Settle the Mind, Open the Heart: A Mindful Living Retreat

With Kay Stewart, M.Ed.

August 16 - 18, 2024

Date and Time Details: Check-in begins at 3 p.m. on Friday, and check-out is at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Location: Elohee Center - Forest Studio

Address: 251 Elohee Drive Sautee Nacoochee, Georgia 30571

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 5 minute walk of each other, with some gravel roads. 2 cottage rooms are ADA compliant, and all cottage rooms are on ground level.

Small Private Room/Shared Bath – $557.22
Single Occupancy/1 King Bed/Private Bath – $759.22
Double Occupancy/2 Twin Beds/Private Bath (Price is per person, must register separately) – $557.22
Double Occupancy/1 King Bed/Private Bath (Price is per person, must register separately) – $557.22

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

Mindfulness is about love and loving life.When you cultivate this love, it gives you clarity and compassion for life, and your actions happen in accordance with that.

– Jon Kabat Zinn

Join Kay Stewart at the beautiful Elohee Retreat Center as together we slow down to the rhythm of life and listen deeply to ourselves and each other. Explore ancient and enduring practices for renewal and human flourishing including mindfulness meditation, gentle mindful yoga, poetic inquiry, and other self-reflective practices to settle the mind and open the heart.

The poet Rumi reminds us, “Out beyond wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there” … Kay invites us to meet in that field, grounded by her experience with the principles and practices at the intersection of Jon Kabat Zinn’s teachings in mindfulness and Parker Palmer’s circle of trust retreat approach. Our unhurried time on retreat will allow us to be guided by what is deepest within us, regardless of what we name that deepest part – soul, true self, inner teacher, spirit – opening us to embody qualities of wholehearted, mindful living, learning, and relating!

Embracing the need for renewal in both solitude and community, Kay will intentionally create open spaces to re-discover innate capacities for loving presence and joyful connection. We’ll engage in meaningful conversations as a pathway to mindfully living life on life’s terms, accepting what we cannot change, changing what we can, and having the wisdom to know the difference. Through skillful attentiveness, deep listening, and poetic inquiry, we’ll awaken inner strengths for clarity, courage, compassion, and connectedness — allowing us to be fully alive as long as we live!

We’ll turn to nature for insight and inspiration, with ample time to relax and enjoy the beauty of Elohee. Whether hiking on lovely, well-marked trails, strolling peacefully through the woods, or simply sitting and breathing it all in, you’ll be surrounded by the serenity and healing energy of this oasis in the mountains of North Georgia.

This Mindful Living Retreat is all-inclusive including:

Two nights’ lodging in Elohee’s cozy, comfortable cottages.
Delicious meals provided from arrival day dinner through departure day lunch. All meals are prepared by a local chef using freshly-prepared ingredients.
A 24-hour tea house, always open for relaxing and enjoying a cup of tea
A gentle rhythm of invitations to group sessions including guidance in mindfulness meditation, mindful movement/yoga, poetry, self-reflection, journaling, and small and large group conversations
Bonfire/star gazing (weather permitting)
Guided hike as well as unguided hiking on well marked trails (weather permitting)
Optional Massage/Spa services (*not included in registration fee)

Retreat Schedule:

This is your retreat, so feel free to find your own rhythm! Our group sessions will meet in Forest Studio throughout the weekend.

Friday

3:00-4:00- Check in with Elohee staff
5:00-6:00- Welcome Circle, touchstones, arriving in presence
6:00-7:00- Dinner
7:00-8:00- Settling the Mind – Coming to Your Senses
8:00-8:30– A bedtime story … and gentle, restorative yoga

Saturday

7:30-8:00– Optional morning meditation
8:00-9:00- Breakfast
9:00-10:00– Listening to the body- Gentle Mindful Yoga and Body Scan
10:30–12:00 – Opening the Heart, listening for wisdom within
12:00-1:00- Lunch
1:00-4:00- Resting in Loving Awareness … unhurried time to just be – time for optional massage/spa appointments, naps, walks in the forest, journaling
5:00-6:00- Guided Nature Walk
6:00-7:00- Dinner
7:00-8:00- Community reflection -Mindful Dialogue inspired by poetry and presence
8:00-8:30–Bonfire and s’mores, a bedtime story … and gentle, restorative yoga

Sunday

7:30-8:00– Optional morning meditation
8:00-9:00- Breakfast
9:00-10:00– Mindful movement and walking in the full presence of life
10:30-12:00– Closing Circle – Settling, Listening, Opening, Waiting – an invitation to ongoing practice
12:00-1:00- Lunch
1:00–2:00- group picture then check-out

For more information, contact Kay Stewart at kstewart@shallowford.org or visit Shallowford Mindful Living website here

Check out Elohee’s Guest Information FAQs here.

About the Leader

Kay Stewart, M.Ed.

Kay Stewart, M.Ed., serves as Director of Mindfulness Education for the Shallowford Center for Mindful Living in Atlanta. She began teaching classes and retreats at Shallowford in 2013 after completing graduate studies in mindfulness and contemplative education. For more than 26 years, Kay served on the faculty in the Department of Health and Physical Education […]

Learn more about Kay Stewart, M.Ed.

Categories : Breathwork, Home, Meditation, Mindfulness and Contemplative Practice, Self Care, Yoga