Te Whenua Retreat

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Te Whenua Retreat

Not a retreat from your life, rather a doorway back to it 🌿
Hosted retreats + plant-based cooking in the mountains. Jenny Lomas
Gibbston, Otago.

26/05/2026

Warren Buffett was talking about the ‘long game’ of investing, but he could have been talking about all the wellbeing hacks that that suggest quick transformation and leave us poorer for it.

Wellbeing is a long-game.

And ‘game’ is the right word here - it’s discovery, exploration, play, wonder.

Are you ready for depth, not speed?

Everything you’ve done up til now has been a ladder to where you are today.

None of it was wrong.

Slow down.

Take some deep breaths dear one.

You are not late.

16/05/2026

I’ve noticed that when ‘what to do’ questions dominate my mind, repeating themselves over and over, it amplifies the worry and urgency .This is what helps:

1) Step back and give the question space. Overthinking is like trying to kill a bee with a canon - instead, take a quiet break.

2) Slow down. Be willing to be in the liminal ‘I don’t know yet’, which is full of possibility and potential, opening us up to more creative options.

3) Remember that we have intelligence beyond the mind. From a place of curiosity and gentleness, what has the heart got to say on the matter? What does the body feel about the situation? We may receive insight not in words, but in direct knowing, intuition, or inner guidance. Be patient.

🧡

In my own experience, I even find that these questions can be a decoy - distracting me from something underneath, which was quietly needing my attention. Might we be willing to look deeper?

I don’t know the answers to your questions but I can offer a spacious, supportive, peaceful place for you to sit with them, and a gentle invitation to explore what’s going on. All the answers are within you.

Quiet Day Retreat, Monday 1st June. 10am to 5pm.

Return To Centre, 4-nights all inclusive retreat, June 22-26. Full details on our website.

🏡🧡

11/05/2026

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice—
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do—
determined to save
the only life you could save.

The Journey, by Mary Oliver 💫

25/04/2026

If cooking has become a chore of late, or you’ve been under time pressure for too long, then it’s easy to forget how nourishing and inspiring cooking can be.

Connection, nourishment, care, creativity, and joyful intimacy with life itself happens naturally when we cook, especially when we cook together and cook for others. These are some of the qualities of the mother archetype, and they arise naturally when we’re in the kitchen together.

This one-day retreat is planned for the Sunday after mother’s day, May 17th. It’s not just for mothers - mothers, daughters, sisters, all welcome! It’s for all women who would like to join a relaxing and inspiring day retreat, co-creating a wide range of delicious seasonal dishes to share over a long lunch.

No experience needed, and all welcome.

Two spaces left.

🏡🩷

18/04/2026

We do retreats a bit differently.

All of you is welcome here.

🏡🧡

15/04/2026

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.

This poem, by Emily Dickinson, has inspired me for the longest time…. But with the deepest bow, I feel I’m moving beyond this. I have capacity and experience to do so much more.

We have supported so many women at Te Whenua Retreat connect back with themselves - our retreats are a doorway back home. Easing the ache and longing in one person is fantastic, but we have the ‘medicine’ here to support so many more.

The path is radically simple, yet not necessarily obvious or easy - we are all burdened with so many decades of programming, sacrifice, and habitual routines (talking for myself!). The wellness industry likes to hype transformation, but the reality is more gentle - we don’t want to reinvent ourselves, just to have a quiet space to be with what’s shifting, and perhaps leave just feeling lighter, steadier, more confident to walk your own path.

Pull up a chair dear one :-)

12/04/2026

It’s been a wee while since our last one-day cooking retreat, and I’m so looking forward to this one on Sunday May 17th!

This day retreat is for all women. I’ve called it Beyond Mother’s Day, (and it’s the Sunday after Mother’s Day), as I wanted all women to feel very welcome and included. Cooking is such a primal and direct way to connect with feminine / mother energy which we all have; it’s creative, nurturing, inclusive, and generous.

When women come together it’s always special - I feel the spirals of connection ripple out, and it’s such a relaxing antidote to competitive or hierarchical pursuits.

The food we co-create on this retreat - which will be seasonal, varied and delicious - will be our shared lunch. The recipes will cover a wide range of dishes, from traditional to inventive!

What requests do you have? Is there a recipe in your family’s lineage that you’d like to share? I’m working on narrowing down the recipes this coming week!

Book online, link in todays stories. All welcome 💜🩷

05/04/2026

Greetings!

We are mid-way through our 5-day Easter Retreat. Themes that we explore on retreat are always emergent, not pre-planned, meeting guests where they’re at. This retreat we’ve explored themes of life transitions, family, bereavement, joy, and the healing power of nature. We had daily yoga nidra, shiatsu massage, river walks and hot cross buns. Having experienced the shift of summer-time ending, and now the darker evenings, we’ve had our breakfast and our supper by candlelight!

Joy is such a big theme for me personally this year. In the past, I’ve confused the idea that seriousness equals depth, sincerity and devotion. Welcoming joy into our lives does not deny the suffering in the world, and it’s not in opposition to how much we care. Laughter is medicine, and lightheartedness can bring creativity, inspiration and new ideas that are simply not available to us in our heaviness. Worry narrows our vision, joy widens it.

There is plenty to feel dispondant about right now, but to bring balance, could you list 20 things that bring you joy? How recently have you allowed yourself to do these things? Where does non-permission for joy, perhaps out of beliefs connected to loyalty or sacrifice, show up for you?

It’s so helpful to reflect on the stories we tell ourselves, and reorient to the life we want for ourselves.

Our next retreat with availability is May 25-28th - 3 nights all inclusive. See our website for full details!

All welcome 🏡🧡

31/03/2026

If I felt called to join a restful retreat right now, but that didn’t seem possible, here’s a few things I would do in that situation to support myself at home:

1) Slow my week right down. Have a week off from optimisation, tracking, output and intensity in all its guises. Take breaks to allow pauses in my day; just feeling my feet on the ground and taking 5 deep breaths is very helpful. Looong exhales. Walk slowly. Sip my coffee. Remember - pastries are now classified as nervous regulation tools. Cancel the thing. Watch old TV shows that calm and centre me. Downtown Abbey again? Why not!

2) Carve out time at the beginning and end of the day for myself, no phone. Dawn and dusk seem such precious moments. One hour would be great, 15 mins would suffice. Settle in, somewhere where I feel safe, undisturbed, relaxed, and let myself attune to the feeling of the support under me - the chair, the bed, the blanket - and the sounds around me; birds, wind, traffic… Just sitting, with no idea of changing, fixing, resolving anything. Being a cosmic, planetary being, not a productivity robot.

3) If time allows, I’d add some journalling to this ‘me time’. Topics; things I am grateful for - at least 10. Gratitude for my heart that beats, the food in my belly, the trees in the garden - they don’t have to be giant things. Another journalling topic - what feelings are present in me that I’ve been ignoring, suppressing, avoiding? Just to name them, not to clear or resolve or even feel them fully. Just to acknowledge their presence, my truth. Place a hand on my heart and tell myself thank you beloved, for doing your best in challenging times.

Go easy out there this Holy Week 🏡🧡

Address

2277 Gibbston Highway
Gibbston
9371

Telephone

+642102647327

Website

http://www.tewhenuaretreat.co.nz/

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