Well Being Retreat Center
"Where Silence Is Expressed"
Well Being Retreat Center Events
January 2020
January 21, 2020 - "Beyond Egoic Consciousness" Don Oakley in Knoxville - Tuesday Evening
Don Oakley will be presenting an evening of exploration into the territory Beyond Egoic Consciousness at The Meaningful Life Center in west Knoxville on January 21, 2020 from 6:30 to 9:00 pm. Don is the Founding Director of Well Being Retreat Center in Tazewell, TN, a Director of Adyashanti's Open Gate Sangha organization, and author of the five-star rated book "It's Time to Wake Up Now: The Top Ten Myths That Can Hijack Spiritual Awakening." Samples of his talks can be found on Don's YouTube channel. The Meaningful Life Center is located at 200 Carr Road in the Bearden area of Knoxville. There is no charge for the event, but a donation to The Meaningful Life Center is suggested..
January 24 - 26, 2020 - "In Search of a Quiet Mind" Weekend Retreat with Don Oakley & Patty Bottari
A two-night weekend retreat of meditation and inquiry with Don & Patty on the topic of "In Search of a Quiet Mind."
One of the great benefits of meditation is that we get to spend some time alone with our own mind and we find out how noisy silent meditation can be. The difficulty is that trying to be quiet only makes things worse. So what to do? Well, one thing you can do is come to this weekend retreat where this very common issue will be explored and addressed.
THIS RETREAT IS NOW FULL - REGISTRATION IS CLOSED
January 31 - February 2, 2020 A Well Being Feast Retreat with Camille Watson & Patty Bottari
Join Camille and Patty in the kitchen of the Well Being Retreat Center to learn to prepare some of our beloved seasonal recipes.
No matter your skill level, you will enjoy this hands-on opportunity to make (and eat!) simple, elegant and health-giving foods.
More information for this hands-on cooking and dining extravaganza HERE
February 2020
February 14 - 16, 2020 Healing Through Art & Meditation Retreat with Chelsea Green
Chelsea Green has designed this weekend retreat to support emotional healing through meditation and creative expression for those living in pain, grief, fear or stress. Healing through meditation does not mean that we sit in a perfect state of peace while having no thoughts. But rather, meditation for healing is about establishing a different relationship with our thoughts. Chelsea is a Certified Meditation Instructor (C-MI) and holds a Masters degree in Counseling. Laura Blankenship will be guest teaching Saturday afternoon. More information HERE.
February 20 - 23, 2020 - "Opening the Doorway of Awareness" a 3-Night Retreat with Don Oakley & Patty Bottari
A Three-Night Retreat of Meditation and Inquiry on the Topic of "Opening the Doorway of Awareness" led by Don Oakley & Patty Bottari.
"We are all already operating from awareness, but it is unseen, unrecognized. Unseen because it is not a thing to be observed. Unrecognized because we take the miracle of consciousness for granted - believing that it is generated by our own bran cells. Seeking doesn't get us there, although seem to be compelled to seek. But when spacious awareness recognizes itself..."
More information HERE
March 2020
March 13 - 15, 2020 Silent Retreat with John Blackburn
John Blackburn, Ph.D., has practiced meditation for over 45 years, practicing intensively with teachers in the Vipassana, Zen, and Dzogchen traditions. He leads a local meditation group, the Knoxville Community of Mindfulness. He also serves on the board of directors for Southern Dharma Retreat Center in Spring Creek, NC. More information HERE about this retreat .
March 21 - 28, 2020 Seven-Night Silent Retreat with Paul Peterson (Upali Upasaka)
Upasaka Upali (Paul Peterson) is a Chattanooga meditation teacher from a style that combines ancient meditation techniques with modern cognitive science. He has taught a wide array of meditators, from federal prison inmates to elementary school students. The Pragmatic Meditation Retreat is open to beginning and advanced practitioners alike. The only prerequisite to attend is a history of consistent meditation practice. It will largely be taught in the style of The Mind Illuminated by Upasaka Culadasa (Tucker Peck, PhD), but all traditions and styles of meditation are welcome. More information here.
