Grief-Telling: A Guided Sound And Storytelling Gathering.

We all have grief stories of our own that we are longing to share. Using our voices to tell them helps us feel seen, helps us heal, and also helps others heal through the witnessing.

There are also the pieces of stories that whisper in our ears, haunting and inspiring us, which we may not fully understand but we sense are asking to be told through us. With courage and deep listening, we let these 'songs' be sung down into us so they can illuminate the invisible threads within ourselves, and between our loved ones,communities and the land.

We are the storytellers, the Earth speaks through us. Join us for a powerful sound-based workshop on the potent land of Wapato Island Farm, and experience transformative frequencies that will amplify our personal and communal narratives.

Your participation:

• Come to the farm with a grief story you want to tell, written down ahead of time (about 1 page long). Together we'll co-create a harmonious circle of tales that birth new levels of awareness, compassion and unity. and
• Come with the openness to develop an additional 'unformed' grief story that wants you to tell it - this might be your own, your parents', your people's, or it might be something unexpected that shows up at the gathering. You will be set free on the wildness of the farm to practice individual contemplation, engaging all your senses to discover a story that can only be told by and through you.
• Bring a journal and pen, water, layers for warmth, yoga mat, blanket, and (optional) any shakers or percussive noise-makers.
• Tea and snacks will be provided.

About Julia:

Julia Francis, it’s safe to say, will never be referred to as a shrinking violet. The Seattle singer-songwriter and sound healing practitioner proudly wears her heart – and whole dang soul – on her crushed-velvet sleeve. With a voice that KBCS describes as “howling, blistering… like Bessie Smith and Sister Rosetta Tharpe colliding with Slick, Joplin and Tedeschi”, Francis will pull you out of your daily reverie and into her frequency of expanded possibility at the first note.

A life-long disciple of sound healing, Francis has often looked to her Celtic heritage, studying with shamanic practitioners and sound healers across the globe to understand the power of the unseen. Following her passion for wisdom traditions that employ the voice as a powerful tool to heal and unite, she began offering crystal singing bowl sound baths to business professionals, spiritual seekers and the vibrationally curious. This work, in turn, has had a profound influence on Francis’ own creativity.

“Working with clients who are seeking support to focus, ground and clear energetic blockages gives me the courage to sing out about the brilliant light that shines from within and connects us all”, says Francis. “What if we took a chance and opened our mouths and shared our most sacred truths?”

In Julia's songs, and through her voice, the truth comes pouring down like rain.