Gaia Yoga Gardens Hawaii

Aloha,

Welcome to the GaiaYoga website. This website is geared towards two primary functions. One, to share the overall vision and teaching of GaiaYoga with people. And two, to attract people to GaiaYoga Gardens, our permaculture homestead, and learning & healing center on the Big Island of Hawaii. We're wanting to find more folks to join us here in co-creating a sustainable and holistic intentional community.

GaiaYoga Gardens was purchased in December of 2002. At that time it was 17.75 acres of raw, forested land, with a mixture of native, naturalized, and invasive tropical species of plants and animals creating a balanced Hawaiian eco-system.

[GaiaYoga Gardens from space circa spring 2007.
The white squares are our tarp structures. The line at the front
is the road we live on. The property extends well beyond the photo
to the top and left. Pictured is about 5 acres of the land.]

Since the beginning, the dream has been to weave in our human settlement and our cultural vision into the already existing web of life of on this land. Rather than dominating the land with tractor, bulldozer, and lawnmower, we dance with it — sculpting out a niche for our home. a little bit at a time, primarily using hand tools (machetes, saws, sickles, shovels, picks, wheelbarrows, drills, etc.)

We moved into our first "tropical breeze house," home-made, eco-structure in the summer of 2003. Ever since we've been improving the infrastructure, planting food trees, bamboo, and gardens, building our businesses, connecting with the Earth here, growing spiritually, learning to live together, healing from our past, enjoying the blessings of our present, and envisioning a future rich with the fruits and labor of a sustainable and holistic community. There's been dozens of people who've stayed with us over the years, some for weeks, some for months or years, but most are not here now. A few of us have stuck and are now the foundation of what GaiaYoga Gardens is becoming. We have lots of stories and "eras" that we've gone through to get to the place we are now.

The two biggest things we've learned so far: 1) Creating an intentional community is a slow-moving sport that requires a lot of patience and grace. 2) Humans are the toughest crop of all... Bananas and solar systems come relatively easy compared to what it takes to heal and re-educate our selves to live together sustainably. Founding a community or a new culture takes time, lots of behind-and-under-the-scene work, lots of devotion, lots of compassion for ourselves and others, and a very wide and deep set of tools and skills.

It also involves a lot of disappointment when things don't go as we were hoping. More than anything it involves having the ability to bring creative and connected energy to life consistently. Creating community and developing ourselves to be able to live sustainably and holistically demands the same kind of energy that parenting does - dependable devotion, the ability to give energy when we'd rather not, and the ability to create joy out of challenges.

As much as we're proud of what's manifesting materially on the land - our visible structure- we're probably more proud of what's gestating and growing within the people who are involved with GaiaYoga - our invisible structure. We see ouselves healing out of our conditioning, and becoming the wholistic, fully alive people that we were intended to be.

So, that's our opening statement about GaiaYoga. For more information on the GaiaYoga philosophy and vision, visit any of the nine links in the section starting with "What Is GaiaYoga?" on the sidebar. To learn more about GaiaYoga Gardens, look at the four links in the section starting with "GaiaYoga Gardens Community Vision." If you'd like to order books or CDs that present aspects of the GaiaYoga vision, or to contact us, go to the section starting with "Ordering Books & CDs."

[GaiaYoga Nursery, Maku'u Farmer's Market Booth, May, 2009. You can see most of what we sell,
from right to left (more or less). Fijian machetes, bamboo plants, Thai natural rubber slippers (aka flip-flops), local tropical fruit, honey, toilet paper made from sugar cane, LED headlamps, perennial peanut (no-mow lawn), drinking coconuts, tropical fruit trees, coconut trees, books, and lilikoi plants, etc.]

We hope you find grounded inspiration at our site. Feel free to contact us if you're interested in visiting us, creating your home here, ordering something, or if you just have a question or comment.

As of Chirstmas 2009, we are 4 permanent members, 2 long-term residents, 6 children ages 2 through 12, and any number of interns and visiting folks.

Warmly,

Ano & Melekai
Stewards of GaiaYoga Gardens