The Romantic Island Retreat You’ve Never Heard Of (& How To Go There With The Greenfields!)

My name is Ben Greenfield and I'm this episode of the Boundless Life podcast.

We are literally taking out every toxin you can possibly imagine here.

So we truly want you to feel better when you leave than when you arrived and that is going to start with the food.

Welcome to the Boundless Life with me, your host Ben Greenfield.

I'm a personal trainer, exercise physiologist and nutritionist and I'm passionate about helping you discover unparalleled levels of health,

fitness, longevity and beyond.

Well, probably inspired by my wife's shiny example.

I now wash my face every morning and sometimes even in the evening.

Yes, that's twice a day if you're good at math.

I am picky about my skin care ingredients because I don't want things like sulfates or endocrine disrupting chemicals.

And one charcoal based cleanser that I have been using lately is made by today's sponsor based body works.

There are modern men's grooming brand built around clean plant centric formulations designed to help you look and feel your best all without compromising on ingredient safety.

They also for when I want that slick back look have a cool styling duo with texture powder and sea salt spray to add volume control and a natural finish to my shiny clean hair.

So if you're looking to upgrade how you feel stepping into your day, check out based body works dot com use code boundless life for 20% off that based body works dot com.

Athletes a lot of times on talk about this fitness junkies on talk about this either but heavy training can quietly wreck your sexual performance.

It's true big muscles don't need better sex per say long cardio high cortisol poor sleep overlifting under recovery.

These all hit the same systems that control blood flow and hormones and when circulation drops performance drops everywhere including the bedroom.

Many guys and girls will reach for stimulants or prescriptions and that's a blunt downstream fix nitric oxide is the master switch for blood flow endurance and longevity and once you understand that this product called joy mode makes much better sets joy mode supports nitric oxide production using citrulline and nitrate meaningful those is not token doses of those so that means better nitric oxide which means better circulation.

Which means you are going to get blood where you needed to go when you need there 83% of men taking joy mode daily notice a boost in sexual performance from customer survey results 73% of men using the product notice positive effects with no prior ED symptoms.

So you just tear open a sachet you mix it with six day hours of water like an electrolyte packet you're good to go I have to tell you because basal construction occurs on airplanes I've been taking the packets on airplanes and putting a little bit to the airplane water as well knocks that plan on.

Join the mile high club but because I want better blood flow so it can work is kind of like a pre workout also for daily nitric oxide support so joy mode has a deal for my listeners go to try joy mode dot com little bit of a tongue twister there try joy mode say that sometimes fast try joy mode dot com.

Slash Greenfield or enter code greenfield at checkout for 20% off of what is basically the electrolyte packet for your dick enjoy what you are about to hear is a podcast I recorded in of all places believes I was pretty pleasantly surprised how cool this little country I guess it is is and I went to this place called pranamaya and met with the team there.

And fell in love with it as a matter of fact I'm not only recorded a podcast but I'm going to lead retreat there in November so visit the show notes for all the goodies including to come join me and my wife at a couples retreat in believes this November how cool is that.

Ben Greenfield life dot com slash pranamaya that's a mouthful pr a n a m a y a enjoy the episode.

Oh, man, I've never never been to believe they're never been to release. Well, how did you discover it's unbelievable? Oh my gosh, please everybody start groaning now. Um, this is the way this is going to go. Um, what, like, why believe like how you discovered beliefs.

It was a last minute decision to come here a year ago for a solo scuba diving trip because this is the world's second largest reef system and I wanted to come scuba diving.

And I've been looking for a luxury hotel where I could bring in wellness retreats. And so this property presented itself for me to come. I came in the property that we're on right now. I personally came here a year ago and vetted this place to see if this was something I'd want to collaborate to projects with.

What's the, what's the world's largest reef? Do you know Australia? Okay, I was getting a very very fun. I would have nailed it. You're on Jeopardy. Um, so I think some people embarrassingly, including myself up until like a month ago, might not even know like where believes is the cost of India South Africa. Right. Yes, we are way out. What's so great about believes is it's so easy to get to because we're in Central America. So it's a 90 minute flight from Miami. It's less than a three hour flight from Texas.

So it's really convenient to be able to hop here. It's an English speaking country as well. And then they take the US dollar. And notice that because I actually flew from Mexico because I was over in Mexico and I got in. And I'm still speaking Spanish to everybody.

And everybody's speaking back in England. Right. Yeah. I did the same. When I got here, I was so excited to use my Spanish. And I was like, I don't get to speak Spanish here. So there's a mix of about five different cultures here, though. And some Spanish is spoken, but the main language is English.

Yeah. I want to come back to like what this place is, but you, you can wear a skewer diving, but you said you were looking for a place to host retreats. So what's your background in this whole.

So my, I did my pre-med studies, but I didn't know which field of medicine I was going to go into. And my family was in the rock and roll side of business. And so I went into the family business.

And I became the trail of old manager for over a decade for the Rolling Stones, Shangri-La Entertainment, Steve Bing, Marnscore, C.C.

Jerry Lee Lewis. And I joke that I got my MBA on tour. And, but through that entire time when I was working for my family, my aunt, who was the travel director and owner of the company,

there was the whisper that was still in the back of my head of calling of medicine of medicine. And I threw my back out while I was on tour, laid me out on the floor. Am I on said you need to go?

Yeah, totally. I was head-banging, doing the whole thing. And my aunt said, you need to go to my chiropractor slash acupuncturists. And I said, I don't know what either of those two things mean, but I'm willing to do anything.

