Cultivating the Integrated Life

With J. David Forbes, MD

June 5 - 8, 2025

Date and Time Details: Check-in is 3-4pm on Thursday and check-out is at 1:00 pm on Sunday.

Location: Elohee Center

Location Elohee Center - Forest Studio

What to Expect: To help deepen your retreat experience, Elohee does not provide televisions or internet access (unless you bring your own hotspot). Cell phone service is excellent for AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. Your car will be left in a secured parking lot, and you will be shuttled up to your room upon arrival and shuttled back down to your car at departure. Shuttle service to your car is available at any time. All facilities at the top of the mountain are within a five-minute walk of each other, with some gravel roads. two cottage rooms are ADA compliant, and all cottage rooms are on ground level.

Small Private Room/Shared Bath – $1,210.83
Single Occupancy/1 King Bed/Private Bath – $1,513.83
Double Occupancy/2 Twin Beds/Private Bath (Price is per person, must register separately) – $1,210.83
Double Occupancy/1 King Bed/Private Bath (Price is per person, must register separately) – $1,210.83

Price includes the course fee, room, meals, and grounds fee but does not include taxes. Full price is shown upon selection of room type prior to registering. A 40% deposit is due at the time of registration with full payment due 2 weeks prior to the retreat start date. If you are interested in tent camping, please email us at info@elohee.org for more information. Registration closes 5 days prior to the retreat start date.

Elohee's Registration and Cancellation Policy

Join the Past-President of the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine for an experiential dive into our Stress, Connection, Nutrition, Movement, and Sleep, all in the setting of a truly safe and supportive community.

When we reconnect to bodily experience, we unlock the keys to transformative and sustainable health. In this unparalleled 3-day workshop in Experiential Body Health, we will explore the Foundational Pillars of our well-being: our Stress, Connectedness and Support, Nutrition, Movement, and Sleep, not just in a head-based “informational” way, but in a body-centered way.

Dr. David Forbes has over 30 years of experience in Primary Care and Lifestyle Medicine. He has led over 90 retreats in body-based stress healing, covering all areas of our internal suffering, including deep trauma. Participants routinely speak of the retreats as the “safest place on Earth”. A veteran of 40 years of meditation, he skillfully weaves this profound practice with the clearing out of our old, emotional wound places, thereby facilitating reconnection with our unchangeable and undamageable spiritual center.

A Sampling of Sessions during our 3-day Retreat:

*Experiential Stress Healing Work* – we will spend several sessions in this deepest of practices. When we cultivate a truly safe space together, we can open to many places that we keep buried, hidden, and thus unhealed. Working with our bodily experience is crucial to our stress healing, as opposed to trying to “think our way out of it”. A key aspect of this safety is that no one has to do anything. Everything is optional! An atmosphere of deep safety allows us to feel (not think!) our way through our old wounds and hurts, putting us on our path to peace. Be aware that this work can become emotionally intense.

*Deep Connection with Self* – we will also be incorporating a body-centered meditation practice that allows us yet another avenue into the parts of us that need healing as well as the avenue to our unchangeable center.

*QiGong Movement Practice* – we will have sessions incorporating this gentle and powerful movement practice. In addition, we have miles of beautiful walks and hiking trails for connecting with Nature and strengthening our bodies.

*Latest Research and Teachings* – we will cover the important arenas of Nutrition, Movement, and Sleep with great tips and “how-to’s”, simplifying how we improve these key areas of health.

* Body-Centered Meditation* – we will be exploring multiple forms of meditation practice from sitting to walking to intuitive moving.

Together, we’ll pursue the goal that we all want, to simply feel better!

Schedule

*tentative schedule, subject to change

Thursday

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm: Arrival and Check-In
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm: Welcome, Overview, and Introduction – Forest Studio
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm: Dinner
7:15 pm – 9:00 pm: Opening Session

Friday

7:00 am – 8:00 am: Movement Practice
8:00 am – 9:00 am: Breakfast
9:30 am – 12:00 pm: Main Session
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm: Lunch
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm: Free Time
3:00 pm – 5:30 pm: Session
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm: Dinner
7:15 pm – 9:00 pm: Evening Session

Saturday

7:00 am – 8:00 am: Movement Practice
8:00 am – 9:00 am: Breakfast
9:30 am – 12:00 pm: Main Session
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm: Lunch
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm: Free Time
3:00 pm – 5:30 pm: Session
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm: Dinner
7:15 pm – 9:00 pm: Evening Session

Sunday

7:00 am – 8:00 am: Movement Practice
8:00 am – 9:00 am: Breakfast
9:30 am – 11:00 pm: Main Session
11:00 am – 12:00 pm : Closing Ceremony
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm: Lunch
1:00 pm: Check-out

For more information, contact J. David Forbes at drforbescourses@gmail.com.

Check out Elohee’s Guest Information FAQs here.

About the Leader

J. David Forbes, MD

J. David Forbes, MD, ABoIM is the Past-President of the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine (aihm.org), a Founding Diplomate of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine, and the Founder and Director of Nashville Integrated Medicine. His medical practice, seminars and retreats emphasize the Five Pillars- Nutrition, Movement, Sleep, Emotional Stress Reduction, and Spiritual […]

Learn more about J. David Forbes, MD

Categories : Health & Wellness, Home, Meditation, Personal Development, Self-care