Living Water RVA
A community center taps into the connection between mind and body
Much like a hive of buzzing worker bees, when humans work together, the results can be magical, and mesmerizing. Living Water Community Center is a prime example. Home to a monastery and bee sanctuary — which is helmed by resident beekeeper Drew Nagy — the nonprofit is dedicated to making the community a healthier and more peaceful place.
Located at 1000 Westover Hills Ave., Living Water serves as a zen respite that offers guests the opportunity to get centered through meridian yoga or mindful mediation, take a class on breath work, experience a cello sound bath, or dig their hands into the earth through urban farming.
“Our goal is to create a community that is committed to the flourishing of all of life on earth,” says Annie of Living Water Community Center.
Qi Gong
Photo Credit: Living Water Community Center
Founded in 2019 when a small group of community members from Westover Baptist Church and the Forest View neighborhood began to discuss the potential of creating a welcoming space where individuals could tap into their physical and spiritual well-being, Living Water Community Center works to promote a more sustainable and healthy community. And part of that mission involves bees.
“The bee sanctuary includes many native flowering trees and plants (more every year), and the campus has become a passive park in the middle of the city,” says Annie. “People from the local community walk through with their dogs, play with their children, or just enjoy the green space.”
For those looking to connect with the natural pollinators up close and personal, Living Water offers a Backyard Beehive Initiative where residents can host hives at home during the spring and summer months and experience beekeeping first-hand.
“The Backyard Bee Initiative connects our hosts with nature and each other, provides them with hyperlocal honey, and helps surrounding gardens to flourish,” shares Annie.
The honey created at Living Water is bottled into jars and can be found on shelves at Ellwood Thompson’s. Annie says the relationship with the longtime grocer has been beneficial for the organization in many ways.
Rama Lemacks
Photo Credit: Living Water Community Center
“We like to get our hyperlocal honey out into the community through a truly health oriented local store,” says Annie. “I know that people with allergies do have trouble finding local Richmond honey, and we're glad they can find it through [Ellwood Thompson’s].”
Living Water sells two varieties of honey, a light-amber spring honey, as well as a CBD honey that is made in collaboration with Charlottesville-based Green Valley Nutrition. Annie says that Ellwood’ was instrumental in Living Water connecting with Green Valley Nutrition.
As for the enchantment of bees, and their important role at Living Water, Annie says, “They operate collaboratively and that alone is a fascination to witness. Their hum is soothing, and obviously they really do make the plants grow. There are other pollinators of course, but bees do the bulk of the work of making seeds, fruit, and really most plant life possible. And this in turn makes animal life such as ours possible, too!”
