Winter Tenderness Retreat at Breitenbush

We hope you can join us for two days of intentional tending and acknowledgement of our individual and communal grief. Over the two nights, we will have many offerings for gentle tending of each other and ourselves.

Grief is a normal part of living that comes with all loss — including but not limited to death. In the midst of so many global and national traumas, communal grief is rampant. We hope this gathering will be an opportunity for people to take stock of pain they're carrying without judgement or fear of it being the wrong kind or wrong amount, call out for help, and feel what it's like when people call back. We're excited to offer a place to gather generously in the presence of grief, see how strong and beautiful we are when we show our suffering and feel empowered to live a bit more genuinely, more of the time.

What to expect at this gathering:

We'll spend the weekend feeling what it's like to be cared for by each other and the non-human world, with less dependence on spoken language for connection. We'll have time to write and some time to share spoken words with each other, but our focus will be on noticing how our grief responds to other ways of being together and being known.

Working Itinerary:

Friday

3:00 - Arrive at Breitenbush, check in, settle in your weekend home. Walk about, have a soak, get familiar with the land.

4:15 - 5:30 - Gather in the Forest Shelter - Greet each other, orient, offer gratitude and acknowledgment to the land and people who have lived on and tended it, and open our circle.

We'll start with a grief spill - a chance for us to lay down, in language, whatever is weighing most heavily. We'll welcome grief from all loss and listen generously and quietly.

Half the group will sit or lie down, the other half will move from person to person laying hands on backs and heads. We'll notice how different each of us feel, what passes through this simple connection, what, if anything, is lost without words and what, if anything, is gained.

We'll circle up again and close with guided breath work. We'll think about how it feels to breathe together and share air.

6:00-7:00 - silent, communal dinner at the lodge.

7:00-8:00 - private time to soak, journal stand with the trees by the river, do the thing that calls you. The forest shelter will be open with oracle cards, blankets and cushions, and prompts for journaling, meditation and self-care

8:00 - 9:00 - gentle, restorative yoga and meditation in the forest shelter

Bed

Saturday

7:00-7:45 - guided meditation, movement and breath work at the Forest Shelter

8:00-9:00 - breakfast at the lodge, silent or conversational, as you choose.

9:00-11:30 - Expanding our exploration of how our grief responds to non-verbal connection we'll offer journal/meditation prompts that draw attention to our physical and energetic bodies and the way they meet the larger, non-human constructed world.

We'll move outside and offer our grief to the forest around us, then return for yoga guided by Sascha with an invitation to add some bodywork from Laura if that feels right.

We'll go back out to the woods and meet them again - we'll notice how they and we are new and how we are eternal.

Then back together for quiet, prompted writing and meditation.

11:30 - 1:00 - Private time to walk, soak, rest or whatever calls you. The forest shelter will be open with oracle cards, blankets and cushions, and prompts for journaling, meditation and self-care

1:00-3:00 - Lunch in the lodge, silent or conversational, as you choose

3:00-4:30 - Guided, active yoga asana practice

4:30-5:00 - Walk the woods

5:00-6:00 - Gather in the Forest Shelter for our second grief spill

6:00-7:00 - Communal dinner at the lodge. All are invited to sit together and welcome conversation (or opt our, it quiet suits you better)

7:00 - 8:30 - Private time to soak, journal, meditate etc. The Forest Shelter will be open with oracle cards, blankets and cushions, and prompts for journaling, meditation and self-care

8:30-9:30 - Sascha and Laura will lead physical care activities including tapping, hand, foot and head massage which can be exchanged or done on your own body, and all natural aroma therapy with items from around the shelter.

9:30 - 10:00: Read-aloud time - Sascha and Laura will take turns reading aloud while you rest or drift or sleep.

Bed

Sunday

Wake up, wander, soak

8:00-9:00 - Breakfast at the lodge, silent or conversational, as you choose.

9:30 - 11:00 - We will close with a final grief spill and thoughts about moving back into the busy world, then quietly walk to the river together to offer our thanks and devotion.

Costs

Costs for this retreat are:

$200 per person - Standard Cost

If all 8 spots fill, this amount covers expenses plus our work for the retreat.

$250 - Pay It Forward

If all 8 spots fill, this amount covers expenses and work for the retreat and pools money into a fund for folks with fewer financial means.

$150 - Community Ticket

If all 8 spots fill, this amount covers expenses for the retreat.

These prices are for the Grief House retreat offerings. You are responsible for booking your own lodging directly with Breitenbush. They have several options for lodging to meet a variety of budgets. Click here for full details.

We have reserved The Grove room and one Milky Way room for folks who are traveling alone but would like to bunk with another retreatant. If you are interested in this option email us at info@griefhouse.org.

If you are not familiar with Breitenbush, this is a clothing optional hot spring, so bear that in mind. There are some single person tubs with privacy screening. Breitenbush also allows early check-in as well as the possibility of staying late on Sunday to soak. These are add-ons you can add to extend your restorative winter tenderness directly with Breitenbush.

About Sascha & Laura

Sascha Demerjian is a cofounder of the Portland Grief House. The road she took to get here took her through a MSW from the University of Michigan, a PhD in Sociology from Emory University, several moves across the country, parenthood, pet parenthood, and so many deep connections and losses. She loves growing spaces and opportunities for people to be present with what is behind the mask we often wear in day to day life. She works to change the narrative along the way to allow for messiness, grief, joy in these spaces.

Laura Green is a massage therapist, Grief House Tender, friend and partner, daughter, sister, niece and many times a cousin. She feels many things, knows very little, is good at asking questions and better and better at not having answers. You can listen to her talk for many hours on the podcast she makes with Sascha and hardly at all if you meet her in person at a Grief House event like this one. She is deeply introverted, but really quite friendly.