Held By the Earth: A Grief Careshop
With Naila Francis
October 11, 2026
In her poem, “Sleeping in the Forest,” Mary Oliver writes: “I thought the earth remembered me/ she took me back so tenderly,/ arranging her dark skirts, her pockets/full of lichens and seeds.”
What would it feel like to be remembered by the Earth, to know we are held by her generous living body through our heartaches and difficulties?
In this careshop, we will spend some time reconnecting to the Earth through poetry, journaling, and embodied practice, to open up to her support. To listen for what wisdom she may have to offer to meet the sorrows we carry. All griefs, from the personal to the planetary, are welcome.
Please bring a journal or something to write with, as well as an element from nature that you feel drawn to (a rock, leaf, flower, shell, etc.).
Leader
Naila Francis is a certified grief coach and death midwife, an ordained interfaith minister, a poet, and an accomplished writer. As the founder of This Hallowed Wilderness, she helps people transform their relationship to grief and loss through one-on-one coaching, workshops, presentations, rituals and community grief tending. Naila is also a co-founder of Salt Trails, a Philadelphia collective normalizing grief through community rituals, and a recipient of a Leeway Foundation Art + Change Grant, A former journalist, she found her way to the vocations of companioning others through grief and dying after suffering several personal losses in her own life,…
Learn more about Naila Francis