April 2020
April 3 - 8, 2020 Transformational Craniosacral Training with Regina Callahan
Regina Callahan and Jenny DeDecker of Still Mountain Healer School of Craniosacral Studies will be guiding and facilitating this 5 night/6 day retreat for Craniosacral Practitioners.
This retreat holds the intention to create a spacious container in which to deepen your Craniosacral practice. Blending an integrative approach to modern day craniosacral work with integral tools of Mindfulness, Awareness, and Embodiment, this retreat will focus on using Craniosacral Work as a tool for transformation and personal evolution.
This retreat is open to Craniosacral Practitioners with a minimum of 50 hours Craniosacral training from any school of Craniosacral Work. 40 NCBTMB Approved CE hours
April 15 - 19, 2020 Our Essential Thread: A Mindfulness Retreat with Therese Fitzgerald
The retreat will be mostly in silence and is recommended for both beginning and experienced meditators who feel drawn to mindful living, contemplation, and inner work.
Therese Fitzgerald trained for eight years at the San Francisco and Tassajara Zen Centers and then with Thich Nhat Hanh for fifteen years. She was ordained as a Dharma teacher by Thich Nhat Hanh in 1994. Therese lives on the island of Maui, where she is a Dharma teacher and a hospice chaplain.
April 23 - 26, 2020 Embodied Life & Feldenkrais Retreat with Brenda Rasch
Brenda Rasch is a licensed Physical Therapist, Feldenkrais® instructor and Healing Touch Instructor. This popular three-night retreat is a celebration of Embodied Life™ and will include body awareness practices, meditation, some river paddling, a fire ceremony, and much more. Detailed information is Here or contact Brenda at 865-363-6416 or at brendaraschpt@gmail.com. More information HERE.
May 2020
May 2, 2020 6th Annual Powell River Kayak & Canoe Regatta
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The Powell River Kayak & Canoe Regatta is an annual 12-mile race (or leisurely paddle) on the Class 1 Powell River beginning at Well Being Retreat Center and ending at Riverside Rentals. The event benefits the Powell River Blueway Trail project to improve public access to the 114 miles of the Powell River in northeast Tennessee. The event has nine race categories and offers prize money. The Regatta is a function of the Claiborne County Tourism Commission.
May 31 - June 5, 2020 Stop at Nothing Retreat with Susan Robertson
Stop at Nothing – The Leadership Continuum – Advanced Workshop with Sue Robertson. We look at the underlying behavioral and cultural norms that impact organizational results. From there, we help the team develop and create key strategic action plans to improve results, and to align leadership behaviors to support the strategy. (Registration is limited to those who have completed “The Leadership Continuum” workshop.) More information to follow.
June 2020
June 8 - 11, 2020 Creations Way with Rahkwees Keh & Jon Patton
Rahkwees Keh, an elder of the Tuscaloosa Nation, and Jon Patton return to Well Being Retreat Center to lead a 3-Night workshop of Creation's Way June 8th - 11th. It is important to take time to experience and realize the goodness of your inner being and spirit.
Reclaim the most positive strong energy throughout the layers of your being. Open your physical and energetic body to accelerate the evolution of your spirit. At the workshop you will experience what your energy feels like to other people and how our energy changes when we are open, clear and free. More information to follow.
June 25 - 28, 2020 Somatic Mentoring Workshop with Patti Elledge
Patti Elledge will return to Well Being Retreat Center to lead a weekend of Somatic Mentoring. Patti has specialized in therapeutic application of neuroscience for more than 40 years. She has a broad clinical background in developmental and attachment based traumas. She specializes in interpersonal neurobiology and how that affects social/emotional, language/cognition and sensory processing development. Her blending of somatic and body-mind techniques helps resolve the fight-flight-freeze with loving/bonding and “belonging.”
More information to follow
July 2020
July 22 - 24, 2020 "Exploring Medicinal Plants" Workshop with Steve Roark
Steve Roark will be leading a weekend workshop to explore the medicinal plants at Well Being Retreat Center. Steve is a retired state forester with 36 years of local experience in Tennessee. His knowledge of forest ecosystems and personal passion for botany has provided him with sound plant identification skills that he enjoys sharing with others. Steve continues to use his natural history knowledge as a volunteer naturalist at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park and writes a popular nature column for several local newspapers.