That first visit, he had me, like, face up on the table. And I was like, what's going on? My back is over here. I felt better within one visit, within three visits. I was back on the road and touring. And I had no pain.

And my light bulb instantly. Yeah, it was a double-board certified physician. He's actually one of mixed doctors. And I'm still a jagger. And I'm still in touch with him to this day.

He was my mentor. My light bulb went off. And I thought, this isn't what's brilliant medicine I've ever experienced. And this was my calling. And so I left the family business and working for my aunt. And I went to medical school, starting New York City, did my residency then in San Francisco.

And here we are 15 years later. But I've wanted this entire time to bridge these two worlds. I have a very unique niche of being a travel manager for the most discerning clientele around the world, going into the best hotels around the world. And then also having only with only brown M&Ms in the green room.

Exactly. Yeah. And so I've been looking for a property for almost two decades at this point to be able to merge these two specialties.

And I came to Pranamaya and this just hit all of my checklists every single thing. I joke that I put my Mick Jagger goggles on when I walk into a hotel. And this was the perfect property. From the location, like you said, we're in Central America.

It's so easy to get to from the United States. The English speaking, the US dollar. It's healthy. It's clean. It's safe for a woman to be here traveling. I've traveled the world alone, mostly.

So this hit all those points and then I'm locking our doors. No, we don't lock our doors. We were barefoot the whole time because it's so safe.

Or I showed up. You're like, yeah, just walk around naked. I actually did say that. So real quick, though, because I thought that it's interesting what you said about your back. So this guy, this car proctor,

acupuncturist, you had back pain and you said, you lay down on your, on your back. Yeah, I was facing.

Of your body. He traded the front. So we have something called meridians. And these are invisible highways that are coursing around our body.

And they have starting points and end points that correlate to different organ systems. Along those invisible highways, we have something called acupuncture points.

This is a concentric area that has an indication for pathology and physiology. So we know through brain mapping of modern evidence based medicine that we can increase blood flow to certain parts of the brain.

And then that message goes out to the rest of the body. So I can use a solid stainless steel, tiny, tiny acupuncture needle to help light up the brain, which then releases neurochemicals and neurons throughout the body.

I've had acupuncture before is the reason that when you put a needle in it doesn't hurt because it's so that the size of it is so small it doesn't hit nerves.

Yeah, they're said, well, we can, nerves are quite intelligent. They don't want to be cut. So they can actually feel something coming and they'll kind of move a little bit out of the way.

Sometimes those needles are just a little bit faster and you can, the personal fear, it's almost kind of like when you hit your elbow and you get this numb tingly feeling, but it goes away like that.

So through guided breath work while I'm doing the insertion of the needles, most people don't even feel anything because yet they're such a tiny gauge of a needle. If I drop them on the floor, I can never find the thing.

Yeah. So if somebody had low back pain, how many like needles would be going in?

Well, it depends on where they're at in that healing process. So if this is an acute trauma, their back is in spasm. I'm definitely not going to needle the low back because it's just going to make it more angry.

So I'll do what I was a head experience, these remote points that are going to influence. So you know about how we have different muscle trains in the body, right? These posterior chains anterior lateral chains, right?

When you're doing a deadlift, you're working that posterior chain. It's the same idea with a needle. I could put a needle in the back of the calf to influence that posterior chain to release the low back.

It's kind of like when the front of my shoulder hurts, like the brachialis would have been hitting too much pickleball, which I might have been in here.

Just pickleball here. So I was pleased to find out.

And then if I work kind of like under my rotator cuff in the back where it doesn't hurt at all, like if I just lay over a foam roller.

Yes, you can really.

Ashen that area, it releases the front of the shoulder.

Right. Exactly. Like I would not needle the front of your shoulder right now because you've been using it in a cute way.

I would needle coming down to the elbow, the hand. Yeah.

I didn't even come down to your feet and your ankles to help release that.

Okay. So you came here to Belize, you're doing scuba diving. Then you found this place.

And it's kind of interesting because we flew into Belize from Mexico and then we took the little, where we call it, a little Pulitzer River.

A little Pulitzer River. Yeah.

I love those little ones.

Yeah. I know they're your best assessments or great.

Best parts of landing. Right.

Because you're the, it's like you're the pilot.

On a plane, usually you can't see the landing on a passenger jet.

Right.

And it's just so surreal to see the runway.

And it almost feels like your Navy pilot landing and aircraft carrier is up there.

Right.

So we land. And then we got on a quick shuttle, like a five minute shuttle through town.

And then like a four minute boat ride out to the slow.

Yeah. Right. Right. Right.

The island technically.

We're on an island. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

They're called Kays here. So this is called Placencia K.

The town that we're...

E-A-Y.

Yes. C-A-Y-E.

There's an E at the end.

So the town is called Placencia.

This is the region that we're in of Southern Belize.

And a K is an island. So we're on Placencia K.

So you have to come by boat in order to come here.

Okay. Got it.

And then we, we come down this like canal.

And then it got really pretty.

I mean, the town had almost like this kind of like rugged Caribbean feel to it.

Yes. Right.

And then we come in to here.

And it seems like this kind of five star resistance.

So racist.

But very boutique.

It's all these villas.

Like we're in one of the villas right now.

Right.

They're almost like these little McMansions along the canal.

And so when you've found this location.

Is this what it was like or was it in development or...?

It was fully built and open.

But they had just opened their doors.

