Arrive, pause and learn the“Catch Your Breath” practice.
Learn about Patch of Heaven Sanctuary, the Mindful Pocket Park, why the science of focus and attention training helps mental wellbeing and the benefits of Nature-based Mindfulness.
Ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the official inauguration of the world's first Mindful Pocket Park.
Five Sensory Gardens “guide” the experiential aspect of the 5 Senses.
“Check-out” choosing two words to describe in THIS MOMENT NOW the state of their heart-mind upon taking “The Nature Pill.”
Patch would be THE ONLY REGENERATION PROJECT in the Redland by returning agricultural nursery land back to Nature.
We will NOT PAVE PARADISE to put up a parking lot
We invite you to become a Friend of The Forest!
Help us acquire the land, plant the seeds, and grow the trees that will become the New Patch of Heaven Sanctuary
Suzanne Jewell
Chief Experience Officer, Patch of Heaven Sanctuary
Founder of the Mindful Pocket Park @Patch, certified mindfulness meditation teacher through the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center/Sounds True training, Executive Resilience Coach and Forest Therapy guide.
Once upon a time, back in 2008, our founder envisioned restoration of the Forest Dwelling of a founding Miami family (the Matheson Family), completed in 2011; including the original groundskeepers cottage and the son’s cottage.
From 2008 onward, a section of the 124 year old Hammock was cleared and cleaned of invasive species, arriving at being recognized as Environmentally Endangered Land, today we also are recognized as a Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and Protected Forest, as well as an agricultural site.
2009 — the 2nd 10 acre parcel that was covered in black agricultural tarp and broken shade houses is acquired from Costa Farms, with immense earth-moving, water features, planting, garden designs, and eventual regrowth in 15 years of a new forest
2021 - Patch breaks ground on a stunning conservatory, aptly named Casa Mariposa, filled with native and exotic butterfly plants, resounding with the 14’ tall oolitic limestone waterfall of fresh aquifer water. Our full-time lepidopterist raises, rears and releases 9 native species of butterflies as we educate the community on the value of pollinators. Our 80’ mural teaches the lifecycle of the butterfly as our Mindful Pocket Park offer the only “Be The Butterfly” meditation & yoga/mindful movement practice to help humans recognize the true power of the transformation of metamorphosis.
2023 - We broke ground on the World’s 1st Mindful Pocket Park, a one-acre nature immersion experience based in the science of how “the Nature Pill” reduces the human stress hormone cortisol (University of Michigan School of Environmental Sustainability study by Mary Carol Fisher). A 5-sensory station garden that helps guests Pause & P.A.W.S. (Pay Attention With Your Senses), designed by our Chief Experience Officer Suzanne Jewell, we offer corporate, academic, and non-profit wellness experiences of connection, calm, attention training, mindful awareness, rest and replenishment for more than 6,000 1/2 day and daylong retreat guests; weekend park experiences are guided by training Mindful Nature Guides.
2025 - The offer to acquire the 20 acres of industrial agricultural nursery land from a 3rd generation of farmers is available to Patch; directly to the North of our current Welcome Center, we could double in size, have access to SW 216th, and within the newly regenerated forest, we envision the 1st of its kind Ecowellness Retreat & Nature Center. Providing respite for humans seeking to immerse themselves in the healing aspects of forest bathing, dark skies, and nature-based mindfulness, we would also support the care and rehabilitation of the wildlife in the area.