Men's Grief and Praise Gathering
October 4-6, 2024
There is so much suffering and so much beauty on the planet all at once. It's for these reasons, and many more, that we gather in ritual space to join our hearts, hands and voices together as men.
This is a highly participatory gathering through which we will explore different access points for grief, praise, and ultimately, love. Together, we will co-create a ritual container of safety and support through song and dance, breath and somatic/embodiment practices, and movement and ceremony, to dive deep and become more fluent in apprenticing grief (and praise) on our journeys towards becoming more whole and connected men that welcome in all of our parts. We will collaboratively experience and play with some of the simple, effective ingredients that go into cooking a ritual for the renewal of all life. Grief is Praise, and we hope to moisten the ground with our tears of joy and gratitude alongside our grief.
Schedule
We need men to commit to the entire weekend, arriving between 1 and 3pm Friday Oct 4th and to stay until closing on Sunday Oct 6th at 4pm
Accommodations
This is a village style gathering, meaning we will all be staying onsite either in tents or in personal vehicles.
Reciprocity
Making this experience accessible to as many men as possible is important to us. A sliding scale is offered at 400 to 700. More than 400 will support this work moving forward making long term viability of these gatherings possible. Your investment supports the dignity and the long term viability for the facilitators and the spirit of reciprocity. In addition, your generosity supports men to participate who face financial barriers to gatherings like this through scholarships.
Email: [email protected]
This is a highly participatory gathering through which we will explore different access points for grief, praise, and ultimately, love. Together, we will co-create a ritual container of safety and support through song and dance, breath and somatic/embodiment practices, and movement and ceremony, to dive deep and become more fluent in apprenticing grief (and praise) on our journeys towards becoming more whole and connected men that welcome in all of our parts. We will collaboratively experience and play with some of the simple, effective ingredients that go into cooking a ritual for the renewal of all life. Grief is Praise, and we hope to moisten the ground with our tears of joy and gratitude alongside our grief.
Schedule
We need men to commit to the entire weekend, arriving between 1 and 3pm Friday Oct 4th and to stay until closing on Sunday Oct 6th at 4pm
Accommodations
This is a village style gathering, meaning we will all be staying onsite either in tents or in personal vehicles.
Reciprocity
Making this experience accessible to as many men as possible is important to us. A sliding scale is offered at 400 to 700. More than 400 will support this work moving forward making long term viability of these gatherings possible. Your investment supports the dignity and the long term viability for the facilitators and the spirit of reciprocity. In addition, your generosity supports men to participate who face financial barriers to gatherings like this through scholarships.
Email: [email protected]
Location
Port Townsend Area, WA
~on the traditional territories of the Chemakum (Aqokúlo or Čə́məq̓əm) and S’Klallam (Nəxʷsƛ̕áy̕əm̕)
~on the traditional territories of the Chemakum (Aqokúlo or Čə́məq̓əm) and S’Klallam (Nəxʷsƛ̕áy̕əm̕)
Facilitation and Lineage
We are deeply grateful to our teachers and draw deep inspiration from Sobonfu and Malidoma Somé, Frances Weller, Martin Prechtel, Joanna Macy and the Work That Reconnects, and many more. Laurence Cole is a beloved elder and mentor in this work in the Cascadia bio-region and many of us would not be here today if it were not for his guidance.
This is a unique space for men. We highly value the open community healing spaces for this work and feel it's absolutely essential that we be in space together as a people. Still, there is necessary work that men need to do solely in the company of other men–something that is our responsibility to confront and ultimately befriend. Most men are used to grieving alone, or not at all. And there is something about grief that dissolves the edges of the armor we carry as men, something that is needing to be released and composted into something new.
We are fully committed to co-creating a safe and brave space for men to show up in. This kind of ritual technology is ancient and essential for the health of village culture–something we are actively working towards re-imagining and re-embodying. At the heart of this, is learning to hold and be held in sacred witness by each other, by our ancestors, and by the other-than-human world.
Francis Weller outlined this work through what he calls the Gates of Grief. These are starting points, or pathways into feeling our grief, and while Weller highlights originally 5, and later 7, there are likely more than just that.
“Grief and love are sisters, woven together from the beginning. Their kinship reminds us that there is no love that does not contain loss and no loss that is not a reminder of the love we carry for what we once held close.”
~Francis Weller
THE GATES OF GRIEF
Everything we love we will lose, the places that have not known love, the sorrows of the world, what we expected but did not receive, and intergenerational or ancestral grief.
*Additional gates to explore include trauma and earth grief.
For this specific offering, we invite all those who identify as a man or male, as well as anyone who has been socialized as a man or male anytime in their life. If anyone has any questions or concerns about who this gathering is for or how we will cultivate a culture of belonging, safety, and accessibility for those in attendance, please reach out to Elia at [email protected]. Also, for those interested in a healing retreat like this but doesn't feel like this would be for them, please feel free to reach out and Elia can point you in directions of other community offerings that align with other identities and affinity groups.
