MAKING PEACE WITH GRIEF
May 18-22, 2023
“The healing power of even the most microscopic exchange with someone who knows in a flash precisely what you’re talking about because she experienced that thing too cannot be overestimated.”
— Cheryl Strayed
Find Community
Losing someone dear can be especially painful when you’re alone with your grief. Our friends and family can mean well, but if they don’t know the sting of grief or its pervasiveness, their condolences can feel empty. Worse, they can be so overwhelmed by the magnitude of your loss that they grow distant, leaving you feeling unsupported and misunderstood.
Sit with a group of women who have felt your pain, and feel the instant sisterhood that comes from knowing that the person holding your hand has also felt what it is to lose someone dear.
go inward & Grow Curious
The trauma of losing someone dear can leave us aching for a happier past and fearful of a future without them.
Feel what it is to grow roots in the present, to recognize that you are safe and loved. Then go within as Cheryl leads you in group holotropic breathing and individual hypnotherapy sessions.
You’ll grow curious as you begin to explore what else is haunting you besides missing your loved one. You’ll awaken a sense of compassion for yourself, and you’ll get the opportunity to say whatever you didn’t get the chance to before.
This kind of work is not for the faint of heart, but it will allow you to better understand yourself and release what does not serve you.
“I don’t know why they call it heartbreak. It feels like every part of my body is broken too.”
Move & Breathe
Trauma is not just a psychological phenomenon. Our bodies hold onto trauma, trapping it in our tissues. Making peace with grief means allowing ourselves to release the fear and loss that is within our bodies.
Combine gentle stretches with breathing and you’ll be so grateful to shake loose those emotions that got caught in your body, that continually ache and demand your attention.
“Don’t run away from grief, oh soul. Look for the remedy inside the pain because the rose came from the thorn and the ruby came from a stone.”
Be Nurtured
Touch and movement are powerful healing modalities, but so too is healthy, organic food. You’ll enjoy delicious snacks and meals tailored to your dietary needs and tastes.
Loving massage and energy work supplement your own movement and breath and give you much needed nourishment. Discover how best to love your body and feel compassion for the trauma it has endured. Nourish that beautiful body with healthy and delicious foods that are prepared especially for you and tailored to your dietary needs and tastes.
“Grief is just love with no place to go.”
Write a new story
Facing life without your loved one may be daunting, but finding gratitude for your time with them will ease your path.
Through journaling and self-reflection, you’ll come to see that however much you may miss your loved ones, there is much good you can do for yourself and others.
“The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.”
Your transformative 5-day retreat includes:
Welcome gifts that nurture and enliven your experience
Intention Setting Ceremony
Holotropic breathing exercise
90-minute Hynotherapy session
90-minute massage with energy work
60-minute sound bath
Daily gentle stretching and guided meditations
Reflective & quiet guided journal time poolside
Fire Ritual to let go of what no longer serves you
Time to explore downtown St. Pete and St. Pete Beach
All meals, served with coffee, teas, water, or mocktails
Transportation to and from the airport
$1500*
*$750 deposit due now, the balance on the first day of the retreat
How to prepare:
Contact us with any questions!
Book it! Register and pay your $600 deposit.
Fill out the dietary survey.
Fill out the participant agreement
Make your travel arrangements. Fly into either St Petersburg’s (PIE) with Allegiant or Tampa International Airport (TPA) with all major air carriers. Send us your flight information.
Choose your accommodations. We’ve assembled a helpful lists from Central Oak Park, all just steps away from your retreat at Casa Guilia, the home of BreathWorks. There’s a range of accommodations from the budget-friendly cozy vintage campers to luxury pool properties.
Meet Your Retreat Hosts
Cheryl Mitchell
Certified Clinical, Transpersonal, and Interpersonal Hypnotherapist, Ph.D. Candidate
has maintained her private practice in Pinellas County Florida since 2012. As a student of first causes, she is currently completing her Ph.D. studies in Metaphysics at the University of Metaphysical Sciences.
She has extensive training and experience in many modalities, including various forms of regression, altered state work, and breathwork. Our bodies hold the pain and suffering of our experiences and using our breath in specific, guided ways is helpful in clearing blocks, releasing physical and emotional pain, including grief, and bringing clarity and clearing to our bodies and our lives.
Julie Langford
PhD, RYT-200, LMT, Author
Julie specializes in using reiki, yoga, and massage to alleviate trauma and PTSD. She teaches her clients to employ breath work and loving self-talk in order to amplify the effects of yoga and massage. She firmly believes that when we address our own physical and emotional pain, we can more easily feel compassion for others.
Julie’s healing journey began at age 50 when she traveled to Rishikesh, India to study yoga, meditation, and breathe work at the Vinyasa Yoga School. At the time, she was a tenured professor at the University of South Florida and had a thriving career publishing, presenting at international conferences, and teaching a wide variety of classes. But she wasn’t healthy or happy.
Julie retired from USF in May 2022 and in August of 2022 she earned her massage therapist license in Colorado and Florida. She’s also earned a certificate to assist people as they undertake psilocybin trips to treat trauma and PTSD. She’s since been combining these techniques in working with chiropractors, yoga teachers, life coaches, aestheticians, and medical marijuana doctors.