Welcoming Grace: The Art of Transforming Grief int

Since the beginning of time, people have turned to poetry to help understand the inexplicable: grief, loss, love, heartbreak, beauty, joy, tragedy, and Spirit-God. In this beautiful day-long retreat, curated by poet and author Libby June Weintraub, we will explore how language can be a vehicle for healing and how poetry can catalyze transformation and growth. This workshop will nurture and support healing for anyone who has experienced child loss, stillbirth, miscarriage, or pregnancy loss. To go beyond the normal stages of grief toward a healed state requires us to engage in a conscious, participatory relationship with our grief; this is my intention for this workshop: to create a safe, compassionate, caring container for us to explore the possibility of giving voice to the unspeakable, to create connection and community around our loss, and to celebrate our pregnancies, our babies that couldn’t stay, so that we can begin to integrate our experiences in a way that serves a more expanded view of motherhood, of life and our place in it. When everything falls apart, it’s impossible to understand that there could be a gift hidden inside our devastation and loss-that there could be any purpose in it at all. But with time, an open mind, a willingness to be seen in our grief, to ask for support, and to be patient with ourselves in our healing process, the revelation of that gift comes. This retreat will include a guided centering and relaxation process, introductions, journaling, group sharing and candle-lighting ceremony, nourishment, poetry readings, and special writing processes. No experience is necessary, just an open heart and a willingness to be seen, held, and heard in a communal space with like-minded souls navigating the journey of loss.