A Journey Inward
Resting Under Brigid’s Mantle
Cultivating Sanctuary and Self Compassion in Daily Life
In the Celtic tradition, Imbolc marks the beginning of Spring. It is a time of rebirth and new hope. The earth stirs from its winter slumber, the hard frosts thaw, and the first green buds and shoots appear, bringing with them the promise of transformation. Brigid, the ancient triple Goddess, is celebrated on Lá Bríde -Brigid’s Day at Imbolc where the seeds that have incubated in winter begin to emerge and bring new life.
What might it be like to cultivate self-compassion and care in our daily lives rather than feel shame, anxiety, indecision, regret, and guilt?
Brigid stands on the threshold of Spring, invoking the archetypal energies of healing, creativity, imagination, and poetry. She also symbolizes the alchemical fires of the forge and transformation. She is said to breathe life into the mouth of the dead winter. In the Celtic tradition, on Samhain, the Cailleach, the old hag of winter, descends into the underworld to incubate the seeds of new life. These seeds will emerge at Imbolc (meaning ‘in the belly’) in the Celtic Spring.
This course will examine the wound of self-abandonment and the importance of creating sanctuary in the inner world and the world around us. When we have experienced trauma in childhood, it can affect our relationship with ourselves and others. Our inner dialogue has much to do with our self-worth and confidence. When we have a self-abandonment wound, we often ignore our inner voice, are highly self-critical, and find it difficult to set boundaries and say ‘no’. We self-abandon when we minimize our feelings and avoid asking for what we need. We are hyper-vigilant of others, watching for any change in mood, feeling that another person’s moods are our fault and our job to fix. We are frequently in states of anxiety and not at ease.
We can also feel shame for having needs, feeling that we are often ‘too much’ and ‘not enough’ which erodes relationships and basic self-trust.
During this course, we will call on the support of Brigid and her loving cloak, which she would expand and cover the length and breadth of Ireland in times of strife. We will explore how we can cultivate self-compassion and care in our lives and start to nourish and shelter ourselves— to feel our worthiness with love and care, just as we are. We will explore regret, guilt and stuckness when we struggle with indecision and the blocks around embracing life and our life force to share our potential with the world.
This workshop will take you on a journey into the inner world and soul self, invoking the spirit and wisdom of ancient Ireland, the Goddess Brigid and her healing cloak, Gaelic stories, myths, poetry, folklore, and ancient landscape. It aims to help you find your inner ground and light the way for you on this journey inward.
Join Eileen on a journey inward. Together, we will explore, through the work of Psychotherapy, Depth Psychology and Irish Mythology, how we can support ourselves through self-compassion, sanctuary and creating spaces of growth and ritual in our daily life.
What’s Included?
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We will begin by Crossing the Threshold—the Opening Ritual that guides all of my Deepening the Senses Programs, Courses, and Workshops. In this space, we create a container for our work together and set our individual and collective intentions.
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In the second section, we will deepen into story and mythology. For our ancestors, the world of storytelling, poetry, songs, and folktales shared around the hearth at night provided an escape from a harsh existence—an escape that brought them into the unseen world of imagination, psyche, and spirit. We will become curious about what images are stirring our own imagination today from these ancient stories and images, as they guide us on this journey inward.
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Next, we will have two seminars, where we will explore ideas, images, and reflections from the world of Depth psychology, philosophy, literature, Irish folklore, and poetry. We will explore the emotions that are stirring within and how this learning can be a rich source of knowledge to support us in developing a relationship with our inner world and soul self.
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After each seminar, there will be a time for reflection, a space for you to note your experience through awareness, journal invitations, and personal reflection.
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Once we have emerged from the last reflection section, we will cross back over the threshold again, returning to our initial starting place of ritual, the container of our work together, where we will close this work again in ritual. From here, we return to our everyday lives, inspired and curious about what new perspectives, new understandings, and awareness we can bring with us, from the journey inward experience.
You will learn how to…
… recognize and identify how the self-abandonment wound interrupts you from fully connecting to yourself and others.
… understand how self-criticism is prevalent in your engagement with yourself and how it drains your life force.
… deepen your understanding of your self-abandonment wound and its relationship to self-criticism and self-worth.
… build a foundation of insight to support change and growth.
… incorporate embodiment practices, which focus on cultivating safety in the body.
… recognise how shame and self-criticism show up in your body and how to support yourself to elevate anxiety and deepen connection to an embodied sense of self.
… create an inner sanctuary of self-compassion and care and how transformative self-compassion is when healing shame and the self-abandonment wound.
… cultivate sanctuary in the outer world—how to create spaces and rituals that scaffold and consciously support the journey inward to your authentic self.
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Depth psychotherapy research, theories and practices, somatic psychotherapy, psychology and neuroscience, Celtic mythology, ancient Gaelic wisdom in folklore and stories, the medium of poetry, art images, symbol and metaphor.
What A Journey Inward Participants have said...
FAQ
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All workshops, courses, programs and products are designed to support your personal development. They are not designed to diagnose, prescribe or recommend any specific psychological, psychiatric or physical health interventions. Anyone engaging in this work agrees to take responsibility for their own personal wellbeing and should they need to consult an individual licensed, qualified healthcare professional, they will do so at their own discretion.
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I wanted to translate the live workshops into a more impactful video-infused format that creates a more immersive and enjoyable experience. You can go at your own pace and start whenever you feel called to step into the journey inward. The essence of the courses is the same as the live workshop versions and still draws on aspects closest to my heart, from mythology, poetry, and the ancient Gaelic Celtic world, connecting to the body and the deeper symbolic, soul self.
I have added extra sections for deeper reflection, videos that share the myths in a visual format, and journal invitations to help you directly apply the work to your daily life.
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New A Journey Inward courses may be added in the future; please join the mailing list to be the first to be notified.
About
Eileen Ní Shuilleabháin
BSocSc, MSW, MA Psychotherapy, Dip Supervision, Dip Jungian Studies, Certified Coach (WCI)
I am a Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapist, Supervisor and Coach with over 20 years of experience. I am dual-located in the US and Ireland (In Northern Nevada and on the West Coast of Ireland, in Galway).
I grew up in Connemara, a wild and rugged landscape on the Atlantic coast of Ireland. Oscar Wilde famously said of the region, “Connemara is a savage beauty”. I grew up in a small, rural Gaelic (Irish) speaking community where Gaelic is still spoken today in people's homes. This area was a major centre for the work of the Irish Folklore Commission, recording endangered folklore, mythology, sean-nós (old-style) songs, and oral literature. I have been greatly influenced by the wild physical landscape and immersed in those ancient songs, stories, customs, myths, legends, and music since childhood.
I desire to share with you a sense of that culture and spirit and, as a Psychotherapist, to support how that connection can nourish and guide you on your personal development journey.
A Journey Inward Course Series
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Embodiment, Soul and the Celtic Spirit
Healing the Wounds of the Abandoning Self
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The Cailleach's Descent to the Underworld
Crossing the Dark Seas of Loss into Strange Country
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Resting Under Brigid’s Mantle
Cultivating Sanctuary and Self Compassion in Daily Life
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Awakening Bealtaine
Embracing Our Authentic Power
A Celebration of Granuaile -
Celebrating the Harvest at Lúnasa
Taking Your Seat at the Banquet of Life