A Just Love Forest Ashram Inspired Spiritual Practice Retreat

Loving Awareness is an open invitation into presence itself. It is the heart practice of resting in what is here, moment by moment, and letting the wisdom of the body, the land, and the heart become our guide. This retreat offers a spacious immersion into the simple yet profound art of being awake with life as it is, without needing to fix or perform. Here at Just Love Forest we trust that the quiet of the woods, the rhythm of the seasons, and the company of kind hearts help each of us remember what we already are.

Loving Awareness is for anyone who longs to reconnect with inner spaciousness, to soften into their own ever-present love, and to meet life with clarity and compassion. Whether you come seeking renewal, grounding, insight, or simple rest, this retreat provides practices that help you come home to yourself.

This retreat is hosted by Sitaram Dass, one of Ram Dass’ long-term caregivers and founder of the Sacred Community Project. He’s a spiritual counselor, author, meditation teacher, kirtan singer, and longtime student of Ram Dass. Sitaram’s path is rooted in bhakti, the yoga of love and devotion, and he has dedicated his life to supporting others in waking up to the heart’s own presence. He is the director of the Sacred Community Project and the author of From and for God, a contemplative collection of spiritual writings. Throughout his work he strives to lower barriers to contemplative and devotional practices, offering accessible support, teachings, and community for seekers around the world. His presence brings warmth, grounded insight, and devotion to every moment of practice.

Over our time together at Loving Awareness we will explore practices that help us rest in the heart’s natural openness. We will move gently between guided meditation, mindful silence, movement that awakens the body, and practices rooted in presence. Forest walks and contemplative time outdoors allow the land itself to become a teacher, helping us deepen our capacity to feel, notice, and receive what arises. Evening gatherings offer shared reflection, quiet ritual, lots of kirtan, and space to integrate the day.

Some days will hold stillness. Others will invite deep listening. All will offer vastness beneath the surface of the ordinary. This retreat is not about becoming someone new but remembering someone ancient: the one who lives from the heart and meets life with warm awareness.

Loving Awareness welcomes all who come with openness and curiosity. Come with what you carry, exactly as you are. Here you will be invited to rest in love’s own awareness and to let that presence shape your experience of the world.

Registration is now open: www.justloveforest.com/lovingawareness

While the ashram is currently in formation as a nonprofit religious organization, retreats and gatherings at this time are hosted through Just Love LLC, the land-based retreat stewarding organization.

• This weekend retreat will be followed by an optional week-long Forest Sadhana Immersion: https://sacredcommunityproject.org/forest-sadhana.

Intimacy & connection Retreat

Registration is now open by clicking here

Intimacy & Connection Retreat
April 24–26 · Just Love Forest, Poetry, Georgia

The Intimacy & Connection Retreat at Just Love Forest is a deeply immersive weekend for individuals who feel called to open the heart, deepen self-awareness, and cultivate more authentic, nourishing relationships.

Held in the quiet embrace of 716 acres of protected forest, this retreat invites you to slow down and explore intimacy from the inside out. Rather than focusing on fixing what’s broken, this experience is about discovering what’s possible — how you listen, how you express yourself, how you create safety and trust, and how you meet others with presence, clarity, and care.

Through forest therapy, somatic and embodiment practices, ritual, movement, communication tools, and time in nature, you’ll be guided to soften old defenses, release held emotions, and reconnect with your natural capacity for openness, joy, and connection. The practices are gentle, permission-based, and designed to support both personal insight and real-world relational growth.

This retreat is for individuals - single, partnered, or in transition - who want to deepen intimacy in all its forms: romantic, platonic, familial, communal, and most importantly, with themselves. You’ll leave with embodied tools for clearer communication, healthier boundaries, deeper listening, and greater ease in relationship.

Facilitated by Christina Della Iacono, Laura Sánchez, and Bala Yancey, the weekend includes guided ceremonies, forest immersion, movement and sound journeys, relational skill-building, and spacious time to rest and integrate. Lodging is provided in comfortable canvas bell tents, along with nourishing plant-based meals.

This is an invitation to come as you are, listen deeply, and remember what it feels like to meet yourself and others with honesty, warmth, and love.

