Why Grief Massage is Counter-Cultural & What Cultural Grief-Stress Is

Did you know that our unique time and place impacts how stressful grieving can be? It's true. In the dominant North American, Western culture (especially in the US where Aimee lives), grievers can often feel misunderstood, isolated, and even shamed by societal expectations that: -they should grieve faster -that they should have a "positive" mindset about their loss -that they should get "back to normal" Aimee shares her least favorite statement that our society often burdens grievers with ("You need to let this go") and how it is an example of cultural grief-stress. She also shares some personal experiences of having grief invalidated by our society and shares her thoughts and opinions about how we as Grief Massage practitioners can be counter-cultural by creating safe spaces for grievers and by advocating for truly compassionate grief care. When we exist, when Grief Massage exists, we are asserting that: -grievers deserve safe spaces to be honest about how hard loss actually is -that grief is not a problem to be "fixed" -that grief is sacred and our humanity needs to be honored This episode is the seventh in a unique series in which Aimee goes through her 40 hour "The Joy of Grief Massage" online course as a student and reflects on each section. This episode was recorded in response to section 7 of the 30 total sections in Class 1: Grief, the Body and the Nervous System. You will hear a short 1 minute snippet of Section 7 (listening to the snippets featured in these episodes is not a substitute for taking the class). Listen along and please join Aimee for all of the upcoming 30 episodes featuring her responses to the learning sections of Class 1. Once we have gone through all sections of Class 1, we will also be recording episodes based on Classes 2, 3, 4 and 5. Learn more about our fully recorded, self-paced 40 hour Grief Massage training course on our school website: https://the-institute-for-grief-massage-inc.thinkific.com/courses/class-1-grief-the-body-the-nervous-system-article-series Follow our Grief Massage work at our website: www.griefmassage.org Stay in touch on Instagram: @theinstituteforgriefmassage Find us on Facebook: @theinstituteforgriefmassage TW: AImee discusses a personal suicide loss in this episode. Contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline if you are experiencing mental health-related distress or are worried about a loved one who may need crisis support.