Sakura is about embodying a sense of flow
It’s a haven of personal growth and evolution, offering yoga, meditation, and a community of like-minded people. Sakura Sanctuary is a sacred space of beauty, comfort, and peace in rural Cambridge, New Zealand. We offer yoga, meditation, luxurious accommodation, and beautiful surroundings.
Become a member of our growing community, visit us as a day guest at one of our classes, workshops, or events, as a yoga and meditation retreat guest, or simply spend some time enjoying our luxurious accommodation and beautiful surroundings as a homestay guest.
We offer gentle yoga, meditation, and luxurious accommodation as part of our homestay package.
Sakura is also available to hire as a function venue, We love accommodating bridal parties too. For further details please contact us.
*Please note that we are currently closed for accommodation while Gwen is on a sabbatical - we will see you again in 2024!
Gwen
Meet Gwen, creator of Sakura Sanctuary. Gwen grew up in Southern Africa. She lived in London and Hong Kong before she fell in love with and moved to New Zealand to set up Sakura.
Gwen is the mother of two incredible young men, and (in her past life!) she was a lawyer, specialising in crime and human rights. Gwen has always been a keen explorer of philosophy and a seeker of the deeper meanings of life. A stressful career in a busy city showed her how important it is to live a life that is grounded in the present moment.
Gwen first discovered meditation as a tool for coping with stress and anxiety as a young mum and lawyer living in Asia. She has since spent years travelling to different countries and exploring different types of mindful practice. Gwen is now a trained meditation facilitator, with a personal practice spanning over 19 years. It was through this practice that her vision for Sakura came alive.
Gwen’s vision for Sakura was to create a beautiful creative, warm and safe environment for small groups of people to connect and inspire each other, learn tools to navigate life’s challenging moments, and discover their own magnificence and inner wisdom.
After exploring many styles of yoga, Gwen discovered the amazing benefits of Embodied Flow Yoga. She chose to train as a teacher in this practice because of its philosophical depth and sincerity, its allowance for agency in movement, and its capacity to push edges and reveal unhelpful mental patterns and thought constructs. She loves the way Embodied Flow adapts to new developments in anatomical science and psychology, its power to release trauma through somatic movement, and its capacity to hold safe space for those in pain and trauma.
In the small hours of the morning Gwen can be found writing, short stories and poetry. She loves this form of expression and finds it a wonderful tool for herself and her guests to further explore their inner landscapes.
Gwen’s passion and love of people and this beautiful planet inspire her to want to be of service in a meaningful way. She is very skilled at helping others overcome emotional difficulties and anxiety issues. She believes that people can live deeply meaningful and balanced lives if they have the right tools.
At Sakura Gwen will be by your side, teaching yoga and meditation, holding space for your difficulties, and helping you discover your innate capacity to live an extraordinary, liberated life!
