Escape to the beautiful Patch of Heaven Sanctuary in the Redland Agricultural Area to Celebrate & Elevate & Activate how you start the steps to greater Ecowellness in your life. On Sunday, April 21st we are celebrating Earth Day’s 53rd Anniversary, our Mindful Pocket Park 1 year Anniversary and a NEW WAY OF WELLNESS that we specialize in here through our mindful nature education, reforestation and conservation across our 20 acres.

🌳Ecowellness is a brand new way to engage with the Earth:

" It encompasses a sense of appreciation, respect, and awe

of nature that can contribute to holistic wellness.”

(Journal of Humanistic Counseling)

The Research of 749 individuals from 19-84 years old discovered:

“Participants found that having a relationship with nature—whether through spending more time outdoors or being passionate about the environment—was linked with helping participants more effectively work through challenges, be more creative, and stay physically healthy.”

Spend the entire day with like-hearted Nature Lovers who are committed to take mindful personal steps that support BOTH Human Nature and Mother Nature, as we deepen our walk toward loving awareness for that vital relationship.

Agenda

• 8:00am - Ecowellness Extravaganza Begins at Patch Back Porch @Patch Market with Food, Flowers & Fun Begins Guided Mindful Pocket Park Tours available on the hour

• 9:00am - Be The Butterfly Yoga & Meditation at the Tree of Life

• 11:00am - Nature Pill Podcast LIVE Launch Featuring Miami Dade District 8 Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins

• 11:30am - Press Event Plant Donation with Commissioner Higgins

• 12:00pm - Paint Rocks of Kindness for Kids (and adults too) at the Stable Front Porch

• 1:00pm - Be The Butterfly Workshop for Pollinator Planting & Butterfly Rearing

• 2:00pm - BeeTime & Bee Walk to meet our 18 Hive Apiary & Honey Tasting

• 3:00pm - Sound Healing beneath the Tree of Life & Butterfly Release

• 4:30pm - Closing Meditation at the Forest Joglo

ACTIVATE:

Don’t just learn, DO SOMETHING!

Our Chief Experience Officer’s Grandma used to say: “Pray & Move Your Feet”, here’s how:

● Replace your green grass with pollinator plants (Our Butterfly Box)

● BeeTime will show you how to “BEE a Good Neighbor” (Our BeeKeeper)

● Consider Orchid Beauty in your Backyard for Peace & Calm (Our Garden Director)

A daylong retreat to support your contemplative insight, pause your digital devices and reconnect in Nature.

The Experience: Since the start of 2023, Patch of Heaven Sanctuary has invited nature lovers, tree huggers, mindfulness practitioners and humans seeking respite, refuge and replenishment to spend a day in quiet contemplation on the grounds of our soothing, sacred spaces through the practice of retreat.

Our Chief Experience Officer, Suzanne Jewell, envisioned a “Signature Series” that would be held quarterly, each event recognizing the season and the tradition of meditation retreat centers worldwide, to take “a day away” (or more, in the tradition she practices since taking Vows of Refuge).

Awaken In Nature Spring Daylong Mindfulness Retreat

This daylong immersion experience welcomes you to truly set aside the hustle and bustle of the city and your daily life. Drop into what some call “slow living”, first by considering the first invitation of the day:

• Drop off your phone & disconnect from technology

The day’s agenda invites further “arriving” and “dropping in” to the present moment:

• Pause & Reflect at our Intention Board, also known as your “sankalpa” or aspiration of becoming and how you will incline your heart for the day.

• Take Your Seat: Awaiting you is a special jewel-toned meditation cushion, a personal journal, your very own Heart Stone, and color-coordinated yoga mat.

This unique offering is meant to create a core of community practitioners that are drawn to Nature, to lay the foundation toward ways of living more gently within the Cycle of Life with all living beings and to explore ancient meditation and contemplation practices.

Grounded in the 2600 year old practices of insight (vipassana) and present moment attention, the day will guide retreat guests to “put down” the hectic hustle and open themselves to the soothing rhythms of “the nature pill at Patch” which permeates our 20 acre forest preserve and nature sanctuary.

Mindfulness in Nature has been shown by the NIH (National Institutes of Health) to reduce anxiety and increase calm. Many of us “know” that a walk helps calm the savage beast, yet few of us know how to actually experience Nature as Nature itself.

We will guide you through the foundations of how earth-focused awareness practices began, weave you into the neuroscience of anxiety and offer the antidote of the Mindful Pocket Park’s “deep dive” into how to Pay Attention With Your Senses or P.A.W.S. When we learn through Sight, Sound, Scent, Touch and Taste how to offer ourselves present moment awareness, we open to the joys of birdsong, the sweetness of a breeze, the the lilting uplift of the chimes in our Sound Garden, and the sacred act of offering a prayer to the air before our Tibetan Prayer Wheel in the Touch Garden

Led by trained teachers of mindfulness, yoga, resilience and sound healing, you’ll experience first-hand the benefits of increased awareness, concentration, meditation and contemplation. Learn more about each of them below, check out the day’s treats of soothing spaces, tastes and time together.

The Agenda:

8:00 - 8:30 am Arrive, Breakfast Nibbles

8:30 - 9:30 am Welcome, Mindful Pocket Park Immersion Experience - Mindful Nature Guides

9:30 - 12:15 pm Deep Dive Guided Meditation, Mindful Movement Instructions & Dharma Talk, Mindful Inquiry, Suzanne Jewell & Anamarget Sanchez

12:15 - 12:40 pm Guided Walk of Wonder

12:30 - 1:30 pm Silent Mindful Eating/Lunch/Instructions - Suzanne Jewell

1:30 - 1:45 pm Guided Mindful Walk to Tree of Life

1:45 - 2:45 pm Sound Healing Experience with Dr. Ingrit Rojas

2:45 - 3:30 pm Reflection Time & Sharing - Suzanne Jewell, Anamargret Sanchez

3:30 - 4:00 pm Insight Contemplative Magic Spot Experience (journaling)

4:00 pm Close the Awaken In Nature Retreat

4:45 pm All attendees depart Patch Of Heaven Sanctuary

Get Happy, Take the Nature Pill & Take a Free Tour

Patch of Heaven is graduating 20 brand new trained Mindful Nature Guides on Saturday, March 16th. These committed volunteers have spent five weeks learning the guiding instructions for guests to take Guided Mindful Wellness Walks in our 1st-of-its-kind Mindful Pocket Park.