I was one of the very first guests that they'd ever had.

So the in is the main property where we enjoy our meals together.

And we like to do things.

And I love you experienced.

Everyone here who works.

So that's where all one family.

We hug all the time.

We're barefoot.

We're...

It's a really happy, relaxed place.

And that's what we want people to feel when they get here.

Steve has a saying, I built this resort.

What do you want to do with it?

Right. He's the guy who's like the mind behind the operations.

Yes.

As far as like building it.

He was the creator.

I actually want to talk to Steve later.

So we'll get it.

By the way, if you're listening, go to bengreenfieldlife.com.

It's called pranamaya.

Like brace yourself.

P-R-A-N-A-M-A-Y-A.

And I'll have the show notes where you can learn more about the property.

And I want to talk to Steve in a little bit here.

But the way that I met you, Mara, was I have a friend.

Yeah.

Who's the son of a friend.

So there's this guy who has been on the podcast a few times.

He's a doctor.

Dr. Thomas Cowan.

Dr. Thomas Cowan is involved with the Weston A. Price Foundation.

That's where I met him was when I was speaking at a Weston A. Price conference.

And he's one of those doctors who's like definitely on the fringes.

You know, with everything from light to energy to electricity.

He's in crystals.

And he co-wrote with Sally Fallon this big beautiful book of like baby care

that I recommend all the time.

Yes, her family.

Parents who are pregnant.

I'll link to my other podcast with Tom Cowan,

who are listening.

But Tom's son, Asher, is pretty cool.

And I've known him for a few years.

And he sent me an email.

And he's like, dude, there's like this island resort.

But they're doing the whole Weston A. Price food thing.

Which I thought was weird because usually you go to like whatever.

You've got acupuncture spot island.

And you're getting the vegan.

Vegan, yeah, and local.

I don't think you can do a vegan diet right.

But, you know, he starts talking like raw milk and sourdough bread and

powdered pork and grass fed beef on.

Organ meats, right?

Don't rot.

Permanence.

Yeah.

And food is one of my favorite languages.

So I picked up.

And then I had a phone call with you and Steve about not only me like coming down here and checking it out,

but I'm bringing some folks down.

That's our big thing.

It's like, just come.

Like we wanted you to come with your family.

First and foremost, like come and just feel this with us and experience what we call the magic of Prana Maya.

Yeah.

You have done a lot of guided breath work.

And I love that you brought up the Prana breath work too, right?

Prana is life force.

It is our breath.

And then Maya is the ancient Maya civilization from here.

So that's the Prana and the Maya.

Got it.

So you want you to come feel the breath and the magic of the Maya civilization when you're here.

Yeah.

So tell me more about the food.

So food is medicine.

So from a traditional Chinese medical standpoint, that is first and foremost.

I can do all the acupuncture on the planet, give you herbs.

But if we are not fueling our bodies, the way we each uniquely need to be fed, right?

You require a different level of nourishment than I do.

Your wife requires a different level of nourishment than your boys do, right?

So I like to customize meals and get them really curated to the individual.

So that was my number one thing of coming here is we have to do a food is medicine approach.

We're not doing clubs, sandwiches and fried chicken wings and seed oils.

I know.

It makes sense.

We just came in beautiful.

We just came in from a super beautiful fancier resort in Mexico.

But that was the worst.

They feed you and it's just like the combination of oxidized seed oils and sunsonic shine.

Right.

You see paradoxically it's getting damage from.

Right.

And nothing about the sourcing of the food or the fermentation soaking, sprouting, unlocking nutrients.

All the little things that make a difference.

What do you guys do for your cooking fats and oils?

Tallow.

We're using Tallow and then maybe a coconut oil.

And then butter.

We also provide ghee for people to use.

And we are partnered with local farms.

So everything is 100% organic and farm and seed to table.

If the fisherman doesn't come with the fish, that's not what we're having tonight, right?

So we've gotten a variety every night of a fresh fish that's being sourced.

The vegetables come from our affiliated garden when they're producing enough.

Of course, it's seasonal.

So we then partner with other farmers who are providing other vegetables for us.

The flowers that are on all the tables are in your villa.

There's no herbicides, pesticides, fungicides.

Everything is organic when we're here.

We've taken out even the chemicalized detergents of washing the sheets, right?

You asked me where detergent was to do laundry.

I was like, there's the eco sheets.

We are literally taking out every toxin.

You can possibly imagine here so that your body is detoxing.

Our bodies have the innate capability to detox every day.

Thank goodness.

They're bombarded.

The food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, the chemicals on our clothes and our furniture.

So how can we help you eliminate that on a faster level when we're so bombarded by modern day society?

So we truly want you to feel better when you leave than when you arrived.

And that is going to start with the food, right?

Thank you for water.

Well, March is a marathon of social events from the ski slopes to the bracket watch parties.

Pre-alcohol is a tool that you can use to fully enjoy the end of winter with a much happier morning.

So I'm talking about Zbiotics pre-alcohol product.

Basically, if I'm going to let's say take my wife on a date, I might have a cocktail at dinner and then do like a split-poor glass of wine with her as we're eating.

And for me, even that's a lot of alcohol.

I rarely drink more than two drinks at a time and a drink and a half is like a sweet spot for me.

But this pre-alcohol, I take it right before I drink and you just don't feel it the next morning.

I don't know about you.

I don't bounce back the next day like I used to say in college, not that I ever drink excessively in college.

But this pre-alcohol really changes the game because it allows me to metabolize alcohol differently.

