Grief is something we all experience, but often behind closed doors. Rarely together.Â
This workshop is for you if you know you are walking with grief.
Or if you sense you have grieving parts you put away, consciously or unconsciously.
It’s easy to push down, avoid or numb your grief.Â
To find it hard to access on your own.Â
To be overwhelmed by the pressures of life.Â
You may feel that your sadness is not okay, too much, too messy.Â
You may notice that expressing grief often stops conversations, creates discomfort, is not always welcome.Â
It's not unusual to feel ashamed, to secretly think there’s something wrong with you.Â
You might feel that it’s not okay to talk about your pain, to burden others.Â
Or to need to keep talking about it, when everyone else seems to have moved on.Â
Perhaps you think that it doesn’t make sense, even to you.
Or wonder where it all comes from.Â
If you are ready to feel and release some layers of grief, and you would like to work with that in a group, we invite you to come together to explore your grief in community.
To create a sacred space where you don't have to carry the weight of grief alone.
Grief comes in many forms.
You may walk with the loss of a partner, parent, child, sibling, family member, friend, pregnancy, animal friend.
The loss of a relationship, marriage, friendship, job, home, role, family, place, culture. Â
The loss of health, ability, part of your body, or capacity.Â
You may walk with lost dreams, relationship struggles, loneliness, regrets.
You may walk with collective grief at the state of our world.Â
At the violence, hatred, divisions, discrimination, environmental destruction, loss of security and stability, and growing chaos.Â
You may walk with the grief of disillusionment, as so many hidden shadows keep coming to light. Including from within yourself.Â
The loss of the illusion of certainty and comfort.
You may walk with ancestral grief, from trauma or the loss of your peoples’ ancient wisdom traditions.Â
I lived with that ache in my heart for years.
A constant sense that there was more I was meant to be doing.
Yet the more I focused on bringing that into the world, the more that feeling faded.
Even with all my please-don’t-make-me fears, heels-dug-in resistance, let-me-do-anything-else-but-this avoidance.
Even with the soul initiations that left me quivering on the floor as old selves got washed away.
If we haven’t met before, hi! I’m RĂonach (pronounced rhee-on-ock). I'm glad you’re here.
I love wind, sea-washed pebbles, and making ink and art from wild plants.
I was made in Ireland and now live in the Netherlands, where I love the outspoken people and rivers, and miss the rolling hills and magical wildness of my native land.
I was forged by bone-deep shyness. Poetry opened me to my soul essence and melted the visibility blocks that kept me in hiding.
Now, one of my soul gifts, and soul paths, is working with poetry.
Especially with poetry alchemy, where you find a poem that allows your soul to speak to and through you.
That opens a portal, infusing you with the frequency of your unique essence and medicine.
That becomes a transmission of who you were before the world told you who you could be.
Then you begin to see yourself, and be seen, as your soul sees you.
To see your power, magnificence, love and unique natural essence.
To know in your bones the medicine and gift you are.
I’ve discovered that my Irish ancestors worked with the spiritual wisdom of deep poetic practice too.
The old Irish word, dán (pronounced dawn), means poem. It also means creative gift, soul’s calling, destiny or fate.
Our ancestors believed that each of us is born with a dán, a natural soul’s gift.
And that the more we find and live our dán, the more it begins to shine.
It becomes the gift we give ourselves, and offer back to enrich our community.
It may or may not be your livelihood, vocation or social role. But it will be the essence or soul medicine that you infuse into everything you do.
They also knew that this is the work of a lifetime.
That the more you embrace a fully lived life of human joys + sorrows,
the more you deepen into the wholeness of your humanity,
the more the seeds of your gifts will blossom and bear fruit.
This workshop is an invitation to see the gifts you bring. And be seen in your whole humanity and brilliance.
To become a listening heart, holding space for yourself and others, to remember who you were before the world told you who you could be.
Whether you love poetry, or find it hard to connect with, you’re open to having another experience - a poem moving you as deeply as a song can.
So in this 2-day workshop you will be invited to:
- Choose and work deeply with a companion poem, that allows you to sense and transmit your soul’s essence.
- Explore the gifts that are hidden in your wholeness, including the parts and experiences you may have dismissed or undervalued.
- Get in touch with what brings you truly alive, and the missing pieces you may be here to bring to the world.
- Experience being seen and taking up space, so others can see your gifts and reflect them back to you in potent ways.
When you begin to see your dán more clearly, you have a new compass to steer by.
And as you tend your gifts with your presence and attention, your soul shines through you and lights up your way forward.
In this workshop you will:
WORK WITH A COMPANION POEM
When you register, you'll receive my pdf book, What Gifts do you Bring? workshop poems. These specially selected poems can help you to choose a poem that speaks deeply to you at this time.
You're also welcome to bring a poem, quote, or song lyrics from any source, including in your own language, or words you’ve written yourself. Trust your soul nudges.
During the workshop, you will experience a simple, potent process to embody your poem. This goes deep fast and gently rewires your system on physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels.
Your poem, and the listening field in which it’s shared, support you to cut through mind noise and hear your soul’s frequency. It becomes a portal to help you sense your natural essence and gifts.
EMBRACE YOUR WHOLENESS
The workshop will strengthen your connection with your deep knowing through guided writing and sharing practices. As you share the words that live deep inside you, and witness how they touch others, you feel the resonance of your own truth more clearly.
The workshop also includes an invitation to speak some or all of your poem to the group, guided and supported every step of the way.
