Coming Home to Yourself: Practicing Collective Grief, Joy & Liberation While the World Unravels
Friday, October 21; 7:00pm - Sunday, October 23; 12:30 pm
Apply here to attend the retreat.
(Please note: This application does not secure your registration for the retreat. Once this application is completed, you will receive an email invitation to the retreat with payment details.)
With wildfires, floods, extreme heat and the ongoing impacts of Covid19 continuing to rise, it can sometimes feel like the world as we know it is unravelling. How do we practice belonging in the midst of uncertainty? Can practices of collective mourning, joy, and belonging help to keep us grounded while the world unravels? If these are questions that feel resonant to you, please consider joining us as we explore them through gently guided group practices, and personal reflective time at this upcoming retreat.
Coming Home to Yourself is a 2-day retreat at a remote lakeside cabin on Treaty 6 land close to the town of Smoky Lake (2 hr drive from Edmonton). Our time together will include things like guided meditation, group discussion, somatic practices, and land-based exercises. Participants will be invited to slow down and reconnect with whatever is currently alive in them and in their experience. This could be grief around the state of the world or about a personal loss; it could be a sense of longing to connect more deeply with one's ancestors or one's body; or, it could be a pressing question about one's life and life choices.
Whatever it is, participants will be met exactly where they are, and will find in this retreat a space to explore whatever is coming up for them while feeling connected and supported. Together we will ask, and practice, what it means to belong––to ourselves, to each other, and to the land around us.
“We belong to this world.” Joanna Macy
“If we are to come into the right relationship with the earth, we need to practice at yielding to the rhythms of our own bodies." Toko Pa Turner
The retreat will take place both indoors and outdoors (whether permitting). Accomodations consist of two rustic but very comfortable cabins, outfitted with solar panels, wood stoves, and enough beds for everyone! Applicants should note that the site is quite remote. Although the cabins have heat and electricity, they have no running water (which means no bathrooms, only outhouses), no wifi, and spotty cell service. Regrettably, the sites are not wheelchair accessible. Any questions or concerns about the accommodations and accessibility are welcome and can be directed to the organizers.
All snacks and meals will be provided and we will do our best to accomodate all dietary needs. Also, in addition to scheduled group activities, there will be down time where participants are welcome to explore nearby walking trails, go canoeing or kayaking on the lake, spend quiet time alone in nature, or even use the small wood-burning sauna.
Registration is first come first serve, with a limit of 8 participants. The options for fees are as follows:
Pay What You Can Rate - $250 Cover the Cost Rate - $350 Pay It Forward Rate - $500
Actual cost of the weekend is $500 per person, however, some of the cost is being subsidized by The Climate Justice Organizing HUB. We trust that people will pay what they can afford. If you cannot afford the $250 option, feel free to send us an email and we can discuss other options. Payment will be collected online during registration.
Facilitators:
Gabrielle is a third-generation settler in Amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton, AB) where she works as a hospital and community chaplain and spiritual director. She has two units of Clinical Pastoral Education, which include 600 hours of clinical counseling experience. She is also in the process of completing the beginner level of Somatic Experiencing, a modality used to treat trauma using embodied, present focused encounters. She has plenty of personal experience with mental illness, grief and trauma, as well as professional experience companioning people on their healing journeys. She is passionate/a total nerd about helping to create group spaces of radical belonging and subtle transformation. Read more about her work here.
Jodi is an eco-spiritual director, community educator and part time library worker who lives in Mohkinstsis (Calgary, AB, Canada) in Treaty 7 territory. After living at a wilderness retreat centre for four years, Jodi founded Refugia Retreats, an initiative that explores the confluence of social & environmental justice, and spirituality. Through retreat, facilitation and eco-spiritual direction, Refugia recognizes nature as guide, supports people living with ecological & climate grief and fosters holistic wellness practices. Jodi has companioned people as a spiritual director over 8 years. She is passionate about helping folks hold paradox and come into belonging with their own bodies, and human and more than human communities through ritual, reflection, and embodied practices.
Please note: Neither of us are trained therapists. We understand this retreat as a space for peer-led learning rather than deep inner therapeutic work. That said, as we are working with grief, deeply personal themes will inevitably arise, and will be supported and welcomed in a way consistent with the co-learning environment. Additionally, it is important to note that although there will be opportunities for vulnerability in partners and in groups, but there is never any expectation that anyone discusses anything they do not want to. Sharing and participation will always be optional.