Technically, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut and it's that byproduct that's to blame for rough days after drinking.

So then pre-alcohol produces an enzyme to break this product down.

So you just make pre-alcohol your first drink of the night, drink responsibly, and you'll feel your best tomorrow.

So here's how you can get a great deal.

Go to zbiotics.com slash Ben15 to learn more and get 15% off your first order when you use code Ben15 at checkout.

A zbiotics is backed with 100% money-back guarantees.

So if you're unsatisfied for any reason that we fund your money, no questions asked.

zbiotics.com slash Ben15 and use the code Ben15 at checkout for 15% off.

What's quantum energy?

Well, it's the energy that exists in everything.

Every unit of matter contains quantum energy and every person constantly interacts with other quantum energy fields.

And your energy field can be affected.

Some say disrupted by a lot of the toxic stress that is thrown at our bodies every day, in many cases, with modern technology that creates electromagnetic pollution.

Um, EMFs or something you may have heard of, and no, I'm not telling you to throw away your phone and move to some pristine Emily and mountain top.

But you can look into this thing called the quantum upgrade.

They documented a 29% increase in ATP production, when comparing the use of the quantum upgrade in the presence of electromagnetic pollution versus not having it there.

Now, I'm no quantum scientist, but I do know that quantum entaglement isn't limited by distance or time.

So you can use this thing anywhere you'd like at home while traveling New York, Tokyo.

You name it. You have your own login and the dashboard where you get to choose the frequencies.

You get to choose the type of quantum experience you desire.

And if you're skeptical, you can actually try this for free.

You get a 15 day free trial when you go to quantum upgrade.io and use the code Ben15.

That's quantum upgrade.io use the code Ben15.

I've been running one on my home.

I think I'm going on about two and a half years now, um, and my phone and my body.

And it's, uh, it's very, very interesting.

Uh, and it's definitely worth exploring.

So quantum upgrade.io with the code Ben15.

Thank you for water.

So water here is locally sourced water.

We drink it right out of the tap.

We don't have to use bottles and put our toothbrushes in the bottles.

Zuma's revenge.

No, Montez Zero of that.

So it comes from the jungle, from the mountains.

It comes into a well and it gets filtered over limestone naturally.

This is considered some of the purest, potable water.

I think I'm going to say the world I can't actually quote that.

But it's, I've never had an issue and everyone comments on them.

Like, I can't believe I can drink the water out of the faucet.

Yeah.

I can't even do that in Florida.

Very uncommon hotel.

Yeah.

Um, so when people are here.

So like, I'm here with my family.

And we've been playing pickleball at a great paddleboard sash this morning, followed by a swim,

which is why I look like I've been smoking weed all morning.

I've actually been swimming with goggles and saltwater in my eyes.

Um, and hitting the, the natural, that's like a saltwater pool.

Yes, all salt.

Yes, saltwater pool.

Saltwater pool.

Um, and then my wife and I had an amazing spa day yesterday.

Yeah.

Which is great with your, like, sound healing bed with what's it?

Sound healing PMF.

It's a PMF mat of vibrational sound healing bed.

And then the Axiom H2 molecular hydrogen machines.

Yes.

So we're getting this trifecta of this immersion into the sound that provides a specific frequency

to maybe what you're needing to feel in that moment.

Um, and then the molecular hydrogen is entering every single cell of our body,

producing ATP, helping the detoxification pathways, right, the NRF2 pathways.

Uh, and then that PMF mat is providing that red light therapy

with some heat to help heal the tissues and also stimulate mitochondrial function.

That was tripping out on that foot.

That was awesome.

And then, like we played Cornhole last night and, um, you've got all these little activities

and almost like this kind of like full body brain reboot feel here,

along with the really clean food, clean water.

But then, for example, we're going spearfishing tomorrow.

Yeah.

And you hooked me up.

You're going to bring us some dinner.

Get some lionfish, bring them back for dinner, maybe some lobsters.

I don't know what else.

But what else do people like go out and do for fun here if they're going off in adventures?

So a couple of things that we curate, whether they're coming on one of our retreats

or coming as a family to just be a guest at the resort.

We have so many excursions people can go on.

One is to our affiliated property we talked about, which is Valley Stream.

We go into the jungle.

We have a water source there that we do some grounding guided meditation at.

There's a beautiful orchid trail.

And then we can go into the Jaguar Preserve, the Coxcomb Basin,

and do some gnarly hiking, which we had considered doing, right?

Where's the other?

They're so elusive.

It's like, I think they're more nocturnal.

So it would be rare that we would see one and they would run from us.

They're not like the mountain lions back.

No, they're not like the Pacific Northwest mountain lions.

They're very elusive and nocturnal.

And so hiking is an incredible thing.

We can go see Maya Rulenswell.

Someone is visiting.

Also, there's a beautiful spice farm to go visit.

Again, that medicinal part.

And then getting out on the water.

You can go scuba diving, snorkeling, paddle boarding, spear fishing.

You can go island topping.

There's so many beautiful caves that you can go visit.

Do a barbecue for the day.

And then walk into the cute town of Placencia.

It's just really relaxing and sweet to do also.

Yeah, actually, I still want to go over there.

I think the boys want to also.

Yeah.

It's got a little reggae feel to it.

So the offsite stuff is kind of like the adventure component.

And then over here, people are doing more of the reboot.

Yeah, we're down at two.

We're down at two leading.

Let's say something was like here.

