About Menla

Mission & Vision

Surrounded by thousands of acres of Catskills forest preserve, Menla is nestled in a magical mountain valley. Throughout the year, guests enjoy deep serenity, abundant wildlife, and can explore many different levels of hikes.Area Information:Menla is 1,500 feet above sea level and set on a 325-acre private nature reserve. At 3,720 feet above sea level, the peak of Panther Mountain is one of the tallest in the Catskills. Menla is located in a region of the Catskills renowned for its unspoiled beauty, variety of wildlife, abundance of rushing streams and rivers, and ancient forested mountains.The Catskills are one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world and used to be connected to the Alps before the continental divide. Aside from its natural splendor, the area offers such activities as hiking, swimming, kayaking, horseback riding, and cross-country skiing. For avid downhill skiers, the noted Belleayre and Hunter Mountain resorts are just half an hour away.An easy drive from New York City, Menla is located in Phoenicia, NY—voted one of the “Top 10 Coolest Small Towns in America”—and just 20 minutes away is the most famous small town in America, Woodstock, known for its deep-rooted culture of music, art galleries, and great restaurants.Meals:Menla’s wellness cuisine is centered around serving fresh, delicious and healing foods. We source primarily from local farms with an eye toward seasonal and organic fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes. We also receive a wonderful bounty from our on-site organic garden throughout the year.Our Executive Chef, Charles Goodall, loves to explore the fantastic flavors of various regional cuisines through their use of different ingredients, particularly herbs and spices. He and the kitchen team create combination of traditional and modern dishes that showcase what the Hudson Valley has to offer in a delicious and healing way.Most of our offerings are vegetarian and vegan with an emphasis on excellent taste and texture as well as balanced nutrition and wellness promotion.We work with a number of dietary restrictions and allergies, so let us know your needs in advance, and we’ll work with you to give you a fantastic dining experience during your time with us.Accommodation:Upon arriving at Menla, you enter into a natural paradise. Our accommodations are extremely comfortable, and the décor is accented with a touch of Tibet. Guests can choose from a variety of different rooms, from our deluxe private suites to shared housing.Additional Activities:○ Skiing (Belleayre, Hunter, and Windham Mountains)○ Hiking○ Art galleries○ Fine dining○ Antique shopping○ Music○ Theater (Upstate Films, Woodstock Playhouse)

Upcoming Retreats at Menla

Getting Here

Location icon Menla, Phoenicia, NY 12464, USA

Customer Reviews

4.81 out of 5.0 average rating

5.0
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Cultivating Joy- A Ketamine Assisted Mindfulness Retreat
What a fabulous location and place for this amazing retreat at Menla! The food was great, the grounds were gorgeous and the buildings/ facilities evoked a feeling of peace, honor and tranquility. There is a feeling of spacious stillness at Menla. Look forward to returning.

5.0
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5 Stars for an Incredible Weekend!
We had a fantastic time at the Autumn Reset yoga retreat at Menla in October! The grounds are beautiful, the trails are perfect, the food was incredible, and the yoga space was stunning. The staff was super attentive and helpful. Our only feedback for next time is to be more timely with the bus pick-up (one of the other students waited at the bus stop for 25 minutes) and we wish there were some comfy indoor spaces to read and enjoy down time that weren't just the dining hall tables. Overall an A+ weekend and can't wait to do it again - we will be back!!! Thank you Menla!

2.0
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Beautiful but…
I do love the setting & atmosphere at Menla. There’s magic in the air. After 2 previous visits where I stayed in Dragon (which was dumpy) I paid more this time around for Naranda. It was a lovely room, much nicer than Dragon. There is a tiny mirror in an awkward inaccessible place. A larger mirror in a more accessible place would be appreciated. The bathroom stalls could use improvement! One does not lock at all and the way the doors are designed makes it impossible to know whether to push or pull them and they slam loudly when they shut, jarringly so. This could be easily fixed! The showers are extremely small and it’s very easy to freeze or scald yourself if your elbow accidentally hits the temperature lever. The coffee is TERRIBLE! I had a glimpse of the bag and it’s NOT organic or fair trade which is what we are lead to believe. The food is mostly delicious but inconsistent. On our last evening the risotto was extremely undercooked and sometimes things ran out. Lastly, another retreat was happening at the same time and several of my colleagues had no place to sit to eat their dinner as all the seats were taken. No bueno!

5.0
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Let’s Talk about appropriation
My stay at Menla was beautiful as the center itself, staff and guest are just lovely. The scenery and energy is amazing. Craig (fire keeper) and Jill (water pourer ) supported by Ericka ( song keeper) sweat lodge is legitimate and wonderful.

However , I attended the Wisdom Warrior retreat more than once , where the leader Kareema should get one star or less. She uses names like Iylana Vanzant and others big named people to demonstrate her so called authority in knowing what she is doing. Turns out Iylana and her had a falling out.

She pretends to be oh so spiritual when all she does is appropriate. When you go to her retreats she’s expects you to work like setting up etc. She poorly plans the retreat and actually it really is not much of a retreat because her co-partner also had a falling out with Kareema and she did most of the retreat prior where it was fine much better.

Kareema picking up the coordinating , designing and more of the retreat herself demonstrated just how much she does not know what she’s doing. Total incompetence.

Furthermore she throws tantrums when she do not go her way and she is perceived by me to be manipulative and verbally and emotionally abusive. Especially when her poorly planned retreat gets someone sick. She has no saftey measures in place and no one available to support her in necessary situations . Her retreats from my experience is Not a safe space at all.

She’s about to make a professional documentary using yet another persons skills for her credit, on the wisdom warriors where it will be used to mislead people on how experienced she is and what a “Queen” she thinks she is personally.

During the retreat she actually told a head staff what she wanted and that she was going to get other staff to do it because this lead staff told her no.

I felt Menla deserves 5 stars itself but wisdom warrior retreat is a façade meaning, I felt I should state the facts as I see them so people do not blindly believe the documentary or any publicity she used to collect peoples money. That’s what she’s really about cash to cash business so she doesn’t have to claim it probably ?

2.0
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Not very embodied
Although the description of this retreat emphasized an experiential focus, the first evening and subsequent morning sessions were nearly all theory, with lots of verbalization of concepts, with very little actual body & sensation focus. There were a guided meditation & a body scan, and a brief intro to qigong, but no exercises to facilitate somatic awareness & discernment. And the didactic material was scattered, lots of seemingly random spiritual axioms and theories put forth, some anecdotes, and an incomplete (without any actual experience occurring) description of how to recognize and deal with “incompleted” feelings or emotions, the basis for this theory of (somehow) completing them, and living a sane, happy & fulfilled life.. Instead, it sounds to me like a lot of tumbling around with and coming to some compromise for control with our ego…and again, the sessions were nearly all theoretical, intellectual. Where’s the body? I wondered, and withdrew from the workshop after the first session of the second day, finding the material & presentation not worthwhile.

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