Dear Everything, I'm here. I'm listening; A Grief Retreat with Julia Francis and Laura Green

Humans are part of nature. All things in nature are connected, all things in nature are medicine. That must include us. All parts of us, including our grief.

There's something we're meant to help heal, there's something that's meant to help us heal. But how do we ask for healing? How do we offer our medicine?

We've largely fallen out of conversation with the non-human world. Deep down, though  (not too deep) we know how to talk with the whole, big everything. We used to do it all the time. We can remember our way back. We can relearn the paths.

Let's try.

How it will work

We will spend the weekend in conversation with the non-human world; asking what medicine we can offer and what we can take.

Except for grief spills and vocalizing during sound healing, we will keep conversation with humans to a bare minimum.

We'll use guided sound work, yoga practice and meditation to let spoken language shift away from the center of our attention.

We'll listen deeply, and talk sincerely with the world around us, and believe what we hear and learn.

Itinerary

Friday

2:00 - Arrive and settle.

2:30-3:45 - Gather in Pavilion, orient, Julia will help us open a circle with sound in which we'll offer a grief spill.

3:45 - 4:45 - Walk in the woods.

Spill our grief - in words or sounds or silently - privately, to the woods, as offerings. Ask what medicine you can hold and carry.

4:45 - 5:15 - Back home, settle, quiet time.

We'll offer journal and meditation prompts you can use, or find your way privately to what feels right.

5:30 - 6:30 - Song healing. We'll use this time to pool the offerings from the woods. Julia will guide us to a song that offers thanks, integrates the conversations we've begun, our individual and communal grief and the medicine we hope to give and absorb.

6:30-7:00 - Quiet free time.

7:00-8:00 - Dinner (catered meal served in the Pavilion).

8:15 - 9:30 - Restorative yoga and sound bath.

Sleep

Saturday

Wake up and make/eat breakfast in your nest.

8:30-9:30 - Yoga and guided meditation/vocalizing/toning in the Pavilion.

10:30-12:30 - Half the group

• Walk to the ocean, bring her offerings including your grief.
• Settle in, spill out your grief. Sing or moan or hum or speak. Go on and on for 1 hour even if you feel done before - just continue.
• You can stop to sleep - if sleeping takes you, then start again.
• Walk back to your nest.

Julia or Laura will accompany folks to the ocean to shepherd you while you spill and protect you from passersby. We will also provide shelters from the rain.

Other half of group

• 1 hour to wander the grounds, art gallery, tea trailer, thrift store, meditation garden/hut. You can also schedule one-on-one healing sessions in the wellness trailer.

12:30-1:30  - Make/eat lunch in your nest or wherever you like.

1:45- 3:45 - Ocean journey or private wandering wandering/exploring.

4:45-6:45 - Nap, meditate, journal, rest.

6:45-8:00  - Group soup dinner in the African Queen trailer.

8:30-10:00 - Grief spill, sound bath.

Sleep

Sunday

Wake up and make/eat breakfast in your nest.

8:30-9:30 - Quiet morning yoga and meditation.

10:00-11:00 - Walk and talk to the woods.

Leave your community conjured medicine where it is meant to rest.

11-11:30 - Pack up your nest.

11:30-12:45 in the Pavilion - Julia will help us sing the circle closed.

Eat our picnic lunches together and reflect/share experience.

1:00 - Check out and farewell.

After the weekend

Carry your medicine object into the world you land in. Ask who it is for. Listen carefully. Leave it where it needs to rest.

Ask what new medicine you can pick up.

About Us

Laura Green

Laura is a massage therapist, Grief House Tender, friend and partner, daughter, sister, niece and many times a cousin. She feels many things, knows very little, is good at asking questions and better and better at not having answers. You can listen to her talk for many hours on the podcast she makes with her friend Sascha and hardly at all if you meet her in person at a Grief House event like this one. She is deeply introverted, but really quite friendly. 

Julia Francis

Julia Francis is passionate about holding space for others through deep listening, compassionate inquiry, and sound exploration. Julia’s offerings as a sound healing practitioner,  musician and facilitator offer her clients catharsis, transformation and a deeper connection to their unique, exquisite essence. A life-long disciple of the vocal arts, Julia draws on her Celtic heritage, as well as her intensive study with shamanic practitioners and sound healers across the globe to help others understand and perceive the power of the unseen sonic world that surrounds us.

About Sou'Wester Lodge

Accommodations

Our retreat will be held at the beloved Sou’wester Vintage Travel Trailer Resort on the Long Beach Peninsula in historic Seaview, Washington. This location is perfectly situated for exploring the natural beauty and lush bounty of the Pacific Coast.

We have reserved rooms for 10 retreat participants, and each one will enjoy lodging in their own individual vintage trailer that has heat, electricity, kitchenette, full bathroom, bedding, towels, basic dish and utensils for cooking, and charming

decor.

Food

• Fri and Sat dinners are provided
• Bring your own breakfast and lunch for Sat and Sun (or buy from the resort market that stocks food for every meal and every diet)

Included Amenities

• Guided yoga and meditation
• Sound baths
• Finnish sauna and steam room
• Firepits
• Meditation garden and hut
• Open access to:Art gallery trailer Tea trailer Thrift store trailer Movie bus 
• Paved Discovery trail runs along the beach -  8+ mile long, beautifully paved path through grassy dunes and forest pines. Explore ocean views, public art, whale bones, and more.
• The beach - Coined “The Longest Beach”, miles of driftwood, coastal dunes, surf spots, and epic sunsets
• Massage and other services are available in the wellness trailer, based on availability, for an additional cost.

Payment Details

• Pay in full to reserve your spot
• Unfortunately, we are not able to offer refunds.
• We need 8 registrants by October 28th to proceed with the retreat. In case of cancellation due to low registration, all fees will be returned in full.

Pricing options:

$808 per person, single occupancy

$629  per person, double occupancy

There are less and more commodious lodgings available at Sou'Wester. Contact us for more information.

We hope to offer at least one scholarship spot. In an effort to make this possible, we invite

those with the means beyond their own fee to support someone with fewer financial resources.

Click here to donate to the scholarship fund. Under notes write Grief Retreat to earmark your donation.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out to us at info@griefhouse.org. 

We look forward to spending time with you!