Befriending Grief: A Ritual For Reclaiming Vitality and Joy

8500 California 9,Ben Lomond CA 95005

08 April, 2022

Description

Release to renew your vitality, purpose and belonging. Bring your heart, move your body, connect with your Soul. All of you is welcome. Life is precious and fleeting. One thing is for sure...everything changes. Inevitably, we will face loss, whether through natural or sudden death of a loved one or pet, traumatic injury, illness or change in ability, change or betrayal in relationships, unfulfilled dreams, personal failure, disappearance or destruction of cherished objects, changes of environment, social injustices, devastation in our communities and world, loss of hope. Even positive life changes like having a child, starting a new relationship, a move or new phase of life can bring grief. In these cases, our grief can be bittersweet, as we both release the old and embrace the new simultaneously. Grief shows up in a diversity of ways: shock, denial, longing, anger, rage, sadness, despair. We welcome every kind of grief at this grief ritual. Many of us avoid the grief process, thinking we will drown in it, be overwhelmed with pain, or fear that it means we are stuck, dwelling in the past. Yet all the energy we expend avoiding grief only perpetuates the very suffering we hope to avoid. With our unexpressed grief, we sometimes take to addictive and compulsive behaviors, illness, depression/anxiety, isolation, and shutting down to life. While in the end, avoidance doesn't work, still, there is something intelligent in this turning away from grief. Something inside of us remembers, though we may have consciously forgotten, that we cannot be relieved of our grief in isolation. To revitalize as an individual and as a part of culture, we must share our grief in community, so our joy of living can be renewed, even in the face of loss and injustice. In this ritual, you will: -Co-create a safe and sacred space in community to honor your individual and collective grief. -Learn about different types of grief and ways to identify how it may be showing up in your life. -Expand perspectives on how grief is held in wisdom traditions and indigenous ways. -Express your grief through writing, movement, song, and being in nature. -Experience the healing power of honoring grief by being witnessed and witnessing others without trying to change, fix or solve the grief process. -Open your heart and increase vitality through the liberating energy of forgiveness. -Cultivate a renewed intimacy with yourself and the aliveness that is awakened from choosing to honor and embrace grief as a skill to take into your everyday life. ******************************************************************************** Investment: Sliding Scale & Reparation Pricing* Sustainer: $350 or more Your contribution helps sustains the work and assist those who cannot pay the full amount. Contributor: $300 Fill the well. Allow us to meet the costs and fill the cups of the facilitators so they can continue to do this work. Receiver: $225* Be supported by receiving a discount off the full cost. Reserved for those in financial need & those that would benefit from reparations. *Reparations Offered - for those whom would benefit from a financial reparation: BIPOC (Black, Indigenous People of Color), LGBTQ. Please reach out if more support is desired. REFUNDS: We are unable to offer refunds but can transfer over your attendance to a future ritual. ****************************************************************************** Friday April 8, 2022 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm Saturday April 9, 2022 10:00 am - 5:00 pm Sunday April 10. 2022 10:00am - 4:30 pm* *Followed by optional beach fire at Davenport Landing (northcoast Santa Cruz) Held at Highlands Park Senior Center in Ben Lomond, Ca. Teas and light snacks will be provided. Bring your own lunch for Saturday/Sunday. A refrigerator and microwave is available. Register by sending a check payable to Dana Schlick to 550 Water St. Suite F2, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 or use the Eventbrite payment system. Please register as soon as possible as we will need to have a minimum amount of folks signed up in order to hold the ritual. If you have any questions, contact Dana Schlick at (831)-515-8262 [email protected], or Becca Fresco at (213) 321-3114 [email protected]. ******************************************************************************** COVID Safety:: Please do not come if you are feeling ill, or have had any known exposure. ******************************************************************************** Our prayer for this ceremony is that we create a safe and courageous space to grieve the griefs of the world together. We acknowledge racial and systemic oppressions…and hope this grief ritual can be an offering to contribute to the reparation process. May this be a contribution towards a healthy grief community and grief literate culture that honors all peoples, creatures and Life. ******************************************************************************** 10% of the proceeds will go to Wisdom Spring, a non-profit organization, which uplifts, honors and preserves the wisdom of indigenous cultures through programs of education, travel, cultural, community and scientific exchange.