Since the beginning of time, people have turned to poetry to help understand the inexplicable: grief, loss, love, heartbreak, beauty, joy, tragedy, and Spirit-God. In this beautiful day-long retreat, curated by poet and author Libby June Weintraub, we will explore how language can be a vehicle for healing and how poetry can catalyze transformation and growth. This workshop will nurture and support healing for anyone who has experienced child loss, stillbirth, miscarriage, or pregnancy loss.
To go beyond the normal stages of grief toward a healed state requires us to engage in a conscious, participatory relationship with our grief; this is my intention for this workshop: to create a safe, compassionate, caring container for us to explore the possibility of giving voice to the unspeakable, to create connection and community around our loss, and to celebrate our pregnancies, our babies that couldn’t stay, so that we can begin to integrate our experiences in a way that serves a more expanded view of motherhood, of life and our place in it.
When everything falls apart, it’s impossible to understand that there could be a gift hidden inside our devastation and loss—that there could be any purpose in it at all. But with time, an open mind, a willingness to be seen in our grief, to ask for support, and to be patient with ourselves in our healing process, the revelation of that gift comes.
This retreat will include a guided centering and relaxation process, introductions, journaling, group sharing and candle-lighting ceremony, nourishment, poetry readings, and special writing processes. No experience is necessary, just an open heart and a willingness to be seen, held, and heard in a communal space with like-minded souls navigating the journey of loss.
Libby June Weintraub is a mother, writer, and poet. She was born in Western Australia and now lives with her husband, Stephen, in Santa Monica, California. In 2014, she gave birth to their stillborn child, Magnolia Grace. This loss inspired her to complete her first book of poetry titled She Was Born: Words on Loss and Liberation. —The book serves as a guiding light through the path of recovery from the loss of a child, and is a testimony to the human spirit's capacity to heal despite inexplicable sorrow. Libby hosts annual retreats for mothers who have experienced pregnancy and infant loss. Her book is available on Amazon, and you can find out more about her work on Instagram @libbyjuneweintraub
libbyjweintraub@gmail.com