Grief Dreams Podcast

E180 - FAVVKES - Black Dove

FAVVKES (pronounced "fox") is a Canadian artist and songwriter. FAVVKES brings you 90s nostalgia with a 2020 attitude. Her alternative, rock-pop style is reminiscent of artists like Courtney Love and Garbage, while bringing charisma and fresh fashion like Gwen Stefani. FAVVKES is preparing her solo debut, and she unapologetically touches on sensitive subject matter surrounding mental health. Her songs deliver strong messages on what it means to deal with social anxiety, depression, acceptance and inclusivity. Through her music and platform, FAVVKES' goal is to become a strong advocate for mental health and the LBGTQ+ community, while she takes on the world with her magnetic and meaningful music. Her new song "Black Dove" is now out.

 

In this episode we talk about finding her love for music, using music as a way to cope, mental health challenges and self-care over the holidays, her new song Black Dove, living your truth, the multiple deaths in her life, and grief dreams of her grandmother.

 

You can find more about FAVVKES at http://favvkes.com/ and her new music video for Black Dove can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4m4feler_s

E179 - Allison Gilbert - Grief During the Holidays

Allison Gilbert is an Emmy award-winning journalist, author, workshop leader, and keynote speaker. She is the author of Passed and Present: Keeping Memories of Loved Ones Alive, and the critically acclaimed books Parentless Parents: How the Loss of Our Mothers and Fathers Impacts the Way We Raise Our Children, and Always Too Soon: Voices of Support for Those Who Have Lost Both Parents. She is also co-editor of Covering Catastrophe, the definitive historical record of how broadcast journalists covered 9/11. Allison’s work has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, and on NPR, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, CBS, and ABC. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the National Alliance for Grieving Children and the Advisory Board for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, the preeminent national organization providing grief support to families of America’s fallen heroes.

 

In this episode we talk about grieving during the holidays during the pandemic, being supportive for a friend who is grieving, the importance of word choice, holiday activities for children to remember those who have died, her new online courses, the death of her mom and dad, and grief dreams.

 

You can learn more about Allison here: www.allisongilbert.com.

E177 - Matthew Bocchi - Sway

At the age of nine, Matthew Bocchi’s father died in 2001 on 9/11 in the World Trade Center. He began an obsessive quest to find out exactly how he died. Now, twenty-eight and sober, he teaches a clear and intricate lesson: no matter how far you fall, you can always rise again. No matter how far you stray, you can always find your way home. And no matter how wide you sway, you can always pick up the pieces and stand tall. His new book "Sway" is a unique story full of heartbreak and despair, grief and uncertainty, but most importantly, happiness.

 

In this episode we talk about the death of his father on 9/11, issues trying to process the death as a child (e.g., trying to figure the cause of death at the same time being a victim of sexual abuse), using drugs to cope, the experience of overcoming his addictions, finding happiness again, writing his new book "Sway", and grief dreams of his father.

 

You can find this podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, Podbean.com (https://griefdreamspodcast.podbean.com), and many other podcasting platforms.

E176 - Sherrie Dunlevy - How Can I Help?

Sherrie Dunlevy is a best selling author, speaker, podcaster, inspirationinsta, and grieving mom. Her best selling book is called “How Can I Help?: Your go-to guide for helping loved ones through life’s difficulties.” Sherrie is the host of the “Graduating Grief” podcast. Sherrie has also designed a Graduating Grief program and community for women.

 

In this episode we talk about her career as a TV news anchor, the death of her 29 day old child, the difficulties reporting the news while grieving, her secondary losses after his death (e.g., friendships ending), why she wanted to write the book “How Can I Help?”, how we can help others after a loss, and grief dreams.

 

You can find more about Sherrie here: www.SherrieDunlevy.com

E175 - Tamsin Grainger - Shiatsu and Grief

Tamsin Grainger is a touch therapist based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and has worked in this area for 30 years. She specializes in Shiatsu, a Japanese acupressure massage modality. In 2000, Tamsin opened The Shiatsu School Edinburgh (training professional and post graduate practitioners, and beginners). She was the Chair and a board member for the Shiatsu Society (UK) and is a member of the Complementary and Natural healthcare Council (UK). Additionally, she teaches Shiatsu internationally. Tamsin just released her first book, Working with Death and Loss in Shiatsu Practice, a guide to holistic bodywork in palliative care.

 

In this episode we talk about her journey into Shiatsu, grief and Shiatsu, giving Shiatsu to her father before he died, her new book, her miscarriage experiences, the continuing bond with her father and challenges with forgiveness, and grief dreams of her father and unborn children.

