November 1-3, 2024

Grief Retreat: Healing Through Our Natural World
with Ann Sensing

In the grief-tending world, we often talk about how the mark of a mature human being is the capacity to hold grief in one hand and gratitude in the other, and to be stretched large by these two presences in our world. There may not be an answer to grief, but it is surely our birthright to respond to it. These sacred few days together in the safest of places will be your chance to heed the call of your grief and respond to it in a supportive, healing community.

At the core of our grief is a great forgetting. We’ve forgotten how to be with each other and witness each other in our sadness, how to hold space for one another. We’ve lost touch with the instincts, the age-old, unforgotten wisdom that resides at the core of the psyche. So the focus of this retreat will be one of remembering. To remember what it’s like to be in spaces together. To weep together. To tend to the sorrows of the community together, and to recognize it.

The wisdom is still there. We just have to begin the practices that allow for remembering. And there is no better place for this work than Gray Bear. We will lean into nature and all of her healing gifts to help us tend our wounds as we learn to further connect to the land in supportive ways.

If your heart is broken, we welcome you with open arms. So much of this work will depend on a broken heart. Because it’s the broken heart that can feel love for the world again. That can register the song of the Lark. That can be amazed at the swish of a salmon tail or the call of a hawk. It’s the broken heart that is receptive to the cries of the world, and your courageous heart is needed to begin this healing of our broken world.

This retreat will be taking place Friday, November 1st – Sunday, November 3rd. All parts and pieces of you are welcome.

What's included

• Lodging for Friday to Sunday, including bedding and towels
• An abundance of Organic vegetarian meals prepared with great love by the Gray Bear Family and Mother Earth.
• Multiple Yoga, Meditation, Sound, and Grief Ritual sessions with Ann.
• Grief ritual practices and writing prompts for you to take home
• Relaxation/free time to enjoy the amenities and beauty of GrayBear such as reflective walks and hikes, a wood fired sauna/spring fed cold plunge, an outdoor natural hot tub, refreshing waterfalls and more.
• Sacred Grief Ceremony Sessions and Ritual
• Massage therapists and Watsu practitioners are available during the weekend by appointment at additional cost

What to expect

• full immersion in nature for deep healing and integration
• outdoor experiences (working with nature)
• group sharing and grief rituals
• journaling and writing practices
• sacred space for you to empty your heart in community
• safe space to let it stay, let it go, let it out

What to bring

• water bottle
• journal and pen
• any items that speak to your grief if working with a specific situation or circumstance (pictures, garments, stones, etc.) (no more than a few items)
• bathing suit and robe
• “nest” – mat, blanket, pillow, etc.
• appropriate shoes for walking the terrain as well as slide-on shoes for slipping on and off easily
• layers of clothing, including rain gear
• flashlight

Registration/Retreat Cost

Arrival Departure Schedule

What to Pack

Workshop Sign-up Form