Wednesday September 16 - Sunday September 20, 2026
YMCA Camp Ocoee, Ocoee, TN
For five days at Camp Ocoee, we set aside the demands of daily life and give ourselves fully to practice — sitting, walking, chanting, and silence — together with fellow practitioners.
Silent retreat is different from a single day of sitting. A day can offer a taste of stillness; five days allow that stillness to settle and deepen. As the schedule holds you and the mind's usual busyness has time to quiet, habitual patterns become visible — and workable. Concentration gathers. Insight arises less as an idea and more as something felt directly in the body. What returns home with you is not just rest, but a subtler and steadier relationship with your own mind.
Teaching draws from the Pali canon and the Chan tradition, with methods for building concentration, cultivating loving-kindness (metta), and inquiring into the nature of experience. The daily form includes multiple periods of sitting and walking meditation, chanting services, dharma talks, and individual meetings with the teacher. Meals are vegetarian; accommodation is comfortable; the forested lakeside setting supports the practice without becoming its focus.
This retreat is open to both experienced practitioners and those coming to a multi-day silent retreat for the first time. Some prior meditation practice is helpful but not required — clear guidance is offered throughout, and the container of silence itself does much of the teaching. If you've been wanting to give your practice the time and space it deserves, this is the place to do it.
Retreat Teacher:
Gareth Young, Red Clay Sangha's Guiding Teacher, leads the retreat. Gareth holds teaching authority in the Vipassana tradition and has trained extensively in Chan and Zen; his teaching integrates the three, with the Pali suttas and Chan sources as its primary ground.
Location: YMCA Camp Ocoee, Ocoee, TN (about 2 hours north of Atlanta). For more information, visit the Camp Ocoee Website
Meals: Vegetarian meals will be provided. Vegan, dairy and gluten-free options will be available for every meal; snacks will also be available. Please mention any dietary restrictions on the registration form.
Payment and Refund and Cancellation Policies
Payment: Payment in full is preferred at time of registration. However, it is permissible to pay half at time of registration and the rest thirty days prior to the start of the retreat. Should RCS need to cancel a retreat for any reason (unlikely), all payments would be refunded in full.
Refund policy for cancellations: If you register and cancel 30 days or more prior to the retreat start date, you will receive a full refund. Cancellation up to 15 days prior to the start date will receive a 50% refund. No refunds are available after that date.
Financial Assistance: One of Red Clay's goals is for everyone to be able to attend regardless of ability to pay. To achieve this goal, a scholarship fund has been accumulated from donations from previous retreats and is available to help pay for those who need financial assistance. If financial assistance would make it easier for you to attend this retreat, you are encouraged contact the retreat administrator who will be happy to process your request.
Testimonials From Past Attendees
"The grounding practices Gareth introduced were so helpful! I feel more solid in my practice than I ever have before and more contented outside my sitting practice."
-KD (attended in 2026)
