Grief Retreat

Remember - Release - Renew

Grief is a universal human emotion.

No one is exempt from it.

So how can we embrace it?

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With our busy pace of life and the lack of grief rituals in western culture, we often do not give ourselves the time and space to grieve properly, or at all.

This unexpressed energy can get stuck in our bodies and cause illness, depression and unhealthy patterns and behaviours.

Many of us fear going to the depths of our sorrow, anger, guilt and shame without support. So we bury our grief and 'get on with it.'

Perhaps we worry about being a burden on our friends or family.

 Possibly we don't even know we have stuffed it down, until it erupts, out of nowhere, months or years later. 

Maybe we have forgotten what it is to feel lightness and joy and need a helping hand to come home.

Iola and Olivia are here to support you on your grief journey.

Join us for a deeply-held, immersive retreat where we will remember, release, renew and embrace our grief as an integral part of our human experience.

We will create a safe, trauma-informed space where you can honour, feel and move through your grief with the support of community, nature, nourishing food, movement, ceremony and ritual.

We will share tools that will empower you to cope with, manage and release the emotions that arise through grief.

Together, we will learn to embrace our grief - all parts of it - celebrating the growth that it can bring to our lives and the gift it offers in opening our hearts more deeply to love.

Whether you are grieving the loss of a loved one, a relationship ending, an abortion or miscarriage, an old identity, or anything else, it is ALL valid and welcome.

If you want to honour your grieving process and move forward with grace...

This is for you.

Expectations and Intentions

This is a deep offering and we expect resistance, fear and anticipation to arise for some (if not all!) of you. 

This is normal and we welcome you just as you are. All your emotions are welcome. All of you is welcome. 

We encourage you to come with an open mind and heart. 

When we begin the retreat we will give you space to feel into what your intentions are for this experience.

Our intentions for this retreat are:

- To hold a loving, safe, intentional space for the emotion and experience of grief to be honoured, valued and felt

- To support each of our participants to get to know yourself better, love yourself more and trust in your ability to live with your grief

- To share tools that will empower you to cope with, manage and release the emotions that arise through grief

- To offer the opportunity to find medicine in your pain, embracing grief as an opportunity for healing, growth and deeper love

Activities

Every morning will start with a light yoga and meditation practice to move through any blockages in your body and bring you into a state of presence for the day ahead.

We will facilitate daily sharing circles and smaller sharing groups to help you process your feelings, past, present and future.

We will connect with the lands and Mother Nature through outdoor activities including a meditative walk to the local Buddhist temple.

We will nourish you with delicious, nutritious vegan food to help you ground and integrate your experiences and stay embodied and situated throughout.

We will drink cacao in a sacred ceremony to activate your heart chakra and open your channels of expression.

We will share with you somatic tools for releasing trauma and emotions, such as shaking, dance and vocal activation, always with a trauma-informed approach that meets you where you are and ensures you are safe and supported.

We will guide you through nourishing, restorative, grounding practices such as yin yoga and sound healing to soothe your nervous system and give plenty of time for integration.

We will guide you through powerful and beautiful rituals to help you to remember, release and renew.

About your hosts

Iola and Olivia have combined professional training and experience in tantra, shamanism, yoga, ceremonial space-holding, energy healing and dynamic meditation.

We hold regular cacao ceremonies, retreats and workshops, supporting people to deepen their relationship with their bodies, release trauma and find balance and strength.

We believe connection and community is fundamental to healing. We are passionate about providing safe, loving spaces for people to unite in their shared human experiences, remembering that we are all connected and that our similarities outway our differences. 

We create a non-judgmental environment in which shame can be released, our stories can be told openly and all emotions are welcomed.

Iola and Olivia have both experienced the death of a parent and friends, abortions, traumatic relationship breakups, and other life events which have given us an intimate relationship with grief.

We look forward to sharing with you the tools that have supported us through these tough times and continue to empower us to embrace the full spectrum of emotions that accompany grief and the medicine it holds for transformation.

Chef

Claudiu is a permaculture educator, bodyworker, artist and chef. He was raised with love and reverence for the natural world at the foot of the Bucegi mountains in Romania by his doula herbalist grandmother.

Claudiu moved to London at 19 and worked in some of London's top restaurants where he learned about great food.

Over the last 6 years he has been teaching permaculture in India and has planted edible landscapes from the Himalayas to Sri Lanka where he expanded his knowledge and uses of edible and medicinal plants.

One of his passions is to create delicious and nourishing food using seasonal and locally foraged wild foods and herbs - using food as medicine.

For this retreat Claudiu is concocting a fabulous menu of vegan and vegetarian delights with the addition of herbal tinctures, CBD, adaptogenic mushrooms and herbs to support the heart, as well as remedies that have been traditionally used in his culture to help with grieving and coping with loss.

Accommodation  

You will be staying in a beautiful, recently renovated converted barn.

Please follow the link below to take a tour of The Croft Farm Escape accommodation. 

Click here >>> Accomodation 

Sleeping is in comfortable shared rooms. There are a maximum of 4 beds per room and there are 4 shared bathrooms.

An email will be sent to you after your booking to determine which room will suit you best. Gender specific options are available.

Private rooms are available at an extra cost. Please contact us for more info. 

Location

Great Gaddesden is located in the beautiful Hertfordshire countryside. It is just a 1-hour drive from London with plenty of parking available onsite. The Croft Farm Escape is recognised on Google Maps.

The Farm is accessible via public transport. 10-minute drive from Hemel Hempstead train station. This is only a 40-minute train journey from London Euston. Uber is available from Hemel Hempstead station and will get you to the farm.

Investment

Early Bird - £649 - available until 28 April

Payment Plan - We have given the option to pay in 2x instalments. You will need to pay the first instalment by 28 April and the second by 19 May 2023.

If you wish to pay in full now, add both the payment plan options to your shopping cart.

Full Contribution - £699 – from 28 April

After 28 April you will not be able to pay in instalments.

Inclusivity Discounts

A limited number of inclusivity discount tickets are available for people who need financial support.

Please email info@heartshineflow.com for more information.

Contact Details

We are happy to answer any questions you have about the retreat.

Olivia - oliviawood_is@hotmail.com

07804 643 247

Iola - info@heartshineflow.com

07717 037 553

With love!

Iola and Olivia