Well Being Retreat Center
"Where Silence Is Expressed"
Well Being Retreat Center Events
June
During this time of relative self-isolation and uncertainty, Don Oakley will be presenting a series of online talks (with an opportunity for questions) via Zoom every Tuesday evening at 6:30 pm for the foreseeable future. We have the opportunity to explore our deeper Nature during this time rather than dwelling entirely in fear and anxiety. We must, of course, take care of our bodies and be prudent to the extent we must venture out in the world, but that still leaves considerable space to venture into the mystery of our own being. With impermanence staring us in the face, motivation may be heightened to find the timeless, the unchanging, that place where fear has no foothold.
Video Recordings of the previous sessions are on Don's YouTube Channel.
More information HERE
Friday June 5, 2020 online from 3:00 - 4:30 pm EDT- "Well Being Shared Space" with Patty Bottari
Patty will host an online Zoom space in which participants in Don's Tuesday evening Satsangs can "meet" to share their thoughts, experiences, realization, challenges, and joys during this time of relative isolation. An invitation will be sent with the Zoom login link.
Please share from your own perspective, refrain from offering advice to others, and listen lovingly. Sometimes it is helpful to say things out loud - it helps to clarify our intentions - even to ourselves. It is also helpful to hear that what may seem like personal struggles may not be all that uncommon.
We are each on our own unique journey but we can learn and rejoice in the company of others. More information here
Saturday June 13, 2020 9:00 am - 5:00 pm EDT- "Day Long Retreat" with Don Oakley & Patty Bottari
This Event is Now Full. Registration is Closed
June 8 - 11, 2020 Creations Way with Rakwees Keh (POSTPONED)
Rakwees Keh, an elder of the Tuscaloosa Nation will return to Well Being Retreat Center to lead a 2-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 HERE.
Saturday June 27, 2020 9:00 am - 5:00 pm EDT- "Day Long Retreat" with Don Oakley & Patty Bottari
This day-long retreat led by Don Oakley & Patty Bottari will be held on Saturday June 27, 2020 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. The event will be held in the Powell River Pavilion , an open air covered facility non the bank of the river. Please plan to bring your own lunch and snacks. We will limmit attendance so we can maintain social distancing. More information HERE.
June 25 - 28, 2020 Somatic Mentoring Workshop with Patti Elledge (POSTPONED)
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
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 HERE.
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
August 21 - 23, 2020 Weekend Retreat with Alaya Dickinson
Alaya Dickinson will return for her 5th retreat at Well Being Retreat Center August 21 - 23, 2020. 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
September
September 19 - 25, 2020 Six-Night Silent Retreat with Mukti (THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED)
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
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 (THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED)
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 "The Oasis of Mindfulness" Retreat 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 is now open. More information is HERE.
December
Dec 2 - Dec 5, 2020 Mujeres Creando Lazos Retreat with Anna (Beatriz) Herrera & Cecilia Calderon
More information to Follow
Dec 10 - Dec 13, 2020 An Open Mind Retreat: The Story of the Buddha is Your Story
with John Tarrant, Roshi.
John Tarrant, Roshi, zen master and founder of Pacific Zen Institute will lead a unique Open Mind Retreat December 10 - 13, 2020. John.taught Zen in a traditional Japanese manner for 15 years and then developed new ways to teach people who had no previous experience of Zen koans or even of meditation. John has a PhD in psychology, developed the leadership program for physicians at Duke Integrative Medicine, and designed a mind-body-arts curriculum for the large medical residency system at Duke Health. He is the author of Bring Me The Rhinoceros & Other Zen Koans That Will Save Your Life, and The Light Inside the Dark: Zen, Soul, & the Spiritual Life. He directs Pacific Zen Institute.
Year 2021
March
March 13 - 20, 2021 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
April 8 - 11, 2021 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 to follow or contact Brenda at 865-363-6416 or at brendaraschpt@gmail.com.
April 14 - 18, 2021 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.