The Temple of Grief
A Grief Retreat
Friday, Oct. 16th, 6pm – Sunday, 18th, 2pm
Facilitated by Shaina Garfield
and Stefanie Frank
at ESKFF Nest in Woodstock, NY
This retreat is an offering to the sacred space where grief is fully witnessed and truly released. Here, we honor grief deeply, knowing it as a key to our soul’s healing and remembrance.
This retreat is an open temple. Come for the entire journey or come for part of it and choose which ritual you want to receive.
Grief has a way of cracking us open. When we let it, grief becomes one of the most powerful catalysts for healing we can experience — a sacred gift that unfolds the beauty of life and reawakens our soul.
This retreat is a devotional offering to that grief. It creates the possibility that sitting with, feeling, and learning from your sorrow can be one of the most sacred acts you do for your life. Whether your loss happened yesterday or decades ago, whether it has a name you can speak or only a feeling that lives in the body, your grief is asking to be alchemized. Together, we build a Temple of Grief — a sacred space where sorrow doesn't have to be hidden or hurried, but can be witnessed, honored, and given somewhere to be released.
Rooted in the Qabbalah Tree of Life, Ancient Kemet, Earth Wisdom, and the Oracular Sacred Arts and Sciences, we move together through eleven sacred stations, each tending to a different part of the self that grief has touched — through talking circles, plant spirit ceremony, forest bathing, energy healings, ancestor offerings, and more.
We keep the group to 10 people because this work deepens in an intimate, safe circle. No prior experience with these traditions is required, only a willingness to be witnessed and to grieve in community rather than alone.
About the retreat
This Retreat is for you if:
You've touched moments of deep love, but struggle to stay there
You have experienced a death that has changed who you are
You carry grief that feels bigger than personal loss
You have a cloud over your heart that you want to release
You're ready to do the real work of soul transformation
You understand that healing yourself heals the world
You're called to ancient wisdom and ritual practice
All grief is welcome:
Grief from the loss of a loved one
Grief from loss of a lived experience (job, health, way of life)
Grief from the loss of a relationship
Collective grief for the world
Earth Grief (for climate crisis)
Ancestral grief (pain felt from your ancestors)
How will you benefit:
Nourish and fortify your nervous system
Receive practical tools and sacred rituals for continued healing
Embody the understanding that you are never alone
Experience greater alchemy through grieving in community
Learn how to work with grief as a teacher
Reclaim parts of your soul that have been fractured by grief
Our Weekend Journey
Choose the entire weekend or either of the sessions shared below.
1. Friday Night - Ceremonial Opening - Altar Building - Meditation - Talking Circle
2. Saturday Morning - Transforming Chords Rites
3. Saturday Afternoon - Purification Rituals - Sauna - Plant Baths
4. Saturday Night - Blue Lotus Ceremony - Rose Energy Healing - Soul Sound Journey Ritual
5. Sunday - Hitbedout - Forest Planting - Ancestral Fire Offering Ritual
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Making altars for grief supports our healing through creating beauty in times of sorrow and working with altar technology that unlocks healing portals from our heart to the divine and natural realms.
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A sacred space to share, listen, and simply be heard. In our Talking Circle, each person is invited to speak from the heart while others practice the healing gift of full, compassionate attention. There is no fixing or advice-giving—only presence, witnessing, and the understanding that we do not have to carry our grief alone.
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A rite to transform energetic cords between yourself and another individual, group, or situation in which the relation is no longer healthy or beneficial. Before the rite, we will first explore what these cords in our grieving journey are that we want to be transformed so that we may let go and heal.
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Plant baths are powerful rituals that work with the energetic properties of plants to either purify unwanted energy. We then enter the sauna for further purfication of our energy with the spiritual of fire and water to tend to our energetic and physical bodies.
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This ceremony will recover the parts of our soul that have been fractured through our grief, through – receiving Blue Lotus medicine, a powerful plant spirit that opens our faculties to commune with deeper parts of ourselves – receiving 1:1 Rose Energy Healings, a nervous system attunement from the ancestral Rose flower – receiving sound frequencies healing the subtle parts of our soul.
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You will be guided into the forest for a time of quiet reflection and personal connection with the sacred. You may choose to speak, pray, listen, or simply sit in the presence of Nature and connect with whatever you understand as God, Spirit, or a greater presence. The forest offers a gentle place to be with what is here, without needing to have all the answers.
