Watering the Sacred Garden Meditation/Medicine Retreat

The times we live in can be challenging
Without a strong foundation, it’s easy to be swept away by the speed and relentlessness of modern existence. All day, information and experiences come at us that provoke strong emotions, dissatisfaction, sticky attachments, and the burning intensity of reactions we don’t feel capable of handling.

Sometimes, we long to just shut down. But then we are left numb, cut off and lonely.

Other times, we feel there’s nowhere to escape the challenges and we boil in our own emotions.

This is why we can all benefit from watering the sacred garden inside our bodies, hearts and minds. This space is always fertile, always growing, always seeding new life and sprouting new wisdom.

“No matter what life throws at us, this garden allows us not only to survive, but to thrive”
No matter what life throws at us, this garden allows us not only to survive, but to thrive — knowing that the whole spectrum of life and death are a workable and powerful path forward for us.

In this sacred garden of the body, heart, mind, and spirit, we can smell and taste and touch the fundamental “basic goodness” that many traditions — including the Buddhist tradition and the Amazonian medicine traditions — have understood for millennia.

The Land
The retreat will be on a 20-acre paradise on the North Shore of Kauai. In Hawaii, Kauai is known as ‘the healing island.’ What it lacks in volcanos or big cities, it makes up for in softness, kindness and the immediate regrowth of anything the humans or animals pull out of the ground.

It is the definition of resilience and fertility.

The property is soft, slow and sane. It’s a place to unplug, let go and remember how to breathe.

Above, snow white egrets drift across the emerald faces of the jagged jungled peaks. Below, the Pacific Ocean stretches out, bathed in sunrise glow. The wind blows and at times the rain falls for a few minutes. No TVs blaring. No screens. No interruption to the awakeness built into your present moment experience.

Buddhist Teachings and Meditation
One of the world’s great wisdom traditions, buddhadharma — “the Way of being in alignment with reality, as taught by Gautama Buddha” — uses our innate mindfulness and awareness to see the world directly and simply. The often misinterpreted concept of “overcoming ego” simply means seeing through the ways in which we lie to ourselves that hurt both ourselves and others.

It is a non-aggressive path which allows us to see the greatest truth — that the world is not our enemy and our human heart is fully capable of walking this world with love, clarity, dignity and humor no matter how complicated it may seem.

Juan Jose has led hundreds through medicine ceremonies and has trained other top medicine practitioners that Greg has worked with. His clear eyes, open heart and beautiful singing voice is beloved by those who come to him for guidance.

He will facilitate kambo, ayahuasca and bufo.