Calendar drafts - The Institute for the Study of Birth, Breath and Death

March 18 ~ Death, Dreams, & Yoga ~ in person event in Swannanoa, NC

Join Wilka Roig, Aditi Sethi, and Amy Wright Glenn for a 3-hour, in person workshop at The Sanctuary in Western North Carolina. Practice is set at a gentle/moderate pace and open to all levels. Learn more and sign up today.

May 4 ~ Dance for All People

Join founder/director of Dance for All People (DAPpers), Rachel Balaban for this remarkable new offering! For the first time, the Institute collaborates to bring Rachel Balaban to our community and offer a multigenerational dance class designed for people with movement challenges and aging bodies. This course meets for 4 weeks will be taught live via Zoom. Classes are not recorded. All are welcome. Learn more and sign up today.

March 7 ~ Holding Space Consultant Training begins

Join Amy Wright Glenn for a 4 week training drawing upon the teachings of Alan Wolfelt, PhD and the insights drawn from Amy’s years of work as a doula, hospital chaplain, mother, and teacher. Learn the skills central to the work of the Institute’s Holding Space Consultant and apply them to your personal story, work, family, friendship, and community life. Learn more and sign up today.

January 28 ~ Self Care Support Circle

Join Amy Wright Glenn for a year long study/practice of self care! This is a wonderful opportunity to commit oneself to the practice of inquiry and the setting of monthly intentions/explorations around deepening one’s self care. Learn more and sign up today.

January 4 ~ Parent Book Study

Join Amy Wright Glenn for a 3-part book study focusing on Dr. Cara Natterson’s Decoding Boys. If you are a parent of a boy, or you mentor, teach, and/or spend time with boys ~ this course will strengthen your insight, communication skill, and knowledge regarding what boys today are facing. Learn more and sign up today.

January 7 ~ Holding Space for Early Loss

Join Amy Wright Glenn for a 2-hour, online live training specifically focusing on the implications of early pregnancy loss ~ including chemical pregnancy, ectopic pregnancy, and early miscarriage. This training is open to all ~ midwives, doulas, lactation consultants, nurses are particularly welcome. Learn more and sign up today.

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December 31 ~ New Year’s Eve Institute Retreat

Join Amy Wright Glenn for a 2-hour, online, live, New Year’s Eve retreat wherein participants consider the themes of birth, breath, and death both in the past 2022 year and the upcoming 2023 year. Learn more and sign up today.

November 12 ~ Fall Shadow Work Ritual

Join Amy Wright Glenn for a two-hour ritual focusing on integrating the shadows of fall/winter and the shadows of self with mindfulness, compassion, and wisdom. We gather to meditate, read, craft a ritual that is open to all (secular and faith based) and share. This is not recorded. Participants need to attend live. The Fall Shadow Work Ritual is open to all. Learn more and sign up today.

November 6 ~ Yoga for Grief

Join Amy Wright Glenn for a 4 week series of Sunday evening yoga practice with the focus on holding space for the natural contractions and expansions of grief. Participants meet via Zoom and sessions are not recorded. Practice is set at a gentle/moderate pace and open to all levels. Learn more and sign up today.

November 2 ~ Holding Space Consultant Training

For the first time, the Holding Space Consultant Training is open to all. Learn the skills central to the work of the Institute’s Holding Space Consultant and apply them to your personal story, work, family, friendship, and community life. Learn more and sign up today.

November 4 ~ Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss

Join Institute teacher Abby Jorgensen for a 5-hour, online live Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss training. This training is open to all ~ midwives, doulas, lactation consultants, nurses are particularly welcome. Learn more and sign up today.

November 5 ~ Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss

Join Institute teachers Michelle Smith and Noelle Oosthuizen for a 5-hour, online live Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss training. This training is open to all ~ midwives, doulas, lactation consultants, nurses are particularly welcome. Learn more and sign up today.

October 28-30 ~Fall Institute Retreat in Asheville, NC

Join Institute founder and director Amy Wright Glenn for an amazing in-person weekend retreat full of speakers, workshops, dance, music, and ritual ~ all set during the wonders of fall in Asheville, NC. All are welcome. Learn more and sign up today.

October 12 ~ Understanding Trauma for Birth & Death Doulas

Join Amy Wright Glenn, Melissa Ming Foynes, PhD, and Jonathan Labman, former Director of The Trauma Treatment Program at the Penn Foundation for a 10-hour exploration of understanding trauma ~ in a way that is evidenced-based and drawing upon best practices. Such an approach is key to deepening the work doulas are called to do in this world. While this course is geared to support birth and death doulas in their work, all are welcome. Learn more and sign up today.

