Seeking an escape from daily tribulations, many Knoxvillians find respite at local retreats

by Stephanie Piper

Teach me to go to the country beyond words.
—Thomas Merton

For Paige Buchholz, the country beyond words lies northeast of Knoxville, past fields and malls and clusters of double-wide trailers, over railroad tracks, through pastures. Small farms and neatly kept ranch houses lie in the shadow of House Mountain and the soft rise of the Cumberlands. It's Tennessee pretty here, the land alternately worn out and abundant, a fit metaphor for the spiritual life.

The yellow house is set back from the rural road, flanked by woods and two old barns. A serene golden retriever named Emma ambles out to greet visitors, followed by her serene owner. By day, Buchholz is pastor of St Luke's Episcopal Church in Knoxville; evenings, weekends, and other spare moments, she is resident director of Turtle Cove Retreat.

"It' s been a dream of mine for a long time," Buchholz says. "I've always wanted to have a place in the country where people could come and breathe, recharge, and heal."

The retreat, a place apart dedicated to spiritual growth and healing, is a concept that spans centuries and is embraced by every major religious tradition. Christ spent 40 days alone in the desert before beginning his public ministry. The Hebrew prophets sought silence and solitude to understand their missions. Exterior silence and detachment from worldly distractions are requisites for the interior stillness that is central to many Eastern religions. The Native American vision quest is a silent and solitary search.

In the modern world, the desire to still what Thomas Merton calls "the wild carnival we carry in our hearts" is more pressing than ever. We suffer from a surfeit of information. The time-honored cure is silence.

Silence is Turtle Cove's primary asset. It is, Buchholz says, the essential nutrient of the spiritual life.

"I need silence in order to hear—both my inner and outer knowledge and wisdom. You can't do that when you're running around in circles. I read a quote from Lily Tomlin: 'For fast-acting relief, slow down.'"

A native of Washington D.C., Buchholz came to Knoxville in 1988 to work as a chaplain with the Volunteer Ministry Center and at UT Hospital. Then she became a full-time pastor, and the idea of a retreat center assumed a new urgency.

"I realized I was going to be 50 soon," Buchholz says. "If I wanted to do this, it was time to do it."

Word spread through her congregation, and a real estate agent friend turned up nine acres of a roof, new wiring, heat.

The good news was the acreage: fields and woods and a pond. Bucholz and friends have cleared a walking path, added a hot tub and an above-ground pool in a private clearing. Near the pond stands the latest capital improvement, a teepee.

"People can use it for camping retreats or meditation," she says.

Retreats can be as short as a few hours or as long as a week. Buchholz offers spiritual direction for those who wish it, but there are no required activities.

The barns house a potter's wheel and other arts and crafts supplies—"I find the process of art very focusing," Buchholz says—and she often designs workshops for groups with particular needs or goals. But unstructured time is important to most visitors.

"The greatest interest has been from people who want to come and walk in the woods and be quiet," she says.

"I wanted a place that was quiet and safe and pretty and where I could be quiet and focused," says Heather Stagg, who has made two retreats at Turtle Cove.

"I'm a nurse and I work the night shift on a busy, stressful post-op floor. You have to be all together—body, mind, and soul—to do a good job as a nurse, I believe. The retreats have a great impact on my daily life—help me to know who I am and to function as a whole person.

"It's not just sitting and being quiet and having nothing to do. The society we live in is very task-oriented. The idea of being quiet seems weird—anti-social to a lot of people. The first time I made a retreat, I didn't know what to expect. But it was such a good experience that I have sought it out again and again in my life. Turtle Cove has become very special to me. It's set aside as a place to get quiet and to work out your own spiritual growth."

Though Buchholz is an Episcopal priest, Turtle Cove is nondenominational and receives no financial support from the Episcopal Church. Guests pay a small fee for meals and there is an additional charge for overnight retreats. Those who cannot afford to pay may earn their keep by helping with housework and maintenance of the grounds.

The practice of Eastern meditation is a central component of retreats at the Southern Dharma Center in Spring Creek, North Carolina.

The road to the Center winds straight up the side of Hap Mountain. It' s the last two miles of a two-hour journey from Knoxville, a route that is, according to Corinne Rovetti, "both magical and questionable."

"I'm always amazed that people from the city wind up getting there. As with many things on the spiritual path, once you embark, it's hard to turn around. And that's both literally and figuratively, because once you are on the road to the Center, there is nowhere to turn around," says Rovetti, who serves on the Center's board of directors.

Founded in 1978 by Elizabeth Kent and Melinda Guyol, the Southern Dharma (the word means "wisdom" in Sanskrit) Center offers both organized and private retreats and attracts a broad cross-section of visitors.

