Ananda Lodge is an eco-luxury, family-owned plant medicine retreat center perched in the Guanacaste mountains overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Playa Grande, Costa Rica. The name comes from the Sanskrit ānanda — bliss, divine joy, the kind of peace that arrives at the end of a deep inner shift.
Founded by Jason and Kimberly Ocana — a former firefighter-paramedic and a former corporate leader who both found their own healing through plant medicine — the lodge was built around a trauma-informed, somatic approach. Their in-house retreats cap at eight guests with a 2:1 staff-to-guest ratio and three months of integration support after each journey. Preparation calls and intake work begin weeks before arrival; this isn't a drop-in experience.
The property is intentionally intimate: a Maloca for ceremony, an open-air yoga shala, a natural stone swimming pool, a private healing hut, jungle walking paths, and king-bedded ocean-view rooms with secluded balconies and open-air teak-and-stone showers. A private chef prepares organic farm-to-table meals daily. Playa Grande sits inside a protected marine sanctuary — quieter and more remote than Costa Rica's tourist-heavy towns, with consistent surf for all skill levels just a short drive away. Liberia International Airport is about 75 minutes by road.