An Extraordinary Soul Has Left Us

Amy Schrift, beloved 'Jungle Woman,' of Costa Rica, has made her transition to the world beyond.

I was sitting at the little table outside my van-home on this chilly, cloudy morning, absorbing the beauty all around me and the abundance of birdsong in the air. I was just beginning to collect some notes in my journal about the topic I was planning to write about today, when I received the shocking news that Amy Schrift had passed away.

Some of my readers here knew of Amy, or even visited or stayed with her on her special farm during one of my Living Heart Costa Rica retreats. Amy had an extraordinary life! And a magnanimous, magnetic, larger-than-life soul. I was drawn to her grounded presence about twenty years ago, shortly after she had left her professional music career in New York City and secured a 17-acre piece of land in the mountains of Costa Rica. Amy wanted to deepen her new-found passion for a much simpler, more nature-attuned kind of living, and she wanted a pristine natural setting for this endeavor. She let go of everything in her New York life, and went all-in for her new chapter.

After getting to know Amy, her land and her purpose in being there, she and I ultimately decided to work together to create an ‘advanced retreat’ for brave and curious souls who desired to follow one of my retreats at a neighboring farm with a second week at Amy’s much more rustic setting. Prior to the creation of these advanced retreats, my annual retreaters enjoyed a half-day field trip to Amy’s, where they were mesmerized and deeply inspired by her calm, quiet presence, and her stories about her journey to connect more deeply with Nature. The idea to co-create a full week-long retreat sprung from the experience of having to drag people away from Amy to keep them in sync with the main retreat schedule at the other farm. They wanted MORE AMY!

The first time we offered this extra retreat, all the beds in her new treehouse-like guesthouse structure filled quickly, so I slept by myself on the floor of the simple, open-air Rancho where Amy had lived for her first 5 years alone on the land (a large wooden platform a couple of feet off the ground, with a thatched roof and no walls). My first night was blessed with a glorious full moon. Gazing at the moon as it was rising gave me comfort, as I bravely tried to adjust to the uncertainties of my exposure to the elements, and to the unnerving cacophony of nocturnal animal sounds, so very close to my little mattress on the floor. Sometime in the middle of the night, I was suddenly awakened by a large-sounding animal racing quickly across the Rancho platform. I shot up in bed with my heart pounding, but before I could see anything it had scurried clear across the floor and off the other side. As I lay back down cautiously, I told myself, “If Amy could do this for 5 years without getting eaten, I can do it for one week!” Amy would later tell us that 80% of the animals were nocturnal, and none of them were on a mission to hurt us.

As much as Amy lived quietly amongst the jungle plants and animals, she also gave generously to her community. After a few years mostly alone on the land, she wanted to share the great wisdom she had connected with, and she wanted to help her local community to thrive. In addition to the teaching of English to her nearby villagers (Amy was a world-traveler, spoke several languages, and was fluent in Spanish), Amy spearheaded a successful program to eliminate harmful pesticides from what we might call her “township.” More recently, she obtained full organic certification and created a small home-business producing and selling fruits from her land that she dried and packaged. She called it “Amy-Zing!” She also hosted an annual women’s gathering on her land, and offered many workshops and teachings about simple, natural, heart-led living.

Amy invited our retreaters to enjoy stillness, to come into presence, and to trust our oneness with all of life. She encouraged us to walk softly with our bare feet on the earth, to bathe in the pure waters of the mountain creek instead of a modern shower, and to give our bodily eliminations back into the earth rather than use the flush-toilet. She asked us to use the internet sparingly (at one designated location), and to use only headlamps after dark. She helped us all to slow…way…down…and to reconnect with the healing rhythms of nature. Just one week in her presence, and perceptions were forever changed.

Amy loved to hear people’s stories, and she had a gentle way of accepting people where they were, while inviting them to deepen their connection to life. She was fun and lively, too, with an infectious smile and a genuine laugh. Amy would light the rocket stove on a cool evening, and share her impressive African drumming skills while patiently teaching us how to join in and co-create rhythms together. When she arrived in Costa Rica, she gave up the trumpet-playing which had been her professional career, and now would only drum - she said drumming was a connection to the heartbeat of mother earth.

Amy was a vibrant and radiant being, living more naturally, and more connected to Spirit and the living Earth with all her creatures, than most of us could ever even imagine, in today’s disconnected world. I am stunned and deeply saddened by Amy’s early and sudden passing. She has been a uniquely special and meaningful mentor to me, on my personal journey to reclaim my place in nature. We may never have answers about the cause of the physical illness that took Amy’s life. Perhaps she was ready, in an unseen way, for her return to the Spirit world.

Bless you, beautiful Amy-of-the-jungle, and thank you for all that you have shown us.

Left to right: 1. Amy harvesting from her land; 2. Amy meditating on her yoga and sleeping platform; 3. Amy’s Rancho; 4. Amy with fruit abundance; 5. One of my Living Heart retreats with Amy (I am the 4th one in, in turquoise).