Seven Realms on Maya Ground

Mornings with Holland and Alyssa

Two hours each day, after breakfast and before lunch.

Each morning moves through three layers. First, a tradition from the Riviera Maya that has supported wellbeing for generations. Then, what modern science now shows about why it works. Finally, the ARC Reset Method™, the tool Holland and Alyssa use to help you fine-tune each realm in real time: Awareness of where you are, a Redirect toward where you want to be, and a Commit you can keep at home. Expect fascinating stories, real science, and plenty of laughter.

Day One: Mindset and Nature Realms

Mindset: The Daykeeper's New Day

In the Maya way of seeing time, the world dies each day at sunset and begins again. Daykeepers in Maya communities still hold that view today, keeping a sacred count of days called the Tzolk'in, a calendar kept since long before the Spanish arrived. It pairs twenty day signs, each drawn as its own glyph, with the numbers 1 to 13, so every day in its 260-day cycle has a name and a character all its own. You arrive carrying yesterday's state. Here, you choose today's, then take your first Full Reset together.

The science. Neuroscience calls it neuroplasticity: each time you repeat a practice, your brain strengthens the pathways it uses, until the new response starts to feel like the default. That's why the ARC Reset Method™ is built for repetition. In a well-known study on habits, a new daily behavior took a median of 66 days to become automatic, and missing a single day didn't set people back. You start that count here.

The practice. Holland and Alyssa introduce the ARC Reset Method™ through the daykeeper's count: Awareness of the state you arrived in, a Redirect toward the one you're choosing for today, and a Commit you'll carry home. That commit is a 10-second Mini Reset at the same moment every morning, your own daily act of daykeeping, and the repetition that wires a new default into place. The Create Your State™ app carries the same idea forward. A daily Check In gives each day its own record across six metrics: Confidence, Calm, Clarity, Connection, Motivation and Energy. Over the days you use it, those records add up to a trajectory you can see: your own count of days.

Nature: The Cenote

A silent walk through the jungle to the water. For the Maya, cenotes were both the source of fresh water and a doorway to another world. You step in, breathe, and notice what has shifted by the time you step out.

The science. Biologist E.O. Wilson called it biophilia, our built-in pull toward the living world, and research keeps proving him right. In a Stanford study, a 90-minute walk in nature quieted the brain region tied to repetitive negative thinking, while the same walk along a busy road did not. A large study in England found that two hours a week in nature is the point where people's reports of good health and wellbeing climb.

The practice. At the cenote's edge, you notice your breath and shoulders, then step into the water and close with a 30-second Demi Reset. Your Commit is the science made simple: two hours a week outdoors, near water or trees, phone in your pocket.

Day Two: Movement and Nutrition Realms

Movement: The Ballgame

Pok ta pok, the Maya ballgame, is being played again by young teams across Yucatán. We play a gentle version with a soft ball, hips and forearms only, and find out how quickly play changes a mood.

The science. The largest review of its kind, drawing on nearly 100 reviews and more than 1,000 trials, found that physical activity meaningfully lifts mood and eases anxiety and stress across a wide range of adults. Short programs of 12 weeks or less worked best. Your body doesn't need long to change your state.

The practice. Between rounds of the ballgame, partners take a Demi Reset together and check how their state has shifted. It's the most playful morning of the three, and the lesson sticks: when your state drops at home, move for two minutes before anything else, then reset.

Nutrition: The Milpa

In the Popol Vuh, the first people were made from maize. Holland and Alyssa tell the story of the milpa, the field where maize, beans and squash grow side by side, each helping the others, and why these three crops have fed this land for thousands of years. Along the way, you meet the Melipona, the stingless bee Maya families have kept for more than 3,000 years.

The science. Your gut and your brain are in constant conversation. In a Stanford trial, ten weeks of eating fermented foods increased the diversity of gut microbes and lowered markers of inflammation. In another controlled trial, people struggling with low mood who improved the quality of their diet saw far greater improvement than those who received social support alone. The milpa's three crops are smarter together than apart: beans supply amino acids that maize is low in, and the traditional way of cooking maize with lime, called nixtamalization, releases niacin the body could not otherwise use. On Costa Rica's Nicoya Peninsula, one of the world's longest-lived communities, the traditional diet is built on maize, beans and squash: the same three crops at the heart of this morning's story.

The practice. The practice moves straight to the table, since lunch follows the session. Before your first bite, take a Mini Reset and eat the first few bites in silence, noticing flavor, energy and fullness. You leave committed to one milpa-style plate a day, built around beans, whole grains or corn, and vegetables, each one started with that same pause.

