In a world where loss touches every part of life, it’s essential to honor grief as a full-body experience.
This retreat offers a unique blend of yoga and somatic psychology, designed for those navigating personal loss
or supporting others through theirs.
Why yoga for grief relief...?
While traditional talk therapy can be a valuable part of navigating grief, yoga offers something different—an embodied, nonverbal way to engage with what you’re going through.
Body-Centered Support
Grief doesn’t live only in the mind or heart—it’s also stored in the body. Yoga helps release physical tension and emotional residue that words alone may not reach.
Grounding Through Breath and Movement
Simple practices like mindful movement and breathwork can create a sense of calm in the moment. They offer tools to feel more centered, present, and supported—right here, right now.
A Space Beyond Words
Not everything needs to be spoken to be understood. Yoga provides a quiet, reflective space to experience and explore your emotions without needing to explain them.
A Holistic Framework
Yoga works across the layers of mind, body, and spirit, offering a unified way to navigate the complexity of grief. It allows space for integration—not resolution, but coexistence with your loss.
A Philosophy of Impermanence
Central to yoga is the understanding that everything is impermanent. This perspective can support a gentler relationship with attachment—helping you honor what was, while allowing space for what is becoming.
Why a retreat...?
In the pace of daily life, it's easy to overlook the deep emotional work that grief requires. A retreat offers the time and space to pause, reflect, and process in a compassionate, supportive environment.
This immersive experience is designed to gently guide you through your unique grief journey. Each day combines informative talks on the nature of grief with individual and group practices, creating a safe, confidential setting for meaningful exploration and shared connection.
Through thoughtfully guided yoga sessions, self-reflective exercises, and structured group discussions, you'll begin to recognize your personal responses to loss and learn practical ways to care for your emotional and physical well-being. Special attention is given to how grief reshapes identity—supporting you in discovering who you are becoming in the wake of loss.
The Yoga for Grief Relief program is practiced daily and interwoven with opportunities for personal insight and integration. Targeted techniques are explored throughout the day to help you gently reconnect with yourself and find strength in shared experience.
Who is this retreat for...?
This retreat is for anyone navigating the landscape of grief—whether your loss is recent or long ago, whether it’s connected to death or another form of life change. Grief comes in many forms, and all are welcome here.
You don’t need to have any prior experience with yoga. The practices shared can be adapted to meet a wide range of physical needs and limitations. What matters most is your openness to exploring a new relationship with grief—one that supports processing, growth, and self-compassion.
This retreat is also for those who support others in grief—caregivers, counselors, healthcare professionals, or loved ones—who may be carrying secondary grief themselves. If you're someone who gives a lot but rarely has time to process your own emotional load, this is a space to refill your cup and reconnect with yourself.
Additionally, the retreat serves as a foundational step for professionals who wish to integrate these tools into their work. Completion of a personal retreat is a prerequisite for the Yoga for Grief Relief Professional Training – Level 1. If that path speaks to you, this retreat is the place to begin.
Take a deep breath, and join us, you deserve this!
This retreat is co-sponsored by:
As the first established independent hospice in the Sacramento Valley, YoloCares has a storied history of caring for people who have a life-limiting illness. YoloCares is an active member of the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation and is recognized as a regional leader in end-of-life care. YoloCares offers a wide variety of supportive care services, from an enriching adult day facility to Joint Commission-accredited hospice and palliative care programs.
YoloCares is located at 1909 Galileo Ct., Davis, CA 95618
We appreciate the support of:
The mission of the Davis Yoga Collective is to build community through yoga and meditation.
Shambhala Vision is rooted in the principle that every human being has a fundamental nature of basic goodness. This nature can be developed in daily life so that it radiates out to family, friends, community and society. Learn to meditate. Connect with community, grow confidence, mindful-awareness, and compassion. Meditation instruction is available free of charge.
Royal Guest Hotels’founder and CEO Ashok Patel started his career in hospitality at the young age of 14 in 1977 when his parents bought the Davis Motel in Davis, CA. Ashok’s uncle encouraged the Patel family to move from Harrisburg, PA to Davis, CA at this time because he thought the Davis community would suit the family well.
Your team for this retreat:
Antonio Sausys MA, IGT, CMT, C-IAYTis a somatic psychologist and yoga therapist specializing in grief counseling and therapy.
He studied with Hugo Bilsky and Yoga masters and teachers such as Indra Devi, Ram Dass, Swami Shankaradevananda, Swami Ekananda, Babashi Singh and Swami Mairtreyananda. He has continued his professional development with training in Integrative Grief Therapy with Lyn Prashant, Foot Reflexology, Swedish Therapeutic Massage and Reiki.
Gail Kennedy, MPH holds a master’s in public health education, research and programming, and has been a public health advocate for decades in communities both globally and locally. After going through an important personal loss, she has turned her professional attention to serving those who are grieving. She is a volunteer at YoloCares’s Center for Loss and Hope, a member of Davis Shambhala Meditation Center and frequent practitioner of yoga at the Davis Yoga Collective. Gail is a dedicated Yoga for Grief Relief Practitioner in training.
Nov 07
Yoga for Grief Relief Retreat at YoloCares-Davis, California
Grief is a natural response to loss—personal or global—but navigating it can feel disorienting, isolating, even immobilizing. In the midst of these challenging times—marked by political unrest, economic uncertainty, and the devastating signs of climate change—it becomes even more important to make space for reflection, movement, and connection. Through the integration of yoga, somatic psychology, and guided self-inquiry, we’ll explore practical ways to engage with grief in a supportive and grounded environment. No prior yoga experience is required.
