Caitriona Reed and Michele Benzamin-Miki are co-founders of Five Changes and Manzanita Village. Coaching, mentoring and training evolutionary leaders, teachers, entrepreneurs, visionaries and spiritual seekers
They have trained and mentored evolutionary leaders, visionaries, entrepreneurs, and spiritual seekers for three decades.
We always look forward ?to the cooler months when we can throw on a dress with leggings or tights, boots, socks, and boots because it is the ultimate comfort office-wear. Leggings are warm and comfortable, versatile and cute; they are a? staple item for your fall and winter wardrobes.The range of their experience, and their lifelong research,
blends contemporary brain-science with ancient mind-tools for deep personal, energetic, mindset change.
The depth of their wisdom, and their perspective as artist and poet, makes them uniquely suited to support and mentor smart, creative, visionaries who march to the beat of their own drum
Cait has worked with award-winning entrepreneurs, environmental activists, artists, poets, and visionaries .. including a White House staff member.
Michele has worked with conscious entrepreneurs, front line activists, gifted artists and visionaries of all kinds who are passionate about their work and have a strong desire to create positive impact in their communities and in the world.
Certification in Soul-Work NLP; a streamlined version of Neurolinguistics and trance-work, the most brilliantly effective communication and integrated personal transformation skills. Learn the core skills that will allow you to be massively effective with your clients, as well as to create exponential growth in your business and personal life.
A yearlong group program that includes revolutionary personal-change tools for clarity, direction, and for being and expressing your vision for what’s possible in your life and for the world
Calendar . Morning Meditation . Apprenticeship . Support Us
For the freedom you deserve .. for the world we long for
Manzanita Village
Retreat and Sanctuary
A unique, special and sacred place for deep reflection, nourishment and profound transformation. Give yourself the amazing gift of spending some time in this incredibly beautiful place! — Nancy Monson
The atmosphere of spaciousness and freedom on this land, the undisturbed peace, the star-filled night sky, clean air and water (from our own well), the many walks, the unspoiled landscape, the skill of the teachers .. makes this an ideal place for learning, developing natural creativity, aligning your values and perspectives, and as a simple, natural catalyst for deep inner transformation.
I am really grateful for the opportunity to come here. It is such a wide open, clear, breathing, beautiful space that allows whatever needs to come in. The guidance is sometimes gentle, sometimes a little bit fiercer .. always exactly what I need. — Johanna Hartman
The non-violent art of Iaido sword. Michele Benzamin-Miki Sensei. *
By car, we are two-and-a-half hours from Los Angeles, and two hours from San Diego. We are situated at the mouth of a small canyon that backs into the Cleveland National Forest and tens of thousands of acres of chaparral forest, unspoiled wildlife habitat, with several hiking trails. We overlook rolling hills and mountain, grassland and oaks. In the distance we have a view of Mt. Palomar, and behind us the mountains, after rising to thousand feet, drop down to the Anza Borrego desert.
.. this is a no-joke place. This is a bring-all-your-wisdom, bring-all-your-honesty, and bring-all-your-bullshit place. Because we live in a time that is filled with chaos and confusion. But things get a whole lot clearer here. —Jamie Grace Davis
Wildness reminds us what it means to be human, what we are connected to, rather than what we are separate from
— Terry Tempest Williams
Manzanita Village is an energetic vortex. It was here that I learned how to walk on the earth, and my life was changed forever — Dr. Elise Turen
I love the land here. The chaparral forest, the rolling hills, beneath countless stars is itself a teacher — Lawrence Ellis
I have gone to a number of retreats at Manzanita Village and they really changed my life, opening me up to my personal infinite possibilities — Maggie Brennecke
The retreat at Manzanita Village was amazing, unexpected, renewing, inspiring, cathartic and thought provoking. I connected with a group of strangers on a level so deep, it was incomprehensible. Manzanita Village was a beautiful canvas for this work of art we call life to occur. It was serene, simple and majestic. Caitriona and Michele were highly skilled facilitators in the work, especially constellations. They definitely were a yin and yang. Where Michele gently nudged, Caitriona stretched and pushed. I gained a myriad of tools. The constellation work was the most valuable and intriguing of them all. Aileen Salmaggi
Food at Manzanita Village
Food at Manzanita Village is exclusively plant-based and where possible locally sourced. We do not support industrial farming for multiple reasons: because it is unsustainable, unethical, and unhealthy for humans and the environment. We have learned that, for many reasons, a non plant-based diet is incompatible with the intention of living an examined, deliberate, and conscious life of transformation and healing; individually or collectively.
Paradoxically perhaps, we do understand that truly sustainable farming, not dependent on chemical fertilizers, benefits from the inclusion of livestock (and humane animal husbandry). We also accept that sustainable and ethical hunting is possible, though there is little evidence to suggest the general survival of such practices in these times of global desperation.
That said, we prepare only plant-based foods on retreats, and if you are visiting at other times please bring only plant-based food and snacks. (No dairy, meat, fish, or eggs)
Resources
Film What the Health widely available 2017
Link to BBC podcast series The Meat Paradox by Rob Percival 2023 (recommended)
Film Food Inc 2008
Links and Information
- Support Manzanita Village with your Tax-deductible Donation
- Calendar
- Renting Manzanita Village for your Event, Retreat, Organization or Group
- Contact us about staying overnight at Manzanita Village Personal Retreat. Hipcamp
- Location, directions, what to bring
- Contact
I just can’t get enough! My life is forever changed as a result of my time at Manzanita Village. Each time I bring a little more of the magic out with me as I re-enter my life. And, that’s the evidence that the magic is working. Caitriona and Michele live what they teach with such integrity in their partnership, their integrated teaching dynamic, their dedication to the land and, their dedication to the amazing people they attract. — Cheryl Walker
Click here to help support Manzanita Village
Book an informal stay in the hermitage at non-retreat times
* Music: Alexei Lvov. The Orthodox Singers Male Choir