In this episode Laura and I talk about the importance of play and a reminder that everything ends anyway, so perhaps let's open ourselves up to play and creation.

We talk about the beautiful humming that can arise with the serious work that is play. We talk about insights gained from playing with Kate Drummond of The Energetic Heart, The Little Feminist Farm in Georgia, and Working Class Acupuncture in Portland, among others.

We play in real time with ideas about silent long-houses, sandwiches, meet ups for future fictive kin, and hammock groves.

In this episode Sascha and I look at vigils, vigilance and hyper-vigilance. We consider how each state shows up in our lives and how they interact with each other. We offer personal stories and learn a little more about each other.

In this episode Sascha and I throw structure to the wind and invite you into friendship chatting about vigilance and loss.

We discuss: outrage at day spas, prairie dogs, non-aquatic anemones, aikido and how it feels when we open the door to our pain and fear, and try to move and roll with it.

Maybe this structure demonstrates one of the antidotes for hyper-vigilance: what comes when we feel deeply safe and therefore free to follow each other down whichever paths open up as far as they allow, then turn off or circle back and end up somewhere, though nowhere we intended.

In the end we both like what we've found along the path and how our feet and hearts feel from the wandering. We hope you'll come along and maybe see sometime worth picking up along the way.

In this episode Sascha and I discuss forts made from: sheets, refrigerator boxes, Vanderbuilt University, teacher's desks, Jim Smith, jungle gyms and each other.

We wonder about the value of a dedicated practice of fort building. What (we query) are we training for when we build realities from make-believe? What more when we built them alongside other creatures? And when we invite in guests, then what? And when we accept each other's invitations? What does a life set in undocumented realms offer in contrast to one lived inside the reach of official maps?

We answer none of these questions, but feel glad that we live in forts linked to forts linked to forts; glad that for the welcome and the company and for this big Grief House fort we make with all of you.

On this episode of the podcast, Sascha talks with Kate Drummond of The Energetic Heart and About Play in Atlanta to learn more about her journey and discuss reality as it relates to regulation.

They agree that emotional regulation does not equal submission, doesn't mean entering a non feeling place and doesn't require us to forfeit anger but, rather, offers stable access to deep feelings and the ability to respond rather than react to stimuli.

Sascha and Kate talk about how to move toward this aware and sturdy place when you live in a world that is chronically disregulated and reflect on how salient and helpful it feels to do this work in good company, given the degree to which we are bombarded with stimuli today.

You can join both Sascha & Kate at their upcoming offering Finding Ease in Times of Struggle (offering release and regulation support) in Atlanta beginning April 14th.

In this episode of the podcast Sascha and I discuss the nature of reality.

We consider the practical appeal of living inside a consensus reality, the value of remembering that real doesn't mean absolute and what it's like when truth we've relied on cracks apart to reveal who-knows-what swirling underneath.

We look at examples from our lives of ways grief offered glimpses into layers of reality we weren't expecting, like and don't like the way that makes us feel and wonder at what kind of shimmering endlessness we might be swimming in.

We are thrilled to share our first community stories episode.

We look forward to weaving and sharing the experiences of our grief house community members.

Our theme this month is perspective and reality - the conversations on this episode explore how grief can change our experience of the world around us.

Today’s stories are shared by Jamie, Alex, Edith and Morgan. They were recorded at the Portland Grief House during our Art & Medicine fair and at a Compassionate Death Companion gathering.

We hope to offer one community episode each month. We'll be sending out information about upcoming themes, in-person recording dates in Portland and Atlanta and ways folks in other places can send us their stories.

Check out our Patreon page for more stories, writing and meditation prompts and other offerings.

Find out more about the folks on this episode below:

Jamie Thrower - End of Life Doula and Educator.

Alexandrea Wilson - counselor, death worker, Grief House board member.

Edith - griever

Morgan Fava - Death Doula

In this special episode I talk with Serena Trexler about her experiences as a death care worker, death rights advocate and green death/human composting engineer.

We Discuss Serena's personal relationship with the dead and their bodies (curious, honored to know them, not afraid) in contrast to many people's relationship with the dead (closed off, hopeful they won't be near, quite afraid). We explore the possibilities that open up when there isn't a requirement for fear of death and what might change if we had communities that supported us as we explored this universal, unavoidable part of our cycle. We discuss the biology of returning to the earth and the ways human's bodies might be used to heal wounds we've cause in our ecosystem.

I feel amazement about Serena, incredible good luck to know her, and hope about what might come from this particular moment she's spending incarnate.