Grief is intimately intertwined with Trauma,
Grief often shapes our emotional and physical landscapes in ways we don’t fully understand. In ancient traditions, grief was not something to be fixed or avoided; it was something to be honoured, held, and witnessed. Our ancestors cultures understood that loss, change, and grief are natural parts of the human experience and that true healing comes from feeling grief fully—expressing it, allowing it to move through us, and sharing it with others. They created rituals and spaces where grief could be held with reverence, ensuring that those in mourning were supported by their communities, not left to navigate their pain in isolation. In contrast, many of us, particularly those who come from European settler lineages on Turtle Island, have inherited a culture of emotional suppression. Generations of trauma, both personal and collective, have fostered an environment where grief is often hidden or ignored, leaving individuals to suffer in silence. This disconnection from the wisdom of our ancestors and the practices that once allowed us to live with loss in a soulful way has left many of us adrift, struggling to make sense of our emotions and how to heal.
The modern challenge is that we are increasingly isolated in our grief, caught in a cultural paradigm that values individualism over community, and where emotional expression is often stigmatized. In this context, grief is pushed down, dismissed, or even pathologized, preventing us from fully experiencing the depths of our emotional lives. This suppression keeps us from living authentically and from embracing our full humanity. To live a soulful life is to live with imagination, creativity, and a deep connection to the emotions that make us whole. We must reclaim the wisdom of the ancients who knew that grief, when witnessed, can be transformative. By reawakening soulful practices that honour loss, we can bring imagination back into our lives—not just to heal grief, but to restore our connection to each other and to the world. In the process, we open the doors to a more vibrant, whole existence where grief is not something to be feared but something to be held, processed, and ultimately integrated into our story as a source of strength and resilience.
Grief is not meant to be carried alone — and yet so often, that is exactly what we’ve been taught to do. In a culture that rushes us to "move on," grief becomes hidden, stagnant, and fused with shame. When it is not witnessed, it often lodges itself in the body, manifesting as fatigue, numbness, disconnection, or chronic pain. And when layered with trauma, the grief can become even more complex — tangled with fear, fragmentation, and survival energy.
But grief, when met with care, begins to move. It breathes again. It softens.
This healing often begins in the sacred container of one-on-one sessions — where we can gently attune to the body, build capacity, and allow grief to be seen without urgency or overwhelm. Over time, as the nervous system finds more stability and spaciousness, we may feel the call to step into community grief rituals — spaces where grief is not just witnessed but welcomed, where we gather with others to express, release, and honour our sorrows in somatic and ceremonial ways. Both spaces are vital. Both are sacred. And together, they weave a path toward embodied wholeness.
Grief is not a problem to solve. It is a sacred river to be tended, witnessed, and allowed to flow — in your time, in your way.
If your heart is heavy and longing to be met, you’re warmly invited to begin with a one-on-one session before joining an upcoming grief circle. You don’t have to do this alone. There is a place for your sorrow — and a community ready to hold it with you.
