Why Northaven? – Ekaminhale
Your cart

Why Northaven?

The short version:

What I value most is feeling strong, present and full of energy.

Being fully alive.

After living in world cities for 15 years of my life and feeling the opposite I realized that that feeling is mostly a result of the habitat I'm in.

The closer that habitat is to the one we as humans evolved in, the more nature it has, the more alive I feel.

I couldn’t find any habitats where the primary goal was to use the power of nature to grow strong healthy humans.

This left me with only one choice. To create one.

Here is the first phase.

 

The long version:

My entire life I have been obsessed with nature, health and spirituality.

I am part of the 3rd generation of my family in this area at the edge of Jasper National Park. 

I grew up here doing every activity you can in these mountains - camping, snowboarding, rock climbing, mountain biking and hiking. 

 After living in the world cities of New York, London, Milan, Athens, Taipei and Sydney through my 20's at 29 I accidentally ended up in a small yoga hotel on the coast of Costa Rica.

 After one month of practicing yoga everyday, surfing, getting up and going to bed with the sun, eating local whole food, and not using screens I experienced what it felt like to be fully alive.

What Alan Watts called the real business of living. 

Strong,

Calm, 

Clear, 

and full of energy. 

I became addicted to that feeling. 

I spent the next 20 years thinking it came from practicing yoga and training in Ashtanga Yoga Mysore Style with multiple trips to India but I never got the same results.

When it came to the tissues of my body and my energy levels I got the opposite.

I made a massive mistake. 

It wasn’t just yoga. 

It was yoga and nature. 

Not either one on its own but what happens to a person when they are combined.

It's the and.  

In 2016 attending a workshop with Mark Whitwell in Vancouver he summed it up perfectly when he said to me. 

What is yoga? Direct intimacy with reality itself.
What is reality? Nothing but a nurturing power.
The religious life is to participate in it. 
You’re not trying to get anywhere. 
If you have religion in your life you need this. 
Its part of the ancient primordial wisdom tradition
There needs to be something you can do. 
Otherwise the ideas of the texts stay ideas. 
How do you make sure you are not seeking? With these principles of breath.

The saying yoga is all day is true.  

It means participating in reality itself. Examples are when you:

  • Feel your own breath in you as you practice in silence with a group
  • See your teacher physically with your eyes 
  • Feel the heat of fire on your skin and smell the smoke as you sit around a campfire
  • Touch the earth with your feet as you walk on a trail 
  • Feel the sun on your eyes as it comes up over the mountain
  • Taste pure clean water that comes out of the mountain and not a plastic bottle
  • Feel what deep rest is like when you are grounded in an organic bed and have no electric fields surrounding you

 

None of this can be done through a screen. 
You can’t do this online. 
You have to physically come here.

 

The last 6 years, with massive help from my family and team members I’ve been creating a place where this is possible. It's called Northaven and it will officially open in 2023

Nature Events at Northaven

We will be hosting different events here both from other teachers and our own. To be notified of those events you can sign up here or if you don't want more emails check in your own time here.

If you would like to hold your event at Northaven please click here

Ancestral Ashtanga

That which is accordance with nature can never be wrong - Marcus Aurelius.

I will also be teaching Ashtanga Mysore style at Northaven plus Ancestral Ashtanga. 

What is that?

Think of it as Ashtanga before it left the mountains of the Himalayas and went to the city of Mysore.

It's what happens when you make the sun your highest authority which is why I focus on Sun Salutations (all day) as the most important part of practice.

Sign up at the end of my post What's Missing in Mysore .

Looking For True Believers 

Do you choose going to bed early so you can get your best sleep then get up and practice? Do you have your cell phone on airplane mode and use it as little as possible? Do you prefer a forest outside your door to a sidewalk? Do you love jumping in freezing cold lakes and rivers? Do you avoid food that makes you feel sick? Do you inspire others by your passion for life?

You may be a true believer and want to join the Northaven team. If this sounds like you or someone you know please send you resume to events@journeynorthaven.com