Ancient Healing Ways
with Pip Bondy
Way of Council – the quiet work of grief
A gentle space to explore the Alchemy of Grief
Bristol , November 20th - 22nd 2026
The Way of Council – the quiet work of grief
A gentle space to explore the Alchemy of Grief
This Council is for those feeling the strain of a fast-changing, polarised world, and longing for a more grounded, compassionate, human way forward.
We are living through deep personal and collective loss. Grief moves through our lives in many forms. Are you experiencing a loss of loved ones, a home, a job, your identity, and the world as we once knew it? In our culture, grief is often silenced or rushed. We are taught to move on rather than to feel, to listen, to be met.
Avoiding grief can feel protective, yet over time, it can narrow our lives and leave something unresolved beneath the surface.
Grief can also appear as confusion, fear, numbness, denial, anger, sadness, helplessness, and or depression. Are you feeling or experiencing any of these emotions? Even if you feel stuck, something else may become possible.
From a deeper perspective, grief is not something to fix or bypass, rather something that transforms us when we are willing to stay present. It brings us to thresholds within ourselves that only our heart and life breaking open can reveal.
Grief asks something different, It asks to be witnessed.
Over this weekend, you will be invited to:
• Learn the foundations of Council - speaking and listening from the heart
• Meet differences with openness rather than reactivity
• Stay present amid uncertainty and collective strain
• Enter deeper belonging - to self, others, and the living world
• Gain perspective on your place in these changing times
• Receive the experience of being truly witnessed, and witnessing others
When we allow grief rather than avoid it, we may find:
Turning toward grief does not mean overwhelm. It means meeting what hurts in small, human, supported ways - with care, presence, and respect.
• Greater honesty - less pretence, more truth
• A wider emotional range - space for joy, tenderness, and gratitude alongside sorrow
• Inner strength - trust in our capacity to stay present with difficulty and challenges.
• Deeper connection - compassion for self and others
• Clarity - a clearer sense of what matters
• Wholeness - grief integrated rather than hidden
• A living embodied connection to love - grief as an expression of care
• Meaning and change - a shift in how we live and what we value
Beneath the overwhelm of uncertainty, conflict, and the breaking of familiar structures, lives a shared collective grief. Even when events are distant, we feel them. We are not separate.
This is a space where grief is welcomed, nothing needs to be fixed, and even the smallest thread of hope can begin to emerge.
Start – Friday, November 20th at 6.30 pm; finish Sunday, 22nd by 5 pm.
Cost - £295, (including £95, non-refundable deposit)
To enquire or enrol, please contact Pippa – pippa@ancienthealingways.co.uk
Tel - 44 (0) 7814959613
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