The History of Anamaya Resort
The History of Anamaya Resort
In December 2009, three visionaries stood on a clifftop above Montezuma, Costa Rica, and opened the doors to what would become one of the Nicoya Peninsula's most distinctive wellness sanctuaries. Anamaya Resort emerged at a moment when the global wellness movement was beginning to mature beyond spa culture into something more integral—a desire not just to relax, but to fundamentally realign with nature and reclaim vitality from the ground up.
Founding Vision and Philosophy
The three founders brought remarkably complementary gifts to their collaboration. Geoff McCabe arrived with a physics background and years of experience in green building and eco-village development. Joseph Mikrut, a Michigan-born naturopath, contributed a decade of intensive study in herbal medicine and bodywork cultivated in California. Kelsey Matheson, a Toronto-based entrepreneur and success coach specializing in women's wellness, rounded out the trio with her understanding of how transformation actually happens in people's lives.
The property itself had already captured McCabe's imagination—he'd built his dream home on this extraordinary site, perched where primary rainforest meets the Pacific and the famous Montezuma Falls marks the property's boundary. Converting that personal refuge into a shared sanctuary became the seed of Anamaya. The partners chose the name deliberately: in Sanskrit, it means "freedom from disease," a phrase that pointed toward their founding philosophy. This wasn't about treating illness but about cultivating such robust alignment with natural rhythms that disease found no foothold.
Building a Temple of Wellness
From its earliest days, Anamaya distinguished itself through uncompromising attention to the relationship between environment and vitality. The founders insisted on organic farm-to-table cuisine, non-toxic building materials, and a design ethos that dissolved boundaries between built and natural space. Two open-air yoga shalas were positioned to capture 270-degree views—Pacific coastline stretching to the horizon, jungle canopy alive with howler monkeys, waves breaking on rocks below.
The resort's physical evolution reflected its philosophical commitments. Colorful rooms and suites were designed with shared bathrooms in some cases, private facilities and gulf-view balconies with hammocks in others. Separate cabins and houses offered more immersive experiences, some with open-air bathrooms and in-room tubs that let guests bathe under stars. A saltwater infinity pool was carved into the cliffside, its edge seeming to pour directly into the Pacific panorama beyond.
A Living Laboratory of Practice
What truly shaped Anamaya's identity wasn't just infrastructure but the breadth of traditions it welcomed. The resort became known for hosting teachers across a remarkable spectrum of modalities: Vinyasa, Hatha, Yin, Restorative, and Iyengar yoga all found homes in those ocean-facing shalas. Mindfulness meditation, breathwork, and sound healing wove through the programming. As the wellness field itself evolved, Anamaya evolved with it, eventually incorporating cutting-edge approaches like biohacking alongside traditional naturopathy.
This eclecticism never felt scattered because it was grounded in the founders' core insight: that genuine wellbeing is visceral, felt in the body rather than simply understood intellectually. Whether a guest was exploring therapeutic bodywork, diving into surf lessons in the waves below, or sitting in silent meditation as the sun rose over the jungle, the experience was designed to be embodied, immediate, alive.
Present-Day Character
Today, Anamaya occupies a distinctive niche in Costa Rica's wellness ecosystem. It has retained its founder's intimate, unpretentious quality—this is not a polished spa resort but an authentic practice space that happens to occupy one of the most spectacular natural settings imaginable. The organic restaurant continues to source locally, the shalas still open entirely to the elements, and the howler monkeys still provide the morning alarm.
The resort has become known as a place where serious practitioners come to deepen their work, where teacher trainings unfold over weeks, and where first-timers discover what it feels like when wellness shifts from concept to lived experience. Surfing lessons and diving certification programs acknowledge that transformation happens through play and adventure as much as through seated practice.
What makes Anamaya distinctive now, fifteen years after its founding, is how thoroughly it has integrated its founding vision into every dimension of the guest experience. The freedom from disease that its name promises isn't marketed as a product but offered as a possibility—one that emerges naturally when human beings realign with the rhythms that the jungle, ocean, and their own bodies have never forgotten.
