Birth Ease Loss Support

This time of year can bring a sense of magic and joy and at the same time, the holidays can also bring feelings of overwhelm and stress. Michelle shares this special holiday guided meditation which is designed to help release the stress and strain you may be feeling and gain a sense of clarity regarding what you value in your life as you prepare to enter the New Year. As a gentle reminder: this guided relaxation recording audio is for just that, relaxation purposes only. It does not constitute medical or mental health advice or treatment, nor does it imply a specific outcome during pregnancy, birth, postpartum, or beyond. Please avoid listening to this guided relaxation while engaging in an activity that requires your full attention. Please stop the podcast and return to it when you can be safely seated or reclining in a supported position. Unless you are the passenger listening to this guided relaxation with headphones on, for everyone’s safety never listen to it while driving or riding in a vehicle. Connect with Michelle: www.BirthEaseServices.com /loss-support Facebook and Instagram: @birtheaselossssupport Thank you for listening! Remember, you are not alone in your grief.

Pregnancy and infant loss can often be the first experience of grief that parents face. Because we live in grief illiterate culture, we often lack the experience and knowledge of what is normal and expected as someone grieves and mourns. Education helps to provide a roadmap through the rocky terrain of grief. Michelle shares the different types of grief bereaved parents can experience such as disenfranchised, traumatic, ambiguous, cumulative, and delayed grief. Resource: www.grief.com Connect with Michelle at www. BirthEaseServices.com /loss-support.com and on Facebook and Instagram @birtheaselosssupport Thank you for listening! Remember, you are not alone in your grief.

As a Certified Grief Educator with David Kessler and Grief.com, Michelle explains the Five Stages of Grief™️- denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance as well as the sixth stage- meaning through the lens of pregnancy and infant loss. She shares that unfortunately over the years the 5 Stages of Grief™️ have been misinterpreted by many, including mental health professionals. These six stages reflect where we are in our journey of grief at any given moment. They are about change we do not want. The stages are unconscious and natural responses to loss. They are tools to help us frame and identify what we may be feeling. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross explicitly stated that the stages “are not stops on some linear timeline in grief." Not everyone goes through all of them or in a prescribed order. Everyone's grief is unique. These stages can provide a roadmap for grief's rocky terrain and helps us to be better equipped to cope with life and loss. Michelle invites you to also listen to Season 1 Episode 3 for an overview of the Four Phases of Bereavement for Baby Loss. Resource: https://grief.com/ Connect with Michelle: website: https://www.birtheaseservices.com/loss-support, Facebook and Instagram @birtheaselosssupport, Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss Training: https://www.birtheaseservices.com/training-for-professionals

Michele Benyo, founder of Good Grief Parenting shares with Michelle the 4 keys for parents with young children navigating perinatal loss. These 4 keys are self-care, accurate words describing death, inviting conversation, and honoring child-sized grief. She also explains why we need to avoid telling children euphemisms such as “He went to sleep.” or vague words such as ‘gone’ or ‘passed’ when explaining that someone has died. Dead and died have a very specific meaning and those are the only words that accurately tell children what happened. Young children won't understand death, but they still have the accurate word and they are going to grow into that understanding. She also explains why it is important to tell children in an age-appropriate way about the death in an honest and accurate way without too many details. Parents can follow the child's lead if they ask to know more. Michele also shares that children can internalize 4 messages when they lose a sibling: I don't understand, I hurt inside,  I don't belong, and I am not enough. She provides tips to help parents grief with their child in healthy ways. "I just think that when we are a bereaved parent and we have other young children to raise, we are being asked to do two of the hardest things we'll ever have to do in our lives at the same time. And that is to grief a loved one which is such hard work and parent a young child in those formative early childhood years."—Michele Benyo Connect with Michele Benyo at https://goodgriefparenting.com/ and on Facebook and Instagram at Good Grief Parenting. Connect with Michelle Smith at https://www.birtheaseservices.com/loss-support and on Facebook and Instagram at Birth Ease Loss Support

Anna Humphreys, co-director of Calm Birth, and Michelle explain the last practice in this series of 3 meditations for healing during or after an abortion. This meditation, Renew, is based on the practice of Giving and Receiving, a practice from ancient wisdom. It is tong len, compassionate breathing, applied to the ending of a pregnancy. It’s a practice of breathing healing for self and others. Please note, when practicing compassionate breathing, we are breathing in the awareness of challenges or suffering (our own or others) without taking in the suffering and exhaling an intention for peace, healing, or compassion, etc. towards ourselves or others. “I believe that there is a subtle, but profound, effect when we do direct our attention and our intention toward healing ourselves and others.” -Anna Humphreys For those of us at Calm Birth meditation that have been working on this Calm Abortion project, it is our hope that these meditations help to invite healing for whoever chooses to listen, no matter how long ago they experienced an abortion for any reason or circumstance. Learn more: Instagram and Facebook @calmabortion Resources: ACOG (The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) Statement on Abortion Bans, World Health Organization's statement on abortion, Evidence Based Birth: Abortion Research Resource Guide, and Grief After Abortion: healing from unspoken loss