Santosha, Sanskrit, संतोष: Settled contentment without striving
We invite you warmly into this place of peace, to carve calm space from the chaotic world outside, to cease churning. We invite you to rest, to breathe, to cultivate gratitude. We invite you to reflect:
This, all I have and everything I am, is enough.
In the beginning
Startup founders often describe their beginnings as “two guys and a dog in the garage.” In our case, it might be “a chick and a dog in the living room.”
JennyBess Chaim began a breakneck career as a corporate attorney, striving for success in the highest-grossing law firm in the world. Grinding out the billable hours for several years, she sought something else intangible. JB embarked on a sabbatical to find soulful sustenance and joy again, traveling under #jbishungry. She followed the most intuitive routes she knew, in food and wine; in movement and meditation; in the mountains and on the sea. She traveled through France, eating oysters, exploring markets, and gleefully writing. She worked in the fields and tasting room of a 400-year-old organic vineyard in the Languedoc. A longtime sailor, she refit and sailed a monohull throughout the Mediterranean, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Caribbean Sea. She studied meditation and mindfulness while living in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Nepal. A longtime yogini, she certified to teach yoga at an ashram in Hawai’i. She climbed peaks in Argentine Patagonia, trekked the Camino de Santiago in Galicia, and played in the majestic mountains of the northern Maine woods.
Returning home
JB and Pamplemousse quietly returned home to the Maine coastline after a couple years of tumultuous travel to continue cultivating that same soulful sustenance. With deep gratitude for her many teachers, loved ones, friends, homes around the globe, and myriad opportunities to learn—joyful, sorrowful, exhilarating, mistake-laden, and eye-opening—JB dedicated herself to creating a space for acceptance, mindfulness, and peace. The original business plan was simply this: “How do I want to spend my time?” Answers: “Read. Write. Practice yoga. Meditate. Play outside. Cook. I wonder if anyone else out there wants to do these things, too?”
Opening
We set out yoga mats in a restored barn apartment at our home in Phippsburg. We assembled a group of writers for cozy Thursday night workshops in the library. We set the dining room table for twelve. We studied dharma. We sharpened our knives. We waited.
No sooner than we began, the global pandemic shut Santosha down. For months at a time, in line with CDC recommendations, we opened, closed, opened again, closed again. We tested relentlessly; we continued steadfastly. We nearly closed our doors for good.
When we permanently reopened in autumn 2020, we didn’t know what to expect. Out of the blue, you overwhelmed us—we could barely keep up with your booking requests. Yoga brought us together. That candlelit dining table filled every night. Matt O’Donnell washed dishes until his knuckles went raw. We outgrew our barn shala and renovated a garage to make space for more mats. When vaccination became available, thanks to you, we did not have an empty room for most summer nights in 2021. Other incredible folks came to our rescue—yogis-in-residence from across the country taught our classes; local teachers stepped in, too; Healing Arts practitioners gave treatments on our screened porch; and volunteers poured in with fresh energy and joy.
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
- Marcel Proust
And now this
By the end of our 2021 season, we knew we needed more space. After considering more than forty properties and expansion plans on site at Phippsburg, we came upon Hillholm—the Gilded Age estate built for Amos G. Winter in Kingfield. We knew immediately that Santosha had found her home. You can learn more about the history of Hillholm here. Thanks to a generous construction and rehabilitation loan from Kennebec Savings Bank and the faith of a whole lot of new team members, we launched Santosha at Hillholm Estate in July 2022.
Here at Santosha, we encourage you to #takeabreak, too, to pause and listen to your soul singing to you. We seek to create an intentional, sacred space, filled with warmth, kindness, and simple, thankful joy. Thank you to the hundreds of guests who made our dream a reality here.
We hope you will join us in our shared exploration of santosha.