Grief Retreat
Hosted by Deidre Manly and Bailee Gist
This gathering is an invitation to explore grief through movement, creativity, and connection with the natural world. We begin by stretching and moving together with trauma‑informed yoga, offered creekside on a beautiful flower farm. This opening practice allows us to gently arrive in our bodies and meet our grief with care and presence.
Floral oracle cards and grief reflection cards will be available to help set intentions or invite quiet inquiry. From there, we move into a hands‑on, meditative art practice—working with sustainable materials gathered from the forest floor. As we stretch, move, and get our hands dirty, we allow grief to be expressed through touch, texture, and creative flow.
This healing practice is guided by Deidre, an end‑of‑life doula, and is held as a contemplative ritual rather than an outcome‑based activity. The creations are left on the forest floor as offerings, returning gently to the land. Participants are welcome to bring small, biodegradable elements that can be released back to Mother Earth.
This retreat honors grief as something that moves through us—something we can meet with tenderness, curiosity, and reverence.
Meet Deidre
Deidre has spent over 30 years working with children and young adults within the foster care system. She is a trained facilitator and trainer in an evidence‑based care coordination model supporting children and adults involved in multiple systems who have experienced significant loss and trauma.
Her calling to this work began at a young age, shaped by the loss of her father during her teenage years. In more recent years, grief has continued to weave itself through her life—losing her mother during the COVID pandemic, caring for her partner at home through his cancer journey alongside hospice, a death doula, and his daughter, and then experiencing the unexpected loss of her sister shortly after.
These experiences led Deidre deeper into the world of end‑of‑life care, grief work, and ritual. She has spent years training as a death doula and attending grief retreats inspired by the work of Francis Weller. Deidre often describes her relationship with grief as a dance—one that continues to evolve rather than resolve.
Through yoga, community grief work, readings, trainings, and time spent creating in nature, she has found ways to live alongside grief with tenderness and presence. Her work is rooted in the understanding that grief does not end—but it can be held, honored, and met with care.
Meet Bailee
Bailee is a 200-Hour certified yoga instructor, sound practitioner, and Reiki II practitioner, while also working full-time in the hospice and end-of-life field. Her own journey with grief began a decade ago when she lost her father—the one she loved most—and these healing modalities were instrumental in guiding her through her grief. Walking alongside others at the threshold of life and death has become a deeply meaningful calling for her. In that space, her connection to end-of-life care and the healing modalities she offers—yoga, sound, and Reiki—has deepened. She encourages others to open their hearts to these same practices, allowing them to be guided through their own grief with support and presence when it’s needed most.
Date/Time
May 9th From 11 AM - 2 PM
What To Bring/Wear
We are a working farm so please wear comfortable supportive shoes. With our always changing weather we recommend to dress in layers. and bring sunscreen.
Additional Details
Dress in layers/comfortable/walking shoes
Bring yoga mat if you have but we will have some available
No artistic or yoga abilities required