Help.

And I was leading a retreat.

Yeah.

Typically, if I'm leading a retreat, I'm doing different Q&As during the day.

A lot of times, like a meal will have a certain theme.

Like we're going to talk about longevity of this meal.

We're going to talk about detoxification of this meal.

And then usually I'm leading some kind of like a morning movement session.

And there's usually something in the evening too.

Like a live recorded podcast, things like that.

But what would you describe as like an average day that somebody wakes up here

and engages in if they're out leaving the property.

And they're just basically wanting kind of like that reboot.

So our goal for everyone is to down-regulate their nervous system.

Up into the parasympathetic nervous system, which is all about quiet, calm, digestion, relaxation, sleep.

Right?

So what I love about this property is we can cater to two different desires.

So for the morning, your wife and I did beautiful yoga out on our private pier

with a sound healing session floating over the ocean.

Well, you and your boys were doing a gnarly T-Rex workout out.

That was curpy.

Right.

This morning was paddle lapswimming and T-R-S.

Yeah.

So somebody can get up.

Yeah.

So you can get us and you can do an awesome hard workout

or you can just come and relax and get a beautiful yoga and sound healing session.

Go to breakfast, have our amazing everything made from scratch here on property.

And then we typically go into the spa or you can go into a question and answer workshop session.

We can do cooking classes.

All of our kitchens and our villas are beautiful professional grade culinary setup.

So we can do a cooking class too.

Usually we then do community lunches with each other family style.

Or you could go out to the ploppa, like you said, and play pickleball.

In the afternoon, we then do more spa sessions, usually.

We like to call them serenity sessions.

So you can get acupuncture massage, body scrubs, some adic healing, vibed sessions, guided meditation, breathwork.

And then in the evening, we usually do something fun together.

Like it might be another movement session.

My thing is we got to move every day.

Whether, but first and foremost, is we got to really bring everything down to a slow level.

And I love that you tapped into that because I had your schedule like, boom, this is what we're doing.

And Ben, this end, you were like, I want to chill.

Yes, that's what I wanted to hear from you.

I was like, great.

Over programming.

And then we bring in a lot of the local culture.

So we bring the garafuna dancers in and they do drum sessions.

We can get up and dance with them and do their amazing drum dancing.

We bring in breathwork.

Facilitators like lion's roar level breathwork.

You've talked about this.

Without psychedelics, your brain goes to a whole nother level when you do this level of breathwork.

So the days go quickly because we have so many options for people.

And I tell people, please come join us.

But if I don't see you, I'm so happy because it means you're reading a book and laying in a hammock.

Or you're off with your family doing a paddle session, right?

Yeah.

Come join us here, options.

Or you do you and just chill and relax.

What are those paddle boards that we got on this morning?

They're there.

They're super stable.

They're catamaran paddle boards.

They were built and created actually in clear water, Florida where I live.

The gentleman who developed them, they are made to be so stable.

You could go fly fishing off of them.

You could go picnicking off of them.

But they're great for here because the reef is so shallow that you really stay above the water

and you're not going to fall in and tip over on those.

We like to do a sunrise paddle in the morning.

And so those are great because if the waves are a little bit chopier,

you're not going to dump like the traditional paddle board.

Yeah.

So how many, like you and I are in this, this is a four bedroom.

This is a four bedroom, two story villa.

Yeah.

And then how many villas are there?

We have seven total right now.

Okay.

So they range from four bedroom to three bedroom.

Like you and your family are in a three bedroom right now.

But everyone has their own private plunge pool.

Everything is ocean front.

Everyone has a water view here.

And then there's like a traditional kind of inn.

And then we have the inn, which is where we have our dining experiences.

The bar, the resort main pool, saltwater pool, upstairs on the third floor is then this open

air place where we can have special events.

Yeah.

Yoga movement sessions.

And then the spa is up there on the third floor.

So if I did a retreat here between the villas and the inn,

how many people do you anticipate that we can accommodate?

If you want to maximize the property, that would be 70 people.

Ideally, certainly.

But that's not many for me.

But that's not so ideally for an intimate retreat.

We're 20 to 30 people with my retreats that I'm doing.

I've been around 25 to 35 people.

And it's the perfect amount that people feel like they have their own private time.

But then they're in community and making new friends, new networking opportunities.

It's been so beautiful to see the relationships that have come out of people just spending time here on the property.

So around 25 to 35 people is really this beautiful.

It doesn't feel overwhelming.

You're not going to be exhausted by holding space for that.

70 is like, you're more going to do workshops and be talking versus holding spaces for people.

20 to 30 is a total sweet spot for me.

And by the way, if it was you listening and watching, I'm working on dates and details and everything.

But it's looking like November-ish of 2026 when we're recording this.

I'm definitely going to bring a group down.

So if you go to Ben GreenfieldLife.com slash Prana Maya, PR-A-N-A-M-A-Y-A,

you'll be able to get the details on that, which might even be on there by the time this podcast comes out.

You mentioned Steve, a few times Steve Hall, who kind of brought this place to life.

I would love to hear his story.

He's the manager.

I'm the horse's mouse foe speak.

I think he's in a live audience right now.

Is he here? Where is he?

But in here, and we'll hear a little bit about Steve's vision for this place.

Steve, we're here burning back there in the live studio audience.

Let's see him.

Yeah. Sing your praises.

Yeah. You always wonder if somebody's going to say about you, but that's good.

Yeah. It's kind of funny because me and my son,

something getting to know you the test couple days.

