About Us

Meet The Founder

Darcie Pulawa‑Morales is a Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner, and spiritual teacher. Pewa™ Retreats grew from relationship to land, to elders, to lived practice.

This retreat was not created as a business idea or a trend. It came together naturally through years of walking alongside cultural practitioners, listening to kupuna, and learning what it means to move with humility and care in Hawaiʻi.

We saw the need for a space where culture is not performed, rushed, or packaged but shared slowly, responsibly, and in the right relationship. I wanted to create a place where people could step out of constant noise and remember how to listen again: to the land, to each other, and to themselves.

Pewa™ is not about becoming someone new. It is about remembering who you already are when life is quiet enough to hear.guided by values, and protected through kuleana.

Our Mission

To offer a grounded Hawaiian cultural retreat where people can slow down, learn with respect, and leave more connected than when they arrived.

Our Vision

We envision retreats that feel human, respectful, and lasting.

About Pewa Retreats

Why We Gather

To unplug from the noise of everyday life.
To realign body, mind, spirit, and relationships.
To remember ancestral knowledge and carry it into modern times.
To find guidance in times of need, transformation, and rebirth.

Kanaka Leading Kanaka —

and the World

Too often, foreigners profit by offering “Hawaiian retreats” without Hawaiian voices, knowledge, or guidance.

Pewa Retreats changes this. We are kanaka leading kanaka, holding space with authenticity, respect, and aloha. By choosing Pewa, you know that what you receive is culturally rooted, spiritually guided, and ancestrally blessed.

What Makes Pewa Different

Cultural Integrity: Teachings come directly from practitioners who live these traditions.
Community First: Designed first and foremost for our local people, with space for respectful guests from afar.
Healing & Transformation: Retreats weave together ceremony, cultural practices, and spiritual alignment for real-life guidance.
Positive Impact: Your participation supports the continuation of Hawaiian knowledge, not its appropriation.

Why We Exist

For many years, we have witnessed Hawaiian culture being misused, misrepresented, and profited from by outsiders who come to Hawaiʻi, without giving back to the land, the culture, or the people who carry it forward. We have seen Hawaiian practices taught without lineage or protocol, sacred places used as backdrops for profit, Hawaiian words, ceremonies, and symbols trademarked for capital gain. Most painful of all our own Kanaka being taken advantage of, asked to share knowledge without protection, undervalued, underpaid, or excluded entirely. Pewa was created as a corrective and a refuge, a space where culture is shared by those who live it, guided with responsibility, and held with care.

Meet Our Collaborators

Pewa™ Retreats welcome select guest collaborators who are invited in relationship and aligned with our values. Each offers practices that support restoration, balance, and embodied learning while honoring the cultural integrity of the space. Their contributions enrich the retreat experience through presence, care, and kuleana.

Hi'ilani Shibata

Kamahina Project

Make Pico

Lā'au Lapa'au
Lomilomi

Rex Lokeni

Polynesian Voyaging Society
Watch Captain

Daniel Anthony

Hui Aloha Aina Momona

Kawika Crivello

Polynesian Voyaging Society
Hōkūle'a

ʻAʻohe hana nui ke alu ʻia

No task is too big when done together.

Even the roughest waters are navigable when paddling as one.

COMMUNITY
&

LINEAGE ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Patti Tancayo

Leilani Kahoano

Patti Tancayo and Leilani Kahoana played integral roles in helping steward Pewa Retreats™ into form offering wisdom, perspective, and care to ensure the retreat flow honored cultural integrity, energetic pacing, and ancestral values.
Their contributions reflect the heart of Pewa Retreats™ itself: that this work is relational, community-held, and guided by kuleana rather than individual ownership.