November 15–22, 2026 · Big Island, Hawaiʻi
A Week with the
Book of Changes
A weeklong I Ching immersion with Adam Bauer — learn to apply ancient wisdom in modern times. His first retreat of this kind. Spaces are limited.
A letter from Adam
Dear friends,
A limited number of spaces are available for a weeklong I Ching immersion on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi, held during the monthlong Sundari Immersion. If you've ever felt the pull of this ancient practice — or simply wondered what all the fuss is about — this is a rare hands-on opportunity to find out: in depth, in person, in one of the most gorgeous places on Earth.
The I Ching — the ancient Chinese Book of Changes — is one of the oldest surviving oracle traditions on the planet, pre-dating Lao-Tzu and Confucius by hundreds of years. It is the philosophical bedrock beneath Taoism, a living conversation between ourselves and the Cosmos, and a remarkably prescient and precise instrument for navigating life's challenge-filled terrain.
I was introduced to it at sixteen by my father, and I've been practicing ever since — forty-five years of relationship with this text, twenty-five of them teaching it in workshops, private consultations, and online courses. But never in a retreat like this one. This is truly the best way to learn: in person, in community, intensively.
I promise you this: the I Ching is not just woo-woo mumbo jumbo. I think of it as an antidote to the ills of the modern world — an entirely different operating system for living in effective and harmonious relation with the Tao, the Natural Order of the world. It is a legit oracle, an unparalleled tool for genuine insight and personal development. And a week together is enough time to get introduced and actually learn how to use it.
The week itself
What we'll do together
Each day we'll explore the foundational teachings — and immediately apply them through hands-on readings with fellow participants. Adam will give daily discourses on the Big Ideas, but this isn't a lecture series. We'll bring the I Ching's unique perspective to bear on the real, current questions you're carrying: the challenges you're navigating, the difficult choices you're facing, the crossroads you're standing at. Come with your actual life. That's what we'll work with.
Woven through the week: a practice of pairing specific hexagrams with the island's own terrain — crater, valley, summit. The readings are met as a landscape we stand inside, adding embodied experience to metaphorical understanding.
You'll leave knowing how to cast and interpret your own readings, having introduced yourself to one of the greatest teachers the world has ever known. You'll also leave, we suspect, with something harder to name — a new way of holding uncertainty, of navigating change, of trusting yourself to walk through the moment you're in.
The rhythm
How the week flows
The week begins Sunday November 15 at dinner — your first evening here is a free community day. Sundays on the land are open: morning song circle, mantra, beach time at Kehena, and WeDance in the Rainbow Shala in the evening. Arrive and ease in before the teaching begins.
Programming runs Monday through Saturday, November 16–21. The week closes Sunday November 22 with community breakfast — a gentle landing before you go, with the song circle and the morning to linger in.
Where we'll be
Sundari Farm & Gardens
Sundari Farm & Gardens is a genuinely extraordinary place, and the retreat is all-inclusive: private and comfortable ocean-view rooms (single, shared, and dorm options), fresh juices and three delicious vegetarian meals a day prepared with care by chef Alissa Ferranto, and full access to the renowned Sundari spa — hot tub, sauna, pool, and cold plunge.
Add to that: sunrises over an ocean view that will stop your heart, excursions to nearby beaches and lava fields, world-class bodywork and Watsu, and evenings that leave you quiet in the best possible way. It is all beautiful. It is a week you will not regret.
The practical matters
November 15–22, 2026
Sundari Farm & Gardens, Big Island, Hawaiʻi
Single
$4,700
Private ocean-view room
Double
$4,000
Shared room
Dormitory
$2,750
Shared dormitory
Reserve your place with $1,000
Reserve Your Spot →
Some scholarship support may be available. If cost is a genuine obstacle, please reach out — we'd rather find a way than have the right person miss it.
aloha@sundarigardens.com
Want to go deeper?
The monthlong Sundari Immersion
This week is the culmination of the monthlong Sundari Immersion, which begins November 1 with two weeks of Bhakti Tantra led by Christine Marie Mason. Take 10% off 2- and 3-week registrations with code RESET10.
Learn about the full immersion →The I Ching has been part of my life longer than almost anything else, and I literally cannot imagine having lived without its unusual and beneficent day-to-day presence. Sharing it with others is, for me, a genuine privilege. If something in you is leaning toward this — please trust that, and join me for this first-ever weeklong immersion.
"Like a part of nature, it waits until it is discovered."
— Carl Jung, on the I Ching
With love,
Adam Bauer
Questions? We're here.
Reach us at aloha@sundarigardens.com — we read every note and reply personally.