 

You can find more about Tamsin here:

Website: http://shiatsu.ryoho.co.uk/

Blog: https://shiatsu690.com/

Facebook: TamsinShiatsu

LinkedIn: Tamsin Grainger

Twitter: @tamsinshiatsu

Pinterest: Tamsin Grainger

 

You can find a qualified Shiatsu practitioner here:

Canada - http://www.shiatsupractor.org/aboutshiatsu.html and https://www.shiatsutherapy.ca/

USA - https://aobta.org/ 

UK - https://www.shiatsusociety.org/

E170 - Jason Wendroff-Rawnicki - The Power of Smell

Jason Wendroff-Rawnicki is a certified yoga educator and dōTERRA Essential Oil specialist, who has a MA in psychology. He co-founded Shine Yoga Center in New Jersey and travels nationally & internationally leading classes, workshops, retreats and educating about the benefits and powers of essential oils. In June of 1998, his sister Lauren died in a car accident. Knowing that he needed more than talk therapy to deal with his grief, Jason turned toward a body-centered approach. Yoga, meditation, mindfulness, healthy lifestyle and essential oils became that path towards recovery.

 

In this episode we talk about essential oils, the power of smell after loss, the death of his sister, volunteering with compassionate friends, and grief dreams of his sister.

 

You can find more on Jason here:

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/jason.wendroffrawnicki

FaceBook: Sibling Support - https://www.facebook.com/groups/tcfsibs/?ref=share

Website: https://www.mydoterra.com/shineyogacenter/

Instagram: OilmanJason

Twitter: @ShineYogaNJ

Email: jason@shineyogacenter.com

E169 - Barron Steffen - The Final Gift

Barron Steffen is a longtime student on the spiritual path of Siddha Yoga, a big band crooner, and a widower. He has been a big wave surfer, a 1980s Italian pop singer, and an award-winning elementary school teacher. Steffen has now fully transitioned from the elementary school classroom to his company, The Yoga of Mindset, where he teaches children and adults how to use their thoughts so they're not used by them. Barron recently published the book The Final Gift of the Beloved: Her Disappearance-13 Days 

 

In this episode we talk about his interest in Siddha Yoga, the death of his wife, the 13 days after, finding meaning after the loss, his book, and grief dreams of his wife.

 

You can find more about Barron here https://www.barronsteffen.com/

E168 - Lindsey Whissel Fenton - Speaking Grief

Lindsey Whissel Fenton is a senior producer at WPSU, the PBS/NPR affiliate station in Central Pennsylvania. She’s an Emmy award-winning storyteller who is passionate about using public media to build empathy. Lindsey produced, directed, and wrote the documentary Speaking Grief and continues to produce content for the initiative’s website and social media presence. 

 

In this episode we talk about Shotokan karate, how karate relates to grief, the Speaking Grief documentary, learning to speak grief, holding space for grief, grief dreams mentioned within the documentary interviews, and her own grief.

 

To view the Speaking Grief documentary (starting August 30, 2020) visit https://speakinggrief.org/

 

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Facebook: @wpsugrief

Instagram: @wpsugrief

E167 - Julie Rennie - A Conversation With Dr. Black's Mother

Julie Rennie has done Accounting and Income Tax for most of her career primarily as a self-employed individual and currently runs a law practice as a Licensed Paralegal out of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Julie married Mark Black (Dr. Joshua Black’s father) in 1977 spending the next few decades as Julie Black. The positive blessings and outcomes from this marriage were building her faith in God and being a mother to her 4 children: Rebecca, Nathaniel, Joshua and Rachel. The marriage suffered challenges based on Mark’s excessive consumption of alcohol and poor coping skills. After the marriage ended, Julie remarried John Rennie. 

 

In this episode we talk about the death of her grandmother, meeting Mark, their relationship, her health issues, being more open about her struggles, processing her emotions, and Mark's death.

 

 

You can find more about Julie’s paralegal practice at http://julierennieparalegal.com/

E165 - Flora Baker - The Adult Orphan Club

Flora Baker is a travel writer and author from London, UK. Flora was 20 years old when her mum died suddenly of breast cancer, and 29 when her dad died of fibrosis. After a decade of grieving, Flora now uses her personal narrative writing and her online presence to engage with the global grief community and help others through their own experiences of loss. Flora’s new book, ‘The Adult Orphan Club’, is a part memoir, part guide to grief which aims to be a companion to those coping with bereavement. 

 

In this episode we talk about her love of travelling around the world, the death of her parents, her grief journey, traveling to cope after loss, her new book ‘The Adult Orphan Club’, her Instagram video, and grief dreams of her parents.

