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”

  “The afternoon knows what the morning never expected.” Had I heard Poet Laureate Robert Frost ‘s wise words in my teens or 20s, I would have been filled with dread. In high school, I was so resistant to the idea of aging that I secretly hoped that at the age of 29.9 I would

Benefits Of Mindfulness Meditation On Aging

Give Your Mind A Break With Focus Meditation Many of us experience grief as a mental fog. It is normal to feel scattered and forgetful – so go easy on yourself. Just like the warning label on many prescription drugs, it might be a good idea to steer clear of operating a car or any

Focus Meditation For Grief

When you were a child, did anyone ask you “what do you want to be when you grow up?”  If so, what did you answer? Most of us had grand visions for our future—we did not set limits on what we could accomplish. Our imagination was free to roam wild, unburdened by what Mike Dooley

Vision Board for Your Life After Loss

I like to think of cultivating equanimity as similar to lifting weights at the gym. Each time you invite your mind back to the present when it wanders, and each time you simply receive sensory input without reacting, it is as if you are lifting weights for your brain.

What Is Equanimity?

Learning to Fall is a coming of age documentary exploring loss, vulnerability, & growth during young adulthood produced by Niccole Osborn. This is her story. You can contribute to the Learning to Fall project to help make this movie a reality, and share the story of love, loss & posttraumatic growth with others who will

Grief In Young Adulthood: Learning To Fall