Where does the intersection of Eastern & Western Medicine stand? How can we discern which alternative medicines are appropriate for us? What is health sovereignty? Los Angeles-based Acupuncturist Anna Corson joins us today. She is a Co-Founder of The Neijing Medicine Clinic, a Somatic Health Investigator, and a Cosmic Shepherd for people going through a Dark Night of the Soul.  Topics we discuss: the story of the tissue of your lifeDis-ease as a master teacherhow can we use Alternative...

When grieving, how do we dial into the Spirit World to connect with a passed loved one? Ilona shares her top tips for gaining direct access to the messages our loved ones on the other side have to offer us. She shares stories from the time after her father passed that brought clarity around how we can open ourselves up to receiving messages.  Topics we discuss: what types of questions can we ask? (insider tip: don't ask your dead Dad about your love life)Portals of Communication (mediums,...

Jan Lucier, Shamanic Practioner, joins us this week to discuss what it means to straddle the physical world and the spirit world. We dissect the meaning of the word "Shaman", and how we as people in the modern world can employ the tools of shamanic practices to heal ourselves, our communities, and the world. We chat about how we can support a passing loved one both before and after death to ensure their soul successfully exits their physical body.  Topics we discuss: Origins of the word...

Morgan Rose Simeone joins us again to chat about how we can tune into the rhythms of nature to more easily navigate the contrast that life offers us.  She shares how she is navigating spending time with her elder father as he lives through his last chapter of life.  Morgan discusses the struggles, the memory-making moments, how she creates boundaries,  and how she stays present and honest with herself while honoring her commitment.  A must-listen for anyone embarking on the path of being...

Sound Alchemist and Life & Embodiment Coach, Gabriel Logan Braun, joins us today to share his personal journey using Music as Medicine to move through grief, and support those in recovery to move through trauma. He is a multi-instrumentalist loop artist who creates Sonic Womb experiences in Los Angeles. Topics we discuss: Music is life, Grief is lifeGabriel's first experiences using music to process life experiencesRites of Passage & Initiation and Life as a CeremonySupporting his...

Why do we as a death-phobic culture offer the words "Let me know if you need anything" to those experiencing grief, loss, or huge life shifts? What exactly does "Anything" entail? In this SOLO episode, Elena breaks down the concept of learning how to ask for what you need as a grieving person, and how to genuinely offer help to those in mourning. Topics covered include: why do people offer condolences in this way? how do we discern those who are genuine delegating our needs to those we...

What does it mean to befriend your anger? How can you alchemically transmute, release, and tend to it? Kat is a Poet, a Priestess, and a general witchy sister who guides us through ways to interpret and move through intense anger & rage.  We discuss: alchemically transmuting anger & ragethe pain of suppressing our intuitive powerchanneling our trauma through poetryInanna the "Mesopotamian goddess associated with love, beauty, sex, war, justice, and political power"  Going through the...

Future Chaplain and weaver of words, Andi Scarbrough joins us to chat about using mixed media to journal the loss of a loved one. How can we use the somatic experience of Journaling to build a field guide of grief as if we were Wildlife Documentarians? Exploring taboo subjects like the loss of a child and suicide, Andi shares how she has used dance, poetry, and vocalizing to process the alchemical fires of deep loss.  A must listen.  We discuss: "Wildlife documentarian" style of Journaling...

Igniting the flame of Initiation when going through profound change. Cody Lovina, ER & Hospice Nurse, Birth Doula & Death Doula, is currently a Portal Priestess studying Tantra in Asheville, NC. We chat about moving through the initiation of heartbreak, allowing intuition to guide your healing process, and supporting loved ones through their passing.  We discuss: moving through fear to leave the life you've knownpraying for purpose when change comes knockingHeartbreak as a major...

Elena met Jeanie during her Griefcation™ in Bali, two months after her father passed in 2016. Jeanie was instrumental in teaching Elena the mythology of the Hero's Journey as taught by Joseph Campbell. How can we use the framework of the Hero's Journey to see ourselves within our own mythology? Can we use these stories to provide comfort and perspective as we embark on a grief journey, profound change, and life initiations?  We discuss: a synopsis of the Hero's Journey (Joseph Campbell) The...

Tahnee Taylor joins us from Australia to chat about taking time away to process grief. She carries a tapestry of wisdom with an intersection of Daoist and Yogic practices. Currently pregnant with her second child, she shares how pregnancy, birth, grief, and death go hand-in-hand.  We discuss: how Tahnee and Elena met in Peru in 2015why Elena chose Australia for her Griefcation™ after her father passedTahnee shares her personal experience of lossbringing in the confronting rituals of...

We discuss tools for grievers to navigate friendships as well as helpful tips for friends of grievers who are unsure how to support their bereaved loved ones.  Elena and Cassandra discuss: why relationships are difficult when grievinglearning to ask for what you needwhen your "ride or dies" don't show upbeing surprised by the friends that do stick aroundgive people the opportunity to show uppracticing communicating what you wantfinding forgiveness for those who let you downfear around...

Hana Rakshani is a Somatic Movement Artist who facilitates Contact Improvisation workshops in Ashville, North Carolina. Elena and Hana discuss how emotional release can come through tuning deeply into our organs and voices by way of curiously noticing. Hana shares her top tools for navigating tracking emotion in the body and how to release it somatically.  A juicy conversation indeed!  We discuss: How do we notice emotion within the body somaticallyWitnessing sensation with body scan &...

