Imagine being in the presence of seventy-five women who’ve lost a child.
It makes your heart hurt, right?
That’s what I felt in the weeks before I attended the Love Mama Grief Retreat as a facilitator. The unimaginable loss and the remarkable courage of these brave mamas to attend the retreat, a creation of Dr. Laura Berman whose own journey of grief brought her to this new chapter of her life.
In 2021, while sheltering at home, Laura’s 16-year-old son Sammy purchased a pill from a dealer on Snapchat that was laced with Fentanyl.
Just a few short weeks after Sammy died, she was invited to stay at 1440 Multiversity, a beautiful center tucked in the Redwoods of Santa Cruz, CA. There she was joined by some phenomenal healing practitioners who rallied around her, bringing their modalities to help her heart and bring her back to herself.
When tragedy strikes, we rarely know what to do. What to say. How to help. How to BE.
It’s so wild that the only guarantee we have in life is that we are ALL leaving at some point.
We live. We die. We welcome newborns. We will grieve those departed.
And yet… we have so much to learn!!
I was honored to both attend and facilitate a workshop at this year’s retreat. I was blown away by what I saw. These brave mamas. These remarkable practitioners. Days filled with exploration of the soul. Somatic work. Ecstatic dance. Grief yoga. Anger release. Sound baths. Hands-on healing. Mediumship. Nature. Incredible food. I could go on and on.
And in the midst of it all, I invited these women to wish again–to connect with their hearts and to create with their hands.
Grief and love are two sides of the same coin.
What a privilege it was to experience the full expression of both for this week of wonder. If you want to learn more about Laura’s work, check out the Grief Healing Collective and the Love Mama Grief Retreat. Pass it on. Donate if you feel so inspired. (Thank you)
When we learn to grieve, we really learn to LIVE.
If you wish to support Laura’s work and wish for yourself, go ahead and head over to Wishbeads. Find the style that sparks your heart and use the code: LOVEMAMA15. Enjoy 15% off your order. All proceeds will be donated back to the Grief Healing Collective.
