One whole decade. We’re proud to say that’s how long we’ve been transforming lives. Over this time, we’ve also grown and evolved, constantly striving to enhance the experience we offer to our guests.
When Aro Ha was founded in 2014, it was done so in the spirit of nurturing the individual and creating a more sustainable path forward for our global community. Over the past decade, Aro Ha has embodied the fusion of cutting-edge sustainability and technology with timeless wellness practices. Our approach has empowered every guest that’s walked on our land to reconnect with their highest purpose, cultivate resilience, foster meaningful community, and learn how to live in harmony with the planet.
At Aro Ha, the pursuit of wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do, and staying true to the original spirit of Aro Ha is essential to our mission. While we remain firmly grounded in these core principles, we’ve continuously evolved our retreat experience to embrace the remarkable advancements of the modern world. After a decade of practice, we’re proud to be at the forefront of blending innovation with our commitment to a low-impact, simplified approach—creating an experience that is both transformative and true to our roots.
How have we innovated?
Treatments
Aro Ha is unique in that we’ve continued to combine our offerings like daily massages, one of the oldest, most powerful healing practices known to humanity with specialised treatments such as Flowpresso, a newer, non-invasive full body experience that stimulates lymphatic drainage, and Lucia Light — a neurostimulator that combines flashing and constant light, stimulating temporary EEG brain wave patterns.
By blending these modern healing techniques with timeless practices like contrast therapy and massage, we provide our guests with a holistic experience designed to help them discover their unique path to wellbeing
Tech
Biological Age Testing
One of our latest innovations is measuring the physical benefits of our retreat through Biological Age Testing. In August 2024, the first results showed a remarkable 2.15-year reduction in biological age after just one retreat. This high-tech test highlights the profound impact our programme can have in a short time.
Real-Time Health Tracking
At Aro Ha, we offer guests the chance to track their health in real-time using cutting-edge devices like the Oura Ring and Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGM). The Oura Ring tracks sleep, activity, and recovery, offering insights into overall wellness with the absence of distracting screens. The CGM (Lifestyle Libre 2) provides live blood glucose readings, helping guests understand how factors such as diet, exercise, sleep, and stress affect their individual metabolism, and empowering them to make informed choices during and after retreat.
Nutrition
The understanding of proper nutrition tends to sway back and forth in wellness trends, from one extreme to another. But at Aro Ha, the root of our nutrition beliefs are grounded in eating the bounty from the earth. We believe in serving plant-based nutrition, focusing on nutrient-rich meals that both satisfy and energise guests. By eliminating dairy, gluten, processed grains, meat, alcohol, and refined sugars, guests improve nutrient absorption and support their microbiome.
In addition to our roots in plant-based nourishment, our nutrition approach has evolved to include relevant and trustworthy scientific research, which now shows that entering a fat-burning state, known as ketosis, helps reduce inflammation—especially in the brain. Part of our retreat and our 5-day at-home cleanse, Seasonal Renew, incorporates this research in supporting the body to achieve ketosis.
Permaculture
Whole-systems thinking, a foundational principle of Permaculture, is at the heart of everything we do at Aro Ha. From the very beginning, we’ve designed our space to work in harmony with nature, embracing values of re-wilding and community resilience. We started with two food forests, each home to around 100 fruit and nut trees, along with 12 varieties of berries. Over the past decade, these have grown into three thriving food forests and three greenhouses, now flourishing with over 300 types of herbs, native plants, flowers, root vegetables, and vines.
Over time, we’ve introduced exciting innovations to our Permaculture gardens, including the Berkeley hot composting system and nine worm farm bins, enhancing sustainability and efficiency. By recycling organic materials and enhancing soil health, our gardens now provide up to 45% of the fresh produce guests consume on retreat.
Staff Training
Aro Ha wouldn't be Aro Ha without the dedicated team that brings the retreat to life. From our kitchen staff, who nourish our guests, to the retreat leaders guiding hikes and yoga classes, we place a strong emphasis on investing in our people to ensure an exquisite experience for guests. Over the past 10 years, we’ve committed roughly 30,470 hours to training our team in a range of specialties, including bodywork, nutrition, functional movement, and yoga. These hours reflect not only the depth of knowledge and skill within our staff but also the exceptional caliber of professionals who support and uplift our guests throughout their journey.
We're incredibly proud to look back on the past decade and see the meaningful changes we've made to enrich our guests' experiences and improve how we operate. Here's to the next 10 years and beyond.
