Near a remote beach on the coastline of Nicaragua, about 12 kilometers from the border of Costa Rica, Edya Kalev, AB ’92, guides a group of women as they each apply gentle, purposeful pressure to their hands, feet and spine.
The retreat participants breathe deeply, letting out the occasional relaxed sigh as they release tension using specialized balls and rollers that Kalev brought from her studio in New York.
A master instructor of the MELT Method, a self-administered massage technique used for pain relief, Kalev has led such exercises for decades. But her experience this past February at Evolutions Trainings in Nicaragua stands out — both because of the idyllic setting and because of some serendipitous WashU connections.
The retreat was held in a soaring, one-of-a-kind bamboo structure where monkeys freely climbed on netted walls. Above the large oval platform where classes took place, light poured in from openings atop two distinctive bamboo columns.