If you are suffering from a significant loss in the death of a loved one, bad news about your own health, or you’re going through a testing process of transition, you may feel you have plunged into a desolate journey with no end in sight.

Even if you are normally a highly skilled and resourceful person, someone who serves and leads others, in grief we are always beginners and, where you are used to being empowered, you may now find yourself floundering.

When loss takes your life apart and strips you to the bone, it’s quite common to feel at the mercy of a scary, heart-breaking and all-consuming process, for which you are completely unprepared.

You are not alone! Loss and grief are natural parts of being human

We all lose people we love through separation or death;

We all experience failure and disillusionment and lose sight of cherished dreams;

We all learn, at one time or another, to cope with and manage changes in our bodies and deteriorating health in ourselves and our loved ones;

We all face ageing and the approach of our own dying;

We are all, at times, overwhelmed and broken hearted by unwanted changes in our world, the destruction of nature, wars and social injustice;

And, for those on a conscious spiritual path, losing illusions about the self and throwing off outworn identities is intrinsic to the path, a sign of progress – and very challenging!

If this speaks to you please join me for a three month programme to support your deep dive into the transformational potential in grief and loss. 

My own inquiry into how to grieve well began following the death of my closest friend in December 2015; and then six months later, the passing of my brother, David, my last family member. In my previous experiences of grief and loss, I had come to see the passing of a loved one as a special time of opportunity, however challenging it may be. Now, I brought to my grieving process several decades experience as a whole person therapist and an educator, combined with a similar timespan of spiritual practice. I’ve long been a deep explorer of the inner world, fascinated by the creative process, and working for positive change in the outer world. And yet, in the midst of this grief, I was a complete beginner, stripped to the bone, and helpless in the face of loss and the reality of death. For the first six months after my brother died, I was brought to a standstill and had no choice but to sit with whatever was arising within me.

And then, I began to write about my grief in the hope of coming to a deeper understanding and integration of it. The result was a book, Sitting with Death and Choosing Life. I invited a group of friends, who were also grieving a recent loss, to read the book and join me for conversations and we explored our grief in an open-hearted and undefended way. I could feel the energy in the room lightening as the conversations progressed and it was clear, one or two of these “sitting with death” sessions, were enough to stimulate healing shifts of consciousness. Far from being a dark or morbid subject, death ignited our passion for life. We discovered shared themes, as well as recognising the unique qualities of each grieving experience. It seems to be the case that when it comes to grief we never step into the same river twice and no two people’s grieving experiences are ever exactly the same. In that sense, we are always beginners.

Sitting with Death is an Opportunity to be Seized

 As I talked with my friends about grief, we agreed that the emotions activated during times of profound personal loss can be overwhelming and may at times feel catastrophic in intensity. These emotions and states of mind may be so deeply felt they are often difficult to put into words and communicate, even with ourselves, let alone our closest companions. This often gives rise to an experience of isolation and a sense of having moved out of the acceptable range of normality. This in turn can cause us to withdraw, disconnect or shut down, sometimes for a long period of time.

 I began talking with healing practitioners who shared with me their touching stories of grief, loss and transition along with the solutions that have worked for them and the wisdom they have gathered. This led to a series of 18  intimate conversations, which I have put together in three e-books.  These will be the stimulus for a 3 month programme of 6  Deep Discovery Conversations and are intended to:

• Stimulate and help to focus your exploration;
• Support inquiry and deep reflection;
• Develop shared understandings and a common language for the challenging process of transition and transformation,
• Encourage you to connect more fully with your authentic wisdom, inner knowing and unique path. My hope is, my e-book and these conversations, gifts of my own healing process, will help to alleviate some of the painful isolation and suffering of grief and loss.

We will come together for conversations in a small group, within a safe and intentional “soul sanctuary” space, to explore:

1.  Grieving Well

• Discovering what it means to you to grieve well enables daily self-loving actions;
• Naming some of the intense and edgy states of grief and transition, and developing a common language, creates a more solid ground on which to stand;
• Bringing death, dying, grief and loss out of the shadows – where fear, avoidance, isolation and shame gather – brings relief from isolation and the possibility to move forward.

2.  Transforming Grief and Loss

• Embracing loss as a natural and inevitable aspect of your life, and of every human life, with gifts to offer, opens the possibility for exploration, acceptance and integration;
• Appreciating loss as a natural part of the process of transition, transformation and evolution, brings a deeper sense of meaning and purpose.

3.  The Soul Journey

• Recognising the healing journey as a lifelong process vital for spiritual well-being, and full of challenges, provides a bigger perspective from which you can draw courage and direction;
• Creating maps of the new and unknown territory we traverse as we heal and transform, helps us all to move through challenges  more easily;

Now I am Extending this Invitation to YOU: 

Please Join Me to Explore the Practice of Sitting with Death and Choosing Life.

Starting on: Wednesday April 11th at 7pm BST

£77 per month for 3 months or £200 when you make a single payment.

What to expect:

• You will be part of a group of no more than 12 people, giving  everyone a chance to participate; this is an opportunity to share from your own experience and to explore your own questions.
• Calls will take place on zoom, for 90 minutes, twice a month on these dates:  Wednesday April 11, 25, May 9, 23, June 6, 20 at 7pm BST.
• On receipt of your purchase I will send you a welcome email with a link to a copy of the first e-book, Grieving Well.
• At each meeting, we will begin with a brief meditation to bring everyone present, and into alignment, and I will share some basic guidelines for the conversation.
• I will stay in touch with you weekly by email and send you questions to focus your inquiry and reflection.
• There will be a private Facebook group where you can interact with other members of the group. (This will be shared with people in the Build Your Soul Sanctuary programme.)
• If a 1-1 meeting with Rose would be helpful , these will be available throughout the programme, and for one month following, at a special rate.