Caribbean Costa Rica
Raw Refuge Retreats
You already know
something has to change.
Maybe you can't name it yet. You just feel it, the way you're eating, the way you're sleeping, the noise in your head, the sense that you've been living on autopilot for a while now. Your body is giving you signals, you know something has to change and it needs to be soon.
Raw Refuge invites you for 7-21 days in the jungle on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, where you clean out your body and quiet down your mind at the same time.
Every stay begins with a call with Ålam. He designs your week around where you are. Seven days is the standard; longer stays are available if you ask.
You are standing at the edge of a new life, a threshold.
The things you used to reach for have stopped working. The coffee, the wine, the scrolling, the busyness, the food you eat without deciding to. They used to take the edge off. Now they are the loudest thing in the room, and the discomfort they were covering is still there underneath, waiting and getting louder.
That is what the edge feels like from the inside. The old way stops working before the new way arrives, and there is a stretch in between where you are standing in both.
Ålam Nevill, founder
Most people try to push through it. More discipline, a stricter week, another protocol. But nothing lasts when you are trying to do that in the same routines and environment you are in now. You need a shift…a big one…to get away and get clear on all levels.
A shift in perspective
Sometimes discomfort becomes the thing that finally makes us stop and listen.
Your attention has gone outward for so long that the signals coming from inside got faint. The tight shoulder. The heaviness after eating. The feeling you filed away in 2019 and never went back for. All of it still stored somewhere in the body.
We see these signals as messengers. As invitations to become more present with what your body and your life have been asking you to notice. It's not about will power — the shift needs to happen at the cellular and energetic levels, not from the mind.
What the retreat holds
Two kinds of work, one result.
Most retreats either focus on Detox and juices, or meditation and mindset. Here you do both, on purpose, because they don't really work without each other. Tap a card to read more.
The body
Fresh fruit picked from the land. Living foods and fresh pressed juices. And if it's right for you, a supervised water fast. Within a few days most people feel something they haven't felt in years: light. Clear-headed. Awake without caffeine.
The mind
Daily meditation. Yoga and gentle movement. One-on-one Shiatsu bodywork with Ålam. Breathwork. Long walks in the forest. Silence when you want it, real conversation when you need it.
Together
Do one without the other and you get a partial result. Do them together, in a quiet place, for a full week, deeply immersed in the nature of the jungle with someone paying close attention to you, and something genuinely shifts.
The fast, explained properly
Your body is walked in slowly and walked out slowly. Nothing sudden.
At Raw Refuge your experience is personally customized based on your health goals and needs. Our simple method that we guide you through is the whole reason it works, and the whole reason it's safe.
What's happening underneath: your nervous system stops running the program it's been running for years. No deciding, no digesting, no input, no performing for anyone. The fast is optional — some people come for the simple food and skip it entirely.
01 · Coming in
Fruit.
Whatever's ripe on the land. Digestion lightens. Caffeine, sugar and processed food start leaving your system. Most people sleep differently by the second night.
02 · Transition
Juice.
Fresh tropical juice only. Your body shifts gears without shock.
03 · Three days
Water
Digestion goes quiet. So does a surprising amount of the mental chatter that rides on top of it. Ålam is with you every day, checking in, adjusting.
04 · Coming out
Juice, then fruit.
This matters as much as the fast itself. It's where people fasting alone get it wrong. You're brought back carefully, on purpose.
the place
A forest quiet enough to hear yourself.
Raw Refuge is on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, near Cahuita. It's remote by design. You're meant to stay and immerse yourself in the deep medicine the jungle has to offer.
You have a private space, hot water, and wifi if you need it. What you don't have is traffic, a schedule that isn't yours, or anyone who needs anything from you.
a day here
Returning to rhythm.
Every stay is shaped around you that returns you to a natural rhythm
Dawn
7 AM
You Wake up With the Jungle.
Slow mornings starting with coconut water or spring water depending on where you are at in your fast. Howler monkeys and birds are often the first sounds you hear.