Please reserve here for your FREE tour by our Mindful Nature Guides.

Come meet all of them! And schedule your FREE TOUR through the Sight, Sound, Scent, Touch & Taste Gardens; experience the guided nature meditations like:

• Be The Tree (a breath practice)

• Be the Rock (A Stillness practice)

• Be the Butterfly (a movement practice)

This is how we are celebrating the upcoming World Happiness Day, by offering you the chance to get happy & take the Nature Pill at Patch! Learn how to Pause & P.A.W.S. (Pay Attention With Your Senses) as a way to reduce your anxiety and increase your calm Guided Tours are available by scheduling online at 1pm, 2pm or 3pm on Saturday, March 16th.

It's Graduation Day at Patch, come meet our New Guides!!!

Immerse yourself in a 1st ever nature-based innovative yoga, journaling, & sound healing experience that alchemizes healing with butterflies.

Embark on a transformative journey amidst Patch’s lush 20 acres of lagoons, lotus ponds, butterflies, and ancient old-growth forests. Immerse yourself in the healing embrace of nature's beauty with this yoga, journaling, and sound healing experience offering the perfect escape to rejuvenate your mind, body, and soul.

The Day Includes:

• Intention Setting

• Metamorphic Yoga Flow

• Nature Led Sound Healing

• Butterfly Release

• Journaling Session in the Butterfly Garden (Journal provided)

Self-love Sunday supports your inner journey of kindness to become your own best friend while savoring our sacred sanctuary of beauty.

Patch’s 20 acres of forest, lagoons, lotus ponds, butterflies, and ancient old-growth forest are just the “Nature Pill” prescription to help you escape, energize and ease your mind, body and soul back to Earth.

For our final February “Month of Love” event, we invite you to enjoy and experience Nature-based mindfulness, embodied somatic movement, journaling and sound, as we explore the ancient practice of “maitri”, which is about friendliness, and the deep dive into “metta”, which is lovingkindness.

The day includes:

• Lite Bite Breakfast

• Intention Setting or SanKalpa Ceremony

• Guided Nature Walk to Lotus Lagoon

• Contemplative Journaling “Magic Spot” Practice

• Movement Exploration “Beyond Yoga”

• Deep Rest “On The Earth” Mindful Body Scan

• Organic Healthy Lunch

• 8am - 2pm, with Time to Wander until 5pm

“You are perfect just as you are…and there is always room for improvement”

Shunryun Suzuki, Zen monk, author, “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind”

Farm to Table in The Stable at Patch will be an unforgettable evening of laid back elegance, filled with country life charm, horses, sunset, a Redland-sourced, plant-based marvelous meal amongst nature loving friends. 

Imagine a 100 foot table down the length of our stable

Dine alongside our warm and full-blooded Friesan horses. 

Meet two of only 1400 Gypsy Vanners Horses in the United States. 

Your evening begins at the VIP Valet entrance.

Let our sparkling Prosecco and lychee fruit refresh you whilst strolling throug our Zen Garden, Pool of Stillness and Buddha Boulevard.

Melt into the Western setting sun at the edge of the Lotus Lagoon and our old growth forest, the 123 year old Castellow Hammock.

The evenings culinary delights are 100%Redland Sourced and harvested; a smorgasbord of greens, veggies, and unexpected plant-based mushroom delights.

The Experience: Since the start of 2023, Patch of Heaven Sanctuary has invited nature lovers, tree huggers, mindfulness practitioners and humans seeking respite, refuge and replenishment to spend a day in quiet contemplation on the grounds of our soothing, sacred spaces through the practice of retreat.

Our Chief Experience Officer, Suzanne Jewell, envisioned a “Signature Series” that would be held quarterly, each event recognizing the season and the tradition of meditation retreat centers worldwide, to take “a day away” (or more, in the tradition she practices since taking Vows of Refuge).

Awaken In Nature Winter Daylong Mindfulness Retreat

This daylong immersion experience welcomes you to truly set aside the hustle and bustle of the city and your daily life. Drop into what some call “slow living”, first by considering the first invitation of the day:

• Drop off your phone & disconnect from technology

The day’s agenda invites further “arriving” and “dropping in” to the present moment:

• Pause & Reflect at our Intention Board, also known as your “sankalpa” or aspiration of becoming and how you will incline your heart for the day.

• Take Your Seat: Awaiting you is a special jewel-toned meditation cushion, a personal journal, your very own Heart Stone, and color-coordinated yoga mat.

This unique offering is meant to create a core of community practitioners that are drawn to Nature, to lay the foundation toward ways of living more gently within the Cycle of Life with all living beings and to explore ancient meditation and contemplation practices.

A mini-retreat to reset your heart's intention from a deeply rested place of replenishment & renewal.

What to Expect?

Start the New Year with a Day of Introspection & Intention-Setting. This 4 hour mini-retreat will soothe & support you with space for creating your SANKALPA or, intention for the year ahad, resting in your body (through Yoga Nidra & Earthwalking) while making room for your heart to have space, coupled with the Earth Sky Body Scan practice and mindful eating lite bites for lunch.

Based on an ancient Hindu practice of "Deep Yogic Sleep" that is Yoga Nidra and arriving at "thoughtless awareness" for deep spiritual connection, you'll experience both upright seated meditation, then lying in the corpse pose of shivasana, as well as silent Earthwalking in the Forest for a "slow living" experience.

Renewal is a powerful path to choose when you set aside your everyday duties in order to reset the compass of the heart.

Retreating for a short time away from the city and your home can help you reframe how and where you seek to focus on this powerful opportunity of the New Year.

Rest at Patch, set an intention to put down the old, and make space to plant the Presence of renewed focus.

Yoga Nidra will suppport your deep body reset lying on the Earth

Choose to silence mind, body, and speech and bring ease into the moment.

