Halva for the Heart: Dying and Grieving in Diaspora

In this episode, I sit down with Roxanne Cassehgari, a writer, photographer, and artist documenting the Iranian diaspora.We talk about growing up Iranian outside of Iran, navigating mixed identity, and the complicated relationship to a homeland you may not fully know but deeply long for. Roxanne shares about returning to Iran and how it reshaped her understanding of belonging, language, and self.We explore language loss, cultural disconnection, and the feeling of not being “enough,” alongside her work documenting diaspora stories through interviews and photography. From everyday objects to food and ritual, we reflect on how Iran continues to live within people across distance and generations.We also touch on the tensions between diaspora and homeland perspectives, and how migration, assimilation, and politics shape these experiences.This is a conversation about exile, memory, and the many ways people try to return.About RoxanneRoxane Cassehgari is an artist and photographer born in France to an Iranian father and Colombian mother. Alongside her artistic practice, she is a human rights lawyer and researcher. While law and research allow her to articulate questions about our world, photography is a space of freedom, a more intuitive terrain where she can explore what words cannot capture.  Her work explores diasporic memory, emotions linked to exile, and the transmission—or loss—of culture. Through a sensitive and personal approach, she also seeks to reflect on our relationship with the land: as our origin, our heritage, but also as a place where we root ourselves within the living world.In this episode, we explore...Growing up Iranian in the diasporaReturning to Iran after living abroadMixed identity and cultural belongingLanguage loss and reclaiming FarsiThe emotional impact of exile and disconnectionIranian diaspