Yrsa's Journey
What Yrsa found during her first time in Big Sur felt both grounding and expansive. A place to regulate. To breathe. To meet the deeper self that often hides behind the noise. Trace her path through a series of moments—still, grounded, and deeply connected to the land that moved her.
Poet’s Overarching Property and Destination Experience
Yrsa’s time at Alila Ventana Big Sur was a journey into the wild heart of nature. It began with the land itself—untamed, expansive, and brimming with riotous beauty. Rugged cliffs and mist-filled mornings invited her to pause and reconnect with nature, setting the stage for a deeply reflective experience.
Immersion in the Natural Landscape
Beside towering redwoods and sweeping hills, Yrsa was emotional about her surroundings. This profound sense of place cocooned the experience, offering her a space to embrace the simplicity and clarity that nature brings.
Cold Plunge Experience
One of Big Sur’s most exhilerating rituals, Yrsa’s cold plunge was an intense immersion into nature’s purest form—feeling the shock of the cold water both grounded her body and sharpened her senses.
Harvest and Share Experience
The Harvest and Share experience allowed Yrsa to engage with our destination in a more intimate way. Gathering fresh ingredients alongside local community members, she felt the rhythm of the land, where nature’s gifts were shared, and creativity blossomed in the simple act of harvesting.
Poetry Experience with Rachelle Escamilla
Guided by the Poet Laureate of Monterey, Rachelle Escamilla, Yrsa’s journey was marked by poetic exercises that linked the destination’s beauty with personal expression. Through writing prompts, she connected with natural rhythms, enhancing her creative process.
The Poet’s Writing Experience
As Yrsa’s time at Alila Ventana came to an end, she reflected on how each Moment had shaped her poetry. Surrounded by Big Sur’s beauty and immersed in its sights and sounds, her craft evolved, offering her new words and deeper insights into herself and her writing.
In Her Own Words
Born from her time with Alila, Yrsa’s poem is woven from trees and tides, from sky and soil. It’s a meditation on movement, memory, and returning to yourself in unfamiliar places. While the film offers a glimpse of her journey, Poetry of Place is where the story deepens. Read it at your own pace, or listen aloud, in Yrsa's voice.
Return to yourself by taking moments to find a home in as many new territories as possible. Place is geography, psychology, therapy and balm. You’re an ecosystem living in an ecosystem. It is privilege to wander far and wide, and a skill to receive the breadth of the messages,
the hidden lengths of our love, flowering on unexpected land. I visit the trees and find new names for myself.
I reach a body of water and re-frame my reflection. My feet, earthed in soil, remember themselves, There is a root and a route to every new decision.
The rain makes more lake, more river, more sea.
The birds curve exquisite, making loops in the milk sky,
somehow, against all odds,
and somewhere amongst the earth’s perfect commotion,
I am found again. I consider the origins of our planet-kin, how we might better live amongst one another. There are hidden answers everywhere – olive moss on rock, pink slip on nautilus shell, dew drop on spiderweb,
deep-truth under the peace of the redwoods,
a body reset, among the abundance of green, enduring life.
Where I am looking for novelty I find reason,
where I was looking for rest I find a new lease of activity. We stray far from our dreams, but there are old messages, fingerprints, maps back to soul, parts of self, dotted everywhere. I found the same sun in every new terrain, but she was always new, always improved, forever learning, dancing on architecture, grass, brick and limestone, weather, fruit, and language.
I go to the end of the earth and find new ways to nourish myself, new behaviors that are novel and necessary. The moon changes position; an acrobat of sorts, the stars hide, or they may make their planets known, the wind throws expert voice, changes whispering tone. There is wonder inside of it all, meaning inside of it all. Perhaps you might have noticed the sky turning over and out, over and out in perfect rhythm?
the flora and fauna bare and bloom,
bloom and bare,
the transcendent gradient of the sky
– how the horizon purples, sighs,
sinks into decadent rust.
Beyond Words: One on One with Yrsa
In this exclusive conversation, Yrsa reflects on her time with Alila—how nature became teacher, how travel became mirror. She speaks about language as a landscape of its own, the power of stillness, and the responsibility of noticing.
Yrsa’s Moment
Alila Moments are carefully crafted experiences designed to immerse you fully in the unique spirit of each destination, inviting you to engage with its stories, rhythms, and natural beauty on a deeper level. Set among redwoods and quiet ridgelines, Yrsa co-created a journey designed to do just that.
Nature's Muse: A Poetic Journey in Big Sur
By YRSA DALEY-WARD
Paths To Travel Further
Alila Moments are designed to move you—each one thoughtfully crafted to reflect what matters most to each of us. Whether you seek renewal, connection, awe, or creative inspiration, there’s a Moment to match your journey.
A World Told in Three Voices
Our story unfolds through four distinct poems—Yrsa’s, another by Lang Leav, and two by Nikita Gill. Explore these voices and see how Alila invites each poet to connect with the land, the people, and the essence of place.
POETRY OF OUR WORLD
By WRITTEN BY NIKITA GILL
POETRY OF PEOPLE
By WRITTEN BY LANG LEAV
POETRY OF WONDER
By WRITTEN BY NIKITA GILL
What World Awaits You?
Across continents and cultures, Alila destinations invite you to see the world differently—and feel more deeply as you move through it.
