About us
Greatwoods Zen is a mindfulness Community and peaceful retreat setting on 28 acre meditation gardens. We promote peace, mindfulness, and community!
Who We Are:
We are a community of people interested in the art of mindful living and engaging compassionately with ourselves and the world. Mindfulness is the energy of being fully alive and awake to life, as it unfolds in each moment. Because of the busyness and distractions of everyday life, we forgot how to slow down and touch the miracles of life that are happening all around and within us every day. Together as a community, we support one another to practice mindfulness - that is, to rest, rejuvenate, reflect, and remember to come how to ourselves.
We respect everyone’s root spiritual traditions, and accept people of all faiths. Any one from any religion is welcome to attend and learn how to touch their own spiritual heritage even more deeply with a depth of mindfulness. People of all racial, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds, and of all genders and orientation are welcome.
The days of mindfulness will be facilitated and led by David Viafora, an Order of Interbeing member and student for 20+ years of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. Roger Grosswald owns the beautiful meditation gardens and his deepest wish is for others to receive deep nourishment and healing in the gardens.
What We Do:
Every day of mindfulness, we offer a variety of practices for people to learn the art of mindful living. We begin by guided sitting meditation indoors, followed by mindful walking outside in a very beautiful and refreshing natural setting of forest and ponds. We listen to a teaching about mindfulness based on Buddhist wisdom teachings, followed by a group discussion. We finish with a simple lunch together that is offered by Greatwoods Zen.
Where We Meet:
Our gatherings take place upon the gorgeous 27 acre preserve of forest, ponds, and wetlands of Greatwoods Zen. We may walk or sit near a quiet duck pond, or saunter to the top of a small hill to overlook the forest. When the weather is too cold or raining, we will stay inside. All gatherings initially take place in the meditation hall at 8015 Sullivan Drive. Greatwoods Zen is located on the east side of Charlotte, in the “Hickory Grove” neighborhood.
Current Schedule:
* Saturdays 10am - 12:30pm (lunch included)
Our meetings may be adjusted in response to input from members like you. All feedback is welcome.
We look forward to you joining us!
Upcoming events
4
Roots of Buddhism - Discourse on the Full Awareness of Breathing
Greatwoods Zen, 2631 Buckleigh Dr., Charlotte, NC, USRegistration link:
https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/roots-of-buddhism-discourse-on-the-full-awareness-of-breathingThe Buddha is inviting us to come home to ourselves. This is the Buddha within, the seeds of awakening and compassion that are always within us.
Autumn is here, and we are slowly making our descent into cooler, crisper, and quieter days, inviting us be fully in touch and embrace the changes within us, and the changes in nature around us.
We will deeply explore one of the Buddha’s most foundational teachings, the Anapanasati Sutra, or the Discourse on the Full Awareness of Breathing. Anapana means breath or breathing, and sati means mindful awareness. Throughout his life, Thich Nhat Hanh taught this teaching again and again, to empower his students with this practice. The teaching uses 16 steps of breathing, broken into four categories:
- Body (Breath, awareness of the body, relaxing the body)
- Feelings / emotions (cultivating joyful / contented states of mind, & embracing difficult ones)
- Mental states (gladdening, concentrating, calming the mind)
- Objects of mind / Dharmas (focusing on impermance, letting go, etc.)
The point of this practice is not to cultivate perfection, but rather, to use the Buddha’s guidance to support us in experiencing more peace, joy, compassion, and insights in our practice, and within our daily lives.
Our day will also include a tea ceremony, a hallmark practice of our Plum Village tradition.
About “The Roots of Buddhism” Series
Our “Roots of Buddhism” is our new series at Greatwoods Zen in which every two months, we dive more deeply into the Buddha’s original teachings. These are not merely intellectual or philosophical explorations; rather, we inquire and discover how these teachings apply to the most important questions and situations of our every day lives and practice.
As a complement to the joyous and social nature of our community, these days of mindfulness will be practiced in noble silence, where we will have an opportunity to touch the deeper threads of our practice individually and collectively. Have you ever experienced a whole day of silence in community? It is a real treat, a retreat!
Lunch
Please bring: lunch for yourself, and a little something to share with others (if you want).
Cost
Scholarships are available. No one will ever be turned away due to financial obstacles.
(Our registration page will allow you to pay whatever you choose)
Supporter Rate: $75
Sustainer Rate: $55
Supported Rate: $35Registration
Please register in advance.Registration link:
https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/roots-of-buddhism-discourse-on-the-full-awareness-of-breathing2 attendees
Day of Mindfulness: Honoring Our Ancestors
Greatwoods Zen, 2631 Buckleigh Dr., Charlotte, NC, USWe warmly invite you to gather with our sangha for a special Day of Mindfulness, held in the gentle spirit of the Ancestors' Day celebration.