Pause at a Mindful Magic Spot in one of our contemplative garden niches

Meditative Intention Setting Sit & Walk will ease you into the New Year

Let your feet and body Touch the Earth, connecting to your inner nature.

Reset your inner compass toward your most intimate heart intention.

Replenish your inner light, reset The New by remembering how to “be a lamp unto your own feet”.

"Just Burn It," is a FIRST FIRE for Patch. This profound elment of Nature helps clear, cleanse and make space for new growth. Since we are both an old-growth forest and new growth regenerated forest, it is very special and also sacred for us to open our wide fire pit this one time annually to honor this ancient, powerful, transformative ritual which humans have been honoring since time immemorial.

Fire has also touched Patch in the past, as it has most forests, being ignited by lightning once and taking out our newly built Bat House. It is our intention one day in the future to re-ignite that vision to build that Bat House anew.

And our FIRST FIRE CEREMONY for you to "Just Burn It", will offer you an opportunity to practice mindful releasing:

Name & Clame what you seek to Tame

Write it down to put it down

Then step back and LET IT FLAME

A special, small group, intimate experience that will nourish your mind, body, and soul.

Eat.Pray.Love

💚Eat: Healthy Lunch Brunch at Patch’s TreeHouse with Chef Udenie of Mindful Eats

💛Pray: Guided Wellness Walk at Patch of Heaven Sanctuary

❤️Love: Skincare For the Soul Session with LillyBe Organics

A special, small group, intimate experience that will nourish your mind, body and soul. We have curated a morning wellness walk, followed by a private, healthy holiday lunch experience that’s sure to have you and a friend happily and holistically enjoying a new and natural way to experience Patch and Patch’s exclusive TreeHouse just two minutes away.

What to Expect:

🙌🏼Eat Healthy - a bespoke lunch created by Chef Udenie of Mindfull Eats, with her award-winning roots from Sri Lanka and love-infused organic meals.

🙏🏼Pray - by Touching the Earth as you walk at Patch of Heaven Sanctuary's sacred grounds and tour the TreeHouse down the street.

❤️ Love - the skin you're in with the hand-grown and harvested artisanal facial "flavors" of skin and soul rejuvenating formulas from LillyBe Organics; a special skincare for the soul session after lunch; better than a nap!

🎁 Give and get the best gift of all

Presence

Self-care

A time of inner and outer nourishment in Nature

Limited seats available.

Gather. Connect. Cherish.

Agenda:

11am: Patch of Heaven Sanctuary Welcome & Wellness Walk

12pm: Depart Patch for TreeHouse Lunch & Tour

12:15pm: Arrive TreeHouse, Nature Nibble & Tour

12:30pm: Healthy Holiday Lunch curated by Mindfull_Eats Chef Udenie

1:45pm: Skincare for the Soul Session with LillyBeOrganics

3:00pm: Healthy Holiday Lunch closes

Small Group, Limited Lunch Seating Available.

It's our Eat.Pray.Love Holiday Brunch!

Where you'll start at Patch Of Heaven with a Guided Wellness Walk, head to the TreeHouse for organic healthy lunch by Chef Udenie and tour the TreeHouse and close with a Skincare for the Soul session by LillyBe Organics.

You'll eat healthy. Pray as your feet touch the sacred Earth and fall in Love as you nourish your skin. All for a great cause, as it benefits Patch of Heaven Sanctuary. Reserve your ticket for this exclusive, intimate and exciting way to "Nourish Your Soul In Nature" and a mindful way to spend the holiday!

How the science of thankfulness can rewire our brains for resilience, optimism and the greater good

Who:

Anyone seeking to replenish and revitalize themselves through learning about the active practices of Gratitude. Held in celebration of National Gratitude Month in our sacred Nature space of Patch of Heaven Sanctuary.

Why:

Gratitude can have a transformative impact on individuals, families, neighborhoods, schools and workplaces. Studies have consistently found that people who practice gratitude experience:

• Fewer symptoms of illness, including depression

• Increased optimism

• More happiness

What:

1/2 day of soothing self-care in our 20 acres of lotus ponds, old-growth Florida forest and sacred spaces. Patch provides artisanal bread, olive oil, olives, hummus and fruit.

Registered guests will hear from us to coordinate their potluck-dish-to-pass as a salad, finger food or dessert

• Gratitude Journal - learn a daily “Declare It Good” Practice

• Meditate in Nature

• Walk in Silence in the Forest

• Why Gratitude Is Good For Our Minds

• How Gratitude Can Help You Achieve Your Goals

• Practice Gratitude As A Tool For Resilience

Agenda:

• 11:00 am - 11:15 am - Arrive, Welcome

• 11:15 am -11:45 am -Gratitude’s Benefits - Suzanne

• 11:45 am -12:15 pm - Walk in Silence in the Forest - Vanessa

• 12:15 pm -12:45 pm - Meditate in Nature - Suzanne

• 12:45 pm - 1:30 pm - Light lunch

• 1:30 pm - 2:00 pm - Practice Gratitude As A Tool For Resilience - Suzanne

• 2:00 pm - 2:30 pm - Gratitude Journal - “Declare It Good” Practice

• 2:30 pm - 3:00 pm - Reflection Time and Sharing

• 3:00 pm - Close

Meet Your Hosts:

Suzanne Jewell | Chief Experience Officer, Patch of Heaven Sanctuary

Vanessa Yvette | Founder of Forest Bath Miami

A Mindful Small Group Experience that includes a 3-day, 2-night weekend at the private Patch Treehouse and Awaken In Nature Daylong Retreat

Dream Of Retreating To The Forest?

To Breathe Is Nearly A Radical Act Today

Our vision to gather, pause, and practice as a community in the forest and to reconnect Humand Nature and Mother Nature has come true.

Our latest addition to the Patch is just down the street and it allows you to experience nature-based mindfulness in a whole new way.

