This retreat is not a written application. I hold a personal consultation and vetting call with every person before confirming a place — to feel into fit, readiness, and what your nervous system and your blood are actually asking for.
A private five-day retreat for when you need more than a brief interruption from ordinary life — creating the time and space to settle, explore what is beneath the surface and understand what needs to change.
$3 500
You have created enough awareness to know that something needs to change, but ordinary life keeps pulling you back into the same patterns. You need more than a pause — you need enough space for what you already know to begin making sense.
There are moments when you know you need to step away, but you also know that a few days of rest will not address what is really asking for your attention. You may have reached a transition, recognised a pattern that keeps repeating, or realised that the way you have been living no longer fits the person you are becoming.
The 5-Day Private Personalised Retreat gives you more time within the Awaken Sanctuary environment to slow down, settle and stay with what is presenting itself. Instead of rushing towards an answer, you have room to explore what is underneath the question.
You do not need to arrive with everything figured out. You may know exactly what brought you here, or you may simply know that something in your life no longer feels right.
Perhaps your relationships are changing. Perhaps your sense of purpose has shifted. Perhaps you are carrying experiences you have never had enough space to properly understand. Perhaps you have done considerable inner work and are ready to bring the pieces together.
Whatever brings you here becomes part of the starting point for the retreat.
Five days creates a different kind of residential space. There is enough time to settle into the environment without immediately needing to move towards resolution, allowing observation and experience to develop at a more spacious pace.
The work can move between conversation, nature, movement, water, somatic experience, sound, ritual, reflection and Sacred Plant Intelligence according to what is relevant to your journey. What matters is not how many experiences you have, but what becomes possible for you to understand through them.
Sometimes the difficulty is not that you do not know something. It is that knowing it has not yet changed the way you relate to your life.
You may know that a relationship is no longer working, but not understand why you remain in the same pattern. You may know that your work is no longer aligned, but not yet recognise what should take its place. You may know that you have changed, but still be organising your life around an older version of yourself.
A longer residential pause can create enough space to stay with these questions rather than immediately returning to the demands that usually interrupt them.
There is a clear architecture to the Awaken experience, while the way that architecture unfolds remains responsive to the person.
Your circumstances determine what needs attention. The environment, experiences and facilitation are then brought together around that work, with the pace, emphasis and sequence adapting as deeper patterns become visible.
You are not required to arrive knowing which path to take. You arrive with your life. We work from there.
Your retreat begins before you reach the Sanctuary. 5 Days of remote preparation give you time to clarify what is bringing you here, begin observing yourself more closely and consciously prepare for the experience you are about to enter.
This preparation creates continuity between your everyday life and the residential retreat, so that you arrive with greater awareness of what you are ready to explore.
Sacred Plant Intelligence forms part of the retreat experience and is held within the wider process of preparation, intention, experience, interpretation and integration.
The role it plays is considered in relation to your individual journey and the work that is emerging, allowing the experience to become part of a larger process of understanding rather than an isolated event.
For five days, the Sanctuary becomes your environment.
Mature trees, gardens, open land, walking spaces, mountain and valley landscapes and the river environment create a setting that is removed from the pace and familiarity of ordinary life. Birdlife, butterflies, vervet monkeys and Nile monitor lizards move through the landscape, while spaces for walking, sitting, fire and quiet give you room to simply be present.
The environment is not decoration around the retreat. It changes what is possible when you have time to inhabit it.
Life at Awaken is intentionally simple. Your accommodation is private, modest and functional, giving you what you need without turning the retreat into a luxury hospitality experience.
The retreat is predominantly fasted, with fruits, vegetables and herbal drinks forming the basis of your nourishment. The simplicity allows the focus to remain on the person, the environment and the work rather than on excess.
You have reached a point where you want to understand something more deeply rather than simply move past it. You may be navigating a significant life transition, questioning your direction, recognising patterns that continue to shape your choices, or feeling that your external life has not yet caught up with an internal shift.
The five-day structure may also suit you if you know that you need more than a concentrated pause. You want enough time to settle into a different rhythm and allow what emerges to be explored rather than immediately compressed into an answer.
