GS103 - Legacies of Love: A Gentle Guide to Healing from the Loss of Your Animal Loved One ::

For some of us, losing an animal means losing a family member. The hole it can leave in our emotional hearts and our physical lives can feel harsh and devastating. We all need comfort and support to journey through such loss. This facilitated group process gently and lovingly provides participants with an opportunity to express their grief, understand their grief, and explore many strategies to heal their grief hands-on, with ample opportunity for active discussion and sharing. The overall objective of the workshop is to help heal the heart and use the crisis of loss to grow.  It is beneficial for people who have lost an animal recently or in years past, and want to feel more peacefulness and closure about their loss. It is also an opportunity to strengthen our sense of connection with the Spirit of our animal loved ones.
 
Though certainly no one is pushed to share at a level deeper than is comfortable for them, this class is designed to be participatory. It is for those wanting to delve into their healing, not for those who may want to kick back and just listen to ideas about grief at this time. To get the most out of it participants need to commit to the reading/contemplation/journaling between classes which takes about an hour or two per week, and to participate in the activities during the classes.
 
In this workshop of healing, tribute to and celebration of your animals there is an opportunity to:

• Honor your animals by sharing their stories, their photos and the story of your love
• Share the fullness and truth of your love of animals and your experience of loss in the comforting and presence of others who understand
• Feel relief from sorrow and suffering
• Embrace the lessons emerging from the loss itself
• Learn practical grief recovery skills
• Explore the legacies that transcend physical death -- the mutual gifts and lessons of the relationship -- and ways to integrate them into your way of being. This is perhaps the finest tribute we can make to our animal loved ones

Specific content will include:

• INTRODUCTION

Telling of our Stories in pictures and words

• UNDERSTANDING GRIEF
  

Why Animal Loss is Different
Pictures of the Heart
Choices to Deny, Cope or Heal
Complicated Grief
Factors Influencing Grief

• THE TASKS OF HEALING GRIEF:

1. COPING & COMFORT: TAKING SUPPORTIVE ACTION IN HONOR OF YOURSELF

Surviving the Present -- Self in relation to being in loss

You are just as important as the one who has died. You do not dishonor another, or another's memory, by honoring yourself.

Self Assessment
Flower Essences for Grief
Feeling and Expressing our Deepest Feelings: Coping
Transforming Feelings: Healing
Sensory Rejuvenation Exercise

2. LOOKING BACK: COMPLETING THE EMOTIONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE TRUTH

Healing the Past -- Self in relation to the beloved you have lost

The physical relationship is completed. The spiritual one continues forever. The emotional relationship must be completed for you to heal and move on.

What is still unfinished or unexpressed for me?
What is the energy of anger, grief, guilt, and gratitude? What is needed to heal these states?
Loss History Graph
Defining Anger and Guilt;  Processing Anger and Guilt

3. MOVING ON: TRANSFORMING GRIEF INTO GROWTH

Choosing Growth for the Future -- Self in the world without one who has died

The mutual gifts and lessons learned in a relationship are what allow us to leave it with meaning. These are our priceless legacies.

Letting go of roles, not the relationship or the gifts
The Circle of Love: gifts received and gifts given
The Story of Soho: What have I lost? What do I still have? What am I creating?

Class Details:

This class is faciliated by Teresa Wagner.

Click here to visit our calendar for available class dates and to enroll now!

Please review the appropriate Enrollment Policy, as well as the Student Waiver, prior to registering.

*This class is for informational purposes only and is in no way meant to cure or diagnose anything. It is not a substitute for professional medical or veterinary care.