Grief Medicine: Soothing the Broken Heart of Our Times

How do we hold destructive climate change and the wildfires, the pandemic, deaths, social isolation, the murder of innocent Black people without justice (Breonna Taylor), the threat of facism at our door, and the grief of living on stolen occupied land?

Come join us in this sacred time during Dia de Los Muertos and Samhain where we can find a response to these questions with the help of restorative yoga, expressive arts, journaling, and freeing our voices in group singing.

Together, we will explore the various types of grief that may be arising, such as the heartbreaking loss of a loved one, environmental grief, state-sanctioned violence, collective grief, grief over all that we expect from our lives that we are currently unable to receive, and anticipatory grief. As we gather in community, we find a sense of belonging in our shared grief, helping to metabolize our losses and transmute them into a balm to soothe our own hearts, and the broken heart of our world.

There is so much grief just under the surface of what we are experiencing, and it helps to name it. With the supportive practices of voice work, restorative yoga, expressive arts, group sharing, sound healing, and journaling, we can explore this question together. Come join us as we gather to make room to be with all the grief we are holding as we ride the waves of uncertainty caused by the pandemic, environmental and personal grief, the current uprising in the face of Black Lives Matter is bringing up for us -- much easier to do together than alone.

Please note: this is a participatory event where group sharing and keeping screen on is encouraged.

Please have ready:

- yoga mat or blanket

- extra blanket for warmth

- 1 or 2 pillows

- scarf, yoga strap or belt

- ART SUPPLIES (crayons, colored pencils, paper, paint, whatever you have, even a paper bag and pen will due if supplies are limited)

- tissues

- lotion or body oil

(optional: eye pillow; scented oil)

Note on Fee: If you are experiencing financial hardship at this time making this event cost prohibitive to you, please reach out to us with a sentence or two on why you need a discounted ticket. We have a handful of sliding scale spots.

Testimonials:

"Grief Gathering with Amy and Amber is a wonderful invitation to deeply acquaint with whatever grief is present. The care and intention they both offer creates a safe, healing space to hold everything that comes up. The practices they facilitate lend to an embodied grief experience contributing to healing, deeply honoring the capacity of the heart."

"This was so needed. It gave me space to release more grief from a familial loss I was dealing with before COVID-19. Then allowed space for releasing even more specific to COVID dynamics and anti-Blackness/violence in a way that felt contained and supportive. Thanks for this space!"

“I loved the diversity of people and experiences.”

“This experience was different in a good way. I’m so used to expressing myself through words so it was interesting using sound, movement, and art.”

"I really liked the EMDR work. This was surprising to me -- I appreciated the guidance provided during that time as well with the visualizations. Spending a lot of time in the head space around grief, it really helped me to connect somatically."

Amy Hyun Swart

I am a somatic and expressive arts-based psychotherapist, writer, children’s book illustrator, and meditation and yoga instructor. I am a cis gender woman of color of mixed Korean and Western European ancestry. I believe in the healing power of connection: to nature, to each other, and to the holy inner landscape of the self via accessing the creative, spiritual, somatic, ancestral, and intuitive wisdom that dwells within each of us. Alongside a decade of working in the field of psychology, my personal apprenticeship with sorrow from experiencing loss at an early age, and unique multi-modal approach to grief therapy, my grief offerings have become a valuable resource to those in the depths of grief. Allowing yourself to grieve is a revolutionary act of compassion for yourself and the world around you, and I am happy to be your guide if you feel I am a good fit.

Amber Field

I believe that everyone can sing. When you free your voice, you free your life! Sing your story & transform your life narrative. Let's play together in rhythm and harmony! I am a queer, non-binary Korean American adoptee performer, teacher and healer featured in SF Magazine's Best of the Bay for yoga music. I also am a Tamalpa Associate Teacher of Expressive Arts and completed level 3 of Somatic Voicework, the Lovetri Method. I love to help people become more embodied and transform through creative expression. I specialize in helping free people's voices and rhythm. I am a world fusion musician and play percussion (djembe, Arabic tambourine, cajon), didgeridoo, esraj, Native flute, harmonium, and sing like an angel. I work with both private and group clients to facilitate somatic and expressive arts workshops to help people explore grief and ancestral healing and offer sound healing.