By the way, for the record, we're 4-0 right now in Pickleball.

I think we're throwing down after this too.

So I wouldn't exhaust you too much.

But your background that you're kind of explaining to me is not necessarily in luxury wellness,

but you started off in...

No, this is the first one.

I have an illness called entrepreneur.

Entrepreneur?

Entrepreneuritis?

Yeah.

And so I've just loved doing startups.

And I've been in construction business and department business and the assisted living,

drug and alcohol rehab, and different things.

And I've just really enjoyed doing startups in the...

I got really involved kind of in the health and wellness probably 12 years ago,

maybe a little longer time flies.

But the...

really wanted to see what we could do in the assisted living business

with the food as medicine, aspect of things, and really started looking at Alzheimer's dementia.

There's been several books out about that.

How to basically cure dementia.

And so we got...

Like the end of Alzheimer's by Dell reticence probably the most.

Yeah, we've met with Dell several times, Dr. Bredison,

and to try to look how we could join venture on something.

And we just found that our population, we have both in our assisted living,

we have a regular population, and then we have dementia population,

which is a totally different type of facility, which you have to have,

because they have to be secured.

And we just couldn't get enough interest even in a regular population of really wanting healthy food.

They wanted the Campbell soup.

We were making homemade soup and that didn't have enough salt for them or...

they loved ice cream and all the different things that we were trying to...

so it failed, basically.

And we just went back to feed them what they want.

And then I got into the drug and alcohol rehab business,

and had a campus, two campuses, one for men,

one for women, for 18 to 28-year-olds.

Now, we didn't incorporate some there.

We had gardens and teaching about food and so on,

because the young men and women in that program were so malnourished.

They were just very malnourished and really wanted to get their bodies healthy again.

But the industry is really driven by insurance.

And so there was no really incentive financially on how to do that,

because they're so insurance-driven.

And so as I started looking, I wanted to develop out of the country,

became interested in bleeds, and like yourself,

it was like, well, better find it in the map first,

see if we can find it.

And then you start studying it.

It's the 400,000 people in the whole country, the size of the New Jersey.

You have a very stable government.

There's no cartels here.

You can own property outright.

You can have a corporation owned property,

or you have a corporation to do business.

To get residencies is very easy here.

And so much made sense about bleeds.

And a lot of flights in from the U.S. like Marwissa.

Oh, yeah, a lot of flights.

But two-thirds of the country is a mountain jungle, is pristine.

And then this is the second largest coal reef in the world right here.

And you turn around, there's the mountains, and there's the reef.

Yeah.

Our island is part of the reef.

This where we are is part of a reef.

And right out in front, you're right on the reef.

And it's just incredible beauty, incredible energy.

And this place is special.

I sense that you and I talked about that when you come here.

There's a real vortex here that's a real energy piece that, you know,

was here long before I started building here.

When you say vortex, what do you mean?

You've probably heard of it.

One of the world's greatest biohacking events and expos

where you get to experience a playground of toys, amazing parties,

VIP events, meet with a like-minded community who's super into health,

who just get you.

It's in London.

It's called the Health Optimization Summit.

And they have officially opened registration.

This one fills up fast.

This is the best speakers from around the globe.

The coolest high-tech health gadgets that you could just try right there.

All amazing like powders and bars and coffees.

They get to walk around and eat and try.

I'll be there.

There will be a ton of fun after parties.

London itself is a great city for this.

Mark your calendars, get your ticket.

September 12th and 13th.

2026 in London.

Here's your link.

This is your special link.

You get your 10% off.

And you have options for a bunch of other goodies here.

Ben Greenfield Life.com slash H-O-S-2026.

That's Ben Greenfield Life.com slash H-O-S-2026.

Use code Ben for 10% off.

It's an excuse to go to Europe if you're not already there.

It's an excuse to see London.

It's an excuse to have an amazing time.

Ben Greenfield Life.com slash H-O-S-2026.

Use code Ben for 10% off.

I'll see you in London in September.

All right.

So many of you may have heard me interview one of the world's top

regenerative medicine doctors, Dr. Matthew Cook,

expert in stem cells, peptides, exosomes.

And a lot of stuff, frankly, you got to kind of like

leave the country to experience in full.

And there's this country club in the Bahamas,

where you can do all of this stuff and plenty more.

I mean, training, mobility, recovery,

along with sports.

And did I mention stem cells, peptides, exosomes.

A bunch of other cutting edge therapies, hot cold.

I'm leading a retreat there with, you guessed it, Dr. Matt Cook.

So it is literally a nassout in the Bahamas.

And it's coming up April 28th through May 3rd.

We even have VIP packages where you get private consults with me

and Dr. Cook.

This one is like must do if you want to be on the cutting edge

of anti-aging and longevity.

And you want to come and hang out, have a great time,

have access to all the advanced protocols

and play in the sun with me and Dr. Cook live right there.

Here's how to get in.

Ben Greenfield Life.com slash Become Boundless.

For the Become Boundless Retreat, April 28th through May 3rd,

2026 in the Bahamas.

I hope to see you there because it is going to be awesome.

You say vortex what you mean?

It's kind of like a Sedona.

You just have those places that it's like a portal place.

You just feel it when you come.

And it just opens you up in just a whole different way.

You feel super chilled during the day, but my favorite is sleep.

I just left.

I'm going to throw them under the bus, so I won't say the name.

But I left a really fancy resort in Puerto Vierta

where I would just wake up at like clockwork at like three or four a.m.

