Retreat Finder Tour Blog

The long drive is worth the journey to spend time at this little retreat center with a great word of mouth reputation.

Anahata is named after the heart chakra and the beauty, joy and love in this center certainly fulfills its mission. But Anahata is not for the faint of heart. If you simply cannot live without flushing toilets and long shot showers, you should probably seek your yogic connection elsewhere.

Located in Golden Bay on New Zealand’s South Island, and next door to Abel Tasman National Park, Anahata brings you spirituality with a view. Incorporating all major aspects of the science of yoga into the daily schedule, including yoga asana (postures), chanting, karma yoga (a form of work exchange), and meditation, Anahata is an education centre and as such is great for people who have never taken a yoga class or who are well studied in the philosophy.

This young, vibrant and knowledgeable community focuses on the science of yoga to balance and harmonize the body, mind and emotions; it is not a religious practice and is therefore welcoming of people of all faiths or no faith.

There are several choices for retreat at Anahata. You can participate in one of the scheduled themed retreats or come on personal retreat. The personal retreats include several programs to choose from including: a personal self directed retreat in which you to set your own schedule and select among any of the activities, a yoga retreat where you follow the centre’s daily schedule, and a karma yoga retreat which is a form of work exchange. With each minute of the day mapped out, the centre’s schedule may seem overwhelming or restrictive, but the structure actually forms a wonderful container for your personal internal work and has the perfect amount of free time for personal reflection and study.

Anahata’s remote location sitting high atop a hill overlooking Golden Bay makes sustainability both a necessity and a choice. Water is pumped from their well and power is solar.

A good portion of the vegetables are grown on the land and recycled via the composting toilets (one of

which has a fantastic view). 

Maintaining the simplicity of the yogic lifestyle the meals are basic but abound in both taste and nourishment.

Housing runs from the very basic caravan, to a luxurious straw bale cottage. Although some of the buildings may be a bit funky, the entire centre is very clean and well maintained. With only fifteen beds at the centre, there is also plenty of room for camping.

Anahata is a thriving cooperative community focused on education.  To be there is to become a part of the community in which each person takes responsibility for some small aspect of the center (as small as washing your own dishes to larger long term projects) and attentively and respectfully offers care for each other’s well being.  The result is a flow of nourishment that opens the heart to connect to others to the land and to deeply connect to ones own spirit.