Description

Grief is at once deeply personal and universally human experience. Each of us contain a multi-faceted, ever-evolving grief landscape … alive, with its own seasons and topography. What might be possible if we release our belief that grief is a problem to overcome… and instead choose to cultivate a respectful, courageous relationship with our own unique landscape of grief?

We experience innumerable losses through our lifetime, and unmetabolized grief underlies much of our personal and collective suffering. The extraordinary ordeal of 2020 has brought us repeated, unrelenting experiences of loss – and we must now find our way with the grief that this reality has initiated.

By consciously cultivating our resourcefulness with grief, we deepen our resilience and maturity in all aspects of our life. One powerful resource to our grief literacy is having supportive group experiences in which to share, witness, and respect our individual grief journeys.

In this Befriending Grief series for 2021, we will offer eight opportunities to explore grief together with others who wish to cultivate grief literacy. Our overarching goal is to deepen our “apprenticeship with sorrow” (Francis Weller), allowing grief to open us, to ripen us, and to allow for more authentic participation in our own lives.

The Befriending Grief sessions will take place online for eight Sunday afternoons throughout the year. To receive the most benefit, you are encouraged to enter into the full year-long process and plan to attend each session. That said, each session can be experienced individually without commitment to all sessions.

Each session will include time to share our grief stories, and a guided group experience to support our session theme.  We will also share learnings from a predetermined section of the book The Wild Edge of Sorrow by Francis Weller; the book is available on Amazon or through your local bookseller. Our modalities will include circle sharing, as well as writing, poetry, art, guided meditation, sound, movement, and ritual.

Cost

This series is being offered for free. However, at registration there will be an opportunity to contribute to support Hope Springs Institute and workshop facilitators. Just choose the contribution amount that works for you. 

The Facilitator:

Mary Manera, MA,  is experienced in many aspects of death care, as well as non-profit leadership, spiritual care, group facilitation, and work with our elders. She is owner of Manera Studio, which holds her multiple vocations of voice acting, retreat facilitation, and end of life advocacy. Mary has undertaken extensive preparation and made solemn commitment to walk in life as a Shamanic Priestess. She is the creator of Enter the Quiet retreats,  which has been hosted at Hope Springs for more than twenty years. Mary sings with MUSE Cincinnati’s Women’s Choir and the Cincinnati Threshold Singers.