The Patch Awaken In Nature Daylong Retreat includes:

• A 3-day, 2-night stay at our TreeHouse, two minutes from Patch

• You can now literally “awaken in nature” amongst a one acre forest

• Listening to the cascading waterfall sounds of the Florida aquifer

• Stay in an architectural wonder for the weekend

• The octagonal, 8-sided TreeHouse is built of cedar, pine, flagstone, steel, and glass

• Watch the stars from inside the glass oculus roof or just sit in the Circle Of Light

• Learn about the Eightfold Path of Wisdom within the Buddhist tradition

• Shared living spaces, heartful experiences, all led by our Experience Team from Patch

• Mindfull Eats, Chef Udenie creating wholesome meals Friday & Saturday evening

• This TreeHouse is a space to retreat as a center of balanced living

Shared living spaces:

Sleeps up to 7 guests

2 Shared Rooms

🛌 2 Queen Beds

🛌 1 Full & 1 Trundle Bed

Single or Paired requests based on a first come first serve basis. Depending on total retreatants we will do our best to accommodate as possible personal requests.

Welcome to a journey like no other, where the ordinary transforms into the extraordinary, and the hum of modern life fades into the tranquility of nature. Come experience our newest addition the Patch Tree house in a fully immersive retreat.

Regenerate In Our Ecosystem

• Wake, walk & write on our Meditation path & benches

• Attend the Opening Fire Ceremony in our 8FoldPath Fire Circle

• Listen to the Florida Aquifer Waterfall (always 72 degrees)

• Experience a Water Ceremony to keep things flowing

• Participate in the Awaken In Nature Saturday Daylong retreat

• Dine Friday & Saturday with Chef Udenie of Mindfull Eats

• Wake Sunday for a Mindful Equine Experience in the Forest with Patch horses

• Close with an optional lunch as a group at Patch's Pop-up Cafe

• Check out Sunday by 1pm

Participate in the Awaken In Nature Saturday Daylong retreat - Saturday from 8am - 4pm (included)

Embrace the serenity, wisdom, and beauty of nature at the Patch Awaken In Nature Overnight Retreat. Your spot in this enchanting escape awaits, where the TreeHouse and its peaceful surroundings will nurture your soul. Don't miss this chance to awaken in nature, and find your center in the heart of a tiny forest. Secure your place today, and become a part of this transformative journey that will leave you with cherished memories and a deeper connection to the world around you. Nature beckons, and so do we. Reserve your spot now and embark on a retreat that will rejuvenate your spirit and fill your heart with tranquility.

Meet Our Neighbors!

Led by Prakesom, the abbot, and monastic community who live and practice daily down the block at the Wat Buddharangis Buddhist Temple. You can ride a bike or walk and enjoy the rural Redland nurseries on our street.

The Experience: Since the start of 2023, Patch of Heaven Sanctuary has invited nature lovers, tree huggers, mindfulness practitioners and humans seeking respite, refuge and replenishment to spend a day in quiet contemplation on the grounds of our soothing, sacred spaces through the practice of retreat.

Our Chief Experience Officer, Suzanne Jewell, envisioned a “Signature Series” that would be held quarterly, each event recognizing the season and the tradition of meditation retreat centers worldwide, to take “a day away” (or more, in the tradition she practices since taking Vows of Refuge).

Awaken In Nature Autumn Daylong Mindfulness Retreat

This daylong immersion experience welcomes you to truly set aside the hustle and bustle of the city and your daily life. Drop into what some call “slow living”, first by considering the first invitation of the day:

• Drop off your phone & disconnect from technology

The day’s agenda invites further “arriving” and “dropping in” to the present moment:

• Pause & Reflect at our Intention Board, also known as your “sankalpa” or aspiration of becoming and how you will incline your heart for the day.

• Take Your Seat: Awaiting you is a special jewel-toned meditation cushion, a personal journal, your very own Heart Stone, and color-coordinated yoga mat.

This unique offering is meant to create a core of community practitioners that are drawn to Nature, to lay the foundation toward ways of living more gently within the Cycle of Life with all living beings and to explore ancient meditation and contemplation practices.

Grounded in the 2600 year old practices of insight (vipassana) and present moment attention, the day will guide retreat guests to “put down” the hectic hustle and open themselves to the soothing rhythms of “the nature pill at Patch” which permeates our 20 acre forest preserve and nature sanctuary.

Mindfulness in Nature has been shown by the NIH (National Institutes of Health) to reduce anxiety and increase calm. Many of us “know” that a walk helps calm the savage beast, yet few of us know how to actually experience Nature as Nature itself.

We will guide you through the foundations of how earth-focused awareness practices began, weave you into the neuroscience of anxiety and offer the antidote of the Mindful Pocket Park’s “deep dive” into how to Pay Attention With Your Senses or P.A.W.S. When we learn through Sight, Sound, Scent, Touch and Taste how to offer ourselves present moment awareness, we open to the joys of birdsong, the sweetness of a breeze, the the lilting uplift of the chimes in our Sound Garden, and the sacred act of offering a prayer to the air before our Tibetan Prayer Wheel in the Touch Garden

Led by trained teachers of mindfulness, yoga, resilience and sound healing, you’ll experience first-hand the benefits of increased awareness, concentration, meditation and contemplation. Learn more about each of them below, check out the day’s treats of soothing spaces, tastes and time together.

The Agenda:

8:00 - 8:30 am Arrive, Breakfast Nibbles

8:30 - 9:30 am Welcome, Mindful Pocket Park Immersion Experience - Mindful Nature Guides

9:30 - 12:15 pm Deep Dive Guided Meditation, Mindful Movement Instructions & Dharma Talk, Mindful Inquiry, Suzanne Jewell & Anamarget Sanchez, Planting Seeds with Carolina Williams

12:15 - 12:40 pm Guided Walk of Wonder - Carolina Williams

12:30 - 1:30 pm Silent Mindful Eating/Lunch/Instructions - Suzanne Jewell

1:30 - 1:45 pm Guided Mindful Walk to Tree of Life

1:45 - 2:45 pm Sound Healing Experience

2:45 - 3:30 pm Reflection Time & Sharing - Suzanne Jewell, Anamargret Sanchez

3:30 - 4:00 pm Insight Contemplative Magic Spot Experience (journaling)

4:00 pm Close the Awaken In Nature Retreat

4:45 pm All attendees depart Patch Of Heaven Sanctuary

The Teachers:

Patch of Heaven Sanctuary is stunning, no matter the time of day or year, yet just when the sun starts its descent in the West over the lotus lagoon, the light changes the entire landscape. The birds & butterflies dance in free delight, the breeze cools and the land seems to breathe anew.