This will be a day to come home to ourselves, to cultivate peace and stillness, to lovingly remember the roots from which we grow, and to continue to heal the wounds that our ancestors were unable to.Our Practice
We will sit together in meditation with our blood and spiritual ancestors, and walk in beauty with our land ancestors. Our practice will be guided by the awareness of our deep connection to those who came before us, as we contemplate:- What did your ancestors survive?
- What skills and goodness did they transmit to you and others?
- What suffering did they pass on that you are dedicated to transforming?
Potluck
After our formal practice, we will enjoy a potluck together in the evening!What to Bring
To help create a collective altar of remembrance and gratitude, we invite you to bring:- An item for the altar: A photograph or a small object that represents your ancestors, to be placed on our community altar (this can include four-legged ones).
- Ancestral food: For our potluck, please bring some food that your ancestors enjoyed! And please place a small dish on our ancestral altar, as an offering of gratitude and a celebration of their life.
- Flowers: To contribute to the beauty and freshness of our meditation hall as we celebrate and honour our ancestors.
Through these simple offerings, we weave a tangible connection across generations, honoring the continuous stream of life that flows through us in each present moment.
What to Expect
- Guided and silent meditation
- Mindful somatic movement
- Mindfulness songs and chanting
- Outdoor mindful walking (weather permitting)
- A teaching, reading, or video on mindfulness
- Group Dharma sharing
- Optional mindful potluck lunch
Practicing Together
Our sangha is a welcoming community of practitioners from many backgrounds. No prior meditation experience is needed. We practice in the Plum Village tradition, with an emphasis on presence, kindness, and shared humanity.Sample Schedule
- 3:00pm–6:00pm: Formal practice
- After 6:00pm: Optional mindful potluck dinner
Please arrive 5–15 minutes early so we can begin together calmly.
If weather does not permit outdoor activities, we will remain indoors.Offered in the Spirit of Dana
This gathering is offered freely, in the spirit of generosity. You are welcome to attend whether or not you register or contribute.
If you’d like to support the continuation of this space, you’re invited to register with a sliding scale contribution ($15–$45). Your support helps sustain the weekly rhythm of practice and care for the community.
Contributions of food for the potluck or help with clean-up are also always appreciated.Donation link: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/day-of-mindfulness-in-the-heart-of-reedy-creek-park
4 attendees
Experiments in Interbeing
Greatwoods Zen, 2631 Buckleigh Dr., Charlotte, NC, USA Day of Relational Mindfulness
Facilitated by James Dial | Vegan lunch provided |
Capped at 13 participantsNOTE: Signing up on Meetup doesn't grant you a spot. Please reserve at the following link:
https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/experiments-in-interbeing-2“The verb ‘to be’ can be misleading, because we cannot be by ourselves, alone. ‘To be’ is always to ‘inter-be.’” — Thich Nhat Hanh
Western culture often reinforces our sense of being separate individuals. This can be empowering, helping us more fully notice and honor our values, needs, boundaries, as well as take accountability for our choices. And yet, such a strong emphasis on “I” creates conditions for loneliness and suffering. We forget how deeply we’re shaped by the people, places, and conditions around us, and how interconnected we already are.
Recently, while meditating on interbeing, I felt grief. There was fear that opening to see experience as relational would threaten my individuality.
This fear inspired a question at the heart of this Immersion:
What if being is relational from the beginning?
Even as you are reading these words, you might notice how much of your experience seems to arise through relationship. These words, the sounds around you, your emotions, your thoughts, and even the act of reading itself all appear in a web of conditions that make them possible. What happens when we become curious about these relationships?
You're invited to a full-day journey of relational presence, where we will explore interbeing. We will notice, feel, and practice together, going beyond merely talking about interbeing as an idea.
This one-day Relational Meditation Immersion will be held at Greatwoods Zen, a Plum Village-style community center next door to Reedy Creek Park. This day offers a powerful complement to silent meditation: the practice of being with others in presence, truth, and love.
This day is not about dissolving yourself into the group, overriding your boundaries, or pretending difference does not matter. It is about becoming more intimate with the paradox, that we are distinct, and we are not separate. Our needs, limits, longings, and choices matter. And they are always arising within a living web of relationships.
Why Come?
You might be someone who:
- Practices mindfulness and wants to bring that presence into relationship
- Is curious about what “waking up” looks like in connection with others
- Wants to explore interbeing without bypassing values, needs, or boundaries
- Longs for more compassion, honesty, and aliveness in connection
- Wants to experience the paradox of being distinct without being separate
- Is drawn to relational practice as a complement to silent meditation
This immersion is a chance to let these longings become something we practice together. Whether you have been meditating for years, or are new to mindfulness, you are welcome.
What We'll Explore
Across large-group sessions, small groups, and pairs, we'll play in the field of connection:
- Bringing language to what's happening right now, in body, heart, mind, and awareness
- Exploring how the boundaries between self and other are both meaningful and more fluid than they may seem
- Sinking into our experience in connection, letting ourselves feel the aliveness that is already here
- Listening for others’ experience and noticing how our assumptions update in contact
- Softening control while staying responsible for our impact and choices
This will be a more structured day, with specific practices and insights relevant to interbeing. You will also have freedom within the structure to bring what is true for you, and choose what and how you share.
