Welcome to MotherHeart Hermitage
Into the Ashes Program
A 3-month deep dive into an apprenticeship with our grief, that honors both our losses and longings that are natural to the human experience. All forms of grief welcome, the course uses ceremony, deep rest, restorative yoga, and journalling. IFS informed, Trauma informed, beneficial for impaired grief, stress, tension, and overall health. Whether the loss was 20 years ago or 2 months ago, this course is a way to honor your soul and your relationship to what/who you love.
We will use the following tools….
Art: Collage, poetry, song, and movement
Art is a vehicle through which the soul can speak
Ritual: Alter building, burning contracts, drumming
“Ritual is the anti-machine”-Malidoma Some’
Communion with Mother Earth: meditation walks in the woods, going down to the river, speaking with/listening to the trees, toning/wailing
Our healing is bound in the healing of Earth
Re-birthing Breathwork
This is how we birth what is ready to be released and begin to re-emerge anew

We meet on Sundays for 3 months
1:00 -5:00 PM
Cost: $1500
(includes art materials)
Not included:
Journal, Book The Wild Edge of Sorrow book, Food
The program’s practices additionally include Yoga posture practice, relaxation, and meditation
Testimonial
I often thought I had completed the cycle of grieving. It’s true that time and experience had given me a better understanding of the deep losses in my life; I thought it was only necessary to grieve the initial traumatic event and that this process was over for me. It took me entering into MotherHeart’s Grief Retreat to feel the waves my past traumas had created throughout my life. It was thanks to the great care and compassion within the MotherHeart Sangha that I was able to start riding those waves back to my beautiful, loving source. Before the retreat, I had expected to share the words and thoughts surrounding my losses, as I had done earlier in my life, but the MotherHeart space allowed me to relax my guard and open a space within me for a deep emotional release I had not recognized before. What a blessing for anyone seeking this type of work.
-Scott Kelly
Go to the River, A Weekend Retreat to Process Grief
Grief comes when something has been irretrievably lost, whether that is a loved one, a way of being in the world, or a part of ourselves.
Grief work can be tricky or even harmful when we are not given autonomy to trust our pace or instincts around it. In this workshop, there will be space to enter in as you see right for you and options for alternative practices and ways to stay in your process that feel supportive and not forceful.
Led by Dawn, Certified Yoga Teacher, Reiki Master/Teacher, Certified Spiritual Healer, and Interfaith Minister.
Cost options:
Community assist: If you are in need of this work, but struggling financially
$100-$150
Taking Care: If you are in need of this work and can afford it with planning but without struggle
$200-$300
Pass it forward: If you are in need of this work and also would like to be generous in support of another community member
$400
Payments can be made thru either
PayPal - dawn@motherheartstudio.com
Venmo - @Dawn-Smelser