What if your workday started with the sound of the ocean?
You could walk to the beach before work, teach yoga in the afternoon, share dinner with guests in the evening, and spend your days surrounded by people from different parts of the world. On your days off, you could go kiteboarding, surf, explore the Dominican Republic, or simply enjoy having the Caribbean right outside your door.
This is part of what life at Zen Cabarete can look like.
But living and working at a beachfront retreat isn’t a permanent holiday. There are guests to take care of, classes to teach, content to create, communication to handle, and responsibilities that need to be taken seriously. The appeal is not that you don’t have to work. It’s that your work becomes part of a lifestyle that many people spend their holidays trying to experience.
Zen Cabarete is a small, grassroots beachfront retreat centre located directly on Kite Beach in Cabarete, on the north coast of the Dominican Republic.
We create a space where guests can slow down, move their bodies, eat nourishing food, spend time in nature, and experience a different pace of life. Because we’re a small team, the people who work here aren’t simply responsible for one narrow part of the business.
The Yoga Teacher and Content Creator role, for example, combines yoga teaching, guest hosting, hospitality, content creation, and day-to-day communication with the local team.
That means every day can look a little different.
Some weeks are busy with retreat groups, classes, guest interactions, and activities. Other periods are quieter, giving you more time to focus on filming, editing, social media, creative projects, or your own online work.
You need to be comfortable with both sides.
One of the obvious advantages of living here is the location.
Zen Cabarete is directly on Kite Beach, so the ocean is part of your everyday environment rather than something you only see when you’re on vacation.
Depending on your schedule, you might have time for a morning swim, a walk along the beach, or a few hours of kiteboarding or surfing. Cabarete is well known for its water sports, but there’s much more to explore around the area too, from hiking and nature to local restaurants, music, dancing, and Dominican culture.
The beach is also a great reminder that work and life don’t always have to happen in completely separate worlds.
You can finish a task, close your laptop, walk outside, and be at the ocean within minutes.
The lifestyle is one of the biggest attractions of this position, but it’s important to be realistic about what working at a retreat centre actually means.
Guests are trusting you with part of their holiday experience. That means being present, reliable, organised, and willing to take responsibility.
The role includes hosting four days per week and teaching approximately ten yoga/fitness classes per week. You’ll welcome guests, connect with them throughout their stay, host dinners, communicate with the local team, help things run smoothly, and take care of smaller administrative tasks when necessary.
Our local team handles cooking, cleaning, maintenance, and gardening, but good communication is essential. You’ll need to check in with the team, communicate clearly in Spanish, and step in when something needs your attention.
Some days will be relaxed.
Some days will be busy.
And sometimes something unexpected will happen that needs to be dealt with immediately.
That’s hospitality.
The reward is that you’re not spending those busy days sitting behind a desk in an office. You’re doing meaningful work in an environment where you can see the impact you have on people’s experience.
For a yoga teacher, there is something special about having yoga naturally integrated into your working life.
Instead of teaching a class and immediately returning to a completely separate environment, your practice becomes part of a wider retreat experience.
You’ll teach guests with different levels of experience and different reasons for coming to Zen Cabarete. Some may be experienced practitioners, while others may be taking their first yoga class.
This requires adaptability.
Being a good retreat teacher isn’t only about knowing yoga. It’s about reading the room, making people feel comfortable, adapting when necessary, and creating an environment where people don’t feel pressured to perform.
You become part of someone’s experience of the retreat.
And sometimes, the smallest interaction outside the yoga class can be just as important as the class itself.
The second major part of this role is content creation.
We’re looking for someone who can turn everyday moments into stories.
That might mean filming a yoga class, creating a Reel about a healthy meal being prepared in our kitchen, interviewing a guest about their retreat experience, capturing kiteboarders on Kite Beach, documenting a day at the retreat centre, or creating a longer YouTube video about life in Cabarete.
The goal is to show people what being here actually feels like.
This requires creativity, initiative, and the ability to work independently. You won’t necessarily have someone telling you every morning what content to create. You’ll need to notice opportunities yourself, plan ideas, film them, edit them, and get them published.
For the right person, that freedom can be one of the most exciting parts of the role.
Working at Zen Cabarete isn’t only about the job description.
Because we’re a small retreat centre, the people working here become part of the community that guests experience.
You’ll eat meals with people from different countries, hear stories from travellers, spend time with the local team, and meet guests who may only be here for a few days but can leave a lasting impression.
You may arrive not knowing anyone and, six months later, have friends in several different countries.
That’s one of the unique things about hospitality work in a place like Cabarete. Your workplace can introduce you to people and experiences that you simply wouldn’t encounter in a conventional job.
The position is around 30 hours per week, and the retreat workload changes depending on how busy we are.
This means the role can work particularly well for someone who already has an online business, remote work, or creative projects they want to continue developing.
You may have periods when retreat responsibilities take priority, followed by quieter days when you can dedicate more time to your own projects.
You can live here, work here, and still have a life outside of the retreat.
That might mean editing your own YouTube videos from your room, working on your online business, practicing your own yoga, learning to kiteboard, or simply spending an afternoon at the beach.
The important thing is being able to manage your own time and responsibilities.
Cabarete has a particular energy that is difficult to describe until you’ve experienced it.
It’s a small coastal town, but there’s always something happening. Kiteboarders fill the water, surfers head out with their boards, people meet for yoga, music and dancing continue into the evening, and travellers from all over the world pass through.
At the same time, you can easily find quiet.
You can walk along the beach, explore the surrounding nature, spend time in a hammock, or have a slow afternoon without doing anything particularly exciting.
That’s part of the balance.
You don’t have to spend every free moment doing something. But if you want adventure, there’s plenty of it.
This position is suited to someone independent, responsible, warm, organised, and comfortable taking initiative.
You need to enjoy working with people, teaching yoga, creating content, and adapting to changing circumstances. You also need to be comfortable communicating with the local team in Spanish and understand that working in a small retreat centre sometimes means doing things that aren’t specifically written in your job title.
In return, you get something that can be difficult to find in a conventional workplace: the opportunity to build your work around a lifestyle you genuinely enjoy.
There is a certain irony to working in a place where most people come to escape from work.
But perhaps that’s also what makes it special.
You still have responsibilities.
The difference is what surrounds you.
Instead of commuting through traffic, you’re living steps from the ocean. Instead of spending your lunch break in an office, you might be looking out at Kite Beach. Instead of spending your evenings alone after work, you might be sharing dinner with guests and teammates from different parts of the world.
And when your work is finished, the beach is still there.
Living and working abroad isn’t always as effortless as it looks from the outside. It requires independence, flexibility, patience, and a willingness to adapt.
But if you’re someone who wants to combine yoga, hospitality, creativity, travel, nature, and an active lifestyle, working at Zen Cabarete can offer a very different kind of professional experience.
You won’t simply be visiting Cabarete.
You’ll be living here.
You’ll become part of the daily rhythm of the retreat, get to know the local community, work alongside our team, welcome guests from around the world, and have the opportunity to experience the lifestyle that makes people fall in love with this part of the Dominican Republic.
And perhaps that’s the real appeal of working at Zen Cabarete:
You don’t have to choose between having a meaningful job and enjoying where you live.
You can work hard, contribute something valuable, and still step outside at the end of the day and walk straight onto the beach.
Interested in working here?
Email us: team@extremehotels.com
