Science of Grief with Sundari Malcolm and Bonnie Wheeler
The pandemic has taken its toll. As we head into spring, The Science of Grief and Reimagine offer this space to listen, meditate, and shed some of that winter skin. We welcome doula, yoga instructor, and meditation teacher Sundari Malcolm and mental health counselor Bonnie Wheeler for a discussion on grief, loss, wellness, and justice. Following their conversation, Sundari will lead us in a 45-minute meditation.
Sundari Malcolm is the Director of BIPOC Wellbeing and a Host for The Dinner Party At 27, and after 7 years of being her Caregiver, Sundari lost her mother to Breast Cancer. At 31 years old, she lost her father to Brain Cancer. Since then Sundari has dedicated her life to the support of Caregivers and all those managing life after loss. Outside of her work as the Director of BIPOC Wellbeing for TDP, Sundari is a Birth and Death Doula. She is a Yoga and Meditation teacher, having been raised under the teachings of Swami Satchidananda. She is an expat to the island of Curacao and a recent publisher of the book Grief Gems!
Bonnie Wheeler is a Mental Health Counselor with a master's degree in Counseling Psychology from Western Michigan University. She specializes in grief, loss, life transitions, and supervision and training. She has been running grief groups since 1990.
The Science Gallery Network consists of leading universities united around a singular mission: to ignite creativity and discovery where science art art collide. The eight galleries of the Science Gallery Network are committed to bringing science, art, technology and design together to deliver world-class educational and cultural experiences for young people. Started by poet Natasha T. Miller in 2018, Science of Grief is a community conversation that explores multiple forms of grief while featuring scientific research, poetry, art and performance. The program responds to the idea that grief comes at different hours, for different people, and everyone deserves a listening ear.
Reimagine hosts community-driven experiences that bring creativity, connection, and essential conversation to face adversity, loss, and mortality, and channel the hard parts of life into meaningful action and growth. Reimagine envisions a world where we can embrace life fully—from this moment through the end—and collectively contribute to a more just and compassionate society. Reimagine experiences encompass arts + entertainment, healthcare + social services, spirituality + religion, and Innovation + design.
For those of us who pursue justice -- whether at home, at work, and in our communities -- this work can be rooted in love as well as loss. By serving individuals and communities, growth and transformation are possible for those facing adversity, loss, and mortality. Our Spring 2022 theme – Grief, Growth, and Justice – will dig deeper into the theory and practice of post-traumatic growth, particularly how volunteerism, civic engagement, and activism can be pathways towards personal and communal healing
