About — Our Story | Sundari Gardens

Two braided dreams

Sundari began with two visions, arriving together on a piece of raw land at the wild southern edge of the Big Island.

John Shiva dreamed of a beautiful place where beautiful people could do beautiful things — close to the land, in freedom and ease. A place where the quality of the space itself called something forward in people. Where the garden was tended, the food was real, the air was clean, and the pace allowed for actual rest.

Christine dreamed of a place to gather — to investigate yoga, tantra, embodied philosophy, eco-spirituality, and trauma-informed soul expansion. A place serious enough for real inquiry and warm enough for genuine community. Where the teachings could be lived, not just studied.

Both of those things have happened. And so much more.

What grew here

What they built is not a resort. It's a living garden — food forest, medicinal plants, practice spaces, and a home that has been opened, again and again, to whoever needed it. New earth still being made by Kīlauea beneath. Old-growth ʻōhiʻa forest above. An unbroken horizon of Pacific to the south.

Over the years, Sundari became something harder to name than a retreat center. WeDance — the community-run Wednesday evening dance — has been gathering here for five years, barefoot on the floor of the Rainbow Shala. The garden feeds guests and practitioners alike. In high season, retreats are a near-constant presence. Teachers and healers move through like seasons.

And the land keeps teaching — about patience, about tending, about what happens when you stop pushing and start listening.

For the neighborhood

For the local community of Lower Puna, Sundari is a gathering place in the oldest sense. Fast WiFi and laundry for those who need it. Yoga for those who want it. Guest speakers, Sunday song circle, WeDance on Wednesdays, neighborhood holidays, councils, and mediations. The kind of place a community builds around, slowly, without a plan — because something here kept saying yes.

The people of this neighborhood shaped Sundari as much as any vision. The stories, the voices, the long evenings around the table — those are in the walls now.

For teachers & artists

For visiting teachers, healers, and artists, Sundari is a loving, supportive venue — one that understands what it takes to hold space, and tries to hold it well for those who do. The shalas, the kitchen, the lodging, the land itself: all of it offered with genuine care for the work being done here.

Off-grid, honestly

Sundari is off-grid. Solar, rainwater, composting, and all the learning that comes with that choice. We have figured out a great deal through trial and error — and we are still figuring things out. That's not a disclaimer; it's part of the ethos. Living close to the earth means taking responsibility for the systems that sustain life. We take that seriously, and we're honest about the ongoing process of getting it right.

What "Sundarī" means

Sundarī is the Gāyatrī — the beauty. She is TripuraSundarī, beautiful across the three worlds: bhūḥ, the earth; bhuvaḥ, the atmosphere; svaḥ, the heavens. We named this land Sundari to say that beauty lives in all three at once — underfoot, around us, and overhead.

bhūḥ · earth — the gardens
The food forest and the flowering beds, cacao and noni and citrus, the half-mile loop, the soil that gives it all. Beauty you can kneel down and touch.

bhuvaḥ · atmosphere — the people, the rainbows, the birds
The living in-between: breath and birdsong, the rainbows that arrive with the island's passing rain, the faces of everyone who gathers here. Beauty that moves through the air between us.

svaḥ · heavens — the night sky
The undimmed stars over Puna, the moon, the far glow of the volcano on the horizon. Beauty that asks you to look up.