GRIEVING GROUND: CAPACITY
if you want to push
then soften, baby
if you want to hurry
then pause and breathe
if you want to grow
your capacity to be with more
then you’ve got to be with what is
to be with everything
-Capacity for More by Monika Denise
How do you stay with what is, especially if you don’t want it to be quite like this?
When we step towards ourselves without laying on any pressure for it to be different, something softens. Magic happens. The door opens to something you never thought was possible to experience.
In Grieving Ground–Capacity, we’ll be playing in the realm of edges. Those places where you don’t know or reach your limits. It feels scary or impossible to encounter the brink of your capacity alone. There’s grief here. We need each other. We need enough support to welcome the guests that visit: sorrow, desire, rest, joy, play… some of whom might be too overwhelming to even consider entertaining. For grief is often intertwined with any aspect of your humanness that has been pushed down, wounded, or outcast.
In this 3-part embodiment series, we’ll notice what’s happening in the body and the heart through breathing, movement, nature and art practices. Join us on private land by the Middlefork Nooksack River October 24 & 25, December 5 & 6 with an integrative evening in Bellingham, WA on November 12. Dance, song, and ritual will hold us as we grow our capacity to be with what is.
Guided by Monika Denise and Kelsey Maloney.
Supported by Kai Summy and Claire Erley.
Registration is open! Sign up below.
Group size is limited to 12.
DATES, TIMES, & LOCATIONS:
Saturday & Sunday October 24 & 25, 2026
We will meet on private land by the Middlefork Nooksack River. Approximately 40 minutes from Bellingham, WA. Additional details and exact location will be sent to those who register.
November 12, 2026
6-9pm
Includes potluck dinner provided by all of us.
Bellingham, WA
December 5 & 6, 2026
We will meet on private land by the Middlefork Nooksack River. Approximately 40 minutes from Bellingham, WA.
OPTION FOR ADDITIONAL 1:1 SUPPORT:
Sometimes it can be hard to access grief when a grief journey has included a traumatic experience. Trauma can contribute to the intensity or add complications to grieving. Monika Denise is trained in the Instinctual Trauma Response (ITR) Method, a protocol based in neuroscience and art therapy that offers a grounded pathway for integrating traumas. The ITR Method helps to resolve symptoms of traumatic stress, reduce sensitivity to triggers, and can allow our hearts to be more accessible. Participants are invited to book 1-3 sessions (at a special Grieving Ground rate) with Monika Denise should they be interested in easing stress from trauma. These sessions may be especially supportive before or after a micro ritual. Contact Monika Denise to learn more.
PAYMENT DETAILS:
$750-$900, sliding scale
After registering, you will a receive an invoice with information for how to pay.
$826-$900: When I pay more, I am helping the facilitators support themselves and contributing to those in the community who can’t pay as much.
$825: When I pay in the middle, I am helping the facilitators cover costs.
$750-$824: When I pay less, I am letting my community hold and support me.
3-part payment plan available for $300/payment.
First payment due upon registration. Second payment due by Nov. 9, 2025. Third Payment due by Dec. 7, 2025. If signing up for a payment plan, you are agreeing to complete all three payments even if you are unable to complete the group for any reason.
CONFIDENTIALITY:
A week before the start of the intensive, or as soon as the group is full, we will send an email out with the names of everyone in the group. If you notice a confidentiality conflict with someone in the group, please let us know as soon as possible.
CANCELLATION POLICY:
If you need to cancel before September 4, you will receive a refund minus a $100 administrative fee. After September 4, there are no refunds unless we are able to fill your spot. If we are able to fill your spot, you will receive a refund minus the $100 administrative fee. If signing up for a payment plan, you are agreeing to complete all three payments even if you are unable to complete the group for any reason.
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT PAST GRIEF INTENSIVES WITH KELSEY AND MONIKA DENISE:
“Grieving Ground is the healing experience your wildest dreams could not have even dreamt up! The hardest part is showing up, but once here, Monika & Kelsey weave magic through dance, art, and community care. This experience has been transformational for me. I am so grateful I took the chance & signed up!” -Claire
“Grieving Ground has helped me with my grief process immensely. When I started I could barely make eye contact with anyone. By the end, I was connecting with others easily with movement and long eye contact. I recommend this to anyone and will for sure take more workshops with Kelsey & MD.
It was truly magic.” -Kara
“Monika & Kelsey co-create powerful, inviting, safe spaces to explore grief through multiple ways of knowing. We went beyond the rational left brain processes and deep into the body through art, dance, exercises and ritual! Every session left my nervous system calmer and me knowing something for myself that I needed.”
“This is a space where you can remember what it means to be human, where you can feel enough as you are, where you can practice consent culture and growing capacity for intimacy.”
“Expands your definitions of grieving, self-expression, what is possible when held in a safe, loving container. All about being in your body, with bodies, while feeling BIG emotions.”
“It was deeply nourishing and it takes courage…to be open to what arises.”