 

You can read more from Flora at www.floratheexplorer.com, follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @FloraBaker, and find ‘The Adult Orphan Club’ on Amazon. 

E164 - Philip Goldberg - Spiritual Practice for Crazy Times

Philip Goldberg is the author or co-author of some 25 books published in more than a dozen languages; a public speaker and workshop leader; a spiritual counselor, meditation teacher and ordained Interfaith Minister. A Los Angeles resident, he cohosts the Spirit Matters podcast, leads American Veda Tours and blogs regularly on Elephant Journal and Spirituality & Health. His book American Veda was named by Huffington Post and Library Journal as one of the Top 10 Religion Books of 2010; it was followed in 2018 by the popular biography The Life of Yogananda. His newest book Spiritual Practice for Crazy Times, is set to be released on August 4^th

 

In this episode we talk about his newest book Spiritual Practice for Crazy Times, becoming a writer, Paramahansa Yogananda, grief dreams of Yogananda, the love and loss of Philip’s mother, grief dreams of his mother, father, and friends.

 

 

You can find more about Philip here:

http://www.PhilipGoldberg.com

http://www.spiritmatterstalk.com

https://www.facebook.com/PhilipGoldbergAuthor/

E163 - Jane Edberg - The Fine Art of Grieving

Jane Edberg is a published writer working in poetry, flash non-fiction and memoir. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Studio Arts. She is a retired art professor who taught Art Appreciation, Photography and Design at various Universities and spent twenty years full-time at Gavilan College. She is currently working on a hybrid memoir of images and prose called “The Fine Art of Grieving” and authors a blog and Facebook page by the same title.

 

In this episode we talk about appreciating art, feeling “the big self”, using art during the pandemic, the death of her son, writing her book The Fine Art of Grieving, finding a new perspective, creative ways we grieve through art, and grief dreams before and after the death of her son.

 

You can find more about Jane here:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefineartofgrieving/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefineartofgrieving

Website: https://www.thefineartofgrieving.com/

E160 - John Dietsch - Graced By Waters

John Dietsch is an award-winning writer, producer, director, talent, and consultant on hundreds of film and television shows focusing on the outdoors, travel, and fly fishing. As a life coach, teacher, TV personality, Aspen Colorado guide, and host of fly fishing trips across the globe, John helps his clients and students follow their passion by connecting with nature. He is perhaps best known in fly fishing circles for his supervision, doubling, and stunt work on the fly fishing scenes for the Oscar-winning film A River Runs Through It. His TV and film productions have garnered more than twenty-three awards, including a Telly for the primetime TV series "Adventure Guides: Fly Fishing Edition" that John hosted on Outdoor Channel and NBC Sports. His newest book, Graced by Waters, is his first collection of stories to celebrate and explore our spiritual connection to waters and the natural world.

 

In this episode we talk about fly fishing, his connection with the movie A River Runs Through It, the connection he has to nature, his newest book Graced by Waters, a dream he recently had of fly fishing, the death of his brothers, and grief dreams.

 

You can find more about John here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.dietsch.332

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dietschjohn/

 

E159 - Erica Buist - This Party's Dead

Erica Buist is a journalist from London, England and writes mostly for the Guardian. February 2021 will see the publication of her first book, This Party's Dead, in which she investigates death anxiety by travelling to seven death festivals following the sudden loss of her father-in-law. 

 

In this episode we talk about the death of her father-in-law, her agoraphobia following the loss, visiting 7 death festivals around the world, her book, and grief dreams.

 

You can find more about Erica here:

Website: thisisnotajourney.com 

Facebook page: facebook.com/ericabuistwriter

IG: @ericabuist and @thispartysdead

 

Her book can be found here: https://unbound.com/books/this-partys-dead/

E158 - Chelsea Rushton - The Other Side of Chelshotel

Chelsea Rushton holds a BFA in Creative Writing and an MFA in Visual Art. Her art practice integrates somatics, ritual, and spirituality to explore how creative process can document and facilitate personal and collective growth and evolution. She works as a Technical Writer in the Department of Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. Her parents both died suddenly, within eight months of each other, in 2018, when they were 69 and 71. 

 

In this episode we talk with Chelsea about her passion for creative writing and visual art, the death of both her parents, the challenges of grieving multiple losses, her art series called The Other Side, and grief dreams of her parents.

 

You can find more on Chelsea at www.chelshotel.com or on IG @chelshotel

 

A video link to know more about Hilma af Klint (the person Chelsea wants to dream about) https://youtu.be/CHdud9km7bQ