Orla Blackburn - Grief Guide for Widows

14/06/2026

That was the thought that hit me as I sat on the runway waiting to fly to Spain last week.

Not exactly the mindset I’d been hoping for before hosting a retreat.

One minute I was thinking about sunshine, somatic movement and the wonderful women I was about to spend a week with.

The next, my brain had disappeared into one of those rabbit holes where it becomes absolutely convinced it needs to solve everything immediately.

Do you know the ones?

The ones where your mind races ahead into every possible future and won’t come back?

The ones where you’re desperately searching for certainty, for answers, for some sort of reassurance that everything is going to be okay?

I’ve had enough loss in my life to know that certainty is a funny thing.

The more tightly I try to grab hold of it, the more overwhelmed I become.

And yet, when I can soften.

When I can breathe.

When I can stop treating uncertainty like an emergency...

Something shifts.

Not because the problem disappears.

It doesn’t.

But because I can finally see beyond the panic.

I can see possibilities.

I can see options.

I can find a next step.

And often, that’s all I need.

I share the honest widow-to-widow version of these conversations in my newsletter. The thoughts I don’t always put on social media. The messy bits. The real bits.

You can join us via the link in my bio.
Or DM for direct link to your inbox

With love,

Orla x

30/05/2026

That might sound like a strange testimonial, but I knew exactly what she meant.

Because grief is exhausting.
Not just emotionally.
Physically.
The poor sleep.
The tension.
The endless thinking.
The feeling that you’re carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders.
Sometimes what helps isn’t doing more. Sometimes it’s finding a way to put some of that weight down for a little while.

I run these free monthly movement and meditation sessions so you get a chance to see if it makes a difference to you.

They take place inside my private Facebook community for widowed people, where you’ll also find my weekly wids newsletter, details of upcoming free sessions, retreats and events, practical support for navigating this sh*tshow called widowhood, and a community of people who understand because they’re walking the same road too.

If that sounds like something you could do with right now, I’d love to welcome you.

Link is in my bio.

29/05/2026

What if you didn't have to carry your grief every second of every day?

One of the women who joined one of my free sessions recently said:

"For 30 minutes I was able to shut off from the horrible grief I'd been carrying."

Not because her grief disappeared. Not because she was "healed".
But because her body finally got a chance to rest.

After my husband died, I thought everything I needed to do involved thinking.

Figuring things out. Understanding grief. Researching grief. Talking about grief.

What surprised me was discovering that sometimes what helped most wasn't another conversation.

It was helping my body feel safe enough to soften.

That's why I share simple practices like Yoga Nidra, breathwork, movement and nervous system support.

If you're widowed and looking for practical, down-to-earth support, you're welcome to join my free Facebook community.

I share a weekly newsletter, monthly free sessions, and plenty of reminders that you're not losing your mind - even when grief makes it feel that way.

To join, please answer the 4 questions to keep this space safe. Link to Beyond Bereavement into Bravery is in the comments below.

18/05/2026

The women I work with are often incredibly capable.

CEO’s.
Business owners.
Leaders.
Women who are used to making decisions, solving problems, carrying responsibility, and functioning at a very high level even under pressure.

For most of their lives, their mind has been the thing that gets them through.

And then grief arrives.

Not just sadness, but the full-body experience of loss and trauma. The anxiety. The exhaustion. The inability to switch off. The strange feeling of no longer recognising yourself.

And suddenly the thing that has always worked — thinking harder, doing more, pushing through — no longer touches it.

Because grief is not just happening in the mind.

It’s happening in the nervous system.

That’s usually when they find me.

Not because they want to become a different person, but because they want to feel like themselves again. Or perhaps meet this version of themselves with a little more softness and understanding.

The work we do together is gentle, body-led, and deeply human. Less about “fixing” grief, more about creating enough safety in the body that life begins to feel possible again.

If this resonates, send me a DM and we can have a quiet conversation about working together.

15/05/2026

Join us in 2027
For widows wanting to feel hope deep within.
To learn more and jump on the waiting list, see link in bio.
Or dm and I’ll send you the link

10/05/2026

01/05/2026

Widowhood shone a great big shining light on all the things about me that needed to adjust, to grow, to transform, if I was going to make a life that felt good again.

This enormous grief can also make you want to hide, to diminish, run away from yourself.

And in that first year (or so) of grief, you’re simply trying to survive all of that shock and pain.

Will you notice when the torch starts to shine on the changes you need to make to work out life as a solo?

Do you need support to transform into the woman that not only survives this pain, but can climb onto the top and scream - I can do this AND really like who I’m becoming?

I support you holistically
- physically, by encouraging a feeling of safety deep within the body,
- energetically - the vibrancy you are holding in body and mind
- and neurologically - we work through the thought patterns that are struggling to accept and adapt to so much change.

Be pleasantly surprised at the version of you that emerges

Discover the various ways you can do this work with me - from the lightest touch, to the bespoke deepest dives.

⭐️ find the Support link in my bio
⭐️ or drop me a DM

26/04/2026

This is one of the ways I support widowed women regain some calm in the body, and therefore the nervous system, and the mind, when the overwhelm and exhaustion of grief are too much to bear.

I share this monthly free session so please come along. It’s online so you can be anywhere in the world to join in.

To keep the group safe, I ask 4 questions when you request to join my FB group.

Link to join is in my bio or send me a DM and I’ll get the link direct to you that way.

25/04/2026

Grief has this way of making self-care feel like a betrayal.

Like the moment you let yourself breathe a little, or feel something that isn't pain, you're somehow moving on.
You're not.

Taking care of your body — the body that is carrying this — is not a statement about your love.
It is not disloyalty. It is not forgetting.

It is how you stay present for the people who need you.
It is how you keep going when keeping going is the hardest thing you've ever done.

You have permission to do something gentle for yourself.

Even if it doesn't feel like that yet.

Join my free community for widows where you can gain access to discovering how this feels and works for you.
There is a free monthly session, so please do join now so you don't miss the next one.

TO JOIN: link in bio for FREE COMMUNITY SUPPORT