In 2019/2020, I spent five months living on-site and volunteering as a yoga teacher at a wellness retreat center in Costa Rica. I was initially drawn in by the centers focus on promoting a plant based rich diet, harvesting medicinal plants, and supporting others towards living a more balanced lifestyle in harmony with nature. While the setting was beautiful and their operations did support local farmers and small local businesses – I left with a disappointing experience about how many retreat businesses these days operate.
Despite presenting itself as a non-profit organization, the retreat actually operates as a for-profit business: charging international rates to international guests, meanwhile local workers are paid as little as $2 per hour for physically demanding and often hazardous tasks, such as scaling steep, uneven hillsides to perform landscaping or brush clearing—often in slippery or muddy conditions—and hauling heavy building materials up or down long inclines. Additionally, the hardworking housekeeping staff receives low compensation but continue on due to lack of other options in such a rural setting.
Foreign-owned retreat centers in lower income countries often profit off the labor and cultural elements of local communities, while keeping ownership, decision-making, and wealth in the hands of outsiders.
This is not just a labor issue, it reflects an ongoing pattern: where Westerners extract spiritual value, aesthetic experience, and cheap labor without meaningful contribution to or enhancement of the economic opportunities of the local population.
What’s particularly troubling is that this exploitation often hides behind the language of "healing, consciousness, and service". The reality on the ground in my eyes: underpaid local workers and a lack of accountability.
If you ever have the chance to join a wellness retreat abroad, please do more than just say hello to the locals—take time to genuinely connect, leave a tip if you’re able to, and observe whether the local staff seem respected.
Support businesses that demonstrate fair labor practices, community engagement, and respect for local culture.
I hope future volunteers, guests, travellers and practitioners look more closely at the business ethics behind the experiences they support. And I hope as we can create meaning relationships while upholding a responsibility to transact in ways that are truly reciprocal.