Husk a coconut with your bare hands to quench your thirst after a long hike.

"Nature remains unsurpassed in its power to transform our lives." John Milton

Kauai’s enduring beauty and rugged wilderness inspires sustainable methods of cultivation and permaculture.

Visit local organic gardens and farmer’s markets to learn about conscious agricultural practices and the diversity of produce the island offers.

Kauai is also home to a vast array of flora used for healing and psycho- transformational therapies.

Organic Gardening

Kauai is aptly named the Garden Isle, for its year round sunshine tempered by gentle rains and trade-winds. Kauai’s organic farmers employ conscious agricultural practices while raising global awareness about GMO’s and their insidious potential.

Learn about holistic gardening and plant propagation. Visit an organic farm and experience the perfection of an eggplant; breathe in the pungent smells of soil, basil and dill. Plant a few rows of kale and harvest mangoes as you meditate on the ocean’s horizon. Get dirty and appreciate the bounty of nature for your body and soul.

Shamanic Arts

Shamans or Traditional Healers have long had an important place in aboriginal cultures. In Hawaii the kahuna utilize an intimate knowledge of the spirit world to bring about harmony in the community. We will learn traditional healing practices by investigating the restorative and pharmacological properties of native plants. Hawaiians have an intimate connection with the natural world. The amakua , protective ancestral spirit guides, will lead you to encounter and explore your inner source.

Kava Circle

Kava, or ' Ava , is an important native plant used for over 3,000 years in Hawaiian/Polynesian shamanic rituals. Kava is used ceremoniously to celebrate beginnings, endings, and to honor guests. Drinking Kava brings about a great sense of peace, mellow well-being, and relaxation in its communion with the spirit world. Enjoy the serenity and camaraderie of a traditional kava ceremony around a sacred fire circle.

Permaculture in Paradise

Permanent agriculture, or “permaculture”, is a whole living system based on three ethics: Care of the Earth, care of the people, and reinvest all surplus. Permaculture creates communities in which daily existence and nature are inner-connected. It teaches people to study and assess existing energies, then apply them through systems such as organic gardening, entrepreneurial endeavors, and self-reliant households.

The results are a community that functions as a whole living system, becoming increasingly diverse and self-sustaining. Kauai is home to a number of such emerging communities. Retreat participants will have the opportunity to visit and experience these positive living systems at work.

Psychotropic Plants

Hawaiian kahuna utilize a large number of healing plants. In addition to those plants, which were brought here from elsewhere in Polynesia, the Hawaiians explored the healing properties of plants indigenous to the Islands. Many of these plants were used for their curative powers and for ceremoniously induced visionary states.

Some plants, although they are not native, thrive in Kauai's temperate climate and lush jungle atmosphere. Examples include: Datura, also known as Holy Flower of the North Star, has been used as a shamanic, magical and ritual tool for centuries. Salvia Divinorum, or Diviner's Sage, has been known and used for generations by the Mazatec Indians. Another plant common to Hawaii is argyreia nervosa , or Hawaiian Baby Woodrose. It is a beautiful ornamental vine with heart shaped leaves and delicate blue flowers. The seeds of the plant are said to increase intelligence, memory and even promote longevity by calming and centering the mind.