This is a unique space for men. We highly value the open community healing spaces for this work and feel it's absolutely essential that we be in space together as a people. Still, there is necessary work that men need to do solely in the company of other men–something that is our responsibility to confront and ultimately befriend. Most men are used to grieving alone, or not at all. And there is something about grief that dissolves the edges of the armor we carry as men, something that is needing to be released and composted into something new.
We are fully committed to co-creating a safe and brave space for men to show up in. This kind of ritual technology is ancient and essential for the health of village culture–something we are actively working towards re-imagining and re-embodying. At the heart of this, is learning to hold and be held in sacred witness by each other, by our ancestors, and by the other-than-human world.
Francis Weller outlined this work through what he calls the Gates of Grief. These are starting points, or pathways into feeling our grief, and while Weller highlights originally 5, and later 7, there are likely more than just that.
“Grief and love are sisters, woven together from the beginning. Their kinship reminds us that there is no love that does not contain loss and no loss that is not a reminder of the love we carry for what we once held close.”
~Francis Weller
THE GATES OF GRIEF
Everything we love we will lose, the places that have not known love, the sorrows of the world, what we expected but did not receive, and intergenerational or ancestral grief.
*Additional gates to explore include trauma and earth grief.
For this specific offering, we invite all those who identify as a man or male, as well as anyone who has been socialized as a man or male anytime in their life. If anyone has any questions or concerns about who this gathering is for or how we will cultivate a culture of belonging, safety, and accessibility for those in attendance, please reach out to Elia at [email protected]. Also, for those interested in a healing retreat like this but doesn't feel like this would be for them, please feel free to reach out and Elia can point you in directions of other community offerings that align with other identities and affinity groups.
Nico Kladis
Nico Kladis, MA is an integral psychotherapist and threshold guide walking the edges of what it means to be fully human and sharing our gifts while living and dying well. He is immersed in acts of remembrance through song, dance, breathwork, grief tending, ancestral skills, collective healing, and place-based men's work for the deepest good of each other and the more-than-human world. He lives and loves on the Olympic Peninsula in Port Townsend, WA (s'Klallam/Chimakum territory). Read more about Nico Here.
Elias Serras
Elia is an EcoSomatic facilitator and guide for individuals, groups and organizations. His work is to empower embodied belonging through Truth, Healing, and Wholeness. Contact with wilderness saved his life as a younger man and inspired him to live and learn in communities ranging from traditional villages to contemporary Ecovillages in 11 different countries. He has been working with men and masculinity throughout the US since 2018. He currently lives in a cabin in the woods on the Olympic peninsula, and can often be found singing, dancing or breaking bread wherever the village fire is burning bright. See more at EcoSomaBe
Yam Baby
Yam is a community song leader, rhythm bringer and student of emergent ritual space. His highly interactive, playful teaching style is informed by the deep belief that music itself is every body’s inherent birthright, and that singing together in community is not only vital to our survival as a people, but also really fun. He knows music to be a living line of connection and communication to our ancestors, the wider cosmos and our more-than-human kin.
Yam currently resides on unceded Lummi and Nooksack territory, otherwise known as Bellingham, WA. He is the cohost and editor of the singing podcast Bliss Is Ordinary a member of the song collective Earth Practice, and a devoted dad.
Yam currently resides on unceded Lummi and Nooksack territory, otherwise known as Bellingham, WA. He is the cohost and editor of the singing podcast Bliss Is Ordinary a member of the song collective Earth Practice, and a devoted dad.
Jordan Lyon
Jordan Lyon is a chef, grief tender, writer and facilitator. His passions and work guide him towards cultivating community through all the ways he creates, weaves, and lives. Primarily through food—a love language of his that nourishes community doing deep work together; through ritual—cocreating emergent ceremonies that reconnect us with the sacred, Mother Nature, and all the cycles of life; and lastly through story—weaving together mythic threads and tapestries that help us remember what we’ve forgotten and reimagine what is possible ahead.
He resides on the land of Sacred Groves, a small intentional community on Bainbridge Island in the Salish Sea. Him, along with his elders and landmates, tend to this “healing ground” and feel a deep sense of responsibility, honor, and gratitude to steward this land and welcome others here for healing rituals that reconnect us with nature, spirit, and community. Learn more at JordanLyon.com.
He resides on the land of Sacred Groves, a small intentional community on Bainbridge Island in the Salish Sea. Him, along with his elders and landmates, tend to this “healing ground” and feel a deep sense of responsibility, honor, and gratitude to steward this land and welcome others here for healing rituals that reconnect us with nature, spirit, and community. Learn more at JordanLyon.com.