““I don’t pretend that flowing with death is easy, but the exploration of flowing with death through the Death Songs experience was.”
How we practice dying might help us live differently.
Death as sacred metaphor, portal and inspiration.
A day-long retreat on Saturday, January 3, 2026 * 9:30am-5:30pm
Sebastopol, California
facilitated by Sage Hayes and Dev Bry
>>>Join a small group of courageous movers and explorers for Death Songs
Death songs is an emergent invitation and ritual where we move together to the songs you want played at your funeral.
What is a death song? A death song is a song that is played during one’s dying process and/or moment of death. It is an ally, a presence, a soundscape to assist and smooth the transition, another way to hold it is as a vehicle - a song that the soul rides upon as it releases the body. Death songs are also utilized at ceremonies of remembrance (funerals, memorials, etc) to support the living in feeling the recently deceased and to send them on their way.
We practice death as an embodied and sacred metaphor, portal and inspiration.
We’ll spend the day together building conditions for connection, depth, bravely exploring death and life, intensity and mystery, love and letting go.
Because this is the first time this retreat is being offered, the design for this retreat is emergent and evolving. The flow of the day will follow these themes…
Morning:
Connectivity: building coherence and connection with each other
Altar building for our time together - honoring ancestors and sharing our invocations
Embodiment practice - practices which support feeling our body, moving into presence, deepening connection to self and building capacity to explore intuition, emotion, thresholds and release
Afternoon:
Sharing our death songs with each other through moving together, sharing, presencing and heart opening practices
Closing circle to harvest our experience from the day
During this retreat we will be moving, dancing, sitting, sharing, going outside - wear comfy clothing. We’ll have breaks and at least an hour for lunch around 1230pm.
The flow, invitations and activities during the retreat will be embedded with lineages of intuitive practice, somatics, family constellations, 5 rhythms, biodynamic craniosacral, authentic movement and a deep devotion to creating a culture of care, consent and community.
Bring your lunch. Snacks and tea will be available.
Space is limited to 12 participants.
Registration:
Pricing for this offering is a spacious sliding scale, $150-$350. You can put a non-refundable $100 deposit now to save your spot or pay in full. You can fill in the amount you’d like to pay on the payment page.
About the sliding scale: Please be mindful that if you purchase a price at the lowest end of the scale when you can truthfully afford the higher ticket prices, you are limiting access to those who need the gift of financial flexibility. Being honest with yourself and your financial situation when engaging with sliding scale practices grows strong and sustainable communities. To understand more where you fall on the sliding scale, check out this great resource.
Upon registration you will be sent a form to fill out and some preparation recommendations for our time.
Any questions - email me at sage@embodiedliberation.com
Where?
“When the ordinary fades, when the familiar rhythms and patterns of shared living erode, something is activated within the soul. Hidden invitations and initiations arise in a time of uncertainty. The soul recognizes the markers of descent—darkness, sorrow, anxiety—as requiring radical change. The conditions of trouble and uncertainty activate some profound movement toward alterations in the psychic landscape. These are the precise times when the possibility for shifts in the collective.”
Co-Facilitators
Sage Hayes (she/hey/they) :
Part deep sea diver, part astronaut - Sage has been facilitating many different types of groups for over 30 years. As an DJ for ecstatic dance, Sage has a sense that music and community will be transformative portal for exploring death and life. For the past 18 years Sage has training extensively in somatics, nervous system care, trauma healing and supporting countless clients and groups connect embodied agency. In this project, Death Songs, Sage is trying something new, an emergent form which invites folks into depth, movement, music and deep connection with self and each other.
Dev Bry:
dancer, death doula, devotee.equal parts hip-hop and sacred chants.
group facilitation has been a primary practice for the last 20 years.
degrees and trainings
but most of her learning has come in the form of osmosis.
great teachers along the way including nature, relationship, matter, space
Death Songs participants share…
“There was so much power in the witnessing, the asking, and the receiving. Exploring grief & love through movement and song was exquisite. Witnessing my grief & love being described back to me through the silent movements of strangers was incredibly moving - I felt deeply seen and gently held at the same time.”
“I’ve had a counseling practice for many years and have attended many workshops and Death Songs was by far the most profound. It offered a rare space to explore my own mortality as well as the passing or imminent passing of loved ones. The way the experience is guided allows each person to be held deeply and to listen for what their soul truly needs—not only in relation to death, but in order to live more fully in the present. It is a rare and transformative offering that lingers long after the workshop ends. Through it, my soul gained a deeper clarity about what I need in order to live my life as fully and authentically as possible.”
“Being with grief in this way was super powerful and it felt like we were moving with death but also with grief as a theme-they were both the themes. Personally it was very powerful to feel safe enough to feel my grief and to be really true to where I was. The experiences and exercises we’re moving and opening while also creating connection between us as participants.”
“I also deeply appreciate you being such attuned facilitators that I know and feel have done your work and are showing up authentically so I felt safe to let go and really show up in my real experience. That is a true gift and I hope you can really appreciate how profoundly rare this is.”
Why death songs?
This project / vision was born out of these political times where as a species we are struggling to let go of death centered and fear driven ways of being. I sat for a long time with the question - what will it take for folks to be able to let go of outdated ways and unearned privilege and turn more courageously towards and into the evolution of life itself? What came to me was the idea of helping us creatively turn towards our own mortality using movement, the power of our circle and a fullness of permission to look at and beyond our fears.
This project is a prayer.
“Differences disappear when faced with death.”