SUMMARY

The Ohui Retreat Centre accepts wwoofers (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) who wish to participate in the retreat’s activities in exchange for work on the property.

We run a basic daily yoga programme including general yoga class, yoga nidra, kirtan and meditation. Wwoofers are asked to pay $20 per day and do six hours work (gardening, cleaning, renovating, general duties) in exchange for daily yoga classes, vegetarian food and accommodation. We ask woofers to respect and encourage the yogic lifestyle and vibration of our centre. Yoga experience is not necessary.

THE DETAILS

We are hoping to make clear to you the arrangement of your stay so that both parties are clear on what to expect.

From past experience, we have come to the conclusion that it is best to put down in writing some of the important things which we expect from someone staying at the centre, in the hopes of avoiding misunderstandings later. Forgive us if some of the items below seem very obvious, and/or if the tone appears a bit stern. Experience has shown that it is better to for us to be as clear as possible regarding how this place works so that people have a fair idea of what we are about before they arrive.

The fee for staying is $20/day paid 1 week in advance, with 5 hours of work for 6 days each week. Yoga Classes are taught each morning at 6.30am. Meditation and chanting sessions are on some evenings of the week. Philosophy and discussion evening is on Tuesdays. These are all included in your stay.

During your stay here, we expect you to:
1. Start work each day at 8.30am, please be ready at this time, if you start late then you will have to finish later so its in your best interest to be on time
2. As you will be given guest accommodation while you are here so you may be asked to share your space or be moved into another room when we have courses on.
3. Keep the accommodation clean and tidy.
4. Help with the washing up if you are having meals with us. (Please note that these two items above are not considered ‘work’, but part of living in a larger community of people.) Please wash and dry any dishes that you use during the day.
5. Put anything you use, particularly tools back in their place immediately after use, so that the next person that needs them can find them easily, and leave the tools you used and the working area clean and tidy. This is part of working in a larger community of people.
6. Please note that meals are provided at certain times during the day and we ask that guests do not help themselves to food in the fridge or cupboards and that they eat at designated meal times during the day. Please note that the centre is strictly vegetarian, and we ask helpers to forgo eating meat or fish for the duration of their stay at the centre.
7. Come here with appropriate gear so as to be equipped to work outdoor (proper clothing and waterproof shoes). Make sure you bring your own torch.
8. Some days the work will be predictable, and if the weather agrees, then it will be possible to count on putting in about 5 hours a day. But if there is bad weather or exceptionally good weather after a bad spell, or if there is a specific job or project that has to be finished that day, then we will ask you to work less (in the case of bad weather) or much more in the case of the latter two examples.
9. Be aware of your energy consumption. Please switch off lights, please don’t leave heaters on and use these sparingly as they use a huge amount of power, don’t fill an electric kettle to the limit and then only use half a cup, etc. Please be mindful of the amount of fuel you need to heat the house. Do you need to have the house as warm as it might be at home (where someone else might be paying the bills)? If you are feeling cold, do you need to burn more wood/turn the heater up or can you put another jumper on?
10. Ask yourself: do you really need to wash those three items today, or can you wait until there is a full load? Please ask us if we have things to wash (we always do). Note that as we are using only ecofriendly products, we supply the washing powder as well.
11. Communicate with us as to how you are feeling about the work/the place/ us. Depending on the number of people here at any one time, we will try to have a short meeting or informal conversation to discuss the daily duties and we also offer this as a time to communicate to us, problems, ideas, suggestions or anything which you feel you would like to express.
12. Be aware that being able to participate in formal yoga classes here only happens if we have guests staying or are running classes open to the general public. You are not permitted to sit in on workshops or courses that we run unless specific arrangements have been made.
13. If you need to use the phone the local shops sell phone cards, please purchase one in order to make personal calls.
14. Internet usage is fine at convenient times, please make arrangements prior to use.
15. If you need to go to town please arrange this on the days you are given off.

All this being said, we are deeply grateful to all those who have helped us here at the Centre.

Last of all we ask that you communicate to us what it is that they are wanting out of your stay here with us. This gives us an idea of what you are hoping to achieve and if its suitable for us we can try to accommodate this and if its not suitable then we can communicate this beforehand to avoid any confusion.

Feel free to call with any questions and we look forward to meeting you. If you need a ride to Ohui from Auckland let us know and also what date you will be arriving.