Grief & Relief Yoga Weekend
– Tilghman, MD.
Chesapeake Bay Waterfront, indoor heated pool 2 hours from Washington, DC. The perfect healing atmosphere to explore, release grief and embody your inner wisdom.
We often associate grief with major loss — death or terminal illness. But more subtle forms of grief show up daily: missing a flight, not getting the job, noticing our aging bodies, leaving a loved one or pet, or choosing silence when we long to speak. These “small” griefs may seem insignificant, yet they accumulate. When unacknowledged, they can manifest physically — as migraines, back pain, stomach issues, depression or anxiety and illness as a whole —our bodies asking us to pause and listen.
Our bodies are the map of all that we hold. Through mindful movement (yoga) we become aware of sensations that are locked in the body causing physical pains — a product of grief. Through breathwork and meditation we explore retracing the source, and releasing what no longer serves. Throughout this weekend, we’ll explore the science of the body and the emotional terrain of grief, uncovering how tending to both helps us reconnect… with ourselves, with others, and with life itself.
Gopi, a trauma-informed yoga therapist, healer, and spiritual guide, joins with Patrice, a trauma, grief care, and resilience certified coach, trained in EMDR with Somatic release — to hold a safe and nurturing space. Together, they will gently guide you into vulnerable self-recognition — inviting grief and pain to surface, and supporting your return to wholeness through embodied presence and compassionate care.
Step into Beauty
This newly renovated coastal 7-bedroom, 6-bathroom waterfront getaway with a spa-like indoor pool (heated during the winter months) featuring a cabana house, 4,000+ square foot of living space, and breathtaking panoramic views of Harris Creek flowing into the Chesapeake Bay.
Tranquil Waters offers 3 living room spaces, 2 fireplaces, an updated kitchen, a formal open dining room and a half bathroom on the main floor. The indoor pool house faces the water and features a game room and full bathroom for year round use. Just a short drive to historic St Michaels with boutique restaurants and shops.
2 hours from DC, carpooling arrangements may be made. Tranquility at its finest! Walk out onto your private dock, kayak, bike ride, bird watch and more! Private pier for meditation or sun gazing.
Gopi Kinnicutt (ERYT 500) is a dynamic, Bhakti-infused yoga teacher who has developed her own unique teaching style. She organically creates and designs dynamic fluid yoga sequences, infused with deep spirituality. In her classes she incorporates mantras, breath work and Kriyas to release untouched energy and Prana. She bridges the philosophy of Yoga and the authentic traditions coming from India, making them accessible to the modern 21st century Yogi. Gopi leads National and International yoga retreats. She has been the head of RYT 200 hour and 300 hour teacher trainings for 7 years, and is the owner of Bhakti Yoga DC and founder of Yoga Mandali in Saratoga Springs, New York. Gopi has trained extensively with Shiva Rea, Ana Forrest and Gary Kraftsow, and is certified and trained in trauma-sensitive yoga. Gopi also lived in a Bhakti Yoga ashram for 10 years, where she studied and taught Indian philosophy and mantra meditation.
Facilitator and Coach
Patrice Webb a trauma, grief care, and resilience certified coach also trained in EMDR with Somatic release, to hold a safe and nurturing space. She is a strategist, advisor, and founder of Indwelling Consulting & Coaching, where she helps leaders and organizations address personal and collective challenges that block engagement, innovation, and growth. Drawing on 20+ years in public affairs, advocacy, policy, and organizational leadership—and a deep understanding of trauma resilience and grief—Patrice blends strategic clarity with mindfulness in her signature KindnessGangsta™ approach. A guest lecturer, mentor, and active volunteer, Patrice is dedicated to helping clients trust their inner truth, build resilience, and create meaningful impact.
Blog: Grief
To grieve is a powerful form of transformation. It is the process of letting go and offers valuable insight into events that may have happened in the past. Like leaves falling from a tree, making the tree bare, our tears of grief strip us of false identities, ideals, and attachments. The bare branches allow us to see the truth.
Feelings of vulnerability arise when the gentle breeze of grief comes to shed our leaves of attachment. The sense of loss—the discomfort of being emotionally naked—can be equally alarming. Nakedness reveals our core self, our true quest. Yet when this nakedness is filtered through the conditioned mind and the stories we tell ourselves, it can bring shame and guilt to the surface—emotions we often want to run from or quickly cover up.
Ideals, dreams, and past experiences that once painted a picture of who we are are slowly washed away with grief. Grief is the echo of loss—it can arise from losing a loved one, a breakup, a job, a disappointment, or any situation in which our expectations are not met. It is a powerful portal of cleansing and healing.
It’s easy to get stuck in grief—mulling over past narratives, hankering, and lamenting what never came to fruition. It can linger like dead leaves on a tree, waiting for the winds of time to blow away the last vestiges.
Grief can bind us in the cycle of self-absorption, or it can free us into surrender—into the embrace of grace or God. Grief brings us to a threshold. It is a pivotal point, a doorway to surrender, to a deeper quest in life. One must walk through this threshold to step into surrender. Sometimes it feels as though we are pushed or forced through, yet we must also consciously choose to walk into the unknown beyond grief.
It’s easy to stand at the threshold and wait. To wander. To turn around and walk back into the past—reattaching to old habits, creating comfort just because it’s familiar. But that comfort becomes a covering, an escape from feeling.
In the urgency to be defined again, we cling to external experiences: a new job, a new relationship, a new life. Grief broke our sense of identity, and we search for what we lost, thinking we’re embracing something new—when really, we may just be covering up again, trying to bandage the nakedness. Until the cycle of loss and disappointment returns. Grief hits hard again.
In Sanskrit, there is a word: Ashraya. When grief or despair arises, a gravitational force of seeking shelter naturally parallels. This pull to take refuge is part of our survival mechanism. It may arise consciously or unconsciously.
There are two ways to seek shelter. One is through numbing out—escaping the pain of grief through alcohol, drugs, sex, television, or other addictions. The other is through conscious Ashraya—turning toward a higher power. Through prayer or meditation, we open ourselves to revelation, insight, and clarity. These revelations give us the strength to shed the past and move forward
Getting stuck in grief means remaining stuck in the past, unwilling to let go of the false identities that cause pain.
But grief can also liberate—when its energy is offered back to the Source. The deepest awakening in grief is the realization of our separation from the Beloved, from grace. When the power of grief is returned to its origin, to the divine, we find relief.
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