FAQ

The primary difference is our personal touch. For retreats, there are no group schedules, fixed menus or set programs. We meet you as you are, and work with you personally to achieve what you want. With workshops, our groups are small enough that we can personalise the experience for everyone.

The other difference is in the depth of work we do, which comes from the reason we are doing it. Our programs are not an outcome from a business model, but the ripe fruit from a lifetime of commitment to sustainable living, at the physical, mental, emotional and environmental levels.

We have enough experience as well to make relaxation and learning a pleasant experience for everyone involved. If viewed as an adventure of exploration and discovery, change comes naturally as our eyes open to other ways of responding to life.

We focus on one core program (Insight program) then adjust to what is needed on the day. If you need to get back in touch with your body, or find clarity amidst a storm of too many thoughts, or remember again how to open your heart in a busy and often demanding world, we can adjust the Insight program to give you what you need.

An Insight retreat is a full day (7 hour) program, with an option to stay the night before and/or the night after to extend and deepen your experience.

You can choose from one of three retreat options:

• Day Retreat – in-and-out in 1 day – begin at 10 am, then a full-day program incl. lunch, done by 5 pm.
• Getaway Retreat – retreat + overnight stay – stay the night after your retreat in a private cottage; includes all meals.
• Extended Getaway – overnight stay (self catered – grab dinner on the way) + day retreat + overnight stay
• DIY Retreat – do-it-yourself program – Stay for 2 nights or more, self-cater, optional ad-hoc sessions.

For the Day Retreat and Getaway options, all meals are included. For the Extended Getaway program, the night before is uncatered, so for the night of your arrival, BYO ingredients to cook in the cottage kitchen, or grab a meal on the way, or visit a nearby restaurant (10-15 min drive)).

Retreats are for 1 or 2 people only, so come alone, or with your partner or a friend. You never have to mix with strangers, and because retreats are private for just you, we arrange a date that works for us all.

When you register you tell us if you have special medical dietary requirements or special goals for your time with us, and we adjust the program and menu accordingly.

Yes. If you are dropping off or picking up school children (or for any other reason), you can elect to begin your retreat at 8.30 and finish at 3 pm. The program is 30 minutes shorter but contains the same content at a slightly faster pace (less free time).

When you register you tell us your preferred start time.

After you book we send you a link to an online questionnaire that tells us what we need to know to plan a retreat to suit what you want. It includes questions about dietary needs, any health or pain issues, and what goals you have for your time away.

We respond with confirmation of check-in details and what you might want to bring, and a few ideas about how to prepare to get the most out of your retreat.

When you arrive, we’ll run through your retreat schedule and answer any questions.

Near the end we’ll talk with you about a practice plan that you can take home and use as a reminder of what to do (a handful of simple practices) to move steadily in the direction towards your unique best life.

None, unless you bring a partner or a friend. Our facilities and garden are dedicated to just you for the duration of your retreat.

We have one self-contained cottage embedded in our garden where retreat activities occur, and where you sleep if you elect to stay.

You can choose either to do just the day program, or to add either one or two nights stay in the Garden Cottage. We recommend at least staying the night after to give yourself a little time to go deeper and have a more memorable experience. If you really need a break, stay the night before as well (BYO dinner) and settle your frazzled nerves before beginning your retreat the next day.

To learn about the Cottage, see the retreats page.

We provide lunch and snacks during your retreat program.

If you choose to stay the night after your retreat, we provide dinner and breakfast (delivered to your cottage).

If you also stay the night before, dinner is self-catered so please BYO dinner or bring ingredients and cook for yourself in the full kitchen (except no microwave).

You can explore the details on the Day Retreats page here.

Most of your retreat will happen in a fully self-contained, air-conditioned cottage with an open plan living area and space to support retreat activities such as yoga, meditation, breathwork, pilates, tarot and more. We deliver food to the cottage, and provide rainwater, filtered and mineralised through an 8-stage Hexagon filter.

The cottage is in a large, lush garden, along with the main house, several fish ponds and seating areas, a chook pen and an adjacent seasonal creek.

The cottage has 4 different private garden seating areas, often useful when pondering or journaling or mediating on the art of presence in amongst the beauty of nature.

The property is 1.4 acres (5,500 sq.m) of partly forested, sloping land, set in an enclave of about 20 acreage homes at the end of a small valley, surrounded by a forest reserve.

Part of the property is forested, with massive Ash trees and native Hoop Pines. The remainder is a rather special garden that includes 9 fish ponds and at least 50 different herbs and a numerous fruits blooming at various times of the year. Also because we avoid chemicals and produce a lot of food, we have an array of life forms visit on a daily basis including many kinds of birds, butterflies, bees and frogs.

The two buildings on the property are the main house and across the driveway, the garden cottage where you eat and do retreat activities. You have access all the garden and cottage facilities.