We invite you to experience this precious and rather “tres chere” experience on Saturday, September 30th, from 5:30pm - 7:30pm.

Patch is inviting one of our trained Mindful Nature Guides, Vanessa Yvette, founder of Forest Bath Miami, to join our Chief Experience Officer, Suzanne Jewell, in a brand-new-first-of-its-kind evening experience.

Forest Bath Walk & Meditate in the Park at Dark

What is Forest Bathing?

Based on the Japanese practice of Shinrin Yoku, the therapeutic benefits of this art & science is based on Dr. Qing li’s work as the Chairman of the Japanese Society for Forest Medicine.

What do you do?

The invitation is to slow your pace, put away your devices, allow all your perceptions to open to the sights, sounds, and scents to the trees. Because this work is known to help you find healing and happiness.

Who is Forest Bath Miami?

Founded by Vanessa Yvette, a New Yorker-Miami transplant, she found her roots and a deep love for the Magic City. A Safe Space facilitator, Her favorite tree is the Southern Live Oak, and she’s got a goal to visit all 175 Florida State Parks (she’s made it to 20 already). She feels a deep love for NP (Native Plants), is a gifted intuitive with a passionate healing within Nature, having answered a prayer call that led her to green spaces where she guides and awakens your senses within the tree canopy. You may find her at these parks when she’s not at Patch, reconnecting human nature to Mother Nature amongst the trees; Greynolds Park, Dr. von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park, A.D. Barnes Park, Enchanted Forest Arch Creek Park and Oleta State Park.

Who is also facilitating?

Suzanne Jewell, Patch’s Chief Experience Officer will host the evening and greet and ground you upon arrival. A forest therapist and certified mindfulness meditation teacher, she’s trained the one dozen Mindful Nature Guides, including Vanessa, who offer volunteer time to walk guests through the Mindful Pocket Park. She believes in bringing others to “take the teacher’s seat” and looks forward to this collaboration with Vanessa; hopefully the start of more walks in the park after dark, a.k.a., Twilight @Patch.

What’s the agenda?

5:30 PM - 5:50 PM : Welcome & Mindful Moment to Arrive with Overview of the Walk in the Park at Dark

5:50 PM - 6:00 PM : Begin the Forest Walk Experience

6:00 PM - 6:15 PM : Walk to the East Forest & Joglo Meditation Platform

6:15 PM - 6:30 PM : Meander the Old Growth Forest and the Moss Walk

6:30 PM - 6:45 PM : Arrive @ The Middle Way Meadow near the Tree Of Life

6:45 PM - 7:00 PM : Earth Walk and Zen Garden

7:00 PM - 7:30 PM : Earth Circle Meditation in the Mindful Pocket Park

7:30 PM: Conclude with Tea & Lite Bites in the Welcome Center

A day of meditation, art, and mindfulness to foster peace and compassion in our troubled world.

Event Experience

11:00 - 11:15 - Welcome, Introduction, What is Peace Day? Why Celebrate It?

11:15 - 11:45 - Peace Walk in the Woods

11:45 - 12:15 - Paint Rocks of Kindness

12:15 - 12:45 - Picnic Lite Bites

12:45 - 1:15 - Sound Healing

1:15 - 2:00 - Peace Tree Dedication Ceremony

What is the UN International Day of Peace?

The United Nations has been honoring one day per year for the last 55 years dedicated to peace. Started by Mahatma Ghandi as an invitation to put down all weapons of violence for just 24 hours, the day is meant to have humans pause our destructive patterns and choose more wisely.

Why do we celebrate International Peace Day at Patch of Heaven Sanctuary?

We celebrated A Day of Peace last year for the 1st time with a picnic and painting project. Everyone who came participated in a Pocket of Peace Meditation and painted a 4” peace medallion made of recycled log with their wishes for peace.

Join Us for a Peace Day Picnic at Patch Of Heaven Sanctuary!

We are getting creative by inviting you to help us create the only Peace Tree here in South Florida at our 20-acre nature & forest preserve. We will gather and have a picnic amidst the tranquil beauty of our sanctuary while contributing to a symbol of peace that will stand as a beacon of hope and unity for our community.

So why not consider a day to pause, come learn some practices of Peace and join us for something that will last both in our Peace Tree Dedication as well as within your heart.

Gandhi himself said, "there is no way to Peace. Peace is the way".

Be an outlier.

Make a date with yourself.

Meet and learn with others how to plant seeds of Peace on Earth.

It begins within. Now is the time.

Experience this precious and rather “tres chere” experience on Saturday, August 26th, from 6:30pm - 8:30pm.

Patch of Heaven Sanctuary is stunning, no matter the time of day or year, yet just when the sun starts its descent in the West over the lotus lagoon, the light changes the entire landscape. The birds & butterflies dance in free delight, the breeze cools and the land seems to breathe anew.

We invite you to experience this precious and rather “tres chere” experience on Saturday, August 26th, from 6:30pm - 8:30pm.

Patch is inviting one of our trained Mindful Nature Guides, Vanessa Yvette, founder of Forest Bath Miami, to join our Chief Experience Officer, Suzanne Jewell, in a brand-new-first-of-its-kind evening experience.

Patch of Heaven Sanctuary is stunning, no matter the time of day or year, yet just when the sun starts its descent in the West over the lotus lagoon, the light changes the entire landscape. The birds & butterflies dance in free delight, the breeze cools and the land seems to breathe anew.

We invite you to experience this precious and rather “tres chere” experience on Saturday, September 30th, from 6:30pm - 8:30pm.

Patch is inviting one of our trained Mindful Nature Guides, Vanessa Yvette, founder of Forest Bath Miami, to join our Chief Experience Officer, Suzanne Jewell, in a brand-new-first-of-its-kind evening experience.

Forest Bath Walk & Meditate in the Park at Dark

What is Forest Bathing?

Based on the Japanese practice of Shinrin Yoku, the therapeutic benefits of this art & science is based on Dr. Qing li’s work as the Chairman of the Japanese Society for Forest Medicine.

What do you do?