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Our grief is uplifted through ritualizing and giving honor to our ancestors and dead loved ones. Here, we create an offering of food and incense so that we may live in right relation with our ancestors as we prepare to become an ancestor one day ourselves.
Meet Your Facilitators
Shaina Garfield is a Death Doula, Grief Guide, Ritualist, and founder of Leaves With You. With deep devotion to the sacred continuum of life and death, she offers compassionate support to those navigating dying and grieving processes. Her mission is to cultivate a profound connection with the Earth and the Divine, fostering harmony within the Web of Life.
Shaina's approach is deeply rooted in ritual — the alchemical technology she believes is essential for tending grief, reclaiming spirit, and honoring the Mystery of Death. Her work is for anyone moving through a soul transformation, where life asks us to let something go to be reborn anew. Through ceremony, sacred craft, and oracular guidance, she creates containers where the soul can breathe, grieve, and remember itself.
At her core, Shaina is a mystic, walking as a bridge on the path of the heart. Her spiritual walk has carried her through initiations across many traditions of the Emerald Earth, including the Earth Wisdom traditions of the West, to Hermeticism in the East. Their wisdom lives in everything she does.
Stefanie Frank is the founder and director of ESKFF Nest, a healing arts refuge and retreat center in Woodstock, NY. As a visionary retreat leader, she creates transformative experiences for spiritual and holistic well-being, weaving together music, sound healing, flute, dance, and breathwork. She is deeply passionate about designing nature-based, spiritually diverse ceremonies and rituals that open the door to profound personal growth and healing.
Beyond the retreat space, Stefanie is a master gardener, herbalist, and gourmet mushroom farmer, rooted in a deep relationship with nature and sustainable living. As an active member of the Hudson Valley Psychedelic Society, she helps advance the understanding and responsible use of psychedelics for healing and personal development. She also holds influential board positions, including with the Church of Sacred Mirrors (COSM), founded by visionary artists Alex and Allyson Grey.
A devoted single mother of three adult children, Stefanie holds her many roles — mother, community leader, healer, entrepreneur — with grace, leaving a lasting mark on everyone she touches through her work and vision.
Our Retreat Sanctuary
ESKFF N.E.S.T. serves as a sanctuary that transforms, blending education, spirituality, and healing amidst the tranquil embrace of Mount Guardian's sacred forest, just a leisurely stroll from Woodstock, NY. This holistic learning center and mountain retreat, spanning 23 acres, transcends conventional boundaries, acting as both a haven for creative safety and an incubation station.
Nestled on Mount Guardian, the land is primarily forested by birch, oak, tulip poplar, and pine trees and teaming with fresh air, varieties of moss and mushrooms, medicinal and edible plants, and majestic wildlife. To the west lies a perennial stream that can be heard from the house and offers tranquility, clarity, and reflection for many guests’ healing journeys.
Retreat Details
Friday, October 16th 6pm
– Sunday, October 18th 2pm
Investment: $450, $600, or $750 for full retreat
or $90, $120, or $150 per session with one meal included
Limited to 10 participants
Registration form and a brief consultation call required
What is included:
A consultation call with retreat facilitator, Shaina, to help the retreat be tailored for your needs
A container of healing valued at $1000 for an individual (+ more profound healing can take place in sacred, intimate circles)
Friday dinner, Saturday breakfast, lunch and dinner, Sunday breakfast and light lunch
Communal sleeping in the Nest Sanctuary (beds available for upgrade, commuters are welcome)
Testimonials
Tara, Brooklyn –
“Shaina is one of the most thoughtful and profound healers I have ever had the opportunity to work with. Her dedication and devotion are undeniable. She is both wise and playful all at once. I recommend anybody to work with her, and I suggest you just open up and receive her gifts. Enjoy the the power of a very gifted healer.”
Minnow, Queens –
"Shaina has been a grounded, gracious, and generous guide as I sit with her in ceremony. I trust her not only because of her deep conviction in teaching and sharing her knowledge, but because of how she speaks about this work. She is first and foremost a devotee and lover of what she does before being a facilitator, and that has been both inspiring and a constant source of safety for me in the ceremonies she holds."
Healing happens in community, and it will be an honor to heal with you.
Would you like to learn more and feel if this retreat is right for you?
Email Shaina at hello@leaveswithyou.com