Embracing Grief Wild: Grief In Nature Retreat

Embracing Grief Wild: Grief In Nature Retreat

A weekend retreat arriving Sat 10am and closing Sun 6pm. Options to camp overnight on the land, or find own nearby rental accommodation. Location near Ashburton, Devon.

“There are two things that can receive our grief - shrines and nature” - Malidoma Somé

Grieving in nature is a special experience. Little else can provide the beauty, the mystery, and the holding that nature can offer, when connected to with reciprocity and intention. For many traditional cultures, grief work is nature connection, and this weekend represents another stream of our Embracing Grief events.

Over the Grief In Nature Retreat Weekend, we will grieve as a community, with the support of the land. We offer permission to open our hearts and express what’s true, held by each other and the nature around us. It’s a chance for our grief to be welcomed, to connect authentically to ourselves and each other, and to remember our closeness to the more-than-human world.

Step gently with us into the wild waters of emotion, and welcome-in life.

The facilitation team will offer a step-by-step series of guided exercises and rituals to build trust, connect with grief, and return to stillness. We will invite the land to be a resource, exploring our relationship with nature as a way to both connect with and integrate our grief.

The weekend will have a back-to-nature feel, including camping on land with basic outdoor infrastructure and amenities. The communal work will take place in a large outdoor dome with a wood-burner, as well as outdoors in nature both on the local land, an area of exquisite natural beauty. The type of outdoor work will depend on the weather conditions.

Throughout the weekend we encourage self-kindness and self-care, and everything we suggest is optional. 

Grief Tending offers grief support without trying to fix anything.

Grief is a natural response to difficult things happening, and we welcome grief related to any experience and theme. This may include a whole spectrum of feelings such as sadness, anxiety, depression, anger, numbness and overwhelm. You may be dealing with something that happened in the past, a current situation, or something that you fear happening in the future. 

We offer a guided journey through this landscape, whether your experiences of grief are personal, collective or ancestral. We offer tools to discover and express our own unique responses, together in a group. People are free to bring challenging themes and strong expressions of emotion.

This workshop is for you if you want to feel more alive.

Working skilfully with our grief can often create space in our hearts for something else, and widen our range of feeling, including our capacity for joy, pleasure and aliveness. Developing a grief practice based on what you’ll learn here can be a beautiful way to stay connected to your inner source of guidance. We give thanks to our teachers before us, Sophy Banks and Jeremy Thres, and their teachers before them. 

Some practicals:

• Retreat Location:
  • The Grief In Nature weekend will take place on land which is owned and lived on by an existing community
  • The weekend will take place on an outdoor area of the land which is dedicated to retreats and workshops
  • The communal work will take place in a large permanent outdoor dome with a wood-burner
  • Some members of the residential community and/or their wider social network may attend as participants of the Grief In Nature weekend
  • The location is near Ashburton, Devon, with the exact address provided upon registration
• Accommodation: 
  • Overnight camping on the Saturday night - please bring camping gear
  • Friday night camping also an option if you're coming from further afield
  • Basic camping-site facilities including kitchen, outdoor showers and outdoor compost toilets
  • Feel free to book local rental accommodation if camping doesn't suit - nearest towns ideally placed are Ashburton, Totnes & Newton Abbot.
• Food:
  • A simple dinner will be provided on Saturday evening after the end of the day's activities
  • Help-yourself breakfast will be provided on both Saturday and Sunday mornings
  • You are asked to bring your own lunch for both days (Refrigeration will be available)
  • We will eat communally during lunch on Sat and Sun and dinner on Sat
• Come prepared for being outdoors:
  • Things to bring:
    • Camping equipment
    • Waterproofs
    • Wellies & walking boots
    • Warmth of various kinds
    • Head torch
• Travel:
  • By car: Just off the A38 close to Ashburton, Devon.
  • By train: Nearest stations are Newton Abbot or Totnes, followed by 15-20 minute taxi to  exact location provided upon registration.

To see more about what happens in a Grief Tending workshop, and the practice of Grief Tending for grief support, there are a series of short animated videos HERE.

If you have any questions, please email bilal.nasim@myceliumgroup.co

ABOUT YOUR FACILITATORS

Website: https://www.griefsupport.org.uk/

Bilal is a facilitator, trainer and artist exploring what it means to be alive and our relationship with death. Bilal is an experienced Grief Tender and has been holding grief spaces since 2018, including workshops aimed specifically for POC and those identifying as men. Bilal hosts workshops on confronting death, Death Cafe‘s, and is training as a death doula with Red Tent End Of Life Doulas. Bilal is a senior leader at Mycelium, delivering award winning programmes on personal resilience, inclusive leadership and workplace culture.