More information to follow.
July 29 - August 1, 2020 Bodywork for Depression & Anxiety with Sharon Nash & Tracey Moon
Sharon Nash and Tracey Moon will be returning to Well Being Retreat Center July 29 - August 1, 2020 for a 3-night workshop. Register first for the training at or call 919-885-1069. Sharon & Tracey teach internationally. Open to everyone. Massage Therapists receive 21 NCBTMB CE’s. More information HERE.
August 2020
August 21 - 23, 2020 Weekend Retreat with Alaya Dickinson
Alaya Dickinson will return for her 5th retreat at Well Being Retreat Center August 9 - 11, 2019. Bask in Alaya's loving presence and clarity for a two-night silent retreat at Well Being Retreat Center where you will be well cared for, well fed, and have the opportunity to experience profound inner and outer silence.
More info HERE
August 27 - 31, 2020 Reiki Mastership Level III Training with Carolyn Jones & Jana Kadovitz
Carolyn Jones and Jana Kadovitz will lead this Master Level Reiki Training for those who have completed Reiki Level II with Carolyn & Jana. For more information contact Carolyn at: 865.712.9754 or carolyn@carolynajones.com.
Accommodations information to follow
September 2020
September 11 - 13, 2020 Galbraith Family Reunion (Private)
September 19 - 25, 2020 Six-Night Silent Retreat with Mukti
Mukti, an internationally recognized non-dual spiritual teacher, returns to Well Being Retreat Center for her sixth retreat at Well Being. This 6-night silent retreat will be held in noble silence except for the dharma talks and Q&A. Registration for this event will be limited to 35 people plus camping. This will be Mukti's only appearance in Tennessee in 2020 and the event is expected to be sold out. More information HERE.
October 2020
October 2 - 4, 2020 Healers Retreat - An Invitation into the Mystery with Theresa Nardi & Dr. Karmi Patel
Calling all healers! You are invited to attend our 5th annual Healer’s Healing Retreat. Come, rest and restore, for we cannot give from an empty well.
Theresa Nardi, HTCP will be leading this weekend event to anyone who has completed Healing Touch Level One or or an equivalent energy medicine course. Dr. Karmi Patel (Internist - Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine) will present "An Introduction to Food as Medicine," And much more! Detailed information here.
October 8 - 11, 2020 Yoga Retreat - A Transformative Mountain Experience with Frankie Hart
Frankie Hart is a Yoga Teacher with over 10,000 hours of teaching experience. She has owned and operated Satya Life Yoga in Lakeland, Florida since 2004. Frankie leads Yoga Teacher Training certification programs yearly. She has been teaching the art of movement and healing for over thirty years. Her credentials include ERYT500, YACEP, RPYT, MFA, Master Level certified Qigong Instructor and Certified Lifeline Practitioner. More information on this 3-night retreat HERE
October 17 - 24, 2020 Seven-Night Forest Therapy Guide Training
with Association of Nature & Forest Therapy
The internationally acclaimed Association of Nature & Forest Therapy will be presenting this 7=Night residential training event as their Forest Therapy Guide Training.
Forest therapy walks are not hikes in the traditional sense. An entire walk is typically 2 to 4 hours in duration and often covers no more than a quarter mile distance. In that short distance most people experience contact with nature in a much deeper way than they ever have prior to the walk. On Forest Therapy walks, people have a wide range of experiences, some of which they feel are significant, even profound. Guides are trained in the skills and perspectives needed to be supportive witnesses of these experiences.
The Association of Nature & Forest Therapy (ANFT) has trained more guides in more countries on more continents than any other forest therapy organization.
More information HERE
October 29 - November 1, 2020 Cultivating a Mind of Love with Leslie Rawls
Leslie Rawls (Chan Giac Xu) is a Dharma teacher in the Plum Village tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, who has been her teacher for nearly 30 years. She has studied in his monasteries in Europe and North America and traveled with him to Vietnam. In 1995, Thich Nhat Hanh ordained Leslie into the Order of Interbeing. In 2009, he transmitted the Dharma Lamp to her, authorizing her to teach as a Dharmacharya.
Registration Not Yet Open