Death Rituals At Harvest Preserve- Part I Death Services: Write your own Obituary
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In a fast-paced world that often urges us to move past grief quickly, this immersive 3-hour outdoor experience offers a space to slow down and listen deeper. This guided gathering combines walking/seated meditation and personal reflection of death. Through breath, quiet contemplation, optional creative writing, and gentle group sharing, we reconnect with our living bodies and honor the profound journey of being human.
This is the first in a series of 2 classes, you MUST attend this class in order to attend Part II. See below for more details.
All comfort levels and all ages are welcome with options for both shorter and longer guided walks. Please bring a chair for accommodating to ground sitting, a blanket, yoga mat or props. (Limited yoga mats and bolsters will be provided)
*Please email us if you need chair accommodations
To Bring:
~For comfort and ground sitting (yoga mat/ chair/ blocks/ blankets/ water bottle)
~For walking, movement & ground sitting (weather appropriate dress/shoes/ bug sprays/ sunscreen)
~For comfort- (anchor items- things that bring grounding and support)
~Journal- writing utensil
~Snacks- optional
For this event, you will enter Harvest Preserve at our secondary entrance, which is between our main entrance and Tamarack Trail.
Part II: Death Services: Living Wake takes place from 9am-12pm on Sept 20th.
Building on the previous workshop of the drafting of your personal obituary, this gathering offers a quiet, compassionate space to gently turn toward the reality of your own mortality through a mindful living wake practice. You may use this to inform your own ceremony in your personal life, or appreciate the practice during the class. Approach this rehearsal of your finitude with care rather than pressure- lay down in the landscape, listen to your breath, and slowly build a comforting familiarity with the limits of our time here.
About Your Guides:
Kimberly Jaeger-Arjes is a meditation & yoga teacher, death doula, and caregiver in grief whose work is rooted in reverence for the cycles of life, death, and rebirth. A student of movement, energy, and earth-based wisdom, she weaves together trauma-informed yoga, restorative healing, and ritual to support both the living and the dying alike. Her practice is shaped by diverse teachers and lineages—from Para Yoga to radical rest—and anchored in a commitment to accessibility, equity, and deep relational care. Kimberly volunteers in hospice, creates spaces for grief and transition, and invites others into sacred connection with the natural world. A matron, mother, goat witch, gardener, and micro farmer, she honors the medicine of slowness, embodiment, and playful presence. She believes no one should die alone unless they choose to—and through breath, movement, and mindfulness, she holds space for people to come home to themselves and each other.
Becky Hoffbauer is co-founder and board member of Back to Ground Conservation Cemetery in her home state of Iowa. She has been a Reiki practitioner for nearly thirty years, a Master for half of that and Death Midwife / Doula since 2o21– trained and certified by Earth Traditions and Going With Grace.
Annie Brownsberger: At her core, Annie is a nurturer and a seeker who believes in living life in reciprocity with nature and with one another. Guided by a deep love of humanity and a belief in the power of belonging, she serves her community as a disability advocate, death doula, and tender of grief.
Death has become one of Annie's greatest teachers, an ongoing invitation to live more fully and more honestly. Through her work, she hopes to create spaces where we can meet both life and death with greater presence, tenderness, and compassion.
Annie brings wisdom and experience from three decades of nonprofit leadership, community building, and caregiving, yet she's quick to acknowledge that she holds more questions than answers.
Anne Ventullo: Annie is a death doula, clinical psychotherapist, researcher, and adjunct social work educator who applies a social justice and holistic lens to all of her work. As an end-of-life doula and grief companion, Annie provides a safe, nonjudgmental space to process complex loss. She specializes in honoring disenfranchised grief and deep identity shifts, helping clients navigate the unique heartbreak and losses associated with life transitions, infidelity, and addiction.
Her approach to companionship is rooted in compassionate presence and steady witnessing. By bringing clarity and normalization to misunderstood mourning processes, she empowers individuals to heal emotional wounds.
This is the first in a series of 2 classes, you MUST attend this class in order to attend Part II. See below for more details.
All comfort levels and all ages are welcome with options for both shorter and longer guided walks. Please bring a chair for accommodating to ground sitting, a blanket, yoga mat or props. (Limited yoga mats and bolsters will be provided)
*Please email us if you need chair accommodations
To Bring:
~For comfort and ground sitting (yoga mat/ chair/ blocks/ blankets/ water bottle)
~For walking, movement & ground sitting (weather appropriate dress/shoes/ bug sprays/ sunscreen)
~For comfort- (anchor items- things that bring grounding and support)
~Journal- writing utensil
~Snacks- optional
For this event, you will enter Harvest Preserve at our secondary entrance, which is between our main entrance and Tamarack Trail.
Part II: Death Services: Living Wake takes place from 9am-12pm on Sept 20th.
Building on the previous workshop of the drafting of your personal obituary, this gathering offers a quiet, compassionate space to gently turn toward the reality of your own mortality through a mindful living wake practice. You may use this to inform your own ceremony in your personal life, or appreciate the practice during the class. Approach this rehearsal of your finitude with care rather than pressure- lay down in the landscape, listen to your breath, and slowly build a comforting familiarity with the limits of our time here.
About Your Guides:
Kimberly Jaeger-Arjes is a meditation & yoga teacher, death doula, and caregiver in grief whose work is rooted in reverence for the cycles of life, death, and rebirth. A student of movement, energy, and earth-based wisdom, she weaves together trauma-informed yoga, restorative healing, and ritual to support both the living and the dying alike. Her practice is shaped by diverse teachers and lineages—from Para Yoga to radical rest—and anchored in a commitment to accessibility, equity, and deep relational care. Kimberly volunteers in hospice, creates spaces for grief and transition, and invites others into sacred connection with the natural world. A matron, mother, goat witch, gardener, and micro farmer, she honors the medicine of slowness, embodiment, and playful presence. She believes no one should die alone unless they choose to—and through breath, movement, and mindfulness, she holds space for people to come home to themselves and each other.
Becky Hoffbauer is co-founder and board member of Back to Ground Conservation Cemetery in her home state of Iowa. She has been a Reiki practitioner for nearly thirty years, a Master for half of that and Death Midwife / Doula since 2o21– trained and certified by Earth Traditions and Going With Grace.
Annie Brownsberger: At her core, Annie is a nurturer and a seeker who believes in living life in reciprocity with nature and with one another. Guided by a deep love of humanity and a belief in the power of belonging, she serves her community as a disability advocate, death doula, and tender of grief.
Death has become one of Annie's greatest teachers, an ongoing invitation to live more fully and more honestly. Through her work, she hopes to create spaces where we can meet both life and death with greater presence, tenderness, and compassion.
Annie brings wisdom and experience from three decades of nonprofit leadership, community building, and caregiving, yet she's quick to acknowledge that she holds more questions than answers.
Anne Ventullo: Annie is a death doula, clinical psychotherapist, researcher, and adjunct social work educator who applies a social justice and holistic lens to all of her work. As an end-of-life doula and grief companion, Annie provides a safe, nonjudgmental space to process complex loss. She specializes in honoring disenfranchised grief and deep identity shifts, helping clients navigate the unique heartbreak and losses associated with life transitions, infidelity, and addiction.
Her approach to companionship is rooted in compassionate presence and steady witnessing. By bringing clarity and normalization to misunderstood mourning processes, she empowers individuals to heal emotional wounds.
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Where is it happening?
1645 N Scott Blvd, Iowa City, IA, United States, Iowa 52245
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherHarvest Preserve Foundation
