Hollyhock is one of Canada's foremost lifelong learning and contemplative retreat centers, located on Cortes Island in British Columbia, off the coast north of Vancouver. The center was founded in 1982 and has grown into a significant Canadian institution offering programs across leadership, contemplative practice, creative arts, body-based work, social change, and personal development. The compound occupies substantial waterfront grounds on Cortes Island with multiple program buildings, residential accommodation, gardens, and walking access to the surrounding coastal forest. Hollyhock's distinctive approach combines contemplative practice with lifelong learning across many disciplines. Where pure meditation centers focus on a single tradition's contemplative training, Hollyhock hosts hundreds of programs annually across yoga, meditation, leadership, writing, music, ecology, social entrepreneurship, healing arts, and personal transformation. The center is sometimes described as one of the major contemplative-progressive learning sites in North America, with substantial overlap with the Esalen tradition in terms of program range and the Pacific Northwest progressive cultural context. Programs hosted at Hollyhock include yoga and meditation retreats with rotating senior teachers from international circuits, leadership and personal development workshops, creative writing and arts programs, social change and activism gatherings, and integrative health and healing programs. Visiting teachers and facilitators come from across the contemporary Western contemplative and learning circuits with substantial cross-pollination among the various program areas. The Cortes Island setting itself provides a distinctive container for the work. Hollyhock draws guests primarily from across Canada and the United States with some international attendance. The combination of Pacific Northwest setting, Canadian context, broad programming range, and substantial reputation positions Hollyhock among the top tier of North American learning and retreat centers. Pricing is moderate to upper-moderate by Canadian retreat standards.
Programming varies dramatically by retreat or workshop. Yoga and meditation retreats follow standard formats with morning and afternoon yoga, meditation programming, and integration time. Leadership and creative programs use workshop formats with substantial group process, individual work, and integration. Body-based and healing programs include movement, somatic practice, and applicable therapeutic modalities. The schedule structure adapts to each program's specific needs. Common elements across most Hollyhock programs include morning practice options open to all guests (yoga, meditation, qi gong), shared meals in the dining hall, free time for swimming, walking the surrounding grounds, or accessing additional optional offerings, and integration with the broader rhythm of the property. Phones work intermittently; many programs encourage limited use. Silence is observed during specific practice sessions in meditation programs but is not the standard format across most workshops.
Hollyhock does not represent a single contemplative or learning lineage. Programs draw from a wide range of contemporary Western and Asian traditions: yoga from various international yoga lineages, meditation from Buddhist (Insight, Zen, Tibetan), contemporary mindfulness, and Vedantic sources, leadership work from contemporary organizational and personal development frameworks, creative arts from various artistic traditions, healing arts from Western, Asian, and integrative sources. The breadth is part of the center's identity and shapes how programs intersect.
Practitioners interested in combining contemplative practice with broader learning across leadership, creative, ecological, or social change work.
Travelers drawn to the BC coast and the broader Pacific Northwest cultural context, who want a substantive learning retreat in this regional setting.
Long-time Canadian practitioners who have engaged with Hollyhock over decades, returning for ongoing learning across the center's wide program range.
Guests travel to Cortes Island via Vancouver, with ferry connections from Vancouver Island making the journey approximately a full day from major airports. The journey itself is part of the experience, with ferry crossings through the Salish Sea providing the transition into the island's quieter rhythm. Check-in is welcoming and clear; orientation covers program-specific details and the broader property. The atmosphere combines serious learning with social warmth; meals and gathering times provide community across programs. Pacific Northwest climate provides cool nights and pleasant days through summer; winter is cool with substantial rain.
Accommodation ranges from shared rooms and camping (lower cost) to single rooms and oceanside cabins (higher cost) across multiple residential buildings on the property. The grounds include multiple program buildings, the dining hall, swimming and bathing facilities at the waterfront, gardens (substantial permaculture and food production), walking trails through the surrounding forest, and beaches accessible from the property. Food is fresh organic largely vegetarian (with some meat options) drawing on the property's gardens and local sources, served buffet style.
Programs run from approximately eight hundred to four thousand five hundred Canadian dollars depending on program length, accommodation type, and content. Camping and shared accommodation reduce cost; oceanside cabins increase it. Sliding-scale and scholarship support is available for many programs particularly for activist, BIPOC, and youth participants. Travel to Cortes Island is the guest's responsibility and is substantial given the multiple ferry transitions required.
A Cortes Island center where leadership work and meditation share one waterfront garden.
Hollyhock offers meditation retreats among many other program types. Pure meditation centers focus on contemplative training in specific traditions; Hollyhock combines contemplative work with leadership, creative, ecological, and personal development programming. Practitioners primarily focused on meditation should consider whether they want the broader Hollyhock context or a more dedicated meditation center.
The journey is substantial: typically Vancouver to Vancouver Island by ferry, drive across Vancouver Island to Campbell River, second ferry to Quadra Island, drive across Quadra, third ferry to Cortes. Total journey is most of a day. The remoteness is part of the experience but requires planning. Hollyhock provides detailed travel information and can advise on options.
Hollyhock accommodates standard dietary restrictions including vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and various allergies on advance request. The main meal rotation is largely vegetarian with substantial fresh produce from the property's gardens. Cuisine is contemporary North American with some international influences.
Most programs are adults-only or strongly oriented toward adults. Some specific family-friendly programs are scheduled in summer. Children are welcomed at family-oriented events with appropriate supervision. The general atmosphere outside specific family programming is adult-focused; consider whether your family circumstances fit a particular program.
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