The Gift of Shared Silence
A Silent Devotional Retreat
December 3-6, 2026
Just Love Forest Ashram
Poetry, Georgia
In a world that rarely stops speaking, what might become possible when we gather simply to be?
We are living through extraordinary times. Our days are filled with information, opinions, responsibilities, uncertainty, and an almost endless invitation to react.
Perhaps what these times need more of is not another conversation, another answer, or another thing to do.
Perhaps what we need is more silence.
Not the silence of isolation or withdrawal, but the profound gift of shared, reverent silence.
The kind of silence that emerges when we sit beside one another without needing to speak. When we share a meal, walk through the forest, or simply watch the changing light move through the trees.
At Just Love Forest Ashram, we believe this is one of the great gifts we can offer one another.
Silence Is Not the Absence of Something
We often imagine silence as something we must achieve: quieting the mind, stopping our thoughts, or reaching a particular meditative state.
But what if silence asks much less of us?
What if it is simply an invitation to stop filling every moment?
During our retreat, silence takes many forms. We sit in meditation, walk among the trees, share nourishing meals, rest, reflect, and experience the extraordinary intimacy of simply being present with others.
There is no single correct way to experience silence.
Some of us may encounter peace. Others may discover restlessness, grief, gratitude, or joy. All of it belongs.
We are not gathering to become better at being silent. We are gathering to discover what silence might teach us about being alive.
The Spirit of Neem Karoli Baba
Just Love Forest Ashram is rooted in the devotional lineage of Neem Karoli Baba, affectionately known as Maharaj-ji.
His teachings were remarkably simple:
Love Everyone. Serve Everyone. Remember God.
Through his life and teachings, we are reminded that spiritual practice is not about accumulating knowledge or achieving extraordinary experiences. It is about opening our hearts to the sacredness of ordinary life.
His student Ram Dass helped bring this understanding to countless people through the practice of loving awareness.
Our silence is an expression of these teachings.
We do not need to speak constantly to express love. We do not need to fill every moment to be of service. Sometimes the greatest gift we can offer another being is our undivided presence.
Our retreat is inspired by this lineage but does not require adherence to any particular religion or spiritual tradition. All are welcome.
We Are Nature
At Just Love Forest, we return to a simple understanding: We are nature.
We are not separate beings entering the natural world to find something missing from our lives. We are expressions of the same living world.
The forest does not need to be taught how to be silent.
Even in its quietest moments, it is alive with movement, communication, change, and relationship.
As we spend time in the forest together, our bodies can soften, our senses can awaken, and our hearts can become more available to the life unfolding around us.
We do not need to accomplish anything to belong here.
The forest welcomes us exactly as we are.
Together, Without Words
There is something particularly beautiful about entering silence as a community.
When we release the need to introduce ourselves through our stories, professions, opinions, and identities, another kind of relationship becomes possible.
We might pass someone on a forest trail and share a quiet acknowledgment. Sit together beside a fire. Eat across from one another without speaking a word.
And somehow, without conversation, we may feel a profound sense of companionship.
Shared silence reminds us that connection does not always require words.
We can belong without performing. We can care without advising. We can love without speaking.
A Different Kind of Silent Retreat
Our time together is gently held, with opportunities for sitting meditation, mindful movement, forest walks, personal reflection, rest, and shared meals.
There is structure, but also spaciousness.
There are invitations, but no expectation that every person experience silence in the same way.
Some may find meaning in formal meditation. Others may discover their deepest connection while sitting beneath a tree, watching clouds pass, or listening to the forest.
ARRIVAL AND CLOSING
We gather on Thursday by 3:00 PM Eastern Time. The first day is for connecting with one another: introductions and discussion around the fire, a shared dinner, and devotional kirtan singing before we enter into silence.
Silence begins on Friday morning and is held through all of Friday, all of Saturday, and Sunday until about 3:00 PM, when we break silence together in a closing circle over a forest tea, sharing our reflections. You may head home Sunday evening or stay the night and depart Monday morning, whatever suits you.
Please plan to arrive by 3:00 PM on Thursday and to stay through the closing circle on Sunday. Late arrivals and early departures are not possible for this container.
DAILY FLOW
The full rhythm of Friday and Saturday. Sunday keeps the same morning flow of meditation, breathwork, and puja, and silence breaks in the closing circle around 3:00 PM. Gatherings marked * include chanting or speech and are always optional. You may hold uninterrupted silence in your tent or out in nature instead.
6:00 - 7:00 Meditation
7:00 - 7:30 Kundalini breathwork
7:30 - 8:30 Puja & Aarti *
9:00 Vegan breakfast
9:30 - 10:30 Personal Time
10:30 - 11:00 Silent sitting meditation
11:30 - 12:30 Silent sitting meditation
1:00 - 2:00 Vegan lunch
2:00 - 2:30 Guided meditation *
3:00 - 5:00 Mindful movement / Nature Meditation
5:00 - 6:00 Personal Time
6:00 Vegan dinner
7:00 - 8:00 Puja & Aarti with devotional readings *
8:00 - 9:00 Optional silent gathering in the meadow for stargazing or fire
Before you arrive, you are invited to write a single-page letter about the areas of your spiritual life you are working on. We read these together in satsang, and they guide our conversations about the spiritual path. You’ll receive more direction after registering.
