Nils Voulfson offers grief tending through community grief ritual in the Austin, Texas area.Check out the other pages on this website to learn more.
ABOUT GRIEFIn the west, we’ve lost touch with grief. We don’t allow ourselves to feel it, we don’t give it the attention it needs, and often we don’t know how to support those in grief. We are missing a warm and compassionate village.Some of us may experience grief as a melancholy or numb feeling that permeates our lives when we’re not distracting ourselves or chasing the next high. Others may experience it as an intense tornado of emotion that only a few are let in on.In these often lonely experiences of grief, we miss something so important - we miss that grief is life force.Grief is vital energy moving us towards aliveness, integration, truth, wholeness, care and love with immense passion of heart.We miss that grief was never meant to be experienced alone.
This great longing we have to be held, supported, and witnessed in our grief is our birthright.Francis Weller on Grief:“There is something feral about grief, something essentially outside the ordained and sanctioned behaviors of our culture.
Because of that, grief is necessary to the vitality of the soul. Contrary to our fears, grief is suffused with life force. It is riddled with energy.An acknowledgment of the erotic coupling with another soul, whether human, animal, plant, or ecosystem. It is not a state of deadness or emotional flatness.
Grief is alive, wild, untamed. It cannot be domesticated. It resists the demands to remain passive and still.
We move in jangled, unsettled and riotous ways when grief takes hold of us. It is truly an emotion that rises from the soul.”
UPCOMING EVENTS
In Person:
Community Grief Tending Walk
Sun, November 30th - 2:00pm-5:00pm CDT
Facilitated by Nils Voulfson at Bastrop State Park
PAST EVENTS
Online:
Community Grief Tending Online Call
Mon, October 27th - 7:00pm-9:00pm CDT
Facilitated by Nils Voulfson on Zoom
In Person:
GRIEF AND JOY
Community Grief Ritual
Sun, October 12th - 1:00pm-5:00pm CDT
Facilitated by Nils Voulfson in North Central Austin
COMMUNITY GRIEF TENDING WALKRegistration and info below“The wild maintains its vitality through a natural relationship with death. And through permission and unconditional welcome.Join us on Sunday, Nov 30 for a walk in the forest, honoring both grief and gratitude. Giving space and permission to feel the effect that death and loss have on our lives, as well as the beauty and aliveness that exists all around us - perhaps even in the pain.We will walk slowly, attuning to outer and inner landscapes. We’ll get to share what we’re grieving as we regulate through walking, held by the forest and its inhabitants. Less of a hike, and more of a walking meditation, parts of this walk will be in silence, and we will pause as needed.As we walk through the forest, surrounded by these wild, receptive beings, what shape does our grief take?And as you slow down and soften, where does your heart go?Whether your grief is large or small, right on top or layers down, it’s all welcome.I look forward to walk and hold grief together with you all. 🤲🏻”November 30th 2pm-5pm
Bastrop State Park
No event cost, only parking feeThis grief work is inspired by the grief tending lineages of Sobonfu Somé, Martín Prechtel, and Francis Weller and Nils has received training with Josh Fox and Siobhan Asgharzadeh. You can see their work on their websites: foxhealing.com, and griefpilgrim.com. Nils also draws on his experience with somatic therapies such as Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and Somatic Experiencing to bring deeper connection to the body in this tender terrain of grief.Important
Please fill out the short form linked below to register. This is a free event. An please reach out if you have any questions.
COMMUNITY GRIEF TENDING ONLINE CALLRegistration and info belowCome tend grief with us in community on October 27th, from 7-9pm CDT!Sometimes the grief is here, whether or not we have the space and time to be with it.In this shorter exploration into the waters of grief, we’ll take time to welcome sorrow into our lives, and explore how it touches us, and what it tells us.This will be a cozy, relaxing tending to the grief we're experiencing through writing prompts, interpersonal connection exercises, poetry sharing, and somatic practices. 🤲🏻No grief is too small, and no sorrow unworthy of witness and compassion by the village. If you are drawn here - you are welcome.~ “Imagine the feeling of relief that would flood our whole being if we knew that when we were in the grip of sorrow or illness, our village would respond to our need. This would not be out of pity, but out of a realization that every one of us will take our turn at being ill, and we will need one another. The indigenous thought is when one of us is ill, all of us are ill. Taking this thought a little further, we see that healing is a matter, in great part, of having our connections to the community and the cosmos restored. This truth has been acknowledged in many studies. Our immune response is strengthened when we feel our connection with community. By regularly renewing the bonds of belonging, we support our ability to remain healthy and whole.” Francis Weller ~This grief work is inspired by the grief tending lineages of Sobonfu Somé, Martín Prechtel, and Francis Weller and Nils has received training with Josh Fox and Siobhan Asgharzadeh. You can see their work on their websites: foxhealing.com, and griefpilgrim.com. Nils also draws on his experience with somatic therapies such as Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and Somatic Experiencing to bring deeper connection to the body in this tender terrain of grief.Important
Please fill out the short form linked below to register. This is a free event. Note: this event is online.Reach out if you have any questions -
I look forward to step into this space together.
OCT 12 GRIEF AND JOY RITUALRegistration and info below~ “Grief and love are sisters, woven together from the beginning. Their kinship reminds us that there is no love that does not contain loss and no loss that is not a reminder of the love we carry for what we once held close.” Francis Weller ~Come tend grief with us in community on October 12th, from 1-5pm!Through song and connection, we’ll drop into an afternoon of welcoming the sorrow in our lives to be seen and held by the circle.It is rare in our society that we welcome the depth of our loss, grief, and pain. And we need it to also reach the depth of our joy.We cannot live to the fullest extent without this intimacy with grief. We become small, flat versions of ourselves when we do not welcome this primordial force that is often bubbling, longing for our acknowledgment.This gathering is happening on the weekend after the 2 year anniversary of Oct 7 and the start of the Gaza war. There will be space to honor the intense emotions that are coming up, in a somatic way, in response to this conflict.No grief is too small, and no sorrow unworthy of witness and compassion. If you are drawn here - you are welcome.Come weep, release, and rejoice with us as we honor Grief.This grief work is heavily inspired by the grief tending lineages of Sobonfu Somé, Martín Prechtel, and Francis Weller and Nils has received training with Josh Fox and Siobhan Asgharzadeh. You can see their work on their websites: foxhealing.com, and griefpilgrim.com.Important
Please fill out the short form linked below to register. This is a free event.Reach out if you have any questions -
I look forward to step into this space together.
CONTACTYou're welcome to reach out if you have any questions or curiosities!
Reconnecting with vital life force ~coming back to a state of aliveness in the body.
Click here to sign up to be notified of upcoming events.
Click here to see grief-related events.