Dates: May 10, 11, 17, & 18

Time: 9:00am to 12 Noon EST

Event Program Fee: $280

Beyond the Threshold The Landscape of Grief with Kelly Butler

In a world that rushes past loss and sadness, too often we are offered a brief respite to mourn then, “back to normal.” Many of us know the experience is otherwise. Once we cross grief’s threshold, there is no “normal” to which we can return. We are permanently altered. The expectation that we quickly overcome sorrow leaves us feeling isolated, adrift in our sadness and searching for meaning.

Grief asks for more. Before it can be metabolized, transformed, and integrated, it must be witnessed. In this gathering, we don’t banish broken-heartedness, we offer it a place of honor. We allow its presence and explore a deeper wisdom. Like roots in the earth, we form a community of practice that nurtures healing and connection.

This four-part workshop invites you to journey toward a deeper relationship with grief, using a compassionate, mindful approach to navigate its complexities. Over two weekends, we will engage in an alchemical process:

Introduction – We will uncover misconceptions and explore the true nature of grief, preparing ourselves for the work ahead. We dispel the myth of separateness and examine what it means to be whole.

Excavation and Exploration – Delving into personal and collective grief, we recognize our interconnectedness and shared experiences can be a source of resilience and strength.

Transformation – We are remade by grief. In learning to approach it as a transformative experience, we might find our sorrow reshaped and we are renewed.

Integration – With a focus on healing rather than cure, we discover our fullest, deepest self exists with and beyond sorrow. We step into wholeness.

Drawing from current research and incorporating tools of meditation, reflection, expressive art, ceremony, and discussion, discover compassion for ourselves and our suffering. Through gentle attention, we might move sadness from its place of hiding to a place of healing.

When we are present to grief, we recognize it cannot be avoided; we must move through its terrain. But in that journey we encounter unexpected gifts. Join as together we navigate this path.

Welcome, wayfarers of grief, to this time of shared sorrow. 

Who is this workshop for?

This workshop is for all those willing to bring tenderness to the hurt, to cultivate a place of healing and transformation. It is for the curious and the courageous; those with aching hearts; those who want to deepen into compassion and be witnessed in grief. The workshop does not focus on any specific form of loss.

We ask the recently bereaved to be mindful of titration. If you are flooded by grief, it may be too soon to enter into a deliberate exploration. 

About Kelly Butler

Your instructor is Kelly Butler, MHSc. Kelly is a facilitator with more than three decades of experience in teaching, nursing, pain management, grief work, and end-of-life care. Along with a personal contemplative practice, she has extensive training in yoga, mindfulness, ritual work, and trauma-informed care. Her mission is to foster connection and a more compassionate society.