Puja, Arati & Sacred Reflection
Each day, we will gather for optional periods of puja and arati, devotional practices rooted in the Bhakti Yoga tradition of love, service, and remembrance of the sacred.
Puja is the practice of honoring the sacred through simple offerings, such as flowers, incense, light, prayer, and gratitude. Arati is the offering of light, often accompanied by chanting, as an expression of devotion and reverence.
At Just Love Forest Ashram, our altar is an open and inclusive sacred space. While our practices are inspired by the lineage of Neem Karoli Baba and Ram Dass, we welcome all spiritual traditions, religions, lineages, and expressions of compassion and love. Participants are invited to bring photographs of loved ones, teachers, ancestors, deities, or other meaningful sacred objects to place on the altar throughout our time together.
Our gatherings may also include gentle devotional chanting, the reading of letters submitted by participants, and brief spiritual reflections offered by the retreat stewards. These moments are intended not as teachings to be analyzed or conversations to be entered into, but as invitations to listen, feel, remember, and rest more deeply in the heart.
Throughout the entire retreat, we will remain in shared silence. There will be no group discussions, conversational exchanges, or expectation of verbal participation. While certain devotional gatherings will include chanting, spoken reflections, and the reading of letters, these offerings will be held within the larger container of silence.
All of these gatherings are optional. We are welcome to join, listen, chant if we feel called, or simply sit in quiet presence. We may also choose to remain outside in the forest, continuing our own personal practice of silence.
There is no single way to receive this experience. Whether through devotion, contemplation, prayer, or simply being present with the natural world, we honor the many ways we find our way into the stillness of the heart.
Meet Bala.
Retreat Guide & Founding Steward
Balarama (Bala) is the founder and founding steward of Just Love Forest and Just Love Forest Ashram, a 716-acre nature sanctuary in the foothills of Northwest Georgia dedicated to contemplative practice, sacred community, and deepening our relationship with the natural world.
Bala is a trained meditation teacher, having completed the two-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program led by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach, and a certified Forest Therapy Guide through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy (ANFT). His approach brings together mindfulness, nature connection, and the devotional traditions of Bhakti Yoga, particularly the teachings of Ram Dass and Neem Karoli Baba.
Through his work at Just Love Forest, Bala creates welcoming spaces for slowing down, turning inward, and remembering our essential belonging to the living world. He approaches silence not simply as the absence of conversation, but as an opportunity to cultivate presence, deepen awareness, and experience the quiet intimacy of being together without needing to speak.
For this December's Silence Retreat, Bala will serve as the primary retreat guide, supported by fellow stewards and guides of Just Love Forest Ashram, who will help hold a compassionate, nurturing, and spacious environment for each participant's unique journey into silence.
Learn more: Bala.love
THE CONTAINER WE HOLD:
SOVEReIGNTY
The container stays open and sovereign on purpose. What we espouse has everything to do with connecting to your own heart, listening to it, and following it. Guides are present to offer formal meditation throughout the day but do not interrupt the overall silence; participants are seen as fellow seekers on unique inner journeys, and nature is both teacher and sanctuary.
Retreat cost
Canvas bell tent - $500+tax
Tipi tent - $400+tax
Self-camping - $200+tax
Rates are per person and include all meals and all programs. If you have the ability and would like to give more, additional donations are welcome and help us keep these spaces accessible.
Stay Sunday night for $50+tax per person: dinner and evening Puja & Aarti on Sunday, a simple breakfast and morning meditation, breathwork, and Puja & Aarti on Monday, with departure by 10:00 AM.
We want anyone to be able to come, regardless of ability to pay. Please reach out and we will talk together about payment plans and reduced fees.
Warmth and Overnight Safety
No flames or heaters are permitted inside the tents. The main gathering yurt stays heated throughout the retreat. If nights drop below 35°F, participants may choose to sleep communally in the yurt with pull-out mattresses.
Carrying Silence Into the World
Eventually, we will speak again.
We will return to our responsibilities, relationships, devices, communities, and the many complexities of the world.
The world may not be any quieter than when we left it.
But perhaps we will relate to it differently.
Perhaps we will listen more deeply before responding. Perhaps we will feel less compelled to fill every empty moment. Perhaps we will remember that even in uncertain times, there is a place within us that can remain open, tender, and present.
Silence is not something we must leave behind in the forest.
It is something we can carry into our homes, our relationships, and our service to the world.
We come together in silence not to turn away from life, but to remember how deeply we belong to it.
Come As You Are
We invite you to spend these days with us at Just Love Forest Ashram, held by the forest, supported by community, and welcomed into the simple beauty of shared silence.
No particular spiritual background or extensive meditation experience is required. Only a willingness to arrive with an open heart and curiosity about what might become possible when we make room for quiet.
There is nothing to prove, nothing to perform, and nowhere else you need to be.
Just this breath. The forest. The moment. Together.
“i would like my life to be statement of love and compassion - and where it isn’t, that’s where my work lies.”
Ram Dass