Today we’d like to introduce you to Suzanne Jewell.
Hi Suzanne, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
As Chief Experience Officer for the award-winning Patch of Heaven Sanctuary in the Redland Agricultural Area of Miami, I found my path to leadership through difficulty and the dark night of the soul. Miami was where I landed after working with the movie studios on launching Video on Demand in the US; Cisneros TV expanded my horizons to Latin America then globally, working with brands like AOL, DirecTv and Playboy TV. Burnout, however, became the clarion call for me to find a more meaningful purpose for my gifts. During those challenging chapters, I dove into a two-year mindfulness meditation training program at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center/Sounds True. Venturing deeper still, I took vows and lived at a Buddhist Center during Covid, standing at the threshold of committing to becoming a lama and sitting three year, three month silent retreat. Yet the Great Spirit had other plans. My daily mindful morning meditation walk at the Buddhist Center, called Kora, or circumambulation, at 4:30am, followed by a kayak paddle in the Little River brought me back to Nature; I reconnected with my childhood love, where at 11 & 12 years old I had gone to Blandford Nature Center back in Grand Rapids where I am from. Nature was the medicine and healing balm; and the concept for the world’s 1st Mindful Pocket Park emerged. Based on cognitive behavioral therapy, it helps anyone in panic or anxiety use their 5 senses to get grounded in the present moment in the body. I imagined a nature-based mindfully designed garden that could support others in what I was experiencing by walking meditation outdoors. Patch of Heaven Sanctuary and its remarkable founder arrived in my life in 2021. I came on board in January 2022, with the express purpose of “putting Patch on the map” and creating this unique nature-based immersion living and learning campus to help people “Pause & P.A.W.S.” (Pay Attention with Senses). We won Best Outdoor Attraction 2025 by Miami New Times this year and Secret Miami Top 11; as well as having attracted 70k Day Pass Guests. I have now led over 9,000 of those guests through 1/2 day or daylong nature-based mindfulness retreats and we are planning to acquire 20 acres next door to create the Mindful Nature Institute at Patch of Heaven Sanctuary. I complete my dharma teacher training in May of 2026. Our mission at Patch is to reconnect Human Nature & Mother Nature, through mindfulness, for the benefit of both.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
What road worth traveling is smooth? As one of my beloved teachers shared, “if we have no mud, we have no lotus” (Thich Nhat Hanh). When I began to view my challenges wisely, with what is called “Right View”, I could see each came as “sandpaper for my soul”. Within the compressed, constricted, uncomfortable space of difficulty, there was always a jewel; if I could get beyond feeling sorry for myself and look deeper. As someone with a rare set of diseases, Ehlers Danlo Syndrome and two unruptured aneurysms, one in my brain, another in my carotid artery, health challenges have shown up to both test my resolve and purify my commitment. The nearness of my own impermanence has also lit a fire beneath my tush to get up off the cush! Awareness of my (and all of our) imminent and guaranteed expiration dates has polished my purpose, focus and fueled me to “be about what I came to Earth for”; which for me is to serve the divine through the stunning beauty of Nature. My Grandma used to say, “Suzy – pray & move your feet”. So that is how struggle has served to activate my life with direction and purpose. What if more of us understood our fragile, blessed and impermanent time here on Earth?
We’ve been impressed with Patch of Heaven Sanctuary , but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Patch of Heaven Sanctuary is a rare, hidden gem created by a true philanthropist to give refuge to trees, bees, birds, bats, butterflies, buildings of the historic kind and beings of the human kind. A 20-acre forest preserve and nature sanctuary, we have regenerated 10 acres of new growth forest and care for 124-year old endangered environmental land. Here we offer what in Germany, Japan and Sweden is “derigueur”; a combination of nature-based mindfulness, forest bathing therapy, and an overwhelming series of “moments of awe”.; all evidence-based and offered by certified trainers. We call the experience itself “the ABC’s of The Nature Pill – Awe + Beauty = Calm. We see guests arrive in our sacred sanctuary space stressed. We watch them learn to disconnect from their digital device, they become present in our Sight-Sound-Scent-Touch-Taste Gardens/Mindful Pocket Park. Awe opens their mouths as butterflies “eclose” and take their first flight before them. The sounds of Florida Aquifer water emanates from our 14′ waterfall to the lotus lagoon, Zen Garden, Earthwalk, Buddha Boulevard and Koi Pond. Grounding happens barefooted in the Earth Circle of the Mindful Pocket Park or beneath our 124 year old Tree of Life; the chimes for Peace are rung beneath our Peace Tree, dedicated by Kentrul Llodro Rinpoche (with a Tibetan plaque of peace in its trunk). Our experiences include daylong silent retreats, Gratitude, Peace and Happiness Day picnics, mindful equine opportunities; you can come for a public or private corporate retreat, or just for the day. We hold the most magnificent Farm to Table in The Stable 100′ table fundraising dinner each February; this year it will include the unveiling of our first major donor gift from Shervin Pishevar, a $500k Forest Reflections installation designed by Danish artist Jeppe Hein. Patch is innovating at the Speed of Nature; come reduce your anxiety, increase your calm by taking the Nature Pill at Patch.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
The founder of Patch is an unsung hero. Bruce decided nearly two decades ago that “trees were a better investment than Wall Street”; and I was blessed to have his trust since 2022 to help that vision grow to serve both Mother Nature and Human Nature. We receive no county, state or federal funding; his true generosity and our guests create what has become our growth; we are now seeking more public and private support to expand the vision. I also bow my head to my parents, both looking down, now, from above. My Mom drove school bus for 33 years for developmentally challenged kids; her nickname was Miss Merry Sunshine. My big sister, Sheryl, gave me my business acumen, a sense of style and capacity to speak up for myself; she is the wind beneath my wings on Earth as my Mom cheers me from Heaven. My Dad believed I could achieve anything; he was both tough, with high expectations, as well as cheerleading me onward. The Mindful Pocket Park becoming a reality is due to so many, yet it merits mention that Dr. Jane Goodall, Adriana Moreno Zarate, Cornell Crews, Jr., Patrick Morris, Kristy Scott, Trae Williamson, DeeAnne Treadway, Randall Quirk, Abigail Ruiz, AnaMargret Sanchez and the GMCVB each have a special space in my heart; forgive whomever else played a major role not called out here. I love each of them!
Pricing:
- Day Pass $25
- VIP Garden Tour $60
- Historic Homes Tour $60
- Silent Awaken in Nature Retreat $131
- Just Burn It Year End Fire Ceremony $75
Contact Info:
- Website: https://patchofheavensanctuary.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patchofheavensanctuary/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suzanne.jewell.31
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzanne-jewell/
- Other: https://linktr.ee/Patchofheavensanctuary?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=b28061f3-af34-4046-a83e-a8f1a77f91f9
Image Credits
Evens St. Louis
