menus
- Minimum 4 people
- Dorms
- En Suite Bathroom
- 3 Delicious Meals Daily
- Access To All The Amenities
- Spacious Porch With Jungle View
- Yoga classes can be booked for 25 USD per hour (2 persons minimum)
- Massages can be booked according to our current massage menus
Amenities & Info
Washer & Dryer Service Available
Family Friendly
Free Parking on Premises
Beach Within Walking Distance
Outdoor Fire Pit
Jungle Pool and Jacuzzi
Open Air & Indoor A/C Yoga Spaces
Free Fiber-optic High Speed Internet (WiFi)
Guest Reviews
To any Yogi's that are considering partaking in a yoga teacher training, I would highly recommend the Goddess Garden in Costa Rica for your training or course. The location was a ideal, with the best yoga studio I have ever seen!
This week was very restorative for me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I felt totally supported by you and your staff and the surrounding nature. I wish you many blessings for your lives. I will return and bring others! Namaste.
This place is stunning, serene and extremely special. The energy is beautiful and is the perfect place to stay when I needed to remove distractions and re-connect with myself and nature. I will never forget the delicious food and amazing massage I received. The room staff kept our room beautiful and the grounds people worked all day to keep up with nature. Jacqueline & Marcelo were warm and kind, generous and accommodating.

Spa
In our healing spa we offer a variety of treatments tailored to your specific needs. We offer massages and therapies like Ayurvedic, Reiki, Deep Issue, Hot Stone and shaman cures using local healing plants.
The purpose of this work is to bring a rebalancing of your body and mind achieving the ecstatic feeling, the AHA moment of harmony.
These services are provided because we want to give you and your yoga group the full experience, so you can be entirely relaxed when you attend to your yoga and meditation practice.
Cuisine
This is a typical menu at The Goddess Garden. Gluten free and vegan options are always available. Our food is served buffet style.
Breakfast Menu
- Costa Rican coffee and tea
- Fresh fruit juice
- Plain oatmeal, gluten free and vegan
- Fresh tropical fruits
- Dish with eggs
- Different types of fresh homemade bread
- Gluten free tortilla
- Homemade jellies and honey
- Plain yogurt
- Grains and nuts
- Local specialties like patacones, ripe plantains, pejivalle
Ayurveda
We offer a delicious week long Ayurvedic menu indicating the doshas of each dish. The menu was created by Flora Domenis. Flora Domenis is a Yoga Teacher and Ayurvedic Therapist, specialized in Lyfestyle and Nutrition. She studied in Amsterdam and trained in southern India with the likes of Dr. V. Lad, Dr. D. Frawley, Dr. R. Svoboda, Dr.Claudia Welch, Vaidya Atreya Smith and many others.
From the Sanskrit language, the word “AYURVEDA” is a compound of ayuh “long life” and veda “knowledge”. Ayurveda roughly translates as “Science of long life”.

Flora Domenis offers 40 or 60 min sessions that will give you:
Your predominant body type (doshas: Vata, Pitta, Kapha)
How to use your strengths to make the changes you need.
Nutrition plan according to your needs & lifestyle.
Tailored exercise plan for your personal body type.

Over 5000 years of scientific wisdom from ancient Vedic India brings you the tools to:
Prevent disease and aging
Improve your health and lifestyle
Better understand your psychology
Synchronize your Mind-Body-Emotions to Nature’s rhythm
Our Commitment to Sustainability
Since its inception, The Goddess Garden was planned to preserve nature.
The buildings are distributed over an area of 14 acres using the natural clearings in the forest to build the resort. The water in the rooms is heated by solar panels to cut down the use of electricity. Our restaurant serves mainly vegetarian dishes with organic vegetables and fruits locally grown. We compost our organic leftovers. This compost is put back as fertilizer in our garden.
Every action to conserve energy helps to minimize the damage that we cause to Mother Earth and we go the old fashion way of drying the clothes in the sun when possible. In our vision for the future is the creation of the Peace Garden. At the Goddess Garden, we would like to have a museum in the forest with sculptures and paintings representing the feminine energy of the Universe. It will be dedicated to honor Mother Earth.