This is not a conventional holiday or a luxury wellness escape. It is a private residential experience for someone willing to participate in their own process of observation, exploration and understanding.
Five days does not promise a particular outcome. It provides more residential space in which the work can unfold, with enough time to move beyond the initial interruption and stay with what becomes visible.
The retreat is held as a continuous journey rather than an isolated stay.
Preparation begins before you arrive. The residential experience creates the space to explore and understand. Integration after the retreat gives you an opportunity to make sense of what emerged and begin carrying that understanding back into your everyday life.
What happens afterwards matters because insight becomes meaningful when it begins to change the way you relate to your actual life.
Before your retreat is confirmed, we begin with a private consultation to understand what is bringing you to Awaken, what you are hoping to explore and whether five days is the appropriate residential structure for you.
The conversation allows us to begin from your actual circumstances rather than assuming that everyone needs the same journey. If another Awaken pathway would serve you better, we will help you identify that.
USD 3,500
Awaken was born in Africa, and our work remains deeply rooted in the continent. Our commitment is to make meaningful human transformation accessible within the realities of the place from which this work comes, while welcoming people from across the world to experience Awaken.
For African residents, please contact us on WhatsApp for our Africa-based ZAR investment and booking information.
If you are considering a shorter residential experience, the 3-Day Personalised Private Retreat is available at USD 2,500.
If you know that you need more residential space than five days, the 7-Day Immersive Private Personalised Retreat is available at USD 4,500.
If travelling to Awaken Sanctuary is not possible for you, the work can come to you. Through Awaken.Anywhere, private personalised experiences can be designed and delivered at your home, private property or another agreed location, bringing the Awaken approach into an environment that works for you.
Explore Awaken.Anywhere →https://awakensanctuary.africa/program/commision-private-retreat
You do not have to know exactly what you need before you begin the conversation.
If you know that something in your life needs your attention and that ordinary life has not given you enough space to work with it, tell us what is bringing you here.
Enquire About the 5-Day Private Personalised Retreat → https://wa.me/c/27677940735
Retreat Structure
5-day online prep → In-person immersion → 1-day online integration.
Accommodation
Included for the in-person portion. Details confirmed at booking.
Food & Nourishment
All meals included during the in-person immersion, prepared in support of the medicine ceremony and nervous system regulation.
How to Book
Message us on WhatsApp to schedule your consultation and vetting call: wa.me/27677940735. This call determines fit and readiness — there is no written application.
Getting There
Airport transfer included in investment for international clients, details confirmed at booking.
Visa Information
Country-specific — confirmed during your consultation call.
What to Bring
Comfortable clothing for movement and ceremony, journal, any ceremony items requested during prep. Full packing guidance sent after booking confirmation.
Travel Insurance
Recommended for all clients travelling to South Africa.
Cancellation Policy
See Cancellation Policy above.
Readiness Criteria
Assessed personally during your consultation and vetting call — prior healing work, current capacity, and medicine readiness all considered.
Extra Night Before Your Retreat
Arrive a day early and settle into the land before the work begins. An extra night gives your nervous system time to decompress from travel and arrive — not just physically, but fully. Accommodation and meals included.
Extra Night After Your Retreat
Stay one more night before re-entering ordinary life. Use it to rest, reflect, and let the integration begin before the noise of the world comes back in. Accommodation and meals included.
Somatic Massage
A full-body somatic massage — timed to support either your preparation or your integration, depending on where you are in the arc. Not a relaxation massage. A body-based session designed to work with what the medicine and the ceremony have already opened, releasing what remains held in the tissue. Confirm availability and investment during your consultation and vetting call.
Guided Tour of Hartbeespoort
A guided experience of the Hartbeespoort area — the dam, the mountains, the surrounding landscape. A grounded way to close the retreat arc or ease the transition before you leave. Confirm availability during your consultation and vetting call.
Extended Integration
For those who want more than one day of supported integration after the in-person immersion. Additional integration days are facilitated online and designed around what specifically emerged during your ceremony. Investment and scope confirmed during your consultation and vetting call.