The invitation is to slow your pace, put away your devices, allow all your perceptions to open to the sights, sounds, and scents to the trees. Because this work is known to help you find healing and happiness.

Who is Forest Bath Miami?

Founded by Vanessa Yvette, a New Yorker-Miami transplant, she found her roots and a deep love for the Magic City. A Safe Space facilitator, Her favorite tree is the Southern Live Oak, and she’s got a goal to visit all 175 Florida State Parks (she’s made it to 20 already). She feels a deep love for NP (Native Plants), is a gifted intuitive with a passionate healing within Nature, having answered a prayer call that led her to green spaces where she guides and awakens your senses within the tree canopy. You may find her at these parks when she’s not at Patch, reconnecting human nature to Mother Nature amongst the trees; Greynolds Park, Dr. von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park, A.D. Barnes Park, Enchanted Forest Arch Creek Park and Oleta State Park

Who is also facilitating?

Suzanne Jewell, Patch’s Chief Experience Officer will host the evening and greet and ground you upon arrival. A forest therapist and certified mindfulness meditation teacher, she’s trained the one dozen Mindful Nature Guides, including Vanessa, who offer volunteer time to walk guests through the Mindful Pocket Park. She believes in bringing others to “take the teacher’s seat” and looks forward to this collaboration with Vanessa; hopefully the start of more walks in the park after dark, a.k.a., Twilight @Patch.

What’s the agenda?

6:30 PM - 6:50 PM : Welcome & Mindful Moment to Arrive with Overview of the Walk in the Park at Dark

6:50 PM - 7:00 PM : Begin the Forest Walk Experience

7:00 PM - 7:15 PM : Walk to the East Forest & Joglo Meditation Platform

7:15 PM - 7:30 PM : Meander the Old Growth Forest and the Moss Walk

7:30 PM - 7:45 PM : Arrive @ The Middle Way Meadow near the Tree Of Life

7:45 PM - 8:00 PM : Earth Walk and Zen Garden

8:00 PM - 8:30 PM : Earth Circle Meditation in the Mindful Pocket Park

8:30 PM: Conclude with Tea & Lite Bites in the Welcome Center

Come now unto the Forest, and enjoy

The loveliness of nature. Look abroad

And note the tender beauty and repose

Of the magnificent, in earth and sky.

See what a radiant smile of golden light

O'erspreads the face of heaven; while the west

Burns like a living ruby, in the ring

Of the deep green horizon. Now the shades

Sunset in the Forest, Lydia Jane Wheeler Pierson

Summer Solstice is here! Come Celebrate with us!

On June 25th, from 8AM to 3PM, we are celebrating the arrival of the Summer Solstice on the grounds of our beautiful 20 acre nature sanctuary and nature preserve with a day full of Mindfulness, Movement, Meditation, and Music!

Enjoy a day of community and connection with Nature🌳

Invite a friend and enjoy a smorgasbord of flavors and activities providing a perfect series of practices to pause your mind, awaken your body, and soothe your soul, including:

• A Healthy, Lite Bite Breakfast/Lunch & Homegrown fresh-brewed Cacao Tea

• Ancient Yoga Movement with Anamargret Sánchez of Legion Park Yoga

• A Celebration of Sound and Sacred Chanting with Shakti Kirtan

• A Mindful Meander & Nature-Based Immersion Walk in our Mindful Pocket Park with Chief Experience Officer and Certified Mindfulness Instructor Suzanne Jewell

• A Celebratory, Communal Lunch Among New Friends and Old

• And a Concluding Ecodharma Talk & Discussion with Our Teachers

On this special, celebratory day you will experience the many benefits of how to P.A.W.S. (Pay Attention with Your Senses) and take your seat with all who attend to offer care, compassion, lovingkindness and a dedication to the land, water, air, fire and beings with whom we are all intertwined in the Great Web of Life.

Learn more about the day's teachers and performances below. We hope to see you there!

The Teachers:

Shakti Kirtan - Musical Guests

“Mantras are modulations of Light Pulses within the Divine Consciousness in its various activities.”

— SRI MATAJI SHAKTIANANDA

Kirtan SKY Miami is a group of bhaktas of the Divine Values School who bring chanting to a higher level. Through our live performances we share our devotion using Bhajans to spread joy to those in search of expressing their devotion to the divine. Our Guru Mataji Shaktiananda inspires us to live a spiritual life to reach our true potential through singing and the practice of Shiva Kriya Yoga.

Anamargret Sanchez

Highly sought-after yoga teacher Anamargret Sanchez, founder of the 14-year “beneath the oak trees” Legion Park Community Yoga class brings her decades of dedication as a student and teacher of the yoga tradition, to Patch of Heaven Sanctuary’s growing roster of Guest Teachers for our nature-based, Earth-focused wellness immersion experiences.

Trained through the Himalayan Institute whose spiritual director, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, she considers the home of her Tantric yoga lineage, Anamarget offers community youth support through Educate Tomorrow, funded by The Children’s Trust is a dedicated contributor to the Yoga International online yoga program and is a certified Relax and Renew Restorative Yoga Trainer.

For the past 14 years over 100 people gather weekly under the oaks during the Legion Park Farmers Market on Miami’s Upper Eastside to connect, breathe and remember their light.

Suzanne Jewell

Chief Experience Officer, Patch of Heaven Sanctuary, Founder of the Mindful Pocket Park @Patch, certified mindfulness meditation teacher through the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center/Sounds True training, Executive Resilience Coach and Forest Therapy guide.

A former global TV executive and marketing communications expert, Jewell experienced burnout and C-PTSD firsthand, choosing as her healing path putting her “tush on a cush”. A climate refugee due to flooding during Covid brought her to the Open Awareness Buddhist Center, where she took Vows of Refuge, staying for 18 months and deepening her lived dedication to the path of liberation; circumambulation practice (kora walking around the stupas) and supporting the lama was part of daily life. She most loved the daily kayak paddles in the Little River, recording “Pockets of Peace” floating meditations to “invite others to float in the boat” with her.