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN

Gay by Nature
OUR 3rd Gathering for Gay Men
May 28–31, 2026

A nature-rooted gathering designed by gay men, for gay men, held in the heart of Just Love Forest in Poetry, Georgia. Gay by Nature is a soulful weekend retreat where gay men from all walks of life come together to breathe deeply, speak honestly, and remember who they are beneath the surface.

This experience is about slowing down, reconnecting with your inner life, and rediscovering the joy of brotherhood in an unhurried, supportive forest setting. Over the course of three days you’ll share nourishing plant-based meals, hike through vibrant late spring forests, gather in fire circles for heartfelt conversations, explore movement and yoga, and rest in spacious silence and community.

Gay by Nature meets you where you are, whether you’re seeking rest, healing, deeper connection, spiritual renewal, friendship, or simply time to be present with others who understand. You’re welcome here in your fullness, your softness, your questions, and your story.

This retreat invites you to rest, be seen, and be gay by nature - slowing down with kindred spirits and the forest as your teachers.

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN

Questions? contact@justloveforest.com

UNTAMED: REWILDING THE FEMININE

June 11th - 14th, 2026

Untamed: Rewilding the Feminine is an invitation into the ritual wild. A return to what has always lived beneath the surface. A remembering of the woman who existed before the softening pressures of expectation, the taming of instinct, and the weight of being good. This retreat is for every woman longing to shake off the domestication of shoulds and step into the raw, unedited pulse of her own life force.

Across four days held within the ancient quiet of the forest, we will journey through the elemental gateways of earth, fire, water, and sky. Together we will create a sacred container where grief and joy are not opposites but twin teachers. Through movement, breath, story, and silence we will reclaim the forgotten parts of ourselves, the ones that have waited patiently for space to speak again. This is a place where permission reigns. Where your inner wild woman is not only welcome but wanted.

Our time together will include spacious circles for sharing, guided journeys for remembering, and rituals shaped by the land itself. There will be moments of fierce clarity and moments of soft unraveling, opportunities to rest in sisterhood and opportunities to stand alone beneath the canopy of trees and hear your own heartbeat again. We honor the thresholds each woman carries into this gathering: the losses that altered her, the longings she has not yet spoken, the quiet wisdom she has not yet trusted.

Evenings will invite a deeper descent. Firelight ceremonies. Drum and breath. Gentle forest wanders. Conversations that drift between laughter and tears. Mornings will offer grounding practices, movement to awaken the body, and invitations to meet yourself with tenderness. The pace is intentional, allowing each participant to choose how deeply she steps in. Nothing is forced. Everything is allowed.

Untamed is not about becoming someone new. It is about remembering someone ancient. The woman who knows how to listen to her body, honor her rhythms, and speak from her bones. The woman who has survived loss and still loves. The woman who is both gentle and unbreakable.

The work is deep, but the invitation is simple: come exactly as you are, especially the parts that feel inconvenient, too much, not enough, or still finding their voice. Bring your grief. Bring your wonder. Bring the wild threads of yourself that have waited for a place to belong.

We will hold them all.

Limited to 20 women.

Registration Opens Soon

Rewilding Men

An August Men’s Retreat at Just Love Forest

Friday, August 7th – Sunday, August 9th, 2026

Optional Swimming Hole Adventure Stay-Over on Monday

To be a man in this world is to walk a path full of contradictions - strong and soft, protector and nurturer, leader and one who surrenders to the flow of life. Too often, we are told we must be one thing or the other, that vulnerability and power cannot coexist. But we know the truth: that real masculinity is expansive, not restrictive. That to stand fully in who we are means embracing every part of ourselves.

Rewilding Men is a recurring gathering for those who feel called to a different kind of masculinity - one rooted in camaraderie, authenticity, and self-discovery.

In the height of summer, we gather as men to remember what has been domesticated out of us.

Rewilding Men is a return to instinct, truth, and embodied masculine presence - beyond performance, beyond shame, beyond the versions of ourselves we learned to manage in order to belong.

Many men feel it: a restlessness, a dulling, a sense that life force has gone sideways. We’ve been trained to contain, suppress, or redirect our raw energy without ever being taught how to inhabit it. This retreat offers a different path - one rooted in the forest, the fire of the sun, and honest brotherhood.

