Our values in practice
Our Green Peace Inn Principles
Since 2017, Green Peace Inn has been our work, our responsibility, our community and a very large part of our lives.
Over the years, we have often chosen options that were not the easiest, the cheapest, or the most profitable. We invested in fair and reliable employment, careful maintenance, biodegradable products, high-quality equipment, professional education and reduced-cost retreat places for people who genuinely could not afford the full fee.
We did not make these choices because they always made financial sense. We made them because we have sat in retreat circles and seen what this work can mean to people.
We have heard stories, witnessed tears and relief, watched friendships begin and received messages about changes that continued long after a retreat ended.
Those moments reminded us why we kept going, why we kept reinvesting, and why Green Peace Inn became much more than a seasonal project to us.
This is what our values have looked like in everyday practice.
Caring for the environment
Being surrounded by the ocean and tropical nature is one of the great gifts of this place. It also reminds us that the way we operate has consequences.
Throughout the centre, we use biodegradable soaps and cleaning products wherever possible. These products often cost more and can be harder to source, but reducing the use of harsh chemicals is important to us.
We know that no hospitality business has zero environmental impact, and we do not claim to be perfect. We simply try to make responsible choices wherever we realistically can, and to improve over time.
Caring for our team and their families.
This is perhaps the most personal part for us.
In Sri Lanka, a salary often supports much more than one person. It can help parents, children, grandparents, siblings and other relatives. Families share resources and responsibilities, and when one person has stable work, the effect can reach an entire household or several generations.
Over the years, we have seen this very directly. Income from Green Peace Inn has helped pay for food, school materials, university education, medical care and difficult moments that a family could not have managed alone. One young person connected to our team has completed university, another has started, and we hope more will have the same opportunity.
Behind every role at Green Peace Inn is a person with a story, responsibilities, hopes and people who depend on them.
When you join a retreat at Green Peace Inn, you are supporting many people. You are helping with stability, education, opportunity and dignity for the people whose work, warmth and commitment make this place possible.
Caring about the place itself.
Living close to the ocean is beautiful, but the conditions are demanding. Salt air, humidity, tropical rain and strong sun affect almost everything: walls, wood, mattresses, air conditioners, electrical systems, furniture and equipment.
Before each season begins, our team spends weeks cleaning, repairing, restoring and repainting. Last season alone, more than 1,000 working hours went into preparing the centre so that the first guests could arrive in a place that felt welcoming and cared for.
Caring about Opinions.
At the end of every season, we review our participants’ feedback and, within the available budget, we try to change the points they raise.
In this way, Green Peace Inn has grown step by step. It has been shaped not only by us, but also by the many guests who cared enough to share honestly what worked and what could be better.
Caring for knowledge and growth.
The retreats we offer are not based on a single training or a fast-assembled programme. They have grown out of many years of learning, personal practice, teaching, facilitation and experience.
Over the years, we have invested in professional education, certifications, and personal development. In addition, thousands of hours have been dedicated to meditation, yoga, breathwork, facilitation, coaching and the study of contemplative traditions and relevant scientific research.
We bring what we have learned to the retreats in a grounded, practical way. Our intention is not to tell people what they should believe, and we do not promise that one week will solve every problem.
Our aim is to create a supportive and carefully facilitated environment in which people can slow down, reflect, learn practical tools, ask meaningful questions and reconnect with themselves.
Some parts of our work draw on spiritual or contemplative traditions. We value those traditions, while being careful not to present spiritual ideas as established scientific facts.
Caring for people who can not afford the full retreat price.
From the beginning, one sentence has been part of our website:
"If you genuinely feel that this retreat could support you, but the full fee is beyond your means, please reach out. We will do our best to find a solution."
People did reach out, and whenever our resources allowed it, we found a way. Sometimes this meant a reduced fee. Sometimes it meant an individual payment arrangement or another form of support.
We cannot make every retreat free. We have real operating costs and a responsibility to pay our team fairly. But we never wanted money alone to decide who could receive support from this work.
Caring for quality.
We care deeply about the quality of every experience we offer.
That commitment influences countless decisions behind the scenes.
For example, we bring organic teas, organic spices, organic oil and organic coconut milk from Colombo down to the south of Sri Lanka and try to buy as fresh and local as possible from local markets.
Our sound journeys are supported by carefully selected crystal singing bowls and handcrafted gongs created by very special artists. We believe that the quality of the instruments matters.
The same attention extends to the air you breathe. We source premium natural incense in very high-quality and natural ingredients because we care about what you inhale during practice and meditation.
In our kitchen, we go beyond and spend a lot of time creating tasty menues for our guests with unforgetable food experiances.
These choices require additional effort, time, and investment. We make them because we believe that every detail contributes to creating a space where people can feel safe, supported, inspired, and cared for.
What does all of this mean to us?
We have not done everything perfectly.
We have made mistakes, learned, adjusted and improved many things along the way. But one thing has remained consistent: we have tried to make decisions that reflect who we are.
Many of those decisions required more money, time and energy than the easiest alternative. Some were not the choices a purely profit-driven project would have made. Yet after more than 65 retreats since 2017—and so many human stories—we still believe they were worth making.
For us, success has never been measured only in revenue. It is also measured in the people who found clarity here, all the insights people had during retreats, all the heart-touching moments, all the tears of happiness we cried, the friendships that began here, the team members who could support their families, the young people who gained access to education, and the positive effects that continued after guests returned home.