Nourishing Life | Health Haven Retreat Team
Emma is part of a group of passionate and enthusiastic professionals who have honed their talents and skills around nature’s healing powers, what you need to know about environment toxins and hazards as well as the stress relieving and rejuvenating benefits of exercise, meditation, breathwork, stretch and more.
Meet Emma’s team at Nourishing Life Health Haven Retreat
Jason Sandford
Qualifications
Bachelor of Laws degree LL.B (Hons) from Victoria University Wellington 1989
Barrister and Solicitor of the NZ High Court
Yon Dan (fourth dan) black belt, Goju Ryu Karate, and Chief Instructor of the Katikati Goju Ryu Karate Club
Jason grew up on the fabulous Kapiti Coast where he lost a few of his nine cat’s lives getting into mischief and adventures. Surviving into his last year at Kapiti College, Jason was elected Head Boy and finished his secondary schooling with many sports Blues and high academic achievements, which set him up for his next challenge – completing a law degree at Victoria University. After completing his degree with honours and shedding a few more cat’s lives, Jason worked for a leading law firm in Wellington for four and a half years principally in the areas of corporate/commercial law, but not with much success. The very strict disciplines of study Jason imposed on himself at university backfired and he played the student for the next four years, but with an income! It had been good enough for his uni mates, just in the wrong order.
Jason then ventured out on his overseas adventure, first backpacking around Latin America and the United States, and then the UK where he would spend the next decade honing his latent legal skills and creating new adventures and ways to avoid killing himself. Giving up high powered bikes, his passion from boyhood was a good move!
During his time living in England, Jason worked first in private practice at a leading international law firm in London, and then in-house as a senior corporate lawyer based in Oxford for an international engineering group. Jason has travelled to nearly 100 countries for work and/or pleasure and this has given him a truly international perspective.
He has worked on some very unusual and highly challenging projects, including being held hostage by militant French workers when plans to shut their factory backfired! Jason returned to NZ in 2003 and soon after joined the Fonterra legal team where has worked ever since. Jason’s passion for the law and love of helping people navigate complex legal and business issues has seen him grow into a leading light in solving problems, clearing obstacles and mediating solutions.
Karate is another strong passion for Jason and is now embedded into his DNA. He has trained for over 40 years all over the globe, starting at the age of 9 on the Kapiti Coast, and has competed in international competitions in 5 counties, winning a number of tournaments in sparring and breaking things. Jason has trained in a number of disciplines as he has taken to whatever martial art was within proximity of work or his then home.
He was once disqualified for using excessive force in the final of one tournament and has since given up power shakes. He has long studied the philosophies of the martial arts, and the development of the mind, body and spirit, and also the fascinating areas of logic, mathematics, the psychology of leadership, the Ten IQs and many other secret blessings. Jason started his own karate club in Katikati in 2008 and it is now a thriving hub of family connectedness, with Jason being honoured and blessed at having the opportunity to give back to a new generation everything he has accumulated over a half century of lucky escapes, blood, sweat and tears. He is much admired and respected inside and outside of the Dojo for the incredibly strong, principled, pragmatic, kind, rational man that he is.
Jason met his wife Emma by placing and ad in a UK paper and then dragged her back to New Zealand where they now live in Katikati with their two boys on a rural life style block. This piece of earth was chosen as it was ideal to enable Jason to pursue his lifelong ambition – to become a teacher of many things. Jason will take any group of people and wow them with what he can offer; tactical pursuits, challenging non-stop day of fun and games with a difference, an array of practices including exploring the concepts of internal and synergistic energy, flexibility, balance, breathing, conflict resolution, self-defence, team work, isometric training, meditation, paradigm recognition, and maybe a few others.
Jason has developed a strong sense of personal management and is a natural leader. He embraces the unexpected, the curly curve balls and change without missing a beat. He has a great aura of equilibrium and strength. Confucius said “The green reed which bends in the wind is stronger than the mighty oak which breaks in a storm.” Similarly, Jason brings all that he is to anyone who wants to pay to come and have a go at his place.
Jason will share ideas with you on managing yourself, managing your life, your stresses, your responsibilities and your joy. He is a working example of a person who has developed life skills to cope with stress. All meals and refreshments form part of the package and will be tailored as required. Corporate team building, all sports teams looking for an edge, groups large and small, clubs, gypsies and family reunions. Take the plunge and start breaking free.
Patsy Ward
In 2011, I experienced some significant health issues, which left me struggling to lead a normal life. As I began researching ways to regain my health, I became increasingly concerned about the toxic potential of many common materials and products used in our home. It turns out with a little knowledge and a willingness to make some changes we can substantially reduce the toxic load on our bodies.
For example, there is no mandatory safety testing for ingredients used in personal care products. Our skin, once thought to act as a barrier, is in fact able to absorb much of what is put on it (which is why hormone patches and nicotine patches work). So my journey into healthier products began.
Lots of products claim to be healthy and plant-based, but the more I learned about how plant-derived materials are actually processed and refined to make them suitable for large-scale manufacturing, the more concerned I became. I reached a point were it was impossible to find products I was happy to use, even so called organic ones. So I began to make my own.
Initially, I just made soap and shampoo for our own use, and then started experimenting with other products and sharing the results with friends and family. In 2015 I decided to make this a full time business, and Happy Horizons was born.
I’d like to think I bring the scientific rigour developed during my formal education to my research and development of our products. My education embraces both the sciences and the arts. After graduating with a BSc (Hons) in Genetics and Cell Biology, I went on to study for a Masters Degree in Anthropology. Having completed my MA, I was awarded a full scholarship for my Doctoral studies (in Genetics) at the Ivy League School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, USA.
You can contact Patsy at pat@happyhorizons.co.nz
Get in Touch Today
To get in touch with Emma to discuss your health consultation or retreat
Health Haven Retreats
These weekends have been designed to encompass a thorough health profile and consultation with Emma, but also gives you the opportunity to gain other knowledge, understanding and experience of how to institute the changes that might be advised.
