Heart Tending Workshop
The next Heart Tending Grief & Yoga Workshop Daisha Nilsen and I created is coming up soon! We plan on doing these three times a year. The one on May 17, 2025 is our third workshop together. I thought it would be fun to give you an idea of what happens in the workshop. First, a bit of background:
I first met Daisha at a West Seattle Chamber of Commerce event. Then we ran into each other again at a talk our friend Jessica of Heartwood Law was giving on estate planning. We ended up going out for drinks afterwards, where I got to know Daisha a little better. After that, we seemed to keep ending up in the same places. I knew that Daisha had trained in India to be a yoga instructor, and I’d been wanting to collaborate on a longer workshop with someone, so I built up my nerve and asked her if she wanted to collaborate. I would say the rest is history, because the workshops have been such a success, but there is a story behind our success. We started meeting weekly over coffee at Lula Coffee, brainstorming how we could use yoga, breathwork, and meditation to release some of the grief our bodies hold on to. We wanted to add some creative activities, too. I firmly believe we need multiple means of getting the griefy thoughts out of our heads as much as we need to keep our bodily energy flowing. When we keep our grief to ourselves, in the deep dark of our thoughts, it can cause problems in our bodies, make us depressed or anxious, and isolate us from family and friends. Daisha and I try to counter that impulse by providing a space to move, create, and share our grief with other people who are also grieving. For the workshops, it doesn’t matter what the grief is—we just want to open a space to be brave and messy and creative within a small community of other grievers.
Although we have now had two great workshops, our very first workshop didn’t happen. No one signed up. We think it’s because of the timing—it was the same week that students went back to school and summer was officially over. We didn’t give up, though. We moved the date (thank you to Bohemian Studios for being accommodating), made new posters, invited everyone we knew, and took the extra time to refine what we were offering. The workshop on the new date was nearly full. We had couples, a group of friends all grieving the same and different losses, and individuals there, resulting in a meaningful few hours for everyone. There were tears, for sure, but there was also laughter, encouragement, empathy, and love in the room.
At that grief workshop, we tried a creative exercise where the participants used watercolor markers to draw an abstraction of their grief on large piece of paper. We had set it up so people could do this as they came in, and then we would refer to it during the workshop. Daisha incorporated color and shape into the meditation; I used it as a prompt for some of the sharing. Then at the end of the day, everyone had a chance to revisit the paper and create a new drawing of how their grief looked.
It simply didn’t work, mostly because of the logistics. It was too chaotic for people to draw as they came in to the space—they didn’t have time to settle in before we asked them to tap into their grief. The meditation was still beautiful, because imagining colors and shapes while meditating is easier than drawing them when you’re trying to take off your shoes and find a yoga mat.
It’s a good example of how we learn from each experience. We still do a “color of grief” activity, but it’s formatted in a way that allows people to explore their grief without using words (and without distraction!).
Each Heart Tending Grief & Yoga Workshop is unique to the participants, because everyone brings their own grief and their own energy to the space. Daisha and I still meet every week to craft a welcoming and safe grief workshop for everyone.
Let’s do a round of the 5 Ws to explain the May workshop.
WHO: This workshop is for anyone who is grieving anything. That’s right—anything. If someone you love died (recently or long in the past), come to the workshop. Experienced pregnancy loss? Come to the workshop. If a beloved pet died, come to the workshop. Relationship ended? Come. Mourning the loss of the person you used to be? Come. Feeling isolated because of a recent major change in your life, like a move or a job change? This workshop is for you. Not sure how to manage your feelings because of our current political catastrophe? Caregiving an aging or ill parent or partner? Worried about the climate crisis? War, genocide, or fascism weighing on your heart? You are welcome. Ancestral or generational trauma creeping up on you? Know you’re grieving but not sure why? Join us! You get the idea. If you have grief, you’re invited to the workshop.
WHAT: We use yoga and breath work to help move heavy feelings through the body, and split into smaller groups to write poems based on grief-related prompts. There is dedicated time for sharing and for meditating, all in order to process the many different types of grief we all carry.
WHEN: Saturday, May 17, 2025, 1:30pm—5:30pm.
WHERE: The lovely Bohemian Studios at 4801 Fauntleroy Way SouthwestSeattle, WA, 98116 (map)
WHY: There is so much grief and sorrow in the world right now, but so few places to express that grief. This workshop is a brave and safe space where we can be in community with others who are grieving. Grieving is lonely, but you don’t have to grieve alone. Our bodies hold a lot of grief (some say in the hips, some say in the lungs. My grief is in both, plus my ankles, elbows, and forehead), and yoga helps open up those spaces (even the forehead!) to move the emotions through the body. Everything we do in the grief workshop is designed to keep the grief and its associated emotions moving so we don’t stagnate.
And the bonus W—HOW: Everything we do is an invitation and adaptable. Daisha is an excellent yoga instructor who is gentle, thoughtful, and kind. She can adapt any position to suit your needs. Or you can just hang out in child’s pose or take a little nap if yoga isn’t your thing. The writing and art prompts are low-pressure, intended to guide your thoughts onto the page so they aren’t on repeat in your head. Plus, there are snacks and a tea hand-blended by West Coast Willow Apothecary.
Other things to know: Mats, prompts, and snacks are provided; bring your own mug for tea and your mat if you’d like. We will be sitting on the floor when we aren’t moving, including during writing and sharing activities.
Tamara and Daisha rambling on about what happens in the Heart Tending Workshop.