Jewell teaches Mindful Leadership, Transformation, Communication and Focus practices through workshops and retreats for eMerge Americas, Babson College’s Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership, Miami Dade College’s Idea Center, MDC Foundation, Philanthropy Miami, Radical Partners, TD Bank, Chapman Partnership, and Levan Center for Innovation/NSU.

She leads Patch of Heaven Sanctuary’s brand new Mindful Nature Guide training for activating the Mindful Pocket Park and is launching the Mindful Nature Institute in 2024.

Celebrate Dad with a delicious dinner and evening at twilight in our special sanctuary.

Plan something very special for your Dad

This Twilight @Patch Father's Day Dinner offers a special prix fixe menu to choose from, three courses, a celebratory mocktail and time to enjoy our gorgeous gardens at the enchanting hour of dusk and nightfall.

All you need to do is decide which seating of the three (3) times you can eat. Once we receive your reservation(s) we will send a separate email asking for your meal and drink choices. Then, come to dine at dusk for this Father's Day Dinner we are kicking off called "Twilight @Patch".

Choose from three seatings at 6pm, 7pm or 8pm - 30 people per seating max.

Dinner at the Cacao Bar.

People can choose:

Drinks Includes Choice of

1. The Stubborn Mule (Orange Ginger Beer, Orange Juice, Mixed Berries, Lime and Fresh Mint).

2. The Jito (Our great Mojito mix, Seltzer, Mixed Berries, Lime and fresh Mint).

3. Kinga and Queena Colada (Our creamy Colada Mix, fresh Pineapple Juice, fresh Pineapples, rimmed with Dulce de Leche and Coconut shavings, plus Macadamia Nut and Cherry).

Course One

1. Patch Salad (Fresh Greens, Tomato, Cucumber, Onion, Parmesan Cheese, Plantain Chips, Our fabulous vinaigrette or Yummy Caesar dressing).

2. The Amazing Watermelon Salad (Fresh Spinach topped with Watermelon Chunks, Tomato, Onion, Feta Cheese and Pistachios with a Balsamic Drizzle).

3. Heavenly Hummus... Oh So Heavenly. (Our delicious Hummus with Olive Oil, fresh Cucumbers, fresh Grapes, and grilled Gyro).

Course Two

1. Pasta - A - La Vodka accompanied by Meatballs

2. Chicken Empanada layered with Peach Mango Salsa, Hot Honey Drizzle with Sauteed Onions, Mango Habanero Glaze and Thai Spicy Cashews includes (Those Mashed Potatoes).

3. Crack N Cheese served with Assorted Sauteed Vegetables, with Garlic Knot Bread.

Course Three

1. Guava and Cheese Cobbler, with a Guava Glaze.

2. That's Not Right ( Bread Pudding, with Pomegranate, Glazed with Dulce de Leche and Maple Bourbon Glaze).

3. The Truth (Chocolate Cake, served with a glass of Cold Milk).

Earth Day 2023 marks the 53rd Anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement.

Celebrated by billions of people across the globe, come “Sit on the Earth” in the world’s 1st Mindful Pocket Park at Patch of Heaven Sanctuary for our 1st Earth Day Sit.

Earth Day Weekend marks the official Grand Opening of the five-station mindful sensory experience called The Mindful Pocket Park. It's an innovative, nature-based wellbeing practice to help humans reconnect and get grounded in the midst of today’s tumultuous times.

The invitation is to gather 100+ people who agree that the Earth’s wellbeing and our own matter most now.

You’ll experience the practice of how to P.A.W.S. (Pay Attention with Your Senses) and take your seat with all who attend to offer care, compassion, lovingkindness and a dedication to the land, water, air, fire and beings with whom we are all intertwined in the Great Web of Life.

Teacher: Suzanne Jewell, Chief Experience Officer, Patch of Heaven Sanctuary, Founder of the Mindful Pocket Park, certified mindfulness meditation teacher through the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center Sounds True training, Executive Resilience Coach and forest therapy guide.

What to bring: Friends! As many as you can! Comfy shoes & clothes, refillable water bottle and your open, curious heart-mind.

*Tickets and EventBrite fees are non-refundable.+

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Arrive & Wander On Patch’s 20 acre Sanctuary

3:00 PM - 3:10 PM

Gather at the Earth Circle in the Mindful Pocket Park

3:10 PM - 3:15 PM

Open the Meditation Practice with Ecosattva Vows, 6 Directions

3:15 PM - 3:45 PM

Ecodharma talk

3:45 PM - 4:20 PM

For The Love of Earth Guided Meditation Practice

4:20 PM - 4:45 PM

Silent 15-minute Walking of Kissing The Earth Practice

4:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Dedication of Merit & Close The Earth Day Sit

Event Details

When: Saturday April 15th, 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Where: Patch of Heaven Sanctuary

The Experience

Mindfulness in Nature has been shown to reduce anxiety and increase calm. Maybe you’re like so many today who feel burned out and seek some relief to rest and replenish from the daily grind. To continue growing into creating a practice that sustains you, we’re offering a daylong retreat to support your contemplative insight.

Patch of Heaven Sanctuary’s Chief Experience Officer, Suzanne Jewell, will be hosting this daylong nature-based mindfulness retreat alongside meditation, mindfulness, healing, and resilience teachers.

We will take you on a guided walking experience immersed beneath the old-growth canopy of our 20-acre forest and nature preserve, lead you through dharma talks and practices, and help you reset through sound healing therapy.

Whether you’re a beginner or longtime practitioner, taking time apart to gather in community, pause your digital devices and reconnect in Nature will offer you space to pause, as well as P.A.W.S. (Pay Attention With Your Senses) within our new Mindful Pocket Park.

You will experience first-hand the benefits of increased awareness, concentration, meditation and contemplation. From mindful movement to sweet sound healing, you will soothe your soul in our sacred space.

Breakfast and a silent mindful lunch will be provided.

The Teacher

Suzanne Jewell - Chief Experience Officer/Patch of Heaven Sanctuary, Founder of the Mindful Pocket Park & The Mindful Entrepreneur

Suzanne Jewell is a certified Mindfulness Mediation Teacher through the two-year UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center program, led by Buddhist Psychologists Jack Kornfield, PhD and Tara Brach, PhD. During Covid, she took residency and vows of refuge and renunciation at the Open Awareness Buddhist Center for 18 months, having emerged in January 2022. Mindful awareness literally saved her life during a 3-day migraine, sending her to the ER where a 2mm unruptured aneurysm and two rare diseases were discovered.