"We're eclectic—young, old, people who have never heard of meditation, educated, not-so-educated," Rovetti says. "We tend to have many Buddhist retreats, but we attract teachers from a variety of traditions: Christian, Judaic, and other Eastern religions as well."

Most retreats begin with a Friday evening meal and end after lunch on Sunday, although longer stays are possible. The focus is silent meditation.

"Silence is such a foreign concept to most people," Rovetti says. "We pride ourselves on communication. Once we sit in silence, we realize how much chatter is going on in our heads. Meditation has provided me with a real framework for the work I do. It helps me to be present and compassionate to the people I serve."

"It' s a place of real centering," says Karen Gill, a Knoxville teacher and mother of two young children. "It's incredibly restful. You're relieved of making decisions. We think having choice is this wonderful luxury, but decision-making is actually very stressful. When I come back from a retreat, I'm aware of how fast things go in daily life. Over the years I've been doing this, I've slowed down tremendously. My life is much more spacious."

An hour north of Knoxville, Narrow Ridge Retreat stretches over 175 acres of wilderness. The name comes from the writings of Jewish theologian Martin Buber.

"Buber used the analogy of the narrow ridge in much the same way Jesus spoke of the narrow gate," says Bill Nickle, director of the retreat center. "It's a pilgrimage, a balance between the outward, social activist type of life and the personal, inward spiritual quest."

"Spirituality and sustainability go hand in hand at Narrow Ridge," Nickle says. A reverence for the earth and its fruits is not only preached but actively practiced. The scattering of small buildings are constructed from natural materials and powered by solar energy. Organic produce is grown in the center's gardens.

Nickle is a United Methodist minister, but the retreat is nondenominational. It attracts people from all walks of life, including students who may receive college credit for environmental studies as well as those who simply want time apart.

"When I get into nature, I find renewal," says Jim Orr of Knoxville. "Narrow Ridge is so beautiful and isolated that I'm able to get involved in the silence and reflect. It's in silence that we really get into contact with the Divine. The only goal is to be there, to experience it."

Orr is director of Dismas House, a residential program for people who have just been released from prison. He says his retreats have a profound impact on his work.

"I think the experience prevents burnout. It's been known throughout the history of all religions that a created and intentional life of quiet and reflection is beneficial. When you move out of that and back into the world, you take action with compassion."

When Johanna Humphrey retired as principal of St. Joseph's School in Fountain City, she turned her formidable energies to creating the kind of place apart she herself had sought for years.

"I don't see how people can continue living life if they don't take time to tend to matters," Humphrey says. "You need a place to come and be."

She has turned her home on Black Oak Ridge into the Mountaincrest Spiritual Center. Humphrey offers workshops, spiritual direction, days of recollection, and group and private retreats. The two-and-a-half wooded acres provide space for solitude and reflection. Her spacious house includes a full finished lower level where individuals may make private retreats of up to a week.

Mountaincrest is a nonprofit organization in affiliation with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Knoxville. Programs and philosophy are rooted in Catholic tradition, although people from other faiths are welcome.

Now in her second year as Mountaincrest's director, Humphrey says interest in her programs is growing.

"I'm finding more people interested in contemplative prayer than I would ever have imagined. That has opened a door to people. Contemplative prayers begin to feel the need for spiritual direction, and eventually, for time apart." Jim Lawson, a pastoral associate at Sacred Heart Cathedral, says Mountaincrest is "a place of respite." He and his wife particularly enjoy the "Soulful Saturdays" Humphrey offers once a month. The day-long workshops cover spiritual topics ranging from icons to the poetry of Maya Angelou.

"It's as good as it gets," Lawson says. "We find ourselves looking forward to the retreats every month."

Melanie Norton, a Knoxville licensed clinical social worker, heads to Kentucky to find the silence and space for reflection she misses in daily life. Norton has made two retreats at Bethany Spring, a farmhouse retreat in New Haven, Ky. Bethany Spring is owned by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, a Catholic religious order, but is open to all faiths.

Norton says the rhythm of the quiet days is soothing. Prayer services and spiritual direction are available but never required. A mile up the road from Bethany Spring is the Abbey of Gethsemani, where spiritual writer and monk Thomas Merton spent his adult life. Visitors are welcome at mass and the liturgy of the hours, which is chanted seven times each day. Gethsemani also offers private retreats.

At Bethany Spring, guests help themselves to breakfast and lunch. Sister Danielle, the director, prepares the main evening meal and everyone helps with cleanup.

"My idea of a good time is to go and be quiet and read and pray and sit in nature—and have someone else make me brownies," Norton says. "It sort of flashes me back to childhood. It really is a place which strips away all the hoopla and helps me get clear about my priorities."