Discover the Forest

Welcome to our sacred spaces

Step into the forest and discover beauty to feed your soul and peace to feed your mind. Share a meal with us, commune with the wildlife, or simply sit in one of our indoor or outdoor meditation spaces.

Community meditations

Our community meditations are the sacred heartbeats that frame our days. You are free to join, free of charge. They are held every day except Monday. Here you’ll experience a meditation of 25 to 45 minutes with others who can help guide you.

Our meditations have an interspiritual focus and combine sung Hindu chants (in English), Buddhist prayers, periods of sitting in silence, walking meditation, a reading from a sacred text, and community prayer time. Beginners are welcome! Doors close promptly at the appointed time. Held in our chapel in our Main House.

See our daily meditation schedule

Meals

Our meals are when we gather together as a community at a common table, nourish ourselves with food, and share our stories. All meals are included for overnight guests.

The meals are cooked with love include options for vegetarians, vegans, and gluten free. You are free to eat with us in community or, if you wish to be in solitude, you can take your meal on a tray to your cabin. We are unfortunately unable to accommodate dietary needs more specific than vegetarian or vegan; we ask that guests with more specific needs bring their own meals. We have a guest refrigerator available for use.

See our daily meal schedule

Sacred spaces

Our sacred spaces are where we gather as a community or where you can spend time alone with spirit. Here’s an overview of our indoor and outdoor places.

Main Chapel

Our main chapel is our central gathering place and the heart of our facility. This is where our daily community meditations take place. There are large picture windows looking out into the woods. If the chapel is not in use or reserved for a group, you’re free to use it for meditation or to simply sit and look out at the trees.

The design of the chapel considers various spiritual traditions. A sunken area in the center of the chapel reflects the Sundance Circle of Native Americans. Above the pit, or Sundance Circle, is a large cosmic wheel, with the eight-fold Buddhist noble path in the supporting spokes: right view, right thought, right speech, right behavior, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. The mesquite altar was a gift from Tucson, Arizona, and wall hangings reflect other religious traditions.

Zen Garden

Our Zen Garden is meant to be contemplative and removes all but the most essential. The “walls” of the garden are the surrounding trees, enclosing you in the arms of the forest.

Here you can empty your mind, tie a prayer flag to the tree, and rake the gravel in patterns to reflect the dynamic flow of energy. There is a bench nearby to sit in stillness. Pausing here, may your mind be still and your heart be full.

Labyrinth

Our woodland labyrinth is a delightful place for a walking meditation under the shelter of trees. Labyrinth walking is an ancient spiritual practice used by many different faiths for centering, contemplation, and prayer.

Entering the serpentine path of a labyrinth, you move slowly while quieting your mind and focusing on a spiritual question or prayer. Whatever your religion or spiritual tradition, walking the labyrinth can clear the mind and give insight.

A labyrinth has only one path to the center and is a place where we find ourselves rather than lose ourselves. It’s also an archetype that encompasses the Sacred Feminine and has long been associated with ancient Mother Goddesses, being a regenerative place of death, transformation, and rebirth.

Cave of the Mothers

Our Cave of the Mothers is an underground meditation chamber and storm shelter. It includes three depictions of the Divine Feminine in Her Dark Mother aspect, who embodies wisdom, destruction, creation, mystery, and fear.

This is a womb-like space to descend into darkness, to sit with what no longer serves, allow dissolution, and rebirth yourself in a new way while ascending back up into the light. In this space for transformation, you’ll be held safely in a dark, quiet space, in the Mother’s loving embrace.

Subterranean sacred rooms have been in use for thousands of years, from the Native American kiva to the Hypogeum on the island of Malta in Europe.

Trails

Our trail system is a nearly three-mile loop that meanders along wooded bluffs with views of Shell Lake and downtown Tulsa. Here you can move your body and reconnect with the pristine nature of the forest.

Along the trail, you’ll encounter Mary’s Grotto, a lovely spot to sit and rest, and the Balance rocks, an art installation by modern artist Stevie Tate. The trail is beautiful to explore in all seasons.

Blessed Sacrament Chapel

Our Blessed Sacrament Chapel honors Sister Pascaline Coff, the foundress of the Forest. She lived in this cabin for 30 years while in residence here. This is a small meditation and prayer space with a Catholic theme.

Library and Living Room

Our library holds 2,500+ volumes of books, recordings, periodicals, videos, and other materials. The holdings are especially rich in interspiritual studies, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and many other topics.

The library and living room area is a quiet, peaceful place to study. It’s available for all our guests and visitors.

Bede Building

Our Bede building is named after Father Bede Griffiths, the English Benedictine monk who inspired Sister Pascaline to found the Forest. This building is one of our meeting spaces and is also great for practicing yoga.

Community Center

Our Community Center is one of our smaller meeting spaces. It features a cozy living room setup and is ideal for reading, meditation, or conversations with others, as well as a screen-covered patio.

Wildlife

We deeply appreciate the beauty and spirit of the wildlife we reside alongside. During your stay you may have a chance to commune with deer, birds, squirrels, turtles, frogs, racoons, possums, armadillos, and even the occasional fox or snake.

We kindly ask that you respect our wildlife. Wildlife encounters on the property are at your own risk.

More photos

Scroll through more photos of the Forest.