Hanya House: A Home Built on a Walk, a Wish, and 300 Years of Healing Wisdom
A story that began with a stroll on the golf course
Long before Hanya House became a landmark of wellbeing on the White River Country Estate, it began with two young parents walking the same loop every afternoon: Down the first hole of the golf course, toddlers asleep in their strollers, dreaming aloud.
Both Ryan and Dr. Rav James had always felt uneasy in traditional clinical environments – the glare, the hush, one-size-fits-all approach that so often dominates modern medicine. Years earlier, they had made a pact: one day, they would build a space of healing that felt like home.
Passing the old White River Golf Lodge each day, its silhouette framed by evergreens, they kept circling back to the same realisation:
“It’s big enough to hold real healing, and small enough to still feel like home.”
In 2017, that thought was no more than a spark. By January 2021, in the middle of a global pandemic, they were handed the keys.
old White River Golf Lodge in January 2021.
“The Jack Russell That Caught the Double-Decker”
Taking ownership of the old Lodge arrived with equal parts excitement and disbelief. A mentor joked that they were “the Jack Russell that caught the double-decker bus” – they had chased an idea for so long that finally catching it felt surreal.
What followed were 18 months inside the old Golf Lodge conference room: Drawing plans, unravelling challenges, navigating delays and detours, and clarifying the heart of the project.
By mid-2022, the vision was clear:
A community-centred collaborative healing home built by like-minded professionals who believe in whole-system, whole-person care.
Today, the Hanya collective represents over 300 years of combined clinical and therapeutic experience across medicine, psychology, physiotherapy, movement, somatics, aesthetics, and integrative wellness – one of the most diverse collaborations in the Lowveld.
Half of them live right here in the White River Country Estate — which means the people caring for our community are also part of it.
The Making of Hanya House
Translating the dream into a physical space required what can only be described as a Grand Designs sprint: One month to plan and three months to renovate, all while the pandemic was still settling and Dr. Rav’s practice continued to see patients in the midst of building dust.
Early believers like Psychologist Lindsey Hyson, Life Coach Denise Sohandev, and Trainer Bettina Klesse committed to moving in before a single wall was painted – standing inside a tired building with flaking paint, a leaking roof, and a conference hall destined to become a yoga studio, they saw what the founders saw: Possibility.
Design inspiration came from several creative mentors including Shan Varty, Yvonne O’Brien, and architect Petrus Maree whose guidance shaped the restrained, timeless aesthetic that now defines the space. And of course, there was Silvi, Dr. Rav’s mother, whose instinct for detail added the final layer of warmth.
A Building with Layers of Story — Including One Shared by Oliver’s
If you stand in The Remedy Bar today with its warm timber, friendly counter, and the low hum of coffee conversations, you’re standing in a space with remarkable lineage.
Oliver’s Lodge, one of the longest-standing social cornerstones of the Estate, once operated its very first restaurant right here, in this room.
It was where many early residents gathered for meals, stories, celebrations, and long evenings that helped shape the young community of the Country Estate.
Later, the Lodge’s own dining room and bar occupied the same footprint. (A fun detail: former President Thabo Mbeki enjoyed a few single malts here.)
Hanya House didn’t overwrite those memories, it built upon them.
The Remedy Bar was intentionally designed as a modern echo of that early conviviality: A kitchen-meets-healing-hub where people can gather, learn, rest, and reconnect.
The past still lives in the walls; the purpose is simply different and how special to sit in The Remedy Bar with Tanja Ruff (owner of Olivers) on a weekly basis.
From Old Lodge to Living Ecosystem
Hanya House Wellness Collaboration officially opened its doors in January 2023. Today, it is home to more than 20 independent health professionals, each bringing depth, rigour, and humanity to their craft.
Once an unused conference room, this space has been transformed into
a world-class movement studio — home to yoga, Pilates, rebounding, fitness classes and more.
The Treehouse Studio hosts movement, yoga, Pilates, sound therapy and breathwork. The Living Room and Dining Room hold intimate workshops, shared meals, and community gatherings. The Remedy Bar anchors the space, part health shop, part kitchen, part place-to-be.
One of the most distinctive elements of Hanya House is its relationship with the White River Gallery. Its owner, Dana MacFarlane, has worked closely with Ryan to hand-pick artworks that shift, evolve, and change with the seasons. Rather than paging through a waiting-room magazine, clients are invited to wander, pause, and engage — beginning their healing experience long before they enter a therapist’s room.
The art is intentionally alive: a rotating conversation between space, story, and visitor. And for Hanya House, the connection is deeply personal. Dana’s late husband, Bruce MacFarlane — former Chairman of Uplands and a friend who urged Ryan and Dr. Rav to “be the Jack Russell” and chase the dream — was the very first patient to walk through Hanya’s doors. His presence, and the Gallery’s curatorial hand, have shaped the house in ways that are both artistic and profoundly human.
Modern medicine meets the gentler arts of healing at Hanya House, creating a space where patients are supported from every angle.
We are also fortunate to have Dr. Jackie Haig (Dentist) as part of our clinical family.
Alive — in Every Sense
The name Hanya, a Shangaan word meaning alive, has become the thread that runs through everything: from the way practitioners collaborate, to the way clients feel when they walk in, to the sense of home that anchors the entire space.
Because Hanya House is, at its heart, a community built by people who believe in science and spirit, in rigour and warmth, and in the simple truth that healing happens best in places that feel alive. And alive is exactly what this home has become.