Long sleep, latency.

And you just don't know in a facility like that.

Is it the VOCs, the toxins, the cleaning supplies?

Is it the Wi-Fi that's just like blasting through each room?

Is it the energy that the place is built on itself?

I came here.

We've been having dinner at like seven.

So I've been going to bed at like 10 p.m. lights out.

I'm waking up like seven a.m. here.

Wow.

I love it.

Yeah.

And when I'm by waking up, I mean like waking up, I'm not getting up at night to pee.

Like nothing.

Just like, yeah, super solid sleep.

Fed?

Fairly, anywhere does that happen around the world where I travel except my own home?

Everything, the mattress, the sheets, the grounding bed, mat you have in there.

We put a lot of effort, energy and try to understand how to foster that.

Yeah.

We really have.

And now we've added different glasses that you see in your room.

Yeah.

Raw optics.

Yeah.

Matt's my buddy.

He's been on the podcast a few times.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

Blue light blocking glasses.

Great guy.

And you guys have him there in the room.

So you check in.

You don't have to pack your own.

They're right there.

Yeah.

We've got different iMacs and different sound machines.

And we're really getting a big effort on the sleep part.

Yeah.

And so we're adding more things as Mars really educating me in the sleep aspect of things.

Yeah.

So you find Belize, former British colony I learned from you.

And this place seems like the spot that you wanted to build and develop.

Yeah.

I mean, I wanted to move some money out of the country for different reasons.

And then I only know how to do a few things that's developed and build stuff.

So it was kind of a natural to do that.

And when you look at spots to build, you kind of put in a lot of factors of what would make this work or not work.

And that's obviously being on an island being unique.

Been a village close by.

A lot of activities.

Things like this.

How easy it is to get here.

And but for my desire, this is in my career, so-called career, is, you know, such a fun project for me.

It's my business has grown.

I've not been able to focus on one thing.

I've just had to kind of manage, you know, but I've been able to focus on this one.

And it's really been a lot of fun to how to build it and the team that has come along.

I'm involved with the recipes and what's done to mend you, you know, involved with how they're cleaning the rooms and what chemicals.

I'm involved with things I would never have been involved with in my other careers because I had to actually run a company.

So it's really fun to be more hands-on.

I really enjoyed that a lot.

So as far as, like, your own focus when it comes to what you think kind of supports the body.

It's healthy for the body, et cetera.

Where are some of the things that you've learned in your journey over the past few years?

It's no doubt.

I mean, it's the food you eat and what you need to detox out of your body.

And we live in such a...

I don't like the usual we're polluted or toxic because we have such a beautiful country.

You know, I live in Tennessee and I have a house in Florida.

We have so much, a lot of first world problems.

But then you really look at our food supply where the food actually comes from.

You look at the chemicals that are in everything.

Every place you go, every restaurant, every piece of cloth, every...

The list just goes on and on.

And you go, OK, I got to get to some level.

I want to be able to live in the first world country.

And this is the problems that we have.

So in doing this, we really wanted to have people have aha moments to be encouraged.

And detox what they could.

We're looking at how to do just a seven day detox.

People come down.

Yeah.

Just something simple to encourage them in a different type of lifestyle.

You mean they would show up and their food is dialed in to the extent to where I would imagine they're not just going to go in an order of the menu.

It's already chosen for them what they're going to use.

Exactly.

Different detox pathways they're going to go down.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We would like to have it really structured and a retreat style.

And so they will come.

And the first couple of days may be fasting.

It may be sweet water fast.

It may be some supplements with that too.

Do some cleansing.

And just kind of take through a process.

Inject everybody with those impacts.

So the fasting sounds easier.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's just like, you know, I've had questions about that where they say,

well, we may want to do a fast for some of these days.

And they're like, I was supposed to say, oh, no, that'd be terrible.

I got to make money on the...

Yeah.

I'm like, no, that's fine.

You know, that's...

Yeah.

Yeah.

We want that.

Yeah.

You know, so many times you go on vacation and you go away bloated and, you know, tired and...

And the desire right from the beginning is someone will just have an experience.

Just a really health, spiritual, emotional, relational, positive experience will be in here.

Yeah.

But there's a little bit of a hedonistic element too.

I mean, some of the desserts that came out.

Well, I know.

I like some of those.

Yeah.

I love them.

Like, you have your key line pie.

What's the key line pie?

I feel...

I've been on a couple of the, of the tempting.

You know, if I have to die two or three years early,

Yeah.

Being a key line pie.

So I only make it to 94.

I'm okay.

Yeah.

So I do have things like, I am going to enjoy, you know, things like that.

So even like the desserts, are they focusing on specific components similar to the Western

and the price approach?

Yeah, very much.

Yeah, very much.

So we're not purest.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We're not.

And there's disc cocktails.

And what?

Talking about the wine, though.

Yeah.

You have...

Because I think my wife last night was drinking a biodynamic.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We have our guy, Peter, that purchasing all our wines, you know, who's really focused on

this and have a real selection of wines of things I've never heard of.

Yeah.

You know, because he's bringing in from South America in different places.

Yeah.

And so that's been fascinating, too, on the wines that they have.

And we have a lot of mocktails that juices and so on.

We have a real large selection of that.

Yeah.

I had a cucumber celery ginger as soon as I got it off the plane, along with the barefoot

sand and the ocean that cured me pretty quick.

The...

