Please join us for an intimate and relaxing get-away to start 2021 with grace and aloha. Our program will find that sweet spot of balancing, heart-felt daily work to deepen our personal commitment to optimal health and well being, with plenty of fun and relaxation. Our focus is to help you dial up your day-to-day habits for health through farm fresh food, plant-based menus, deep sleep, daily stretching and meditation, fun excursions to explore the marvelous Big Island and a bit of didactic instruction.

Hawaii Farm Retreats (our Hamakua Coast location) is a 26 acre Natural Farm with chickens, cows, pigs and a huge variety of fruits and vegetables growing in the lush soil. Jennifer's son, Drake (one of our instructors), is a master of Korean Natural Farming techniques, and the entire far is managed with micro-organisms which are brewed onsite- never any chemicals.

Purna Yoga Hawaii, our onsite studio for Yoga, Meditation and Chanting, is fully equipped with every prop to ensure our practices are the best they can be. There's even a Wall Rope system!  Please note this is NOT a "yoga retreat" per se.  We will engage in lovely stretching daily, in a yoga studio, led by yoga instructors (Jennifer and Emily), however if you are new to yoga that's fine!

We will explore the best of the Big Island! Excursions include Volcanoes National Park, local beaches and markets, Akaka Falls State Park, and the spectacular Botanical Gardens just down the road.  All excursions are optional!  You may stay and lounge in the hammock at your cabana.

Accommodations are in luxury cabanas set on a slope with spectacular views.  You will marvel at the blue Pacific from the spacious lanai and be amazed at Mauna Kea, the largest land mass on the planet, which presides over your cabana's back windows.

There are  three cabanas.  All are doubles, suitable for 2 people whom are comfortable sharing either a queen sized bed, or one person can be in a supremely comfortable air mattress bed.   Each cabana has a private bathroom and a small refrigerator. 

My favorite feature of the cabanas is a huge lanai  (Hawaiian for porch) with deck furniture, a hammock (which could also  be used for sleeping) and a light breeze that completely keeps bugs away.  The cabanas surround a huge kitchen-living  room complex — fully stocked!  This is where we will have cooking  classes, enjoy meals, and lounge on the lanai together.

The first six registrants will be able to opt to stay on campus.  After 6 spots are filled, the next 6 will be housed in a fabulous similar location just up the hill with Randy and Alison at Mahana House.  Folks staying at Mahana House will need to rent a car to join the program for 3 delicious meals daily, and our classes and excursions.   

The informational classes include Natural Farming soil-enriching, fermentation techniques for both garden and human health (with Drake),  the Gut-Brain axis and how to maximize gut happiness (key to enhancing  cognitive functioning and mental/emotional ease- with naturopathic physician since 1993 Dr. Emily Kane), plus a Kimchee making class in the world-class kitchen overlooking the Pacific  Ocean (with chef Barb).  We will also enjoy an evening of Hawaiian chanting with Desiree, a local artist, who will come back during another afternoon to offer a block-print session using the original carved blocks of Hawaiian artist Deitrich Varez, whose work is featured at the spectacular Volcano Art Center Gallery.

Both Jennifer and I will be your instructors, on alternate days, for Deep Stretching and Meditation.  

See detailed itinerary.

This  retreat only has space for 12 participants because Jennifer and I want  to give you a lot of personalized care and attention.  Your deposit of $495 ensures you have a spot.

Until  July 15, 2020, the cost is $2335.  

Price includes accommodations, classes, and transportation around the island, including Hilo airport transfers.  It also includes all meals. After July 15, 2020,  prices will  increase to $2685.  Be an early bird!.  

A payment  plan is available. Payment in full is due by October 15, 2020.   

Most of you have known me for years,  but if you want a bit more background, here goes.  I grew up in North  and West Africa since my parents were professional diplomats with the US  Foreign Service.  I came to the US at age 16 and attended the Madeira School, and then Harvard University (class of 1978) where I majored in Comparative Literature.  My thesis was on the art of translating French  poetry, with a focus on the works of Paul Eluard.  After college I lived  in Paris for 3 years, then came home to develop an emerging career in  performing arts management, first in Washington DC and then in New York  City.  At age 30 I went through “Saturn return” and left my job as  manager of Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane and Company (modern dance), and moved  to Seattle to begin my adventure of being trained to be a naturopathic  physician.  This took quite awhile since I needed 2 years to just get  pre-requisites (like Organic Chemistry — wowza!) and also got  side-tracked into Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine while at Bastyr University.  I was cajoled by a colleague, Dr. Glenna Wilde, to join her  practice in Juneau after graduation in 1992.  I promised Glenna a year.   I’ve been in Juneau ever since and love my Alaska home.  I married a  local guy (whose “other life” is also on Big Island, where he has  cultivated a beautiful organic orchard full of exotic tropical fruit  trees). Our daughter is soon to graduate from Dartmouth College.

My  husband just retired but I plan to keep working because guiding the potential for optimal health in members of my community brings me enormous  joy.  Our convenience-oriented society has derailed us all a bit away  from optimal health.  Junk food and staying indoors have become  alluring.  

Let’s continue to buck those trends together!  What better  way to engage with the full power of the 2021 winter Solstice than to  bask in the radiance of a rejuvenating retreat.  Please join me!

Jennifer  Weinert has studied extensively with Purna Yoga™ founders, Aadil  Palkhivala and Savitri since 1995. She has been teaching for nearly as  long and is a Certified Purna Yoga Instructor (CPYI), having completed  over 2,000 hours of professional training as a yoga teacher.  She is a  Yoga Alliance Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT 500). Jennifer  directs The College of Purna Yoga at Hilo Yoga, a 200 hour Yoga Teacher  Certification program. She teaches privately in her home studio, Purna  Yoga Hawai'i, (Hilo Yoga) and publicly within the Hilo community on the  Big Island of Hawaii. She also presents workshops locally and  internationally, and trains Teachers of Purna Yoga.  Jennifer joyously shares what she has learned from the lineage of  Purna Yoga as well as her personal growth experiences from her own  practice. The essence of yoga is to be lived not just read and recited,  or practiced on the mat. Therefore yogic philosophy and its practical  applications are spontaneously offered throughout Jennifer’s classes.  Her passion is to guide students to heal and grow on all levels-  physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.