Day Three: Sleep, Purpose and Relationships Realms

Sleep: The Hammock

In Yucatán, a hammock is often a person's first bed and a family heirloom, and the Maya likened it to a mother's embrace. Through that story, you learn a wind-down you can repeat every night, then rest.

The science. Sleep is when the brain cleans house. Research in mice found that during sleep, the space between brain cells opens up by more than 60%, letting fluid flush out waste that builds up while we're awake. A study of more than 60,000 people found that a regular sleep schedule predicted a longer life more strongly than the number of hours slept. That's why the wind-down you learn here is built on consistency: same time, every night.

The practice. Wherever you are most comfortable, Holland and Alyssa guide you through a wind-down built on slow exhales and a Demi Reset, then give you ten quiet minutes to feel it work. Your Commit follows the research on regular sleep: the same wind-down, at the same time, every night.

Purpose: The Ceiba

The Maya world tree has roots in the underworld and branches holding up the sky. You map your own: what grounds you, what you do each day, and what you are reaching toward.

The science. On Costa Rica's Nicoya Peninsula, one of the world's Blue Zones, where unusually many people live past 100, elders have a name for it: plan de vida, a reason to get up in the morning. Researchers studying the longest-lived communities on earth found that sense of purpose among the traits they share.

The practice. Sitting beneath the trees, you map your own ceiba (roots, trunk and branches), then close with a Full Reset. Your Commit is a weekly purpose line, "This week I'm building toward…", written in the Create Your State™ app: your own plan de vida, revisited every week.

Relationships: The Jarana, the Serenade and the Hetzmek

Yucatán's jarana is danced in pairs, partners facing each other, and it still fills Mérida's plazas every week, while the peninsula's romantic trova is sung at open-air serenades under the trees. Families have a tradition of their own. In the Hetzmek, a Maya ceremony still held across the peninsula, a godparent carries a baby on the hip for the first time, shows the child the tools of a good life, and promises to stand by them until adulthood. We bring all three into the morning: how connection with a partner and with family is built, steadied and kept alive. Come with your partner, your family, or on your own. Either way, you'll leave knowing how to help settle someone else's nervous system, and how to let them help settle yours.

The science. Connection works on the body through chemistry you can feel. Warm touch, like a hug, releases oxytocin, the hormone tied to bonding and calm. In one study, women who hugged their partners more often had higher oxytocin levels along with lower blood pressure and heart rate. Connection belongs in the same conversation as diet, exercise and sleep.

The practice. In pairs, whether partners, family members or new friends, one person starts a Demi Reset and the other follows, a simple way to learn co-regulation. The session closes with an invitation to hug it out, oxytocin included. You leave with a weekly sobremesa, one unhurried meal with someone you care about, and one message to send within 48 hours.

Afternoons at The House of AïA

After lunch, the day is yours. Palmaïa's all-inclusive rate covers more than 50 classes and ceremonies a week, along with the beach, the jungle and the kitchen. What's on offer changes with the resort's weekly calendar. Here's a taste of the included programming that could round out each day:

First afternoon. A jungle trail on foot or by bike with one of Palmaïa's Nomadic Guides, time at the private beach and pools, or an evening of live music from the Rituals of Sound program.

Second afternoon. Carry the morning's Nutrition session into a cacao ceremony, built around the drink the Maya prized long before chocolate became a bar and still valued today for its natural flavanols and magnesium. Or stretch out after the ballgame with a flowing yoga class, then stop by the health café and juice bar.

Third afternoon. Restorative yoga, sound healing or singing bowls to set up a deep night's sleep, then sunset on the beach with the people you came with, or new friends you have met.

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Accommodations

Palmaïa's 234 suites sit between the Caribbean and more than 400 hectares of jungle. Wake to the sea in an ocean-view suite, or to a green canopy in a jungle-view suite, where retreat rates begin. Ask us about room options when you book your call.

Map of Palmaïa, The House of AïA

What you take home

Who it's for

People who intend to be strong, sharp and fully present for decades to come, and want to start building that now. If you're ready to treat longevity as a daily practice and amplify your vitality across every realm of your life, these three mornings are where it takes root.

What's included with your investment

Three Create Your State™ morning sessions, Seven Realms on Maya Ground; four nights' accommodations; à la carte breakfast, lunch and dinner; premium domestic and international drinks; private beach and pools with beachside service; the gym; more than 50 classes and ceremonies a week through the Portals of Practice program; Rituals of Sound music sessions; Nomadic Guides; and bike share.