Living with impermanence and gratitude for each breath became both a lived experience and part of her daily practice of presence. Additionally, Suzanne is trained in trauma-sensitive meditation, HeartMath heart rate variability training, forest therapy, MBSR, somatic experiencing, and is developing a Mindful Nature Guide training program where she’s spearheading the creation of the world’s 1st Mindful Pocket Park.

Based on University of Michigan research that 20 minutes in Nature reduces the stress hormone of cortisol, the 25 minute immersion shares “How to P.A.W.S.” or Pay Attention With Your Senses, combined with walking and sitting meditation. A former global TV executive who is now committed to reconnect humans to Nature at the 20 acre Patch of Heaven Sanctuary where she is the Chief Experience Officer, she’s hopeful that one mindful walk, one tree and one breath at a time is the path to creating greater inner connection and calm in order to address the outer challenges of today’s climate crisis.

Patch of Heaven Sanctuary invites you to experience what we think are two of the happiest places on Earth, our 20-acre nature sanctuary and our Casa Mariposa (Butterfly House) and the Flight House where we raise, rear & release these magical creatures.

We’ll celebrate the United Nations annual release of the World Happiness Report with this day of breaking bread together, experiencing awe together, and learning the mindful practice of Awe, based on the book by the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center’s Dacher Keltner.

THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT ALREADY. PLEASE CHECK OUR AWAKEN IN NATURE SPRING RETREAT

Patch’s 20 acres of forest, lagoons, lotus ponds, butterflies, and ancient old-growth forest are just the “Nature Pill” prescription to help you escape, energize and ease your mind, body and soul back to Earth.

For our final February “Month of Love” event, we invite you to enjoy and experience Nature-based mindfulness, embodied somatic movement, journaling and sound, as we explore the ancient practice of “maitri”, which is about friendliness, and the deep dive into “metta”, which is lovingkindness.

“You are perfect just as you are…and there is always room for improvement”

Shunryun Suzuki, Zen monk, author, “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind”

Taking our cue for the day from the bold teachings of this groundbreaking Zen master, we will begin again, looking deeply at how we view ourselves. More often than not, we are our own most harsh judge. Often that voice inside comes to rule our inner landscape, yet with the simple, yet profound act of changing our mind, we can “tend & befriend” ourselves, we can see with fresh eyes of the open heartedness of a Beginner’s Mind our always present inner perfection. And we can allow ourselves and support ourselves to walk with greater ease in the constantly changing, impermanent, non-fixed fascinating journey of being human.

The day includes:

• Lite Bite Breakfast

• Intention Setting or SanKalpa Ceremony

• Guided Nature Walk to Lotus Lagoon

• Contemplative Journaling “Magic Spot” Practice

• Movement Exploration “Beyond Yoga”

• Deep Rest “On The Earth” Mindful Body Scan

• Organic Healthy Lunch

• 8am - 2pm, with Time to Wander until 5pm

Come to spend this Sunday with our Chief Experience Officer, Suzanne Jewell, and the guest teacher joining her, Catie Nawrocki, founder of Tula and director of the Tula Yoga Project.

GET TICKETS HERE:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/self-love-sunday-retreat-befriend-yourself-with-kindness-tickets-541800789747

Bring your heart and your loved one to Patch for a “picnic brunch”, learn the ancient lovingkindness meditation practice and paint a “rock of kindness” that will be donated to our Mindful Pocket Park.

Spend the day with us in the heart of Nature, where you’ll step into the slowed pace of Patch’s peaceful oasis, lovingly seeded, planted and nourished for 15 years. Sit in “The Middle Way Meadow” halfway between the old-growth Florida Forest we restored and the brand new regenerated, rewilded zen gardens and koi ponds .

Stretch out on the grass for this picnic brunch, paint beneath the Tree of Life into the meditation rocks, “Rockin Kindness”, which will be used for The Mindful Pocket Park practice of “Be The Rock”.

Lovingkindness is an ancient practice in Buddhism, known to help you open your heart to self-care and self-love, to expand your “heart circle” to include others and then, eventually to all living beings and to Nature itself. Known as “metta” meditation, you’ll learn this practice during the Love & Kindness Picnic, meditating right outside in Nature.

Help us seed heartful intentions for yourself, others and Mother Nature.

Your “Rockin Kindness” stone will be held by others to get grounded as part of their meditation experience when the park opens.

Break bread. Laugh. Gather. Share love & kindness.

TICKETS HERE: https://www.eventbrite.es/e/entradas-love-kindness-picnic-at-patch-for-valentines-day-520802653757

The Experience: Mindfulness in Nature has been shown to reduce anxiety and increase calm. Maybe you’re like so many today who feel burned out and seek some relief to rest and replenish from the daily grind. To begin the year right, we’re offering a daylong retreat to support your contemplative insight.

Whether you’re a beginner or longtime practitioner, taking time apart to gather in community, pause your digital devices and reconnect in Nature will offer you space to pause, as well as P.A.W.S. (Pay Attention With Your Senses), at Patch of Heaven’s new Mindful Pocket Park.

Led by three Florida trained teachers of mindfulness, resilience and healing, you’ll experience first-hand the benefits of increased awareness, concentration, meditation and contemplation. Learn more about each of them below, check out the day’s treats of soothing spaces, tastes and time together.

https://www.eventbrite.es/e/awaken-in-nature-retreat-tickets-492649025497

Be The Butterfly Experience: Afternoon Tea & Talk with the Artist, Mindful Meditation and Monarch Education Session

Included with your Self-Guided Tour Pass

This event is included with your Self-Guided Tour Pass (Get Tickets Here). To ensure we have enough tea for you, please confirm your attendance here:

Be The Butterfly Experience: Afternoon Tea & Talk with the Artist, Mindful Meditation and Monarch Education Session

Included with your Self-Guided Tour Pass

This event is included with your Self-Guided Tour Pass (Get Tickets Here). To ensure we have enough tea for you, please confirm your attendance here: