In-person
Healing & Connection Programme
Navigating grief through the somatic therapy of Yin yoga, meditation, journaling and group discussion
Grief impacts us so deeply that it inevitably throws up so many questions about who we are. This is what I experienced when my husband died in October 2018. Everything I thought I know about myself, my identity, and my beliefs, were no longer valid. I felt I couldn’t rely on myself, my thought process felt damaged, and my decision-making, even the most simple things felt impossible.
How we navigated the world prior to this deep loss has now changed in so many ways – how do we even begin to discover who we are now? It is usually in the softness of silence and stillness when everything else clears that we become aware of who we are in our changed reality. But in grief, it can be very hard to find stillness and silence as the mind is racing. Racing with thoughts of guilt (usually not deserved), fear of the future, and fear of aloneness. Fear of so much change all at once.
Connection and community are profoundly helpful in grief. Add in purpose too and you will discover beliefs and strengths in yourself that will guide you to start your journey forward.
A 12-WEEK IN-PERSON HEALING & CONNECTING PROGRAMME
I am inviting you to join me and a very small group of people who also know the pain of loss.
In this 12-week programme, we will:
✔️ Move the body with Yin Yoga
✔️ Find space in the mind with meditation and journaling.
✔️ Discuss and share on common issues in our grief and how we can adjust how we think and approach these issues to help us on our journey forward.
✔️ This group includes 12 x 105-minute live sessions with Orla.
✔️ Yin yoga, meditations and visualisations.
✔️ Group chat.
✔️ All equipment is provided and you will be gifted with a journal on arrival.
✔️ Refreshments on demand too!
What to expect:
✔️ A 12-week programme
✔️ Fridays, 1pm – 2.45pm.
✔️ Starts Friday 28th April to Friday 21st July (with one Friday off on May 19th).
✔️ Taking place in the comfort of my home where I have a warm comfortable space
✔️ Equipment is provided
✔️ Only 6 spaces available – please be quick to book to secure your space.
“I can’t put into words the support Orla has given me she is truly an inspiration… so love her sessions and most of all her honesty in expressing our feelings she just gets it as she is on our widow journey too❤️”
– Catherine R
Bonus
4 Workshops worth £185 for FREE!
BEGIN
13 x 30-minute sessions
✔️ A beautiful movement to begin each day.
✔️ Moving through the body with accessible asanas.
✔️ All levels of experience.
NURTURE
12 x 30-minute sessions
✔️ Nurturing asanas that open up a stressed and tired body.
✔️ Movement to inspire self-care and self-love.
✔️ All levels of yoga experience.
YIN NIGHTCAP
6 x 60-minute sessions
✔️ Floor-based practice (no getting up & down) that invites deep stillness into the body whilst reaching deep into the deep connective tissue layers of the body.
✔️ All levels of yoga experience.
YOGA NIDRA
10 x 30-minute guided meditation
✔️ Lie back & listen. Nothing else to do.
✔️ I guide you through the body and the layers of your subconscious.
✔️ Best practised when awake but an incredible tool for getting you off to sleep.
body
The changes within us
Continue reading...
When our person dies, something deep within us changes. The brain cannot keep up with us, we stop feeling safe within our own bodies – perhaps we never really had before but grief has made it so clear.
How do we restore that sense of safety and calm so that we can start trusting our abilities, gain back strength or find brand new strength that we never needed before? It starts within the body.
Our body and brain are connected when it comes to grief. We work mainly on our thoughts and what has happened, and how to comprehend and accept it. We tend to solely work on what is in the head – which has shut down to protect us – just as we need it more than ever.
But have you noticed how much you feel your grief in your body too?
How your heart is aching? The tightness you feel all over? The headaches, pains, and tension that were not there before?
Our body is grieving too. We hold trauma within the deep tissues of our body and we need to give it a chance to release. We do this by becoming curious and inviting in and aware of what is happening in the body.
Yin Yoga is an intense but gentle practice that helps us to do just this. It is a slow, floor-based practice where we hold the poses for 3 – 5+ minutes. This gives the body a chance to adjust, it allows you to become a lot more familiar with how your body (your “home”) is feeling and we can gently encourage our home to yield and invite more depth of care and feeling deep inside.
This also invites stillness of the mind, it takes you away from everything that is going on outside and takes you into your being. It is comforting, and rewarding and brings a new awareness and sense of calm and trust deep within.
Yin is for everyone. No experience in yoga is needed. It is not about trying to fit your body into a specific shape but allowing the asana to fit into your body.
mind
Meditation is powerful
Continue reading...
Meditation is another very powerful way to come back to self and to actually discover what that self is. I know in my grief I was clueless as to who I was anymore and where I fitted into this world.
The grieving mind is a very anxious, busy, galloping mind so I always guide you through each meditation, to allow the focus to be where it will be most helpful and to guide your mind into a more restful and receptive space.
When the mind becomes clear in meditation, when those clouds start to part and you see what is behind them, you find a lot of the answers you didn’t even realise you were looking for. We will take time to journal after each meditation. Take that time to express on paper what came up for you.
connect
Community & connection are essential
Continue reading...
It is very tempting to close ourselves off, but it is in that human connection that a lot of healing happens. It is when I finally allowed myself to open up to others, to be in the company (whether online or in-person) of others who fully understood what I was going through, that I felt a sense of ease and total connection and understanding.
I realised a lot of what I was going through was actually common, it was normal.
After relaxing the body and mind through yoga and meditation, we will sit and discuss various topics related to grief and how we navigate our way through these.
I will offer a topic of discussion each week for us to share our experiences,
This is also a chance to catch up, connect, chat, and create a community of new friends who understand your loss.
If you are very overwhelmed and anxious and don’t think you could do this but would love to, please allow yourself this chance. There are many who have felt exactly like this and took a long time to try one of my sessions but they have always been so grateful they did.
the details
When?
This is a 12-week programme that is running on Fridays, 1pm – 2.45pm. Starting Friday 28th April and running through until Friday 21st July (with one Friday off on May 19th).
Where?
Green Lanes, Wylde Green in Sutton Coldfield. These sessions will take place in the comfort of my home where I have a warm comfortable space and equipment for 6 people only. Please be quick to book to secure your space.
What do I need?
Just yourself, I have everything here. If you have your own yoga equipment that you would prefer to use, please bring it along.
cost
Gently and encouragingly navigating your grief through the somatic therapy of Yin yoga, meditation, journaling and group discussion!
£540
Option One – Pay in full
£185 p/m
Option Two – 3 month payment plan