In a world destabilized by violence, isolation, and humanitarian and ecological crises, nearly everyone we meet is carrying grief for the world. Being open to our own pain and the suffering in the world is beautiful and difficult work. It can take a toll, especially when we feel we are carrying it alone.
Living Water brings together hospice volunteers and staff, interfaith ministry students, community activists, therapists, first responders, faith leaders, and others who seek nourishment and resources to honor and alchemize grief, joy, and a wild love for the world.
Come, be nourished and held by the Earth and in community and, ultimately, leave better resourced to continue supporting your communities.
Day-long Retreat: $30, $60, $90 (Lunch included)
We have a limited number of full scholarship tickets available. Please reach out to admin@chimeofmaine.org to request.
Schedule
9:30 - 10 Gathering and Settling In
10 - noon Opening Plenary
12 - 1:30 Lunch (Provided)
1:30 - 3:00 Breakout session
3:15 - 4:00 Closing Session
4:00 - 4:30 Departures
Morning Plenary
In our morning session, we will arrive, ground together, build relationships, and explore both dominant cultural messages about grief and frameworks and practices that restore grief to its life-giving role in society.
Facilitator bio: Emma Thomas Mitchell is a mother, spouse, progressive Christian pastor, circle keeper, and lover of the world with a former elementary school teacher’s love for color and play. Her work interweaves personal and collective transformation, embodiment, song, rites of passage, and apprenticeship to the natural world, and has led her to positions in school. Emma currently serves as the Associate Pastor at South Freeport Church and runs an earth-based spiritual accompaniment practice based in Wabanaki territory in midcoast Maine. Her ideal Sabbath includes curling up with coffee and a good book, a barefoot walk in the woods, joining others in dance and song, and cuddles with her toddler, husband, and pup.
Afternoon Breakout Sessions
Click + to read about each topic and presenter. You will be asked to choose your top two during registration.
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It is difficult to talk about grief, and it can even be more difficult to write through grief. In this workshop, we'll explore different poets writing about grief. We'll explore how grief is related to our mental health and generate an initial draft of poetry. No experience necessary. Bring an open mind and your preferred writing tools.
Facilitator Bio: Maya Williams (ey/they/she) is a religious Black multiracial nonbinary suicide survivor who served as Portland, Maine's seventh poet laureate for a 2021-2024 term. Maya's full length poetry collections were finalists for a New England Book Award and a Maine Literary Award. Maya's poetry chapbooks won prizes from Garden Party Collective and The Headlight Review. Follow eir work at mayawilliamspoet.com and Instagram emmdubb16.
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In this workshop we will create paper altars that fold up into an envelope and can be hung on the wall. We will embellish these “book altars” with a variety of gold and hand printed papers. The content of this workshop will explore the ideas of leaning in, gathering, holding and giving back – the alchemy of grief through creative expression. No artistic experience necessary. All materials will be provided.
Facilitator Bio: Rev. Sarah Shepley is an Artist and Interfaith minister who supports clients in the field of family ancestral healing. She has had a lifelong apprenticeship with grief and loves engaging her creativity in service of healing and transformation. Grief and gratitude share a bond and creative expression is the bridge weaving them together. sarahshepley.com
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Music, sound, and song can be powerful tools as we navigate, and accompany others in navigating grief and death. In this experiential workshop, participants will be taught simple, repeatable songs designed to resource us through life's transitions, space will be made to consider the role music and song could play in your own care & accompaniment work, and we will close with a sound & song bath in which participants can rest, be held, and drop into your own embodiment. No singing experience necessary. Participants should bring a water bottle and a yoga mat / blanket / pillow to lay on.
Facilitator Bio: Jordan Mudd is a community songwriter, songleader, grief tender, and ritualist based in Boston, MA, where he stewards the Boston-Area Singing Circles community, cycles of seasonal rituals, and runs a private practice of vocal coaching & grief accompaniment. His original songs, designed to be taught & sung in groups, are tools to connect us with our bodies, community, spirit, and land. His approach to grief & death is influenced by the Dagara lineage of grief ritual, the Celtic tradition of keening, and the legacy of his hospice chaplain grandfather Ron Mudd.
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In a container of gratitude that expands the heart and enhances capacity to hold our individual and collective pain, we will enter into somatic practices, (be more fully in our bodies), that ground and open us to the myriad of emotions inside grief. We will journey from grief towards joy through biodanza (the use of movement and music, restorative play, rest, and collective care) and close with time to share and harvest together. This workshop is invitational, providing freedom of agency and choice at all times, no experience is needed. We will invite barefoot, with socks or indoor soft shoes only. Bring a water bottle, blanket or large towel, yoga mat if you have one and beautiful you!
Facilitator Bio: elena elizabeth hendrick is a transformational facilitator of personal and collective learning, healing, and ritual experiences. Her accompaniment embodies a practice of presence and deep listening, co-creating space with participants that gives way for trust, curiosity, courage, and new awareness. elena believes that grief tending happens most fully in community, and leads the way to aliveness, liberation and joy. elena also brings years of leadership and practice in the communal work of creating cultures of peace.
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During this session you will be invited to lean into relationship with the elements, to connect with the heart beat of the living, breathing, natural world. Let’s remember and explore together the spirit and capacity of the natural world to help us carry and metabolize the weight of our grief. Where will you plant your grief seeds? Weather permitting, we will spend this session outdoors, beginning and ending our time gathered around a fire in conversation and connection. In addition to simple guided mindfulness and meditation practices (no experience necessary), there will be an invitation with prompts to explore the land and sense into the elementals that nourish and support us. Bring warm outer layers and a warm blanket or thick towel for sitting on, in case the seating is chilly or damp. Everyone will be encouraged to listen to the needs of their own bodies and you will always have freedom of choice.
Facilitator Bio: Ananda Kaymen (she/her) is a gardener, maker, teacher and mindfulness coach who guides groups and individuals in reclaiming their attention and nourishing themselves through mindfulness practices, meditation, engaging with the natural world and making beautiful and useful things with their hands. She believes wholeheartedly in the alchemical powers of listening and meeting "what is" with curiosity and compassion. She holds an MA in Counseling Psychology with a specialization in Somatics, and is a Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness Certified Practitioner. oneredpine.com
