WOMEN'S
Grief and Gratitude
Ceremony
When
Where
Facilitated by
Stay tuned for our next retreat. Reach out here to get on our list.
Full Bloom Sanctuary in
Bellingham, WA.
Erin Quies Wild &
Hayley Shannon
We invite you
to gather at Full Bloom Sanctuary (15 min north of Bellingham, WA) to explore the layers of our human experience at this time on planet Earth.
Together we eat, sleep under the stars, grieve, rage, sing, dance and come away with a more intact sense of wonder, aliveness, connection and gratitude for this miraculously complex life.
We are living in
unprecedented times where loss and grief is pervasive to the human experience. Unprocessed grief can manifest in many ways such as a heaviness, anxiety, sadness, anger or a longing to feel more alive and connected.
In this ceremony, we rekindle how to move through the many shades of grief so that we may deepen our capacity for resiliency and aliveness.
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You have radical permission to move through any feelings that arise including: numbness, apathy, sadness, rage, confusion, despair, frustration, joy, gratitude and anything else that is alive for you.
The medicine
of communal grief is not only to allow ourselves to release emotions that keep us from feeling fully alive, but to also learn how to hold space for others and awaken deep empathy, compassion and a sense of shared humanity that is essential in these times. True community comes with vulnerability.
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You are welcome in this space as you are, whether you are actively grieving or not. For some of us, we may not understand why we feel called to grief tending and community ceremonies, yet we trust that the medicine we need will be revealed.
"The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe."
Joanna Macy
The Work That Reconnects
Our practices include
Drumming & Song
Wailing Ritual
Embodiment & Meditation
Sacred Witnessing
You receive
2 days of ceremony with embodiment practices, wailing ritual & singing
Camping on beautiful land in community
Nourishing lunches & dinner
Integration support
Your committment
$250-$350 sliding scale. Payment plans are available.
Arrive Saturday morning with your camping gear. Be prepared to leave your devices and schedule behind as we enter ritual time.
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We conclude with a community potluck on Sunday evening.
About Erin
Erin Quies Wild experienced her first grief ceremony with Sobonfu Some in 2002 after her dad died suddenly and she has been tending to her personal grief as well as collective and planetary grief ever since. The depths of loss have brought her exquisite humility, empathy and an abundance of gratitude.
She now weaves regenerative grief coaching into her work with others. Erin currently co-facilitates community grief ceremonies around the PNW. She is a mother, a ceremonialist and a doula of birth and rites of passages of all kinds.
She has had a private practice on Orcas Island since 2008 specializing in therapeutic & ceremonial bodywork and healing. Erin has been facilitating retreats, doula trainings and workshops for 20 years.
About Hayley
Hayley Shannon is a somatic healing arts practitioner and dancer who is blessed to call Orcas Island, WA home. In 2016 she founded Dance Healing and has guided thousands of people to embody their wholeness through movement and expressive arts ever since.
Hayley deepened her path with grief in 2021 when she experienced a profound ritual led by her friends and mentors Ahlay Blakely and Nala Walla.
She currently organizes and co-facilitates ceremonies on Orcas Island, apprentices an international somatic expressive arts therapy program with Tamalpa Institute and guides transformative embodied experiences for people of all ages.
