The Body as a Gateway to Peace
With Caverly Morgan, Davin Youngs, Jess "Jay" Jarris, and Sam Hammer
December 7 - 12, 2026 | Whidbey Island, WA
The body knows things the mind has forgotten. Our experience of the body changes when we stop perceiving it as something we possess—as solid, dense, simply made of matter. When this perception shifts, our experience of reality shifts with it.
Here's what becomes possible: We can drop our attention from the racing mind into the body. And from there, we can go even deeper—into the heart of awareness itself.
The body isn't just a tool or a vessel. It's a doorway. When we move past our conditioned ideas about the body and meet it as it actually is, we discover something unchanging. Something that was never born and will never die. Something free from the stories we've been telling.
This is where peace lives. Not in perfecting the body. Not in controlling it. But in resting in its true nature.
A Glimpse Into Your Days
These days are intentionally designed to balance teaching, nature, community, and rest, so that what you came for can be lived rather than simply learned.
December 7: Arrival
Arrive in the afternoon and settle into the land.
Join our welcome gathering
In the evening, we will enjoy a shared dinner, and an opening practice with Caverly.
December 8–11
Mornings begin gently, with movement led by Jay, followed by a nourishing breakfast.
Late morning brings meditation and group practice with Caverly.
Midday opens into a shared lunch and spacious free time to rest, walk the land, or simply be.
Afternoons offer movement and a session with Davin.
Optional craniosacral bodywork with Sam available for scheduling at an additional cost.
Evenings bring a shared dinner together, and on some nights, the group gathers again for evening meditation and practice with Caverly.
Silence is held overnight, from the close of evening practice through breakfast and into the morning.
December 12: Departure
The final morning invites you to move slowly.
Wake gently, share a last breakfast together, and begin the quiet work of gathering your things.
A time for integration, for soft goodbyes and lingering conversations, and for honoring what has settled within you over these days together.
What Is Possible On Retreat
Moments of real stillness
A relaxed nervous system remembering what it feels like to not be on guard
A different relationship to your body — like coming home to yourself
The kind of rest that actually restores
Unexpected clarity that surfaces in the silence between sessions
An embodied sense (not just an intellectual understanding) that you are not separate from what you’re longing for
Connection with others that goes deeper than small talk
Leaving with something you can’t quite name but won’t forget
Join us for this special meditation retreat exploring embodiment with:
Caverly Morgan — Teacher of awakening, offering guided meditations and dharma discussions on the true nature of the body as a pathway beyond a limited sense of self
Davin Youngs — Sound healing artist and vocalist, offering sound healing sessions, guided meditation, and voice and embodiment practices to expand awareness and reconnect to our natural state of well-being
Jess "Jay" Jarris — Somatic psychotherapist, offering mindful movement and somatic practices as pathways for deepening connection to the innate wisdom of our bodies and embodying a home within ourselves
Sam Hammer — Bodyworker, offering optional individual hands-on sessions weaving craniosacral and light myofascial work as an invitation to deepen awareness into the body. Note these sessions are not included in the retreat tuition and Sam will be handling payments directly.
About Whidbey Institute
One of the many sacred spaces held by the Whidbey Institute's forest
Delicious, nourishing and made with love and care.
Held by the Land
This gathering is held on 106 acres of quiet, protected land on Whidbey Island, a forested sanctuary of towering firs and cedars, fern-laced trails, and tended gardens. This is a place where the trees rise high, the silence is real, and the land itself becomes part of the homecoming. At the heart of the land, an old-growth forest and living gardens hold the same quiet aliveness this retreat is here to help you remember.
Deeply Nourished
Meals at the Whidbey Institute are lovingly prepared by the Whidbey Institute’s chef, using local, fresh, organic produce whenever possible. Meals can be accommodated with special dietary requests, and often include an abundance of gluten-free, low-sugar, and vegan options. Food as medicine, prepared with care and sourced as close to the land as possible.
TESTIMONIALS
“Caverly Morgan is bold and unapologetic, of a deep love for humanity and a full understanding of the power of authentic harmony & evolution. I couldn’t recommend her retreats more highly. If you’re longing to awaken, in courage grounded grace & joy, in a space where you’re held in such true depth and connection.”
—Sunshine, Public Speaker
"I wanted to express sincere gratitude and appreciation for all the time Jess has shared with me. I’ve felt comfortable and safe in our sessions and I was able to go to some new places in my consciousness that I’ve been resisting for a long time. It was liberating and illuminating, and it was a bit of a breakthrough that I was not expecting."
— E.D.
"A beautiful magician of the soul."
—Elizabeth Gilbert, Author of Eat Pray Love on Davin Youngs
Your Guides
Every step of the way, you'll be held by a team of guides, movement teachers, coaches and musicians, each offering their own kind of support for the learning, the integration, and the connection that unfolds between you.
About Caverly Morgan
After eight years as a silent Zen monk, Caverly Morgan discovered something through direct experience: the freedom she’d been seeking was already here.
Featured in the New York Times and named one of 2025's powerful women of the mindfulness movement, Caverly is a teacher of awakening, two-time author, nonprofit founder and speaker who blends the original spirit of Zen with a modern nondual and relational approach.
Caverly supports others in remembering our true nature—not through more techniques or self-improvement strategies, but through presence, inquiry, and togetherness.
She is the author of The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together and A Kids Book About Mindfulness. As founder of the nonprofits Peace in Schools (the nation's first for-credit mindfulness program in U.S. public high schools) and Realizing Freedom Together, she has pioneered ways for communities to awaken collectively, making teachings that lead to liberation accessible to all.
About Sam Hammer
Sam is a highly trained bodyworker and craniosacral therapist, his work is based on safe and attuned therapeutic relationship; cultivated presence; mindful and precise contact; and a deep trust in the innate intelligence and healing capacities of our bodies and beings when supported with the environments and optimal inputs that we need.
In over 10,000 client sessions since 2014, he’s cultivated the art of listening with my hands and energetic sensitivity to the unique needs and qualities of each client.
While his professional practice focuses on manual therapy, his learning and personal passions include somatic meditation, qi gong, functional strength and mobility training, and metabolic health practices.
About Jess “Jay” Jarris
Jay Jarris (she/they) is a Somatic Psychotherapist, Yoga Therapist and Embodiment Coach. In her private practice, she blends together Somatic Experiencing, mindfulness, Polyvagal Theory, parts work and embodiment practices.
Jay began their personal exploration of contemplative practices in 2004 and since 2012 has journeyed alongside others in exploring how movement, mindfulness and somatic awareness can help to reconnect us with the innate wisdom of our bodies. She offers individual sessions, a quarterly group series called Embodied Homecoming, and workshops.
About Davin Youngs
New York Times bestselling author of Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert describes Davin Youngs as a "beautiful magician of the soul." The singer and sound healing artist has proved himself to be a true musical innovator who believes wholeheartedly in the transformational power of singing, voice and sound.
He is the creator of The RESET, an immersive sound healing experience that he has brought to iconic spaces and stages like The Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall, Chicago's famed Orchestra Hall, Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Finney Chapel at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the roof of Ace Hotel. This experience features Davin using improvisational singing through looping devices as well as overtone-emitting instruments to create a sonic container for restoration and healing. What makes this experience truly unique is the subtle integration of electronic beats and the emergence of improvised music that reflects the wonder and beauty of each person present.
Davin is a featured teacher on the Insight Timer meditation app where his extensive library of recorded meditations and immersive sound experiences are available for streaming. Additionally, Davin hosts the highly rated Becoming Sound podcast and works with some of today’s most influential singers, performers and leaders on finding more freedom, authenticity and ease with their voice.
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