September 7 ~ Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss

September 9 ~ Hungry Ghosts

Join Institute founder and director Amy Wright Glenn for a 10-hour in-depth exploration of what it means to encounter, examine, name, and integrate our “hungry ghosts” ~ especially in relationship with “toxic people.” Drawing upon the work of Shahida Arabi, participants will examine the role of trauma bonds and codependency and how these dynamics unfold both physiologically in terms of attachment systems in the body as well as emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. This course will be taught live via Zoom. All are welcome. Learn more and sign up today.

August 13 ~ Rituals for Menopause

Join Amy Wright Glenn for an 8-hour workshop focusing on the study, significance, and need for contemporary rituals of meaning to mark menopause. Participants will engage in discussion and study drawing upon the yogic and Christian traditions in particular and conclude the course by crafting their own ritual of meaning. Learn more and sign up today.

August 7~ Yoga for Peace

Join Amy Wright Glenn for a 4 week series of Sunday evening yoga practice with the focus on cultivating peace. Participants meet via Zoom and sessions are not recorded. Practice is set at a gentle/moderate pace and open to all levels. Learn more and sign up today.

July 1 ~ Summer Self Care Circle

Join Amy Wright Glenn for a year long practice focusing on the study, significance, and need for nourishing self care ~ especially for those of us called to hold space for birth, breath, and death. Participants gather monthly for two hours with Amy (live and online) and have the option to form self care support study groups. Recordings are made available to participants. This is a transformative, year-long practice. Learn more and sign up today.

June 17 ~ Ritual for Regret & Forgiveness

Join Amy Wright Glenn for a 90-minute online gathering focusing on a communal, nonsectarian ritual practice of forgiveness. The practice of forgiving self and/or others helps to integrate and reconcile the energies of regret. Learn more and sign up today.

June 5 ~ Understanding Trauma for Birth & Death Doulas

May 25~ Yoga for Peace

Join Amy Wright Glenn for a 4 week series of Wednesday evening yoga practice with the focus on cultivating peace. Participants meet via Zoom and sessions are not recorded. Practice is set at a gentle/moderate pace and open to all levels. Learn more and sign up today.

May 6 ~ Hungry Ghosts

May 13 ~ Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss

Join Institute teacher Joanne Zerdy, PhD for a 5-hour, online live Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss training. This training is open to all ~ midwives, doulas, lactation consultants, nurses are particularly welcome. Learn more and sign up today.

May 4 ~ Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss

November 29 & December 6 ~ Loving, Dying, and Letting Go

Join Institute teacher Jessica Kilbourn, for a 5-hour, live, online Loving, Dying, and Letting Go workshop. Participants are asked to engage in deep personal reflection on three key themes/ areas of inquiry. These themes are: What does it means to love? What does it mean to die, and What does it mean to let go? This course will be split into two sections. Learn more and sign up today.

April 28 ~ Nourishing Resiliency: Holding Space for Difficult Emotions Support Group

Join Holding Space Consultants Anne Crook and Melinda Hitchcock for a 6-week support group. Are you currently navigating a significant change in your life? Are you experiencing painful emotions related to these changes? For example: a recent divorce/breakup, job change, relocation, new diagnosis, or shifts in identity. Major life changes bring grief, which often goes unacknowledged by our broader culture and we are left to grapple with difficult emotions largely on our own. If you’re seeking support as you nourish your resiliency, know you are most welcome to join this community of care. Learn more and sign up today.

May 4 ~ Holding Space for our Mothers

In honor of Mother’s Day, Institute founder and director Amy Wright Glenn launches an 8-hour course presented live via Zoom. Whether you regard your mother as your closest friend, never knew your birth mother, are estranged, grieve the loss of your mother, or are working to show up (or support your partner in showing up) as a present, mindful, and compassionate mother ~ you are welcome. Learn more and sign up today.

April 5 ~ Music for the Dying

Join palliative care/hospice physician Aditi Sethi, MD and board certified music therapist Jay Brown for this 6-hour course presented live and online. In “Music for the Dying,” Jay and Aditi will co-lead a dynamic, inspiring, and transformation course exploring the role music can play in the dying journey. Both Aditi and Jay are professional musicians and they draw upon their work in hospice as well as their creative work as a husband-wife musician duo. Music is included in this experience! Learn more and sign up today.

