The Land

Instilling Peace and Nurturing The Spirit

Mount Madonna aims to support you – from the sustenance of the land itself, to the energy of the multi-generational community residing here, a community deeply rooted in the Yoga tradition and dedicated to serving the world by holding space for personal transformation.

The Mount Madonna campus is situated within an inspirational and spacious mountaintop setting overlooking the Monterey Bay. The land and facilities offer a balance of well-appointed professionalism and simplicity, amidst a beautiful, rustic natural environment designed to distill and deepen personal and spiritual development.

Location
Highlights
Tribal Land
Land Acknowledgement
Campus Space Map

Photo Gallery

Location

Overlooking Monterey Bay

The Mount Madonna campus is centrally located in California, with close proximity to Silicon Valley, Santa Cruz, and Monterey, and near to the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

The property features miles of beautiful walking or jogging trails through redwood forests and serene meadows with magical sunset viewing points and clear skies for stargazing.

Campus Highlights

What makes Mount Madonna Special

380 beautiful acres of towering redwoods, rolling meadows, and wide-sweeping vistas
Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple, with arati (ritual of light) offered every morning and evening
Kaya Kalpa Wellness Center offering a variety of bodywork and Ayurvedic treatments
Anjaneya’s World Cafe and Oceanview Books & Gifts store
Multi-generational community and Pre-K through 12th grade independent school

Viewing decks overlooking the lovely Pajaro Valley and Pacific Ocean
Spacious community dining room
Many miles of hiking and walking trails shared with resident wildlife
Peaceful indoor and outdoor spaces for yoga and meditation
Small lake with nearby nooks for self-reflection and conversation; offering the option for swimming in warm weather
Ball courts for playing tennis, pickleball, volleyball, and other sports
Community garden and a flock of chickens

Historic Tribal Lands

Ancestral Stewards of The Peninsula

Mount Madonna Center is built on Ohlone tribal lands. The hills and valleys we tend to and walk upon each day served as a gathering place for the Ohlone peoples for ten thousand years. Evidence of their daily lives, so deeply rooted in the ebb and flow of nature, continues to be found across the property. For example, directly adjacent to the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple, rests an acorn grinding stone, its presence indicating the importance of this very hill as vital and central to the Ohlone community.

Witnessing the shifting and changing seasons, the glorious sunsets, and the many plants and animals that call these forests home is a privilege. We recognize and deeply appreciate that we are able to do so because of the original tending and stewardship of this land by the Ohlone peoples.

Land Acknowledgement

Mount Madonna Center and Institute, located on the ridge of the southern wing of the Santa Cruz Mountains, are situated within the traditional homelands of the Ohlone People, and the Esselen People before them. The hills and valleys we tend to and walk upon each day served as a gathering place for the Ohlone for ten thousand years.

We – the residents, staff, and volunteers of Mount Madonna Center and Institute – acknowledge that the whole of the Central Coast region, including the 380 acres where the Center is now located, was previously inhabited by Indigenous peoples. These lands were appropriated by successive migrations of peoples and cultures from around the world, beginning with the arrival of the Spanish in 1769.

We recognize that these lands were and still remain important to Indigenous peoples and their descendants. As a community, we honor this heritage and we are committed to maintaining connection with descendants from the Indigenous tribes of California and beyond.

We commit to honoring Mount Madonna and the peoples who cared for this land, through the ways in which we live, work, and tend to this sacred place.

The lands on which Mount Madonna Center and Institute operate are held and managed collectively. Consistent with our values of community and inclusion, we seek to make visible our connections with nature and our ancestors of place through caring for this land, bringing back traditional land management practices such as “good fire,” and honoring all ancestors by offering ceremonial rituals. Inspired by the beauty and power of nature, and with gratitude for the original tending of this land by the Ohlone people, we aim to steward and nurture all the plants and living creatures with whom we share this environment.

In the silence of the woods, in the whisper of the hawks’ wings, and in the laughter of the children, we feel connection with all those who lived here before, those who are here now, and those who have yet to come.

All Our Relations! Ho!

This Land Acknowledgement was developed by Mount Madonna leadership, volunteers and staff.