What May Become Available
Each person’s experience will be different, and the day itself will be shaped by the particular group that gathers. Some possibilities include:
- A felt sense that your experience does not have to be held alone
- More trust in what unfolds when we are present in connection
- Greater sensitivity to how your inner world and others’ inner worlds shape one another
- More capacity to stay present while being distinct, honest, and impacted
- Practical ways to bring relational mindfulness into everyday life
At the last Experiments in Interbeing event held earlier this year*,* the group ended by improvising a poem together about interbeing. Here are a few excerpts from that composition: "No loss, no connection. No suffering, no compassion. No planting, no reaping. No fear, no bravery. No you, no me. No in breath, no out breath. No rejection, no acceptance. No interbeing, no being.” Many people left with a profound sense of being less alone in a more easeful acceptance of the full range of experience, both pleasurable and painful.
What Not to Expect
This is not a therapy session or group healing experience, although healing can occur. It's a group exploration of truth, love, and awareness, created by the people who are present.
We don't promise comfort, breakthroughs, resolution, or specific outcomes. Instead, we create conditions where awareness, curiosity, honesty, and care can emerge in relationship.
These experiences can include disconnection, uncertainty, and discomfort, and are often described as “a gym for emotional health.” By attending you acknowledge you are able to take self responsibility for your own physical, emotional, and psychological wellbeing throughout the gathering.
You will never be required to share beyond your boundaries or participate in any exercise. We welcome both challenge and nourishment as valuable parts of being human.
We value honest expression, and we also stay attentive to its impact on others. This is a space for mindful connection, not expression at any cost. Facilitators may pause or redirect moments that move away from relational presence.
By attending you agree to the following Terms of Service: https://bit.ly/CLT_TOS
Details
🕰 Date & Time: Saturday, November 14th, 2026 | 10am–6pm
🗺️ Location: Greatwoods Zen, 2631 Buckleigh Drive, Charlotte, NC 28215
🥑 Lunch: 90-minute break around 1pm. Vegan meal provided.
🙏 Price (Sliding Scale): Scholarship:$60 | Sustainer: $90 | Benefactor: $120
Additional scholarships available on request through the generosity of GWZ donors.
📝 Registration: Through Zeffy payment portal. Capped at 13 participants.
📩 Questions: jamesdial99@gmail.comAbout Your Facilitator
James Dial is the steward of Relateful Charlotte, devoted to building local spaces of real connection where presence and growth intertwine. He is known for his clear, earnest, heartfelt presence. He is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Talent and Organizational Development.
If you are curious to hear James speak about how relational meditation can help us experience the “I” as relational rather than separate, listen here: The Personal & Transpersonal
Nowhere to Go, Nothing to Do
Interbeing is already here.
We don’t have to discover, force, or create it. At this daylong immersion we will simply be given chances to re-member what is already here.
Perhaps you can already start to notice it as you are reading this. There may be a resonance with these words, or a resistance, or something more subtle. That response isn’t separate from what you’re reading. The relationship is already here. You’re already in it.
If this type of connection is something you want more of, I hope to see you there.
AI transparency note: This event description was developed from my own writings, inspired by the writings of Thich Nhat Hanh and other Relateful facilitators. AI was used to help organize, clarify, and edit the writing.
3 attendees
Day of Mindful Expression
Greatwoods Zen, 2631 Buckleigh Dr., Charlotte, NC, USJoin us for a day of practice in the spirit of mindful living in community with Will and Anya. Together, we slow down, return to the body, and allow space for expression to arise—through movement, sensing, and simple creative exploration. This is not about making art or doing anything “well,” but about coming into closer contact with our direct experience.
Through sitting meditation, guided somatic practice, walking meditation in nature, and a shared expression session, we explore how awareness can take form—through the body, through movement, and in connection with one another.
What to Expect
We will move through the day as a gentle arc of practice, including opening circle and sitting meditation, guided somatic awareness practice, walking meditation in nature with a simple reflection on the seasons, a collaborative expression session, dharma sharing through movement and words, and time for rest and quiet reflection. You are welcome to participate at your own pace. At any time, you may choose to rest, step outside, or simply observe.No prior experience is needed. All are welcome.
Sample Schedule
10:00am–1:00pm: Formal practice
After 1:00pm: Optional mindful potluck lunch and socializing
Please arrive 5–15 minutes early so we can begin together calmly.Lunch
A simple vegetarian lunch will be offered. You are warmly welcome to bring a dish to share, in the spirit of a potluck.Donation (Dana)
Offered in the spirit of generosity and accessibility. Donations are welcomed to support the facilitators and the continuation of these offerings.Suggested contribution: $15–45.
Donation link: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/day-of-mindful-expressionNo one will be turned away for lack of funds.
3 attendees
Past events
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