Belize itself, you know, you said the size of New Jersey, 400,000 people, how hard was

it to build a place like this?

We'd have about 120 people out here a day and, you know, around and...

And these are concrete structures because right down the coast for hurricanes and so

on.

It's been pretty solid.

Yeah, very solid.

And then we're in islands where everything had to be brought out on a barge.

Yeah.

The concrete trucks, you know, everything had to be brought out on a barge for the structure

itself.

And then the furniture that we have here, most of it came from Bali.

And so the doors that you have are all hand carved and solid wood, they take it right

from the log and these are all hand carved, the trim that we have is all hand done.

Then kitchen equipment came from China.

Bathing fixtures came from Mexico and so we had all these containers supposedly coming

in on the right time, none of them did.

And the Panama Canal was too shallow for some of the boats to get through and we couldn't

get containers out of Singapore and, you know, you just kind of named the list.

So it was an interesting how to, you know, get everything coordinated because there's no

Home Depot.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, it seems like it's coming together pretty well.

I mean, it's...

Well, thank you.

It's pretty high-end.

It's magic.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's a...

Do you still call it a boutique hotel?

And this one...

That's what I've been told to call it, you know, as far as I think that's in people's minds,

you know, because we can cater to very special needs on either food allergies or in a retreat

of, you want a different menu than what we have on, you know, the size groups where we

can put you.

I mean, we have a lot of options and that's the goal.

Yeah.

I had, if I could write a script, you know, what I love, I'd just like to have retreats

only.

Yep.

I mean, just so that the impact is higher, people are coming to really be impacted when

they go on a retreat.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And then, so for a guy like me, like I was talking about with Mara, I could come in,

I could have my group of podcast listeners, people have heard about it through me.

They all show up and I can put together a temporary for them based on what you have

here on the property.

So...

Right.

But you can go through a menu with this.

Yeah.

You can go through what times you want to eat.

Yeah.

Because you may not want the first meal, you know, certain times.

That's one thing.

Like I've done this at other retreats where, like I have breakfast at seven or breakfast

at eight and when I'm leading people through retreat a lot of times they're kind of doing

like what I do.

Like I'm an intermittent faster.

I have breakfast like nine, thirty or ten, usually it's after some kind of really good

more activity.

Right.

I'm all for going out and seeing the stars at night and maybe even staying out past your

bedtime with few nights, but then I also love to program in like afternoon time where

people can bowl on, see us the spa, relax, recharge, get up, still have time for another

activity to move the body before dinner, you know, do dinner, go on a walk.

So what I like to do is when people come to retreat, craft a day that allows them to

experience the property, but then also craft a day that they can take home and know, okay,

so I got up, I did stretching, I did breath work, I rehydrated, I had a workout and I had

a layer of breakfast to get the intermittent fasting in, then more activity and some time

on the water, then lunch, then Cesta, then activity, then dinner, but like Mara was saying,

it's not over programmed, right?

I know when people come to a retreat, like they still, you know, check the email inbox

and they got to make a few phone calls and I don't like people who leave feeling like

they're under water with work either, because that's, right, that's the work when you get

back to the airport and you're like, I don't know, I have 3,000 emails, so yeah, I love

the idea of putting together some kind of like an attainer for people that they can take

back home and implement.

Right, but you know, like yourself, other people are going to do retreats here, have

their own style, and they want to have a very something specific, they want to teach,

and the rhythm that they want people to be in, and we're like, great, you know, that's

what we want, we don't, we didn't really want to build a, the typical health resort and

so on, where we have, you know, our staff, we really wanted people like yourself to bring

what you want to bring your people and have a place to do it.

So we really wanted to be in the host business, is what we want, and how do we come alongside

what's already happening, because this is a movement, you know, you are, you know, in

the movement, and it has been accelerated after COVID, and it's exciting time to be on

that crest right now.

Yeah, and you can hit it all, I think some of the big ones for me are movement, food,

slash fuel, sleep, relationships, nature, and faith, and I think you can weave all those

in pretty well here.

So yeah, if you can't feel some spiritual year, then you're not connected, whatever, I mean

you, yeah, you can feel it here.

Yeah, well, what I'm going to do is, are the show notes of Ben Greenfield Life.com slash

Prawnamaya, PRNA, M-A-Y-A, all include more information about Prawnamaya, and then I'll

before this podcast comes out, likely have the actual dates for anybody who wants to come

join me later on in 2026, November-ish, and I think we're going to have an incredible

time.

I can't wait.

Have you great?

Cool.

Thanks, man.

Thank you, brother.

I'm Chris, Tricks, Hacks, and Content to become the most complete, boundless version of

you.

Visit BenGreenfieldLife.com.

In compliance with the FTC guidelines, please assume the following about links and posts

on this site.

Most of the links going to products are often affiliate links of which I receive a small

commission from sales of certain items, but the price is the same for you, and sometimes

I even get to share a unique and somewhat significant discount with you.

In some cases, I might also be an investor in a company I mentioned.

I'm the founder, for example, of Keon LLC, the makers of Keon branded supplements and products,

which I talk about quite a bit.

Regardless of the relationship, if I post or talk about an affiliate link to a product,

it is indeed something I personally use support, and with full authenticity and transparency

recommend in good conscience.

I personally vet each and every product that I talk about.

My first priority is providing valuable information and resources to you that help you positively

optimize your mind, body, and spirit, and I'll only ever link to products or resources,

affiliate or otherwise, that fit within this purpose.

So there's your fancy legal disclaimer.