Our menu is comprised of foods that are tasty but not exotic, using common ingredients that most people don’t mind. If you have particular spices or vegetables that you really don’t like, just let us know when you fill in the registration form, and we’ll create a menu that avoids the yucky stuff.

All meals, snacks and beverages are plant-based, sugar and chemical free. The menu as a whole is nutritionally balanced, with plenty of protein and other essentials. And while no-one ever gets fat eating our food, no-one goes hungry. We don’t do a ‘special’ diet, just one that is wholesome, fresh and super nourishing.

We cater to gluten intolerance on request, and can avoid any allergy-evoking foods and anything you really don’t like. Of course, everything is organic and fresh.

If you choose to stay with us and self-cater, your cottage includes a full kitchen. If you normally eat meat, we encourage you to take a short break just to learn first-hand how your body responds to being nourished by plants. By the time you finish lunch on your retreat day, you may be surprised at how delicious and satisfying good vegan cooking can be.

By the usual standards, not a lot. We’ve had several guests say at the end of their stay how inexpensive we are. There’s a reason for that, and it has to do with values.

The prevailing ‘wisdom’ in our culture is to charge as much as the market will bear, which has the unfortunate side-effect of making some important services available only to those who can afford to compete financially. We prefer to keep balance in mind and resist the temptation to charge exorbitant fees, even when our customers tell us we could ask for more for 2 people working for a full day, plus all the preparation, administration and clean-up.

For example, 1 person can attend a 7 hour retreat program on a weekday for $495, and that includes a gourmet lunch and a raw vegan treat. Add an overnight stay in our cottage with dinner and breakfast included for an all-up price of $720. Our most expensive offering is 2 people on a day retreat, then staying 2 nights, on a weekend, with all meals included, all for just $1300.

Call us … Arisa on 0413 461 178 or Terrence on 0409 262 858, or send us a message via the Contact Page and tell us your options and preferred dates.

We check availability and reserve the available dates you decide that work for you.

If your retreat is more than 14 days away, we ask for a 10% deposit at the time you book. If it is within 14 days, full payment is required.

We accept common credit/debit cards and can arrange a payment plan. Some conditions apply if you are booking close to your retreat date. Scroll down and click the ‘Payment Options’ button for full details.

Once you are confirmed, we send you a link to a registration form that gives us more information about what you want from your retreat. Check the ‘How does a retreat work?’ for what happens from there.

Our cancellation policy is designed to be flexible if a genuine emergency interferes with your plans, while protecting our capacity to stay in business by covering the costs to our business of unfulfilled reservations that block other customers from using our services.

If you have to cancel even at the last moment, we will still offer you a 50% refund in the form of a credit to a future retreat. However we strongly recommend you take out travel insurance to cover yourself for the remainder in the event of a medical emergency or unavoidable last minute changes in plans.

If something comes up and you need to change your dates, we do let you do that although conditions apply. Visit our General Information page and click the ‘Cancellation Policy’ button for full details.

You decide how much you want to give as a gift towards a retreat, with a minimum equivalent to 1 person attending the least expensive retreat (which the recipient can upgrade for themselves when they book a date), up to a full fee for the retreat of your choice.

Payment is required in full at the time you purchase the Gift Certificate. We then create a certificate, customised with a name and, if you wish, a custom message, sent to you in electronic form as a PDF. The lucky beneficiary then contacts us and we reserve retreat dates that are convenient for them and make all subsequent arrangements with them directly.

Gift Certificates are non-refundable, but can be transferred to another person or couple with a few days notice (enough time to process a new registration form and adjust dietary or medical considerations).

Unless otherwise specified, a Gift Certificate expires in 6 months. We are happy to be flexible within the constraints of our availability.

The southern Gold Coast is a sub-tropical paradise with a more temperate climate than most places on Earth. Winter days are usually warm and clear, and the summer sun usually brings a cooling sea breeze.

That said, it can get cool on a Winter’s night (down to 7° or 8° C) and rather hot under a midday sun in Summer (usually not more than low 30’s C), and you may have noticed that the climate is changing and delivering unusual weather. Weird is the new normal. So best to bring layers and be adaptive in your planning for what to wear.

Your accommodation and the retreat venue is of course air-conditioned and heated, insulated and cosy.

To see a Bureau of Meteorology prediction for the next 7 days in our valley, click here (new window).

If your plans are vulnerable to change at the last minute, travel insurance can protect you from having to pay the cancellation fee after you have entered the non-refundable period before your retreat date begins (14 days).

In the event of the unexpected (such as travel delays or a personal medical or circumstantial surprise) you will also be covered for the extra expenses involved in making what arrangements you may need for emergency action of some kind. Once your retreat begins, if you have to leave suddenly for any reason, your retreat fee is non-refundable.

Travel insurance can assist with minimising the impact of all such events, as we are not liable for any costs associated with your need to change your commitment to retreat.

No, but it is useful to be mindful.

