Retreat Recap: Loving Presence
We don’t know if a more perfect February day could have been had for Loving Presence, our day soaked in silence to experience God’s Loving Presence.
As all those in Middle Tennessee know, expect the unexpected is on par for the weather time of year. It can be below freezing on a Monday, and by the time the weekend arrives, daffodils are blooming and you’re walking barefoot in the grass while the sunshine bathes your bare arms in the first rays they’ve experienced in months. When Loving Presence arrived on the final day of February, we experienced one of those beautiful days filled to overflowing with the promise of springtime renewal.
As we arrived with the morning chill in the air to set up the sacred space for our eager participants, we were amazed at how the land looked. Our first silent retreat, Sacred Presence, took place in June of 2025 and the trees were bursting with summer shades of green. This time of year, with trees still bare, the land took on new life— the labyrinth was easy to spot, the waterfall caught the air as a main soundscape without leaves to interfere, and you could see further into spaces previously unknown. It felt illuminating— like a nod to the day to come where silence often strips us bare in a way that illuminates our depths.
Participants arrived as the sun rose higher, their smiles and anticipation tangible.
For many, a full day of silence often feels out of reach. School schedules for children, their own personal lives added into the mix, changing landscapes of personal and professional relationships and endeavours… the list is endless of what ‘needs’ our attention. Registering for a silent treat often feels like a big step— showing up is a leap of faith that you can take a step outside of whatever feels like it is constantly pulling at all, and trust the world to keep spinning without you.
Laura, our greeter at Penuel Ridge, filled the room with heartfelt welcome and a soft energy that made you instantly relaxed. As she opened with a land acknowledgement and indigenous reading, we felt like kindred spirits on pilgrimage who finally arrived together to gather. Learning about the land, the house, the intention behind Penuel Ridge as sacred space lit up the faces of those women attending— the promise of their own sacred time about to unfold coming ever closer to beginning.
Chatter and connection haloed around our group as we moved from The Main House to the parking lot to gather our mats and journals, then down the meadow until we arrived at The Well. This building, made from organic materials and designed in the round, was our main space for the day. Each place was already set with everything each woman would need— a bolster, two blocks, Psalm 139, and a question to guide their day: What's going to feel like being held and loved by God in this moment?
Aelea welcomed us into The Well with an introduction to the spiritual practice of silence. Silence isn’t just an absence of sound, but an invitation to intimacy from our divine maker that we get to linger in without distraction or agenda. The discipline of silence invites us to leave the outer world behind for a time alone with Jesus. Silence offers a way of paying attention to the Spirit of God and what God brings to the surface of our souls. In quietness we may even notice things we would rather not notice or feel, and agendas and to-do lists may begin to surface… but, as we settle in more and more, everything we notice can become an invitation to prayer. Like a can opened up, the silence opens up the contents of our heart, allowing us deeper access to God than we may experience at other times. As we remain in silence, the inner noise and chaos will begin to settle and our capacity to open up wider and wider to God grows. The Holy One has access to places we don’t even notice exist in the midst of the busyness of life.
Before we entered into silence, each woman spoke out loud their one-word intention, hope, or desire for the day. The final moment of hearing their own voice, and our voices as a collective, felt holy. Our gathering prayer led us into the silence, and handed the day over to Kimee and our yoga practice.
Grounded in Psalm 139, Kimee’s Anahata Heart Chakra Flow educated the women about truths we know from science and faith and their convergence in the heart chakra: everything in the universe is made of energy and that what appears solid, at its most basic level, is vibrating particles— dynamic, moving, alive. Creation itself hums with life force, Holy Spirit animating energy. As Kimee seamlessly wove awareness of Anahata, the Heart Chakra, into the wisdom of Psalm 139, the movement and breath practices infused each woman with a deepening sense of self and belovedness. Shapes intentionally sequenced to open all sides of the heart invited balance to the heart chakra. In her words: The heart chakra is the sacred bridge along the spine— connecting the lower chakras of survival, identity and material with the upper chakras of freedom, expression and spirit. It is the meeting place of heaven and earth within us. The place where our inner world touches the outer world. When this system is balanced, we experience harmony. When energy flows freely, we feel integrated rather than fragmented. Open rather than defended. Aligned rather than divided.
As each woman explored movement that felt sweet in her body, it set her up to listen more deeply to both her body and the Spirit throughout the day of silence. Left to linger as long as they’d like in savasana, the day of spaciousness began. With journaling prompts available, and optional activities like a bonfire and restorative yoga, each woman approached their day with God in a way unique and authentic to them. Some participants hiked the trails and lingered by the water, others sat by the fire to listen to the crackle, or lingered by the waterfall and let the sound soothe.
One joy of Penuel Ridge is how they don’t have clocks anywhere. This is a way to encourage you to listen to your body— eat when you’re hungry, nap when you’re tired. No timelines, no structure, just true embodiment. Lunch was available in the main house anytime participants were hungry. Delicious homemade vegetable soup and home-baked sourdough buns were the feature, with a few sweets for those with a sweet tooth.
The sun, out in full-force, made the day feel extra abundant with grace. Everyone spent as much time outdoors as they could, enjoying the first tastes that summer will certainly be on the way. The feature of the day was the hours spent in spacious silence, bookended with offerings to round out the day. The day ended with group spiritual direction.
Spiritual Direction is something we had been wanting to incorporate into retreats for some time now. The way spiritual direction invites you to explore your own awareness, understanding, and experience of God is unique to any other practice. As a trained director, Aelea often layers in aspects of this naturally through the offerings she guides at retreats. This time, a final session of group spiritual direction invited people to add a third layer to the holy listening they had been doing all day— expanding it from listening to Spirit and self, to listening to others. As each woman shared of their experience in the silence, we held silent, sacred space. We listened deeply and invited the Spirit to ‘shimmer’ for us a word the woman spoke so it would stand out to us. Each woman wrote down a word on a card to be given to the woman who shared for her own time of prayer. Those who felt the desire to share named the word out loud to the woman who shared in a simple way— her name, then the word. No additional information, no justification, just trusting the spirit. The woman received without response, holding it with discernment. It was a unique practice with a different rhythm than our normal conversations the often include fixing and explaining, comfort and ‘listening to respond’. Here, we beared witness to one another in spirit-filled love.
The day closed as it began— the naming of a word. In the round, we shared a word that represented how we were feeling as we were leaving the day. Words of grateful, peaceful, and more emerged. God moved. We knew it. Our silence, while not always as we expected it to be, was met with love by our creator— truly meeting our deepest desires we may not have had the courage to name.
Kimee closed the day with a beautiful reading to remind us of our belovedness. As hugs were given and mats were rolled up, one of our participants, remembering hearing how the acoustics of the The Well are better than any shower, sang a hymn. Everyone paused to take in the beauty of the moment.
We will never get over how much of a gift and a privilege it is to hold space for each woman who retreats with us. To be your guides as you journey into your faith through retreats is something we don’t take lightly. As always, thank you for trusting us, retreating with us, and sharing your energy with us. It’s an honour to witness and call out your belovedness.
Xo, Aelea + Kimee