We work at the edge between who we were shaped to be and who we actually are underneath. There is permission here to be real, strong, tender, uncertain, fierce, grieving, alive. Nothing to prove. Nothing to perform.

This is men’s work for these times. In a culture that often shames, belittles, or polarizes men, we create a container where masculinity is neither inflated nor erased, but embodied with integrity.

Expect time in the forest, council with other men, embodied practices, ritual, fire, movement, silence, and deep listening. Expect to leave feeling more inhabited - more rooted in your body, your voice, and your place in the world.

Summer tells the truth.

Life wants to move.

Fire wants to burn with intention - clear and clean.

This is an invitation to meet yourself there.

Over the course of the weekend, we will explore what it means to be a man in today’s world - not through lectures, but through real engagement, through story, through movement, through time spent in nature. Expect deep discussion, shared rituals, nature therapy, and a heck of a lot of fun. Expect moments of laughter, moments of silence, moments of recognition. Expect to be challenged in the best possible way.

And if you want to stretch the experience a little further, we’ll have an optional stay-over on Monday, where we’ll head to the swimming hole and let it all soak in.

If you are seeking something real & if you are ready to stand alongside other men who are asking the same questions, walking the same journey, then this is for you.

Come as you are. Show up for yourself. Show up for each other.

REGISTRATION OPENS SOON

4th Annual Ram Dass Summer Camp 🧡🐒

Join us for our largest gathering of the year, a heart-opening immersion into the lineage of Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of devotion and love.

We will open the weekend together in sacred ceremony, formally entering the space of Just Love Forest Ashram. Through a grounding ritual and opening Aarti, we will invoke the lineage of Ram Dass, Neem Karoli Baba, and Hanuman, calling in the directions, the forest, and the shared intention that brings us together. This opening ceremony marks our collective step into devotional time, setting the container for remembrance, reverence, and love.

From there, the days unfold as a rich tapestry of Aarti rituals, meditation, forest therapy, and late-night mountaintop kirtans, where we sing our hearts out beneath the vast summer sky. We’ll gather around the fire for satsang conversations, sharing our paths, questions, laughter, and longings, deepening together into the practices of love and service.

Special guests will join us with soul-stirring kirtan, alongside our beloved Naga Das guiding transformative breathwork. Bala will lead satsang reflections that invite us into the living heart of Ram Dass’s teachings, not as philosophy, but as practice. Additional special guests will be announced soon.

This is a community-centered gathering in the forest, intentionally designed to be financially accessible. While there are suggested contribution guidelines, please don’t let finances keep you from this celebration of love. Reach out if you feel called and need support.

Come to sing, to serve, to sit together, and to remember what brought us to the path in the first place. We can’t wait to welcome you into the circle.

REGISTRATION OPENS SOON

While the ashram is currently in formation as a nonprofit religious organization, retreats and gatherings at this time are hosted through Just Love LLC, the land-based retreat stewarding organization and are not tax deductible.

Chant for Love Retreat returns September 10th-13th!

Relax into the first weekend of Spring to experience bliss, love and community with Radha Rose, Bala Yancey and Josh Klein. This weekend retreat will introduce you to mantra meditation and kirtan. Enjoy magical sound healing experiences with sacred mantras enhanced with nature therapy and cacao.

Nurture your spiritual connection. Cultivate a sense of calm, grounding and focus. Replace old habits with inspiring and heartwarming Mantra Meditation, Kirtan and Sound Healing practices.

Enjoy the late summer with a special excursion to Little River Canyon.

Whether this is your first retreat or 108th, if you are brand new or far on your spiritual path:

The CHANT FOR LOVE 2026 Retreat is for you if you seek to open up your heart and your voice with experienced Bhakti yoga guides in an inclusive spiritual community.

REGISTRATION OPENS SOON

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Just Love Forest Fest is a weekend-long gathering in the heart of the forest devoted to presence, connection, and remembrance of what truly matters.

Over the course of the weekend, you’re invited into 10 thoughtfully curated spiritual workshops and experiential offerings, guided by seasoned facilitators and community members. These experiences span a wide range of paths and practices all rooted in embodiment, listening, reverence for the land, and living from the heart.

