REST + RECONNECT
Grief & Gratitude: The Practice of Letting Go
An Autumn Retreat on the Land at the SEED Lodge
October 22–25, 2026
Autumn is the season of release. The trees let go of everything they spent the year growing, and they do it without apology, trusting the cycle to carry them through. This retreat invites you into that same practice. Over four days on fifty acres of forest and field, you will slow down, come back into your body, and learn what it actually means to let go. The work centres on Apana, the exhale, the downward-moving breath that clears and grounds us, and on the twin practices of grief and gratitude that make real release possible. You will spend time walking and resting on the land, making art from the season around you, and moving through breathwork, Kundalini yoga, and meditation, with one full day held in silence for deeper focus. Optional art therapy and psychotherapy are available alongside.
Come as you are. Give yourself the gift of rest. Leave feeling lighter, more spacious, and more yourself.
Step away from the noise of daily life and let the land teach you how to release. This Grief & Gratitude retreat is part of our Rest + Reconnect series at the SEED Lodge, and it is built for autumn, the season that shows us how letting go is done.
We are told, endlessly, to let go of what no longer serves us, as though release were a matter of decluttering, of sorting our lives into what to keep and what to discard. Real letting go is slower and more tender than that. It asks us to grieve what we release, to honour what it gave us even as we set it down, and to feel gratitude alongside the loss. Grief and gratitude are not opposites. They are two hands doing the same work, and this retreat gives you the time and the safety to practice both.
In the yogic tradition, this releasing energy has a name. Apana is the downward-moving breath, the exhale, the force that clears what we no longer need and returns it to the earth. We spend so much of our lives holding the inhale, taking in, achieving, accumulating, bracing against the next demand. Over four days here, we turn our attention to the exhale, and to the quiet, open pause that follows it. That pause is emptiness, and emptiness is not something to fear or fill. It is the spaciousness that makes the next breath possible.
After more than twenty years of sitting with people, I know that most of us arrive at this season depleted, carrying a year we have never had the chance to put down. What you need is not another practice to master. What you need is spaciousness, and the permission to pause. This retreat is designed to give you both. You will be gently guided through Kundalini yoga, pranayama, and meditation, with nervous-system-informed practices that help you settle from the inside out. One full day is held in silence, so you can turn your attention inward without the pull of conversation, and reattune to yourself.
The land does much of the work here, and I mean that plainly. We will spend real time in the forest, walking slowly with guided attention to what we can see, hear, and feel, in the tradition of Shinrin-yoku, which has a well-established evidence base for lowering stress, supporting the immune system, and quieting the mind's habit of rumination. The forest, the fields, the Beaver River, and the trails around the lodge become a co-therapeutic environment, one that brings you back into your body simply by being in it. We will also make art from the season around us, gathering what the land is already releasing and shaping it into something of our own, so that the practice of letting go moves through your hands and not only your mind.
This is also a complete digital detox. When you arrive, you will hand in your devices, and in doing so you give yourself a rare experience of time without interruption. The rhythm of the countryside, the nourishing seasonal meals, the warmth of the lodge and the wood-fired sauna, and the quiet companionship of others walking the same path all invite you to turn inward more deeply than you have in a long time.
My intention for these retreats has always been the same. This is not an escape from your life. It is a way of returning to it, with more of yourself intact. You already have your own answers inside you. Sometimes we just need the right conditions to hear them, and these four days on the land are designed to give you exactly that.
Sample 4-Day Rhythm
Thursday — Arrival & Settling In
Arrivals from 4:00pm
Light dinner
Opening Circle: Kundalini Yoga + Gong Bath
Optional sauna
Friday — Onto the Land
5:30–7:00am Optional early movement & meditation
9:30–11:30am Kundalini Yoga + Apana breathwork for release
12:00pm Lunch and spacious free time
Afternoon Guided forest walk and nature-based art therapy on the land
Optional add-ons: massage, sound healing, psychotherapy
4:30pm Dinner
7:00pm Gentle yoga, yoga nidra, or sound bath
Saturday — A Day of Silence
Held in silence from morning through the evening session
5:30–7:00am Optional early movement & meditation
9:30–11:30am Kundalini Yoga + Breathwork for nervous system support
12:00pm Lunch and spacious free time
Afternoon Silent forest time, land art, writing, or rest
4:30pm Dinner
7:00pm Sound bath; silence lifts afterward
Sunday — Integration & Closing
9:00–11:00am Final Kundalini yoga and breathwork session and closing circle
11:00–12:00pm Light lunch and departure
All activities are optional. You are invited to move at your own pace and listen to what your body needs.
Guided forest walks in the tradition of Shinrin-yoku, with attention to the senses and presence
Nature-based art therapy and land art, made from the season around you
Apana-focused breathwork and pranayama for release and grounding
Kundalini yoga and meditation
One full day held in silence for deeper focus and reattunement
Nervous-system-informed practices you can carry home and keep using
Optional therapeutic support, including art therapy and psychotherapy with licensed practitioners
Nourishing seasonal meals made with care, designed to feed and restore you
Access to the wood-fired sauna, forest trails, the Beaver River, and warm common spaces
A complete digital detox so you can truly reset
Spacious, unstructured time for rest and reflection
What You'll Experience
Grief and Gratitude
Letting go is rarely as clean as we are led to believe. When we release something we have carried for a long time, grief comes with it, and grief deserves to be felt rather than rushed past. Gratitude comes too, for what that thing taught us, protected us from, or made possible. This retreat holds space for both. You are welcome to bring whatever you are ready to set down, and to move through it at the pace the land sets, surrounded by people doing the same quiet work beside you. What you release here, you release with tenderness, and with thanks.
The Benefits of Letting Go
When we finally exhale what we have been holding, the whole system softens. Guests often leave this season's retreat with:
Relief from the weight of a year carried without a pause
A felt sense of spaciousness and room to breathe
Renewed emotional clarity
Restored energy that holds after they return home
A deeper connection to their own body and intuition through time on the land
Creativity reawakened through making art from the season
Genuine, sustaining rest
A gentler, more honest relationship with grief, gratitude, and change
This retreat is non-religious and open to people of all backgrounds.
If questions, concerns, or emotions arise during the retreat, you can write them down and pass them to me, or request a brief check-in. You do not need prior experience with breath or yoga, and everything is guided, clear, and accessible. Most importantly, this retreat gives you space to slow down, feel, rest, and reconnect with yourself, in ways that daily life rarely allows.
A Supportive Environment
Reserve Your Place
Spaces are small by design. Private room accommodations are available, and you are welcome to bring a friend who needs this as much as you do.
Therapy sessions are eligible for insurance coverage in Ontario and Quebec.
October 22-25
Questions? Write to arrive@theseedlodge.com or call 514-467-9821.