Grief & the Nervous System
Deeply experiential 6 week course. Keep the practices, toolkit and recordings for a year.
Understand and befriend your nervous system as a pathway to greater ease, and self-compassion. Grow your sense of calm and resilience in your body and mind. Learn to self-soothe in simple healthy ways any time, any place.
Starting 3rd June 2024
by donation from £150
Dates
Monday 3rd June 2024 –
Monday 8th July 2024
Times
Mondays | 7-9pm BST
Programme
6x Online Circles
Join our deeply experiential programme to help you soothe and restore
Understanding our nervous system and the science of human safety (polyvagal theory) is vitally important for everyone, especially so when we have the stress, tension and trauma related to grief. It can help us grow our self-understanding and self-compassion, and support our nervous system to move through the grieving process more gracefully and return back to rest/digest and restore.
This six week programme will be led by Deborah Maddison, Breathwork and TRE® (Tension & Trauma Release Exercises) facilitator and Nici Harrison, founder of The Grief Space.
What can you expect?
To experience deeply restorative nervous system practices and offer yourself a balm for body and mind
To learn an understanding of grief through the lens of the nervous system
To empower you will tools to be able to bring your body into more balance, ease and rest
To be able to identify the different nervous system states you are in, and know ‘what to do when’
To understand the ‘voice’ of our nervous system, to listen to the words and stories and know how to respond
To receive practical tools to take home with you to support your nervous system
Week 1, Understanding
Understanding the basics of the Nervous System and the impact of any trauma including grief
Week 2, Awareness
Awareness of Polyvagal Theory and how it can support us to create safety and calm.
Week 3, Listening
Listening to the voices, signs and sensations in which the Nervous System is communicating our state.
Week 4, Storytelling
Understanding how our Nervous System state is creating the stories we tell ourselves and how to start changing the stories using this bottom-up approach.
Week 5, Regulating
What is regulating, how to do it (a menu of approaches for every nervous system state) and how to talk to our Nervous System
Week 6, Anchoring
Incorporating all the learnings into daily life, a recap of the vital aspects of this course, and inspiration to keep up practices
Practices to support your nervous system
Every week you will experience a 45-60 minute practice as part of the session. Each week’s practice builds on the previous week to learn and embody neural exercises to calm and regulate the nervous system.
These are very relaxing for most people and begin the process of embedding new ways of being into your neurology, with encouragement to keep practicing.
You will need to create a cosy space, with blankets and some quiet time to either lie down or sit and immerse in these deeply soothing sessions.
You will receive the recordings of these videos to return to again and again, available for one year.
Your facilitators
Nici and Deborah have worked together across different retreats and programmes. Together, they are passionate about combining their offerings to honour the interwoven nature of grief and the nervous system and empower everyone who comes to their workshop to understand their own bodies and healing journey.
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Nici is a grief tending facilitator, writer and speaker. She is founder of The Grief Space offering circles, retreats and workshops reimagining and remembering the lost art of grief tending. Her work honours grief as a gateway to feeling more love, intimacy and aliveness. Her work has been featured in The Telegraph and Psychologies magazine and various podcasts and festivals.
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Deborah found TRE® (Tension & Trauma Release Exercises) and Breathwork following a long recovery journey after medical retirement from the Navy in her late 20s. Anxiety, depression, complex PTSD had swamped her, but through TRE and Breathwork she steadily found herself becoming more grounded, more safely embodied, and more alive. In addition to client work, Deborah is a Trainer with the AIR School of Breathwork, supporting the Breathwork Practitioners of the future to become not only skilled professionals, but to dive profoundly into their own healing journey. Deborah loves to share TRE and Breathwork with others and hold safe space for clients to reconnect to themselves; she offers this work with love, kindness, and compassion to all those who are drawn.
Booking
We have opened this up to sliding scale by donation
We seek to make these spaces as accessible as possible. If you are struggling financially or experiencing any other barriers to receiving support, please do reach out and we can try to make something work – nici@thegriefspace.com
Dates for your diary
Monday 3rd June 2024 ~19.00 - 21.00 BST
Monday 10th June 2024 ~19.00 - 21.00 BST
Monday 17th June 2024 ~19.00 - 21.00 BST
Monday 24th June 2024 ~19.00 - 21.00 BST
Monday 1st July 2024 ~19.00 - 21.00 BST
Monday 8th July 2024 ~19.00 - 21.00 BST