 Refuge: Holiday Grief Relief:Â
A gathering place to reclaim your authentic grief experience in community if you just can't muster up that holiday spirit
with Mirabai Starr
November 8-9, 2025 • Free Online Event • 75 minutes each day • 11am-12:15pm Pacific
(Join live or receive the recording)
 In a world ringing jingle bells while your heart is breaking, there's a refuge for your sacred sorrowÂ
For those of us experiencing the ache of loss, the holiday season can be brutal. We are acutely aware of the empty place at the table. The suffering of those in active war zones breaks our hearts every day. While society is urging us to buy more and more stuff, our souls may be beckoning us to turn inward, against the tide.
We need space to grieve.
You are invited to grieve in community. Know that there is a refuge for your broken heart, for your lonely heart, for your beautiful tender heart.
The holy land of your broken-open heart has been your true home all along.
 If any of these questions resonate, we welcome youÂ
- Do you feel completely out of sync while everyone around you is celebrating?
- Are you struggling with the disconnect between your soul's need for quiet and the culture's call to consume?
- Does the empty chair at your holiday table feel more present than all the filled ones?
- Are you carrying grief for both your personal losses and the suffering of our world?
- Do you feel like you need to perform holiday joy when your heart is asking for something entirely different?
- Are you longing for permission to honor your grief during this festive season?
- Do you want to include your loved ones who have died in meaningful ways rather than pretending they didn't exist?
 Are you ready to...Â
- Honor the reality of your loss without apology or timeline?
- Align yourself with the energy of the earth and turn inward during this season of darkness?
- Discover how to weave your ancestors into the holidays in meaningful ways?
- Find community with others who understand that grief and celebration can coexist?
- Learn practical ways to stay true to your heart while navigating family gatherings?
- Embrace the fruits that can only ripen in the dark?
- Remember that you belong to a vast circle of broken-hearted companions?
 Join Us for Two Days of Sacred Truth-Telling
Day 1:
Why do I feel out of sync?
November 8, 2025
Disconnect between soul and culture
In this festive season, your broken heart may feel out of sync. The culture is calling you to consume and over-consume, to party and purchase, to prove your love with stuff. Meanwhile, your soul may be begging you to resist, to instead cultivate spaciousness and simplicity, and make a safe place for your sorrow. Your need to grieve is at odds with the prevailing energy of the holidays. You are not alone. Many of us suffer from this disconnect. This is a space to find each other and take refuge.
Welcoming the darkness
As we say yes to the darkness of grief, we align ourselves with the energy of the earth and turn inward. We enter the womb of the dark and explore that which we cannot see with an outward-turning gaze. Through the luminous darkness meditation and gentle inquiry, we discover that like a caterpillar in a chrysalis, we can dissolve into the mystery and find that there are fruits that can only ripen in the dark.
Day 2:
How can I be true to my heart?
November 9, 2025
Honoring the Ancestors
We can actively include our loved ones who have died during this season of celebration. Wear their clothes or jewelry, share their favorite poems or songs, serve the foods they loved to eat. Light a candle for them at your holiday table. Write them a love letter. Rather than pretending they did not exist, we can weave our ancestors into the holidays in meaningful ways. We reclaim our relationships with those who are no longer alive, but who live on in our hearts.
Harvesting the Fruits of the Darkness
Having given yourself permission to be present with the reality of your loss and chosen to grieve in a circle of broken-hearted companions, what are the gifts you have gathered that you can take back into your life? In this final session, you are invited to identify key takeaways and bring any lingering questions to the table.
 Meet MirabaiÂ
Your guide
Mirabai Starr is an award-winning author, internationally acclaimed spiritual guide, and translator of the mystics. Drawing from decades of contemplative practice and her own journey through profound loss, Mirabai shares wisdom worldwide on grief as a spiritual path and the transformational power of heartbreak.
She has authored over a dozen books including Ordinary Mysticism, Wild Mercy, Caravan of No Despair, and renowned translations of sacred literature. As a bereaved mother herself, Mirabai brings deep understanding of how the holidays can become a particularly tender time for those carrying loss. She understands that grief doesn't follow society's timeline, and that the most spiritual thing we can do is honor our authentic experience.
She lives with her extended family in the mountains of northern New Mexico.
 Meet WillowÂ
Our community host
Willow Brook is a love and intimacy coach, educator, artist and grief tender with over a decade of experience teaching in classrooms around the world. She combines devotional practices of earth ritual, mindfulness, yoga, and song to support people through life transitions, bringing the sacred into everyday life.
Willow's writing on her blog "Born to Remember" is a gateway to continued connection with her beloved deceased mother. Willow is the co-founder of Wild Heart and supports grief gatherings and contemplative experiences rooted in the divine feminine.
 What to Expect During Our Time Together Â
Sacred Readings & Contemplative Practice
We will weave together potent teachings with poetry from voices like Linda Pastan and Joy Harjo, guided meditation, and gentle practices that honor both your personal grief and your heartbreak for the world. Through contemplative readings and guided meditations, we'll discover how the season of darkness can become a season of deep nourishment.
Interactive Community
Connect with others who understand that you can't simply "get into the holiday spirit" when your heart is broken. Through real-time sharing and gentle chat exercises, we create space for authentic truth-telling about where you feel disconnected from cultural expectations.
Writing as Sacred Practice
Experience writing as a pathway to connection with your loved ones who have died. We'll practice "love letters to the dead" and other contemplative writing exercises that help you weave your ancestors into the holidays in meaningful ways.
Practical Wisdom
Receive concrete ways to navigate family gatherings and create rituals that align with your soul's needs rather than cultural expectations. Actions like serving their favorite foods and lighting candles for them at your holiday table can help honor the loved ones we are grieving.
Bonus Gift
Listen to a recording of Mirabai's talk reframing The Stages of Grief as Stations of Transformation, exploring how personal grief opens us to greater compassion for all beings.
All participants receive access to recordings of our curated playlist, poems and readings from our time together - resources you can return to whenever the season feels overwhelming.
"I have never felt so much love from strangers who ended up as the family I needed."
— Kathy M., Unraveling the Myths of Grief participant
 By the end of our time together, you will...Â
- Have permission to honor your authentic grief experience without apology
- Know practical ways to include your loved ones who have died in holiday celebrations
- Feel connected to a community that understands the sacred nature of sorrow
- Understand how to align with the natural rhythm of darkness and turning inward
- Discover that your broken heart connects you to the vast web of grieving humanity
- Trust that there are gifts that can only be received in the dark season of the soul
- Feel equipped to navigate the holidays with tenderness for yourself and others
November 8-9, 2025
 Free Online EventÂ
11am-12:15pm Pacific
All sessions recorded and available to registered participants
Your grief is sacred territory. Your loss matters. Your broken heart deserves a refuge during this season of forced celebration.
"Before this gathering, I lived in isolation; now I belong. Love is deeper and wider than ever before, love of strangers that are closer to me than my family of origin."
