“In Asian languages, the word for mind and the word for heart are same. So if you’re not hearing mindfulness in some deep way as heartfulness, you’re not really understanding it. Compassion and kindness towards oneself are intrinsically woven into it. You could think of mindfulness as wise and affectionate attention.” Jon Kabat-Zinn, Time Magazine Mindfulness And

Mindfulness and Grief: Leaning Into Love, Loss, and Life

Heather Stang will host the third Meditation for Grief Online Group,  starting in January. It will meet virtually on Tuesdays, January 9 to February 27, 2018 from 7:00 – 8:00 PM EST. Tuesday sessions for this 8-week period include a variety of activities aimed to provide support and insight into the physical, emotional, and spiritual experience

Online Grief Group Starting in January 2018

My friends and clients often share stories with me about signs from deceased loved ones. And then they ask, “Are they real?” I don’t pretend to know what happens to our loved ones when they die. But I do know that those of us left behind take great comfort in maintaining the connection with the

Signs From Deceased Loved Ones: My Personal Story

Learn more and register for the Palliative Care Conference, a Maryland Healthcare Education Institute Program, at http://mhei.org. DATE/TIME: June 7, 2017, 8:30 AM –4:00 PM Registration and Continental Breakfast begin at 8:00 AM LOCATION: Maryland Hospital Association Pierson Conference Center 6820 Deerpath Road Elkridge, MD 21075

Self-Care for the Palliative Caregiver: Keynote by Heather Stang on June 7, 2017

Grief and addiction have a very complex relationship, and quite often the two are very closely intertwined. For people suffering from grief, substance abuse becomes a way of numbing the pain. For someone already suffering from substance abuse disorder, grief can actually be a wakeup call of sorts. Nobody seeks to experience grief or wishes

The Relationship Between Grief and Addiction

Self-compassion as self-care for grief is the practice of making skillful choices that will reduce suffering and improve the quality of your life. It goes beyond creating healthy habits, such as exercise, a balanced diet, drinking plenty of water and getting the right amount of sleep – though these can all help with grief.Self-compassion as

Self-Compassion as Self-Care for Grief: How Being Kind To Yourself Reduces Suffering After Loss (Includes Guided Meditation MP3s)

Finding a Place of Comfort to Grieve  This article explores the use of dramatherapy practice and mindfulness for the grief process. What is Dramatherapy? I will use Dr. Sue Jennings’ definition for the purpose of this article. Dr. Jennings has defined Dramatherapy as “the specific application of theatre structures and drama processes with a declared

Using Dramatherapy and Mindfulness to Cope with Grief

The Meditation & Journaling for Grief Course is based on the book Mindfulness & Grief by Heather Stang.

Meditation & Journaling for Grief: Online Course For Life After Loss

Cope with Hope: Dealing with Depression after a Loss by David Garcia  Coping with loss can be difficult. There is a natural process we undertake while grieving, but sometimes those feelings can become overwhelming, and can eventually take over your other senses needed to function in everyday life. Understanding and analyzing your symptoms and thoughts

Cope with Hope: Dealing with Depression after a Loss

If you are wondering how to get over a breakup, you are not alone. Healing heartbreak is an inevitable part of life, but when things fall apart, the pain that follows can feel like a permanent state of being rather than a passing season of life. We tend to feed our negative feelings after a

How To Get Over A Breakup With Meditation

  I received a letter that had the following concern and I want to address it, “My father-in-law died a few months ago. I’m not thinking about him as much as I am thinking about my mother and brother who died years before.” When we experience the death of someone we know, that death opens

Behind Our Grief Door

Guilt seems to come with loss. We burden ourselves with questions we can never answer, with “what if ” and “why didn’t I”. We repeatedly berate ourselves with “I should have” thoughts. Every time we ask ourselves one of these questions guilt is piled upon more guilt until we are buried (pardon the use of

How Do You Let Go and Stop Feeling Guilty?

I’m going to talk about normal, natural grief in about 25 words or less. Well actually a few more than that. Visualize a table in front of an open window. There are stacks of paper on the table, tidy, organized stacks. A slight breeze comes through the window and rustles the papers, now a strong wind comes through and scatters the

“That is what grieving is like.”

This Guided Self-Inquiry Meditation for Grief accompanies the “Tending the Garden of Grief” article written by Heather Stang for the Fall 2016 edition of the TAPS Magazine. TAPS is a wonderful, supportive organization for U.S. military survivors.  It is in their honor that I offer this guided meditation as both an audio and as a

Guided Self-Inquiry Meditation for Grief

Heather Stang will present at Chesapeake Life Center’s conference: Grief in the 21st Century. The conference is on  Friday, September 23, 2016 at Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, Maryland. Grief in the 21st Century will feature professionals sharing expertise and current research  about complex issues of grief, loss, aging, and more. The audience, according to the official event

Grief in the 21st Century: Heather Stang to Present “Mindfulness & Yoga Based Interventions for Grief”