2024 Spring Retreat Details
Take your meditation practice to a deeper level
Experience the energy of sitting with others, find support and encouragement from like-minded individuals, and learn different present-moment practices such as Qigong, mindful eating and walking, tea meditation, and chair yoga. Refresh your mind and body as you immerse yourself in nature at the beautiful Living River Retreat Center on the Cahaba River.
Time
6:00 pm, Friday -
3:00 pm, Sunday
Dates
April 26-28, 2024
Location
Living River, A Retreat Center
on the Cahaba River
Montevallo, AL
Retreat Schedule
Friday
3:00 to 6:00pm: Check-in
6:00pm: Dinner & orientation
7:30pm: Meditation instruction, and lightly guided meditation
9:00pm: Noble Silence begins; ends after breakfast the next day.
10:00pm: Lights out
Saturday
5:00am: Wake up
6:00am: Morning meditation
7:30am: Breakfast
9:00am: Movement practice
10:30pm: Mid-morning meditation
12:00pm: Lunch
1:00pm: Free Time
2:30pm: Afternoon meditation
4:00pm: Movement practice
6:00pm: Dinner
7:30pm: Evening meditation
9:00pm: Star Meditation
Noble Silence through breakfast
Sunday
5:00am: Wake up
6:00am: Morning meditation
8:00am: Breakfast
9:00am: Family Groups
11:30pm: Lunch
12:30am: Closing remarks, group sharing
Departure by 2:30pm
Meals
Our personal retreat chef will prepare delicious and nutritious vegetarian/vegan meals with fresh and locally sourced ingredients to support your meditation practice.
We eat our meals together in mindfulness. We usually have 15-20 minutes of silent eating at the start of lunch and dinner, and breakfast is usually fully in silence. Eating in silence helps us appreciate the food deeply, and cherish the presence of those around us.
*Living River Retreat Center asks that no food be brought into the cabins or in luggage as it will attract mice.
Details
Motel-style Rooms
- 6 rooms
- 3 with Queen Beds
- 3 with 2 twins
Bunk Cabins
- Maximum 10 people
- Two showers stalls and two toilets in each cabin)
Tent Camping
- Primitive camping, no electricity or water.
- Bring your own tent, sleeping bag, etc.
- Access to bathroom and showers in bunk houses.
Bring your:
- Meditation cushion (Chairs will be available if you prefer to sit in a chair)
- Mat (Zubbaton) or folded up blanket to go under your cushion
- Blanket and socks to stay warm during sitting and walking meditation (Our meditation space has a concrete floor)
- Camping chair, yoga mat or blanket for outdoor Star Meditation
Don’t have a cushion or mat? We will have a few extras at the retreat for you to use.
*Do you have an extra cushion, mat or meditation bench? Please bring it to share with someone who doesn’t have one.
- Pillow
- Sleeping bag or sheets and blanket
- Clothing appropriate for weather and length of stay
- Sweatshirt or jacket
- Pajamas
- Rain jacket or poncho
- Medications
- First aid kit
- Reusable water bottle
- Towels, washcloths for showering
- Soap & Shampoo
- Toothbrush/toothpaste
- Brush/comb
- Insect repellent
- Sunscreen
- Laundry bag or trash bag for dirty clothes
- Flashlight
- Food in cabins/luggage. (Candy or snacks in luggage will attract mice.)
Living River Retreat Center Photo Gallery
Meet Your Retreat Meditation Instructors
Chris Davis
Chris has been meditating since he was a teenager when he learned to do body scan meditations to relax. He has a Masters in Theology and was a Southern Baptist minister for 17 years before he started his long and arduous journey to Buddhism.
He is passionate about building communities where people can be encouraged in their meditation practice and experience the energy of sitting with others. In 2021 Chris founded the Cahaba River Sangha and is an Alabama Meditation Network founding member and Outreach Chairperson.
Chris practices in the Plum Village Tradition of the late Thich Naht Hanh and attends Magnolia Grove Monastery in MS for retreats several times a year. He also enjoys meditating in other traditions like Shambhala, Tibetan, and Insight Meditation.
Chris works in the web design industry but his greatest passion is being a dad to his 3 children. He also enjoys playing guitar and experiencing outdoor adventures with his family.
Chris Davis
Lynn Snow
Lynn is an entrusted lay Zen teacher in the Soto Zen tradition, professor at The University of Alabama, and psychologist. She began meditating in 1995 and began to study with Gaelyn Godwin, Abbot of the Houston Zen Center (www.HoustonZen.Org) in 2005 until she moved to Alabama in 2006. She resumed her studies with Gaelyn Roshi in 2012, completed the Jukai precepts ceremony at the Houston Zen Center in 2017, and received lay teacher ordination in 2020.
She also received training in Mindfulness Based Relapse Prevention therapy from developer Sarah Bowen in 2014 and has served as a therapist using this approach.
She served as co-coordinator of a meditation group meeting at the Birmingham Unitarian Church in the tradition of Thich Nhaht Hahn from 2010 – 2013, and co-founded the Tuscaloosa Zen Meditation Circle in 2014. Lynn and Hank Lazer have co-led the Tuscaloosa Zen/Quiet Tide programs since 2019.
Lynn Snow
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