We live in a natural environment that we share with countless other small creatures, and that provide us with food, quality soil, clean water and air. Some of them have wings and are happy to fly through open doors in search of food, and some of them take every opportunity to feast on spilled food. If you remain mindful of keeping insect screens closed and not leaving out any food scraps, the insects are generally happy to keep a comfortable distance.

At different times of the year, different species come more or less into the fore. In spring we see butterflies and bees, and mosquitoes and a modest level of flies. In summer, engineer ants come out to play who will happily clean up any crumbs or food fragments (we do NOT recommend you eat anything in bed). Also in Spring and Summer, ticks occasionally appear, especially if you like time to spend in forests.

To keep the most enthusiastic mozzies at bay, the bed has a mosquito net and all doors and windows have fly screens.

The best preparation for a retreat is to spend time thinking about what is happening in your life that you would like to explore, and imagining how good it would feel to have a sense of direction and enthusiasm that comes from finding deeper clarity about what matters in your world.

During your retreat you will be invited to reconnect with your body, so we recommend you spend time walking or stretching or doing some other low-impact physical activity. We also work with qualities of attention and intention, so it is not so much about WHAT you do, but HOW you do it that matters.

If you have habits you would like to change (related to technology, food, drink or substances, thought loops or a growing sense of obsession), practice just noticing whatever is happening before you arrive.

While you are here, we invite you to resist all the usual distractions so that you can come to know the truth of why you do whatever you do. Even a short break from an old habit can reveal insights that can change the life you live, just by seeing clearly what usually hides behind the impulse.

Our retreat venue is located 10 minutes drive inland from West Burleigh, at the coast-end of Tallebudgera Valley. For maps and detailed instructions, visit our Location page.

Day retreats begin at 10am, and we ask that you plan to arrive as close to 10am as you can. If you are travelling some distance and aren’t sure about traffic, there are a couple of cafes nearby that are good places to relax and get in the zone. Search for Heritage Hideaway Cafe in Tallebudgera Valley (a local gem) or Woodbox Cafe in West Burleigh if you prefer organic.

When you arrive we’ll spend a few minutes orienting you to the property and doing the obligatory paperwork before we begin with the program.

If you are late, we cannot extend the program at the end of the day to make up lost time, so please try and be on time to get the most out of your retreat. The program ends at 5pm. If you intend to have dinner in Burleigh or surrounds after your retreat, we have a list of nearby restaurants.

Our yoga is based on the eastern energy tradition of Qi Gong (Daoyin Yoga) combined with mat Pilates perspectives (Arisa has formal qualifications in both). The general focus is on awareness, inner and outer balance and activation of core strength while sitting, walking and even laying down.

It is quite different to the type of yoga class you might see at your local gym which will usually be about fitness and endurance. This is more about self-healing and balance.

Tarot cards are used like an multi-dimensional map of what is happening in the present moment, and is used as a provocation for insight. In spite of their reputation as being about prediction and divination of life events, we find them more practical in the present moment to reflect back to us parts that might otherwise be tricky to glimpse, or see the trajectory of some future we are busy creating today in some part of life. The tarot is a tool to help you see more deeply into what is hiding beneath the surfaces of life.

Meditation is about practising ways to train attention to observe and accept feelings, thoughts and the emotions they generate without getting lost in any of it. Staying focused and clear leaves us empowered to make choices about where we put our energy … either on what we want to encourage, versus what to ignore because not all thought/emotion patterns serve us to attain the life we want.

We do not see meditation as sitting trying to empty your mind of thought, which is impossible because of how the mind works. Clear, coherent thinking has a vital place in an energised life, which is naturally efficient, does not go in circles or chatter without reason. An empty mind happens naturally when we learn through practice to not bother with all the thoughts that turned out to be unnecessary after all.

Meditation can be done anytime, anywhere, though is best done while busy attending to your everyday life. Taking time in the morning to sit quietly and remember all this is, we believe, also time well spent.

Then we’ll change it to something you are more likely to enjoy. We try to make it that you don’t even need to ask.

None of what we do is standard for everyone. We pay attention to who you are and adapt to everything to what is needed in the moment.

It would be better if you can resist the urge. We are not licensed for alcohol, and besides, even one glass of wine can take the edge of your ability to cut through old habits or step back far enough to embrace new visions of what is possible.

In relation to drugs, we acknowledge that a significant proportion of people in our culture are consuming some form of mood or mind-altering chemical, be it medically prescribed or otherwise. Whatever you are taking, we need to know prior to your retreat so we can check we are qualified to provide a caring and healthy context for you. Our policies are not about moral judgement, just physical and mental safety for everyone involved, and it’s all confidential.

Yes, if you wish.

During your retreat you’ll have the chance to do a mind-map of your intentions and make notes about insights if you wish.

In the weeks immediately following your retreat, if any questions arise about the processes or practices, you can message or email us.