Grief and Grace: Loss, Longing and Belonging

## Overview

Beneath our heartbreak lives longing: for meaning, for connection, for belonging, for love, for acceptance.

Grief & Grace is a seven-week collective journey inviting participants to meet both the light and the dark that move among us—together. We meet with bodies, hearts and minds, create a sacred, shared space, and use guided mindfulness, meditation, writing and expressive communication practices to create a space for supportive relating.

Registration covers the full series of seven sessions. You do not need to register for each week separately. Each weekly gathering is guided by Michael and will at times be joined by guest facilitators.

This series offers a compassionate, village-like space to witness, be witnessed, and engage with tenderness and respect—to shift from isolation to connection, from numbness to aliveness, from despair to meaning.

Participants honor both visible and invisible losses—of loved ones, safety, homeland, identity, hope, and future. We listen with the body, breathe with the heart, and allow what has been held too long to be held by many.

Session Dates:

• Thursday, Feb 19, 2026: Week 1 – Entering the Circle of Love: The Courage to Feel
• Thursday, Feb 26, 2026: Week 2 – Kindness: Softening the Armor (breath-work with a special guest guide Teresa Papadopoulos)
• Thursday, Mar 5, 2026: Week 3 – Compassion: Meeting Suffering with Reverence
• Thursday, Mar 12, 2026: Week 4 – Wisdom: The Mind as Mirror of Meaning
• Thursday, Mar 19, 2026: Week 5 – Beauty: Seeing with the Eyes of the Soul
• Thursday, Mar 26, 2026: Week 6 – Light: Remembering the Luminous Within
• Thursday, Apr 2, 2026: Week 7 – Integration & Blessing: The Soul’s Return to Wholeness

Pricing & Registration:

• $300 if registered by February 15
• $350 after February 15

REGISTRATION CLOSES ON FEBRUARY 18TH

Facilitated by Michael Gelbart, LCSW, with 40+ years of trauma-informed, generational, and collective healing practice, this committed series invites a gentle shift from isolation to aliveness, honoring personal, generational, and collective loss.