Weeks 1 + 2: Centering In Our Individual + Collective Bodies

To make room for our grief, we need to bring our bodies with us. Grief is a physical experience; our shoulders slump, our heads feel cloudy, tears fall down our cheeks. As we arrive into the circle, we will bring awareness to our bodies and listen to the ways our grief speaks through them. We will take time to get familiar with the art supplies and access body-based resources to regulate our nervous systems. We will explore what it means to be in apprenticeship with our grief, look at the Gates of Grief as taught by Francis Weller, and build the container of our circle that we are creating together for the weeks to come.

Weeks 3 + 4: Befriending the Unknown

In grief, things fall apart. To be in relationship with grief, we are tasked with dismantling the myth that we are in control. We will explore the meaning of the Zen saying, “not knowing is most intimate.” Being with the unknown can be intolerable and sometimes terrifying to experience alone, but together, with the use of art and social connection, we can offer ourselves space try on a new way of being. Here we will bear witness to the feral nature of grief, and be in the dark waters of the unknown, together.

Weeks 5 + 6: Regret, Remorse, and Collective Liberation

This week we will focus upon the grief over harms we have caused ourselves and others, and harms we are complicit in. So often, regret, remorse, and shame can show up in the story we tell ourselves about our loss and this week is to help us untangle our feelings and grieve what needs to be grieved to bring more clarity and insight. We will explore how grief work is a critical element to dismantling the legacies of oppression, and envision what it means to wage beauty in these heartbreaking times, and create a narrative for the world we are dreaming of for our future generations.

Weeks 7 + 8: Grief As Initiation 

In our society there are rarely opportunities where we mark threshold moments in our lives yet they are so helpful to mark the end of something and the beginning of something else. As we come to the end of our time together, we will acknowledge and grieve the parts of us we have lost, the parts that will never be the same, and bring curiosity and compassion to who we are now. We will reflect on how we want to show up in the world as someone who has been touched by grief, see the responsibility that comes with it, and create a narrative for the world we are dreaming of for our future generations.