To step forward and share from your wholeness. Owning your powerful and your vulnerable parts - knowing that all of you is welcome.
Deep shifts happen when we are seen and celebrated in a space of soul-to-soul connection. Together we create a new culture of witnessing and embracing each other’s unique gifts.
We see more clearly the parts of ourselves that are seen and reflected back to us by others. This is the power of community.
"As a human being, we cannot accept a part of ourselves that we haven't shared with another human being and had validated, rather than violated." ~ Kurt Wright
HEAL THE WOUNDS OF SUPPRESSIONÂ
Each person who lives their unique gifts is a force for change in the world. For generations, we have been taught to fit in, conform, and not stand too tall.
Our soul's power has been silenced, oppressed, and persecuted. This suppression is integrated into our culture, including those that raised us to live in this world.
We carry these collective and ancestral wounds in our bodies and minds, distorting our sense of who we are and what’s possible for us. And the world is still full of critics pointing arrows.
In this work, the wisdom of our group field often brings to the surface layers that are ready to be released. Where relevant, you'll be guided through powerful spoken-word invocations to release wounds of systemic oppression, projections, patriarchy, or persecution that live in your bones.
Clearing these layers turns down the volume on the inner and outer voices that keep you doubting, hesitating, and playing small. It liberates you from the paralysing fear of what others think.
And it supports you to reclaim your authentic sovereignty and authority, so you can share your gifts with confident potency, even in the face of those who would disagree or seek to undermine you.
This work expands your capacity to:
- See and cherish the gifts you naturally bring, including those that you’ve cultivated through challenging life experiences, so you understand the wisdom of your life’s path.
- Feel more confident to share the wholeness of your humanity, your brilliance, your imperfections, and your hard-earned wisdom.
- Lift the pen or brush or mic, allowing your natural essence to flow out of you into the world.
- Get clear on your next steps to tend your dán, your soul’s gift, so it becomes a shining jewel that you offer to your community.
"Find the poem you are meant to be." ~Â Bill Plotkin
HOW IT WORKS
2-DAYÂ IN-PERSONÂ RETREAT - Saturday + Sunday 28-29 March 2026
Venue: Isis Sofia, Dalfsen, Netherlands
- Daily: 9.30-17.30
- Vegetarian lunch included (dietary needs catered for)
- Option to stay on site or join an evening meal (not included)Â
YOU WILL ALSO RECEIVE
- What gifts do you bring? poem book - to help you find a poem to support our work together.Â
- Workshop notes - learn more about dán + working with poems.
- Bonus integration call - 2 weeks after our workshop, on Monday 13 April 19.30-21.30, we'll gather again on Zoom. This is a space to reconnect, reflect on what you're discovering about your gifts, and share celebrations or challenges
SIGN UP HERE
IÂ want this work to be accessible to those who need it. In addition to payment plans, I make a limited number of low-cost or no-cost spaces available.Â
If you need this in order to attend, or if you have any questions about anything else, please get in touch.
YOU MIGHT BE WONDERING ...
Why poetry?
Brain scans show that poetry actually rewires your brain. Scientists discovered that the rich language and imagery of poetry acts like rocket-fuel for the brain, firing up new neural pathways. It activates parts of the brain linked to language, memory and emotion, helping us to rewrite old stories.
Poetry uses the language of the senses and the language of the soul, plugging you into your deepest knowing and grounding that into your body.
Poetry is not for me
I get it. Lots of people feel this way. Mostly down to how we were taught poetry at school. I've never heard anyone say: 'Music is not for me.' Just like songs, there'll be some poems that speak to you, and some that don't.
Here's what others have found ...
"In facing some of my worst wounds, I literally found my purpose. I got to meet my core self, embrace my magic gifts, and trust my body and her timing. I’ve become a more powerfully rooted space holder, a transformational advocate for the silent ones who have a mission, but haven’t been able to find their place. After a long time seeking, this clarity alone is priceless. RĂonach’s work is uniquely revolutionary."
~ Jenny Kiely
"RĂonach is a soul midwife who held space for both my wounded parts and my soul purpose in a high vibration, with such love, respect and gentleness. Now, I feel ready, secure, there's an inner sense of solidity. I can trust in who I am and what I'm here to do. I can show up, be myself, do the next thing and attract the right people. I’m working on a book and creating a new program based on my life’s work."
~Â Ilja van de Griend
"I had no inkling that poetry would ever work for me. I'd never in my life read a poem that touched me. When I received the poems from RĂonach, I was completely blown away. I was immediately hooked on poetry, which I didn’t see coming."
~ Lucienne van der Linde
"Working with my poem was powerful and felt incredibly sacred. It brought me a deep intuitive sensing, beneath the mental to more feeling, discovering and knowing. The process released blocks within me that kept me stuck for years, but it felt like such a safe space."
~ Judith Salentijn
"Working with RĂonach was a pivotal moment for me and supported me to begin a new chapter. I feel a deeper presence of my soul that's constantly flowing through me. The program and my poem helped me to feel and follow my own energy. And to begin to love and honour myself, which has been my hardest life lesson. I'm infinitely grateful to be walking my talk - it's rippling out to so many people."Â
~ Simeon Bridge
"With RĂonach’s guidance, I felt emotionally safe to discover my essence and explore my magic. Being in the loving warmth of this gentle group container, I have emerged with a lightness of being. I am able to be visible as myself, authentic, vulnerable, while feeling accepted. I trust myself and can honor both my Yes and my No. My creativity sparks have come alive."
~Â Wendy Wolpert