Inviting death into your life is a natural part of being a human.  In this episode, Lauren and Elena discuss their personal experiences with ego death, death as a spiritual practice, and how it informs holding space for a dying loved one and our daily lives.  We discuss: The seasonal nature of life and inviting in a Seasonal PracticeThe Way of the Trees -- see yourself as a seed using earth's pressure to becomeThe Chrysalis and the Butterfly -- needing to be squeezed to transformPermission...

Author Nora Zelevansky shares her thoughts on what to wear to the funeral.  She brings in her expertise from a background in fashion and lifestyle writing to share her top tips for grief fashion, what to gift your bereaved friend, and how we can embrace everyday mourning wear in the turbulent times we live in. In our discussion, we weave in comedic excerpts from her book "Competitive Grieving".  We discuss: Nora's top literary picks for coping with lossExcerpts from her book Finding the...

*Technically almost a Rabbi* Dave Yedid, who will be ordained in May of 2022 joins us this week on the topic: Beware of the Vultures. We discuss how to maintain boundaries when processing loss to prevent burnout from having others use your pain to work through their own. Sound familiar? Have a listen. “Boundaries are the distance at which I can love you and me simultaneously.” ― Prentis Hemphill We discuss: Setting loving boundaries while grievingWhy do people always bring up their dead dogs...

The first episode of our "Grieve Outside the Box" Book Podcast series brings a conversation with Yoga Educator, Author, and Conduit, Gail Grossman. She shares how her yoga practice informed her experience in supporting her mother's passing from lung cancer. In this episode we discuss: What is Anticipatory Grief?Being a caregiver for an ill loved oneDenial during hospiceSavasana aka Corpse Pose as a practice for deathThe womb of a yoga studio to process griefAdjusting your yoga practice to...

This *nearly* unpublished SOLO episode is a window into Elena's inner hypochondriac yogi monologue. She shares how the state of the world has propelled her into a loop of anxiety. You too? One minute she's at peace like a monk meditating in a mountain cave, the next a small twinge of pain sends her hurtling towards doomsday thinking. In a world where our news cycle is constantly convincing us we may be dying (even if you're not sick!) how can we stay relatively sane and in sync with our own...

Luke is a reiki healer, breathwork & yoga teacher, and organizer of Earth School at Maha Rose North.  We chat about his book "Venus Juice: When I tried to live in LA" Elena describes the feeling of reading Luke's book as a combination of Clueless, Lana del Rey, Børns, and @gabyherstik. A delightful journey about his time working at a juice shop in LA after moving there from Woodstock, NY. Topics we discuss: Luke's writing process and bringing a telenovela/POP vibe to his bookFinding...

  Jan shares how she came to Shamanism after living in a Christian Cult for 15 years.  We discuss: Jan's journey leaving the Cult after 15 years of abuse and soul lossHow spirituality, therapy, and shamanism helped her through a mental health crisisBeginning her training with an Inuit Shaman who lived alone in the woods of CanadaHer studies of world religions that inform her practicesHow to tune into your ancestral heritage to find your pathThe top tools she brings with her anywhere she goes...

A two-hour episode, are you for real? Absolutely. Rachel Oliver is the original thunder from the land down under, hailing from Perth, and currently living in the States. She joins us from Paris in this episode where we chat about living a life out loud, orgasms, protecting your energy as a powerful woman, being the token naked friend, burial rituals, and more. She is one of the absolute funniest people I know (real or imaginary) and you'll be peeing in your pantalones along with us as you...

Musical Theater performer Kimberly Abrams joins the pod this week sharing her top tools for navigating tough times, how she found joy in permaculture farming when Broadway went dark in 2020, and her plans for an integrated acting studio of the future.  As a VIP member of the Dead Dad's Club, Kim shares how theater saved her life as a way to process the complex emotions that she felt ill-equipped to handle after his sudden passing.   We chat about the passing of a legend, Stephen Sondheim,...

Sammy discusses coming out as a Gay man after being raised in a Pentecostal church by pastor parents, finding Joy through becoming a dancer, connecting to his path of sharing Joy as a fitness professional, and healing after the sudden passing of his father. He is the embodiment of resilience. Elena brought him on the show because, after all that he has been through, he manages to show up oozing with Joy in his work and life. A true master! Follow Sammy: @hashtagsammyt Take a cycling class...

The Postmodern Oracle joins us on today's episode. Ilona Pamplona shares the clarity she received on connecting to spirit when a work abuse situation brought her into a dark night of the soul. We talk spooky signs from spirit (and our dead Dads) that remind us we are on track. Ilona shares how she stays in alignment and connects to joy -- plus her top tools she'd take with her on a deserted island to keep her mojo in the flow. As a multi-lingual multi-faceted coach, she draws wisdom from...

How do we soften our grip on versions of past selves? How do we allow our personal practice to shift, ebb, and flow as we ourselves change? Is it possible to invite kindness into strict practices? How about paving a way that feels nourishing to a self that craves to be held? Jai Chand, an artist, poet, musician, and teacher of movement is shifting from Kundalini into an aligned and channeled teaching presence. Jai, formerly known as Kat, soon to be known perhaps as someone new, shares her...