Sarah Pletts (she/her) is an experienced facilitator. She has spent hundreds of hours sitting alongside people finding their way with grief. She brings an embodied understanding of mortality and consent to the practice of Grief Tending. She has come through chronic illness, been a care-giver, and has a deep connection with the natural world. As an artist-maker she designs experiences that inspire, and creates beauty through ritual (www.loveandloss.co.uk). You can find her hand-drawn animations at www.griefsupport.org.uk/videos. She regularly co-facilitates with Tony Pletts, Bilal Nasim, Aama Sade, Sophy Banks and others. She lives in Hackney with partners, chosen family and friendly squirrels. 

Tony Pletts founded his art direction and construction company Einstein’s Octopus in 1987, a flexible business that's allowed him to pursue other creative paths. Tony’s made radio programmes for BBC Radio 4 (his North Korean mini series was nominated for a SONY) and has just finished his first book, Love To The Power Of Three. In 2024 Tony became a trustee of WAYout Arts, a charity that work with street youth and gangs in Sierra Leone where he runs a photography project both in person and online. A rich and varied life has frequently exposed Tony to the teachings of grief and he started facilitating workshops with Sarah in 2019.

Sarah Vero is a science of wellbeing communicator, campaigner and grief facilitator. For the past nine years, she has led group experiences, events, workshops, rituals, and transformational spaces. She completed Apprenticing to Grief with Sophy Banks and Jeremy Thres in 2021. Her work offers pathways towards a sense of aliveness, wholeness and connection, which get us closer to what it means to be human. Alongside her grief work, Sarah delivers workshops that support people to find a greater sense of wellbeing, delivers training and keynotes on mental resilience, and communicates the science of happiness to the general public through her campaign work. www.sarahvero.net

Embracing Grief Ethics Statement:
https://www.loveandloss.co.uk/ethics-statement/

FEEDBACK 

"This work was life giving for me. The way it was conducted by these two amazing people made me feel deeply supported, seen, and provided for. There was a magic in how they managed everything, making me feel safe to be my most vulnerable self while also filling me with a sense of vitality. It's tough to capture in words just how impactful and transformative this experience was. I'm overflowing with gratitude and a profound sense of content. A heartfelt thank you once more." - Soumeya

EVENT DETAILS

AFTER BUYING A TICKET PLEASE COMPLETE ADVANCE INFORMATION FORM.
Exact address will be sent automatically after receiving your form. Link to form in booking confirmation.  

TICKET PRICES: 
£110 Bursary (2 spaces available on request - please email Bilal: bilal.nasim@myceliumgroup.co)
£155 Low Income (4 spaces available)
£195 Standard
£225 Higher Income
£275 Supporter

Once you have purchased a ticket, you will receive an Advance Information Form which we require to be completed before the workshop - This is both to help you to prepare for the session and for us to be able to support your needs. 

NOTE: We only send the exact address and what to bring upon receiving a completed Advance Information Form. 

There will be a maximum of 20 available places excluding the team. 2 of these places will be available at the Bursary rate for those who are either unemployed, have insufficient/unstable income or are clearly unable to afford the Standard price. Bursary places must be requested, to do this please email Bilal: bilal.nasim@myceliumgroup.co.

4 more places are available at the Low Income rate. The Supporter and High Income price part-subsidises those paying the Bursary and Low Income price. 

Please note: We require a minimum number of attendees for events to go ahead. Please book early to avoid disappointment.

Note: We will start on time, please arrive 30 minutes before start time (9:30am). 

 (If you are running late please contact us immediately).

ENQUIRIES: Bilal: bilal.nasim@myceliumgroup.co

If you have any access requirements please get in touch and note that the venue has awkward steps/stairs. It is also a colourful community/home, which allows us to use the space flexibly, and offer the work at a more accessible price. This workshop is inclusive to everyone regardless of age (18+), ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and otherwise.

Some of the proceeds of this event will go to WAYout Arts Worldwide.
 

REFUNDS POLICY: Please note, we do not arrange refunds or exchanges. When possible we encourage reselling on Ticketswap.

ACCESS:  We do our best to include everyone in our events, regardless of health circumstances. If you have access requirements please email the event organiser directly to discuss. Many facilitators are able to offer reduced ticket prices for those truly unable to afford the ticket price. If this applies to you, do please get in touch with the event organiser.

For PSYCHEDELIC KNOWLEDGE AND RESOURCES please check out the Psychedelic Society website. 

Our facilitators have agreed to our code of conduct. Learn about our procedure for raising concerns

MEMBERS of the Psychedelic Society get a discount off almost all of our events.
Join from £5 a month and become part of this amazing community with invites to special events and more.