Grieving Well ln These Times: Navigating Grief Through the Reiki Precepts

Reclaim the beauty and healing potential of grieving well….

“Death is not the burden. Inequality and the violent imbalance of power is. To give our hands to freedom, first give them to grief.”

— Malkia Devich-Cyril in Holding Change by adrienne maree brown

The current political chaos in the US is layering many losses, at many scales, upon us daily. Times such as these are emergent, fast paced and terrifying, and the shock-and-awe tactics being leveraged at us are designed to keep us scrambling and wear us down.

Under such circumstances, it is understandable that we push aside the human needs that seem less pressing, further weakening us. The healthy, robust, and tender practice of grieving is one of these needs that are cast aside, paradoxically causing us deeper and more lasting harm than if we faced it head on, in community, and as a healing practice. And yet we are being given so very much to grieve.

Our insistence on meeting the deep human need of grieving well is, in itself, a form of resistance.

Therefore this class is designed to support you in grieving the loss of:

• Our nation as some of us understood it to be–and the revelation of a United States that many other Americans have always known it to be.
• Rights that protect you and/or others
• Relationships due to division in beliefs or values
• Jobs or other resources due to governmental action
• A sense of safety or belonging within our nation

In this 7-week journey we’ll explore the Five Stages of Grief through the lens of the Reiki Precepts, the principles that form the foundation of the system of Reiki from its Japanese origins. In this way, we’ll deepen our understanding of what it means to grieve well in these times, possibly even coming to see our grief as a profound friend and guide into the deepest places of our hearts.

Part workshop, part ritual, and entirely heartful, this gathering will create a powerful container within which to explore our own experiences of grief.

Through this work we’ll unburden our hearts and spirits, lightening our loads, and better provision ourselves to take the actions (in our homes, communities and the world) that we feel called to.

Reclaim the beauty and healing potential of grieving well….

• Are you curious about what it could mean to grieve well in these times?
• Would you like to reframe your grief journey and your relationship to it in community with others?
• Are you looking to explore grief from a place that is grounded, yet expansive?
• If you are a Reiki practitioner, are you curious about what it could look like to integrate grief work into your reiki practice?

Why This Matters:

In our western culture, grief is often seen as a necessary inconvenience, an interruption of normal life and business as usual, rather than the sacred human rite of passage that it is.

Within this distorted mindset, the Five Stages of Grief, originally articulated by Elisabeth Kubler Ross in her (1970) book On Death and Dying, are often presented as a linear, formulaic roadmap; a useful tool for navigating out of grief as fast of possible. This view robs us of the incredible clarity and power of this model which was always intended to be experienced as dynamic, fluid, non-linear and deep.

As a pathway to reclaiming this powerful framework into the transformative human experience of grief, we’ll apply the Reiki Precepts, the foundational principles of the system of Reiki as reflected in the Buddhist roots of this practice.

These five simple yet profound principles will support us to:

• Become responsive to what we are experiencing in the moment, rather than what we think (or are told) we should be experiencing.
• Develop a practice to assess what we feel and what we need in a given moment.
• Engage the Stages of Grief through spiritual practices designed to help us remember the wholeness of our True Self.

Investment:

Grieving Well In These Times is offered at a sliding scale. The actual cost of the class is $295. Tickets listed below that price are discounted and are limited. Select a discounted ticket if paying the full price would represent a hardship for you.

*3-month payment plan available. Email michaela@heartscapesinsight.com to request this option.

• Up to 12 tickets are available at $295
• 3 tickets are available at $245
• 1 ticket is available at $195
• Job Loss Scholarship: Pay-what-you-can scholarship for anyone who has had a job-loss in your household due to federal cuts. To claim this option, please email me for instructions at michaela@heartscapesinsight.com
• Pay-it-Forward Price: $345 (to support scholarships)