Morning
7:30 to 10:30
Practice and nourishment.
Guided meditation on our yoga deck, Chinese lymphatic release, then fruit, juice, or the continuation of a fast depending on where you are. Bodywork sessions often happen here.
Midday
12 to 4 PM
Nature or stillness.
A national park hike, beach time, fruit farm tour, or deep rest on the land. Community events and spontaneous conversations about the path.
Afternoon
4 to 6 PM
Nourishment from the land.
A raw living foods dinner created from what grows around us. For those fasting, quiet, rest, and integration.
Evening
6 PM onward
Return to stillness.
Herbal sauna and sound journey at the local community. Or simply the canopy, the stars, and the quiet of a Caribbean night.
What changes
I know. I can feel what's true. I can feel what I'm done carrying.
Your intuition stops being something you override. Your energy comes back and it's steady, not spiky. Food tastes like something again.
You leave with a clean body, a quiet mind, and a real sense of who you are and where you want to go next. Not a high. Something that is sustainable and long lasting.
IN THEIR WORDS
What guests have shared.
Francisco
Raw Refuge guest
Fullvia
Raw Refuge guest
Chris
Raw Refuge guest
Who holds this
Meet the hosts.
Ålam Nevill
Founder & host
Natural hygiene, silent practice and traditional Chinese medicine. Three years of formal Shiatsu training, and a 10-day silent Vipassana every year since 2017.
Zoey Jevaughn
Vision keeper, Filí Forest
Mother of six, birthkeeper and steward of this land. She holds the living system the retreat sits inside — the food forest, the ecosystem, the feeling of the place.
PRACTICAL
The plain facts.
LENGTH
Seven days is the standard stay.
Longer stays are available, ask about them on your call.
Group size
One-on-one, or a very small group.
You will never be one of thirty people following a schedule.
TO RESERVE
A $700 deposit holds your dates.
Non-refundable, but you can move it to another date or pass it to someone else. The balance is paid when you arrive.
Your stay includes
Private accommodation in the forest, with hot water and wifi
All organic living food and fresh juices, plus your fasting protocol if you choose one
Daily meditation, yoga and movement, one-on-one Shiatsu, breathwork
Fruit forest walks, Cahuita National Park, jungle herbal steam sauna
Local ground transportation
Tools and guidance for keeping what you found once you're home
Honest answers
Before you decide.
I've never fasted. Can I do this?
Most people who come here haven't. The fruit and juice days exist so your body is never asked to do something it hasn't been prepared for. And Ålam adjusts as he goes.
Will I be hungry?
The first day or two, sometimes. Then, for most people, hunger goes quiet. That surprises almost everyone.
Do I have to fast?
No. Fruit, juices and living food for a week is a real reset on its own.
What if I can't finish?
Then you stop, and you come back down carefully. Nothing here is a test.
Am I too old / too young / too out of shape?
No. People of all ages and all kinds of lives come here. The week is built around you, not the other way round.
Do I have to be silent the whole time?
No. Silence is available, not enforced. Ålam is there to talk whenever you need it.
Will I be alone?
Yes and no. You'll have more solitude than you've probably had in years, and two people paying close attention to you the whole time.
Is this a medical program?
No, and we're straight about that. Raw Refuge is held by experienced practitioners, not doctors. If you have a condition that needs medical supervision, tell us on the form and Ålam will tell you honestly whether this is the right place for you.
APPLY
Send it to Ålam.
We talk to everyone before they book to be sure this experience is right for you. It takes about three minutes.
Filí Forest · The land
Filí is an ancient Celtic
word for one who sees.
This land brings us into deep knowing and remembrance, of who we truly are,
of our ancient wisdom, and of the power that already lives inside each of us.
Children grow up here inside that same remembrance,
learning directly from the earth around them.
This is Filí Forest, a place of return. To ourselves. To the land. To each other.
A regenerative community and biodynamic food forest on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.
Filí Forest · The land
Ready?
© 2026 Filí Forest