High Heathercombe Centre

The Buddha said the fruits of the teachings are all to be realised in this “fathom-long body”. Yet contemporary life tends to drag us out of our bodies, and meditation can exacerbate that if we take it in certain directions. Meditation can also support our sense of embodiment.

In this retreat we will bring awareness to how our normalised baseline can tend to be slightly stimulated, and constantly reaching outwards. We will explore how to move towards a calmer baseline; a more embodied place, finding grounding and perspective with our compulsive drives.

This retreat will include Dharma teachings, guided meditations, gentle bodywork, small group interviews and space in nature.

Life events and our changing lives require of us to be different. This asks us to step into the unknown, in order to do, be and feel these differences. To bring a now fuller version of ourselves into our families, our communities and the world. Old ways and stories need to be seen and heard in order for them to be let go. To allow space for a new way to emerge. These stories and a new vision of change is experienced when we place ourselves in nature in an intentional way. Removing distractions and being ’empty’, we meet ourselves ‘out there’ and nature provisions an opportunity to greet our potential.

The weekend will be limited to 8 participants. It is open to everyone, whether you are completely new to this type of work, or have loads of experience of diving deep into self development.

Each participant will have the opportunity to do their own in-depth piece of facilitated 'process work'. The weekend will also include various individual, pair and group exercises to build trust and safety, prior to the process work. Participants find they gain a great deal from being part of the circle, from the initial 'container building' exercises and self reflection, and from witnessing and supporting others in doing their work.

An immersive journey for people wanting to deepen their relationship with grief, and strengthen their capacity to hold grief spaces for others.
We explore the journey of grief, the way in, exploring the landscape of grief in ceremony and other forms, and the paths to return. We share different views of grief, and traditions about how to welcome it. We look at questions of safety and ethics in holding grief spaces, and the relationship between grief, trauma and the wider systems of harm and times of disruption we are living in.
Our intention is to share what we have learnt in more than a decade of holding collective grief spaces, and to support others to take their next step towards working with grief as a teacher, an ally and force for healing.

All grief is welcome at all these workshops. Whether you are with personal loss or bereavement, healing from past wounds, disturbed by world or local events, or acknowledging the pain of those who went before still reverberating in your family or community, your grief is deserving of tending, and is welcome. Residential grief tending workshops allow us to go deeper and transform more. In the spaciousness of having a series of processes, grief can be expressed and witnessed in different ways, working with the body, words, sound, images, song and more.