Our Story and Non-Profit Spring Grove

Bruce Davis, PhD and Ruth Davis, share a spiritual partnership and marriage rooted in individual awakenings and a joint commitment to guiding others toward the "quiet heart". Their story is one of shared service, marked by the founding of retreat centers that welcome people of all backgrounds.

Individual Paths to Shared Service

• Bruce Davis is a spiritual psychologist, author, and international retreat guide. His quest began while a graduate student when he became an apprentice to a Shaman who taught people in their dreams, introducing him to realms outside of normal Western thought. He received his doctorate from Saybrook University and focuses his teachings on the essence of world religions, intertwining psychology and spirituality for a more centered life. Bruce is the author of several influential books, starting with The Magical Child Within You in 1975, which is considered by many to be the first book written on nurturing the inner child.

• Ruth Davis is a spiritual teacher and retreat leader. She began her path at age six with a profound spiritual awakening in her first ballet class, feeling she was "dancing to God". Her dance became a lifelong devotional practice, maturing into the energetic studies of Yoga and Chi Gung. At 16 in 1968, she embraced Surat Shabd Yoga as her core spiritual path and continues to be a student of Vedic, Tantric wisdom, and Mystic Catholicism. Her deep study of the MahaVidyas (Wisdom Mothers of Yoga Tantra) led her to develop Sacred Movement Ritual and Standing as the Universe, meditative movement practices, and to author two books; Sacred Movement Ritual -Yoga Philosophy in Movement and Journeying up the Mountain with the Tantric Goddesses.

A Partnership of Retreat and Sanctuary

Bruce and Ruth began leading spiritual retreats worldwide together in 1993. Their joint work is defined by the creation of sanctuaries for inner peace:

• Assisi Retreat Center: In 2000, Bruce and Ruth founded the Assisi Retreat Center in Assisi, Italy, as a Temple to the World Religions, opening Silent Stay Assisi in 2002. They lived there for twelve years. The ecumenical work of the center received the official blessing of Pope John Paul II, and it was recognized by CNN and Travel & Leisure Magazine as "One of the Top Ten Meditation Centers in the World".

• Silent Stay Meditation Center, California: In 2012, they co-founded the Silent Stay Meditation Center in Vacaville, California. The center was tragically destroyed in a wildfire in 2020, an event Ruth viewed as a spiritual surrender, finding that the "peace found in the silence... can never be taken or destroyed".

• Current Work: Bruce and Ruth currently live and work in Montecito, California, continuing to lead silent retreats at the Pacifica Graduate Institute.

Through their partnership, they also initiated an ongoing service program that pairs teenagers from affluent communities with students to provide food to the poorest neighborhoods of San Francisco, extending their work beyond the retreat setting and into direct community service.