April 4 ~ Pregnancy Loss Group Facilitation Training

Join Melissa Ming Foynes, PhD and Amy Wright Glenn for a 20-hour training in facilitating pregnancy loss support groups. This is a 5-part training structured to support, strengthen, and nourish current and future Pregnancy Loss Group Facilitators. Please note there is an important experiential component to this training which includes leading a facilitated discussion about pregnancy loss prior to the final module. Participants must meet a pre-requisite to join the training. Learn more and sign up today.

January 13 ~ Doulas and Domestic Violence

Join Lundy Bancroft ~ a leading author on domestic violence ~ Jenny Ward, Tina Swithin, and Amy Wright Glenn for a 10-hour workshop focusing on what it means for those of us drawn to holding space for birth/death to encounter painful and difficult stories of abuse as part of our work. Participants will engage in discussion and study with Lundy Bancroft in real time as he answers questions for three 1-hour segments as part of this course. All are welcome. Learn more and sign up today.

January 6 ~ Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss

Join Institute teacher Joanne Zerdy for a 5-hour, online live Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss training. This training is open to all ~ midwives, doulas, lactation consultants, nurses are particularly welcome. Learn more and sign up today.

January 9 ~ Rituals for Menopause

December 4 ~ Three Views of Jesus

Join Amy Wright Glenn for an 3-hour workshop focusing on three views of Jesus ~ Trinitarian, Unitarian, and Humanist point of view. Learn more about what scholars know regarding the historical Jesus and what theologians assert regarding the Christ of Faith through an open exploration from a comparative religion/philosophy point of view. Learn more and sign up today.

November 6 ~ Birth, Breath, and Death Teacher Training

Join Amy Wright Glenn for a 21-hour Teacher Training geared to support individuals drawn to hold space for life’s sacred threshold points in leading 3-hour in-person or online workshops on Birth, Breath, and Death. The November 2021 Birth, Breath, and Death Teacher Training is 2-months long. Learn more and sign up today.

November 7 ~ Music for the Dying

October 21 ~ Thresholds: Navigating Life Changes Support Group

Join Holding Space Consultants Anne Crook and Melinda Hitchcock for a 6-week support group. Are you currently navigating a significant change in your life? Are you experiencing painful emotions related to these changes? For example: a recent divorce/breakup, job change, relocation, new diagnosis, or shifts in identity. Major life changes bring grief, which often goes unacknowledged by our broader culture and we are left to grapple with difficult emotions largely on our own. If you’re struggling to make sense of changes in your life know you are most welcome to join this community of care. Learn more and sign up today.

August 30 & September 1 ~ Join Institute teacher Lori Adams, for a 5-hour, online Loving, Dying, and Letting Go workshop. The five-hour course will be offered in two sessions beginning at 7pm CST.
To register, contact Lori: loriadams12@earthlink.net

April 9 ~ Goddesses of Birth & Death

This 6-hour course will be presented live via Zoom and offered three times this year focusing on a different goddess for each session: the Hindu goddess Kali, the Mesopotamian goddess Inanna, and the Greek goddess Sophia. This course is taught by Institute founder and director Amy Wright Glenn. Participants can register for one, two, or three sessions. Participants will study and reflect upon each goddess’s significance in terms of culture, myth, and psychology regarding birth, breath, and death. Learn more and sign up today.

September 25 ~ Grief Work Training in Lawrenceville, NJ

Join Institute founder and director Amy Wright Glenn and Institute teacher and Holding Space Consultant Naima Beckles for a 5-hour, in-person Grief Work Training. Open to all + those involved in holding space for life’s difficult passages ~ mental health providers, birth & death doulas, hospice and hospital chaplains, as well as religious/spiritual leaders ~ are particularly welcome. Learn more and sign up today.

August 7~ Goddesses of Birth & Death

Join Institute founder/director Amy Wright Glenn for a 6-hour study of Mesopotamian goddess Inanna. This study is part of a series of explorations focusing on three of the world’s goddesses. Participants can join for a single focus or for the full series. Learn more and sign up today.

May 5 ~ Holding Space for our Mothers

May 20 and 27 ~ Join Institute teacher Jessica Kilbourn for a 5-hour, online Loving, Dying, and Letting Go workshop.
The five-hour course will be split into two sections beginning at 1pm EST.
To register, contact Jessica: jkilbourn@emich.edu

Watch Jess Kilbourn’s 5 minute video about the significance of this course
as a “journey of contemplation and curiosity.”