Days unfold slowly and intentionally, with opportunities for nature-based practices, contemplative exploration, creative expression, somatic experiences, and shared ritual. There is no pressure to do it all. You’re encouraged to follow what calls you, rest when needed, and trust your own rhythm.

As evening arrives, the forest softens into a different kind of magic. Wholesome devotional and acoustic music gatherings invite us to sing, listen, and be together by firelight. Gentle, embodied dance spaces open naturally, expressive, sober, and heart-centered,offering a joyful way to move energy and celebrate life beneath the stars.

Just Love Forest Fest is alcohol-free, family-friendly, and rooted in care for both people and place. It’s a space for sincere connection, spiritual curiosity, and remembering ourselves as part of something larger - community, earth, and love itself.

Come as you are. Stay as long as you need. Let the forest hold you.

REGISTRATION OPENS SOON

Become a Certified Forest Therapy Guide with the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides (ANFT)

Begin your journey towards becoming a Certified Forest Therapy Guide in the sacred forest of the Appalachian foothills of Poetry, Georgia. Followed by a four-month online training, this is a profound transformational journey of remembering and deepening your relationship with the Earth and all beings, as well as a pathway for professional expansion and personal growth.

Do you feel a deep love for nature and are looking for ways to support our planet? Are you curious about the health benefits of being in nature and want to learn more about the research? What would it be like if you could support others, one by one, to remember their relationship and their place in the bigger web of Life? What would it be like if a growing number of people saw the Earth as more than just a resource available for us and sought ways of reciprocating with the Earth?

Develop a set of skills and knowledge that you can use to guide others on their own paths of discovery and healing.

7-Day Training followed by a 4 Month Online Program

JOIN US FOR 3 DAYS OF SILENCE AND REFLECTION

Step away from the noise of everyday life and enter a container of deep stillness in the sacred forests of Just Love Forest Ashram in Poetry, Georgia. Silence: A 3-Day Experience is an immersive silent retreat designed to support inner reflection, presence, and heart-awakening through contemplative time in nature.

Over the course of three days, participants are invited to let go of spoken communication, disconnect from technology and distraction, and lean into the quiet wisdom of the forest and their own inner world. Silence becomes a shared practice, without talking, reading, music, or screens, allowing space for personal insight, meditative rest, and open awareness.

The retreat is held within a supportive and intentional environment where nature is both teacher and sanctuary, encouraging you to walk meditation paths, sit in stillness beneath ancient trees, journal your reflections, and slow the pace of living. Guides are present to offer occasional meditation but do not interrupt the overall silence; participants are seen as fellow seekers on unique inner journeys.

Silence: A 4-Day Experience is open to people of all backgrounds and levels of experience, held with reverence for the forest, community, and the stillness that unites us. It is offered by invitation after a short connection call to support an ideal fit for each retreat container.

People of all backgrounds and levels of experience are invited to attend. This is space held for your personal growth, reflection and rejuvenation, supported by the forest.

Arrival will be at 1:00pm on Thursday evening to gather for dinner, deep introductions and gentle kirtan music to welcome us all into the space with each other. Silence will begin Friday morning. You will be asked not to communicate using sound until we break silence on Sunday evening where we will close with deep sharing and kirtan.

DAILY FLOW

• 7:30 - Meet in yurt for mindful movement

• 7:50 - Guided meditation

• 8:10 - Satsang to focus on letters

• You will write a single page letter prior to arriving to discuss areas of their spiritual life you’re working on and we will read these and discuss relevant topics about the spiritual path.

• 9:00 - 10:00 - Vegan breakfast

• 10:30 - 11:00 - Silent sitting meditation

• 11:45 - 12:30 - Silent sitting meditation

• 12:00 - 45 minutes of silent meditation in the yurt

• 1:00 - 2:00 - Vegan lunch

• 2:00 - 2:45 - Guided meditation

• 2:45 - 3:30 - Mindful movement

• 5:30 - Evening satsang

• 6:45 - Vegan dinner

• 7:30 - 9:30 - Optional silent gathering in the meadow for stargazing or fire

REGISTRATION OPENS SOON