Did you know that 15% of physical and emotional illness comes from unprocessed grief?
Yet … the only time society “encourages” women to express their grief is when a loved one dies. And even then, only for a certain number of days or weeks.
Then they’re expected to “pull themselves up by the bootstraps,” stifle their grief, and cut it off at the knees. Or … medicate or numb themselves against it. And go back to staying so busy that they forget themselves and their sorrows.
But death isn’t the only thing that makes us sad.
What about failed relationships, a lost job, our children shot at by madmen? What about mass extinction? The pillaging of the Earth for profit?
When grief isn’t expressed and processed, it falls into shadow, and re-arises as symptoms.
So many women feel depressed, anxious and lonely. They’re diagnosed with illnesses like autoimmune disease, heart disease, or gastrointestinal issues. They struggle with addictions or other numbing behaviors. They find themselves moving at a breakneck speed so they don’t have to spend time alone with their thoughts.
And a LOT of the time they might not even KNOW they’re suppressing grief.
“Not me. No grief here.” they say.
But suddenly, when someone asks a deeper question about their life –and gives them the opportunity to feel seen, heard, and honored– they find themselves overcome with sadness, surprised by its intensity, and then embarrassed that they lost control.
Because society tells women there are certain times and places grief is acceptable. And that there’s something wrong with them if they cry.
Well, guess what? There’s nothing wrong.
Grief circulates around us, coming at us from all directions, arriving on unseen currents that touch our souls.
Even though we’re not conscious of it, our personal experiences of loss and suffering are now bound up with dying coral reefs, the mass murder of children, melting polar caps, shrinking rainforests, the extinction of more-than-human lives and so much more!
It can feel overwhelming to address the complexity of all these tangled losses –especially when compounded with everything we’ve faced over the past few years.
That’s why I created Healing HeArts – a grief support group for women.
Women who are brave enough to face their sorrows rather than numbing them away.
Women who are exhausted from trying to keep up with the hustle culture.
Women who are willing to look at the ways the patriarchy has kept us from owning the unglamorous, messy emotions we all experience.
Women who are willing to surface grief they may not even know they are holding and to do the hard work of exploring their grief so they can harness its medicine and wisdom.
What Past Participants Say
This program helped me tremendously.
I’ll be forever grateful my friend introduced Kristin to me!
Kristin has a wealth of scientific and general knowledge
about emotions and also grief specifically.
This program was life changing!
I released an old story that had been
running my life for years.
Most People Carry Grief Even If They’re Not Consciously Aware Of It
Grief expert Francis Weller says there are Five Gates through which sorrow enters