Grief Step By Step: How The Mindfulness & Grief System Can Help After Loss

By Heather Stang, MA, C-IAYT

Grief can feel overwhelming, disorganizing, and exhausting. Many people receive support after a loss, but still feel unsure what to do when emotions surge or the nervous system feels flooded. If that sounds familiar, this episode is a place to begin.

In this episode of the Mindfulness & Grief Podcast, Heather Stang and cohost Amanda Palermo explore why having a system matters when you are grieving. Not stages. Not fixing. A compassionate, flexible framework you can return to when you do not know what to do next.

This conversation introduces the Mindfulness & Grief System and explains how structure can help reduce suffering without denying your pain. You will learn why grief often feels chaotic, why support alone is not always enough, and how a system can offer steadiness, choice, and direction during loss.

This episode is especially supportive if you feel emotionally overwhelmed, stuck, or unsure how to respond to grief in the moment. It is designed to help you understand why a step by step approach can be grounding when grief feels unpredictable.

In this episode, you will learn:

  • Why grief often feels chaotic and exhausting
  • Why having support does not always answer the question of what to do
  • How a system can help when your nervous system is overwhelmed
  • What makes the Mindfulness & Grief System different from stages or advice
  • How structure can create safety without rigidity

This episode serves as the foundation for walking through the steps of the Mindfulness & Grief System. You can listen on its own, or return to it whenever you need orientation and clarity.

About the Hosts

Heather Stang, MA, C-IAYT, is a thanatologist, yoga therapist, author, and the creator of the Mindfulness & Grief System. Her work focuses on helping people reduce suffering and live alongside grief with compassion and practical tools.

Amanda Palermo is a grief counselor and mindfulness practitioner who brings warmth, clarity, and lived experience to conversations about loss. Together, Heather and Amanda offer grounded guidance for navigating grief step by step. Find her on Instagram.

Heather Stang, MA, C-IAYT

About the author

Heather Stang, MA, C-IAYT, is a thanatologist, author, grief educator, and speaker who helps people live with loss through mindfulness, self-compassion, and practical grief support. She is the creator of the 8-Step Mindfulness and Grief System, which is featured in The Handbook of Grief Therapies, and the recipient of the 2025 Association for Death Education and Counseling Clinical Practice Award.

Heather is the author of Living with Grief, From Grief to Peace, and Navigating Loss. Through her books, speaking, training, podcasting, and client work, she helps grieving people and helping professionals move beyond myths and platitudes into more honest, compassionate, and sustainable ways of living and working with loss.

Her work is shaped by both professional training and lived experience. Raised in a family marked by profound loss, Heather grew up in what she describes as an ecosystem of grief. Years later, yoga and mindfulness opened a path toward healing that eventually led her to yoga therapy, thanatology, and the development of her mindfulness-based approach to grief.

Heather hosts the Mindfulness and Grief Podcast, serves on the Advisory Board for TAPS, and speaks internationally for bereavement organizations, healthcare systems, mindfulness communities, and grief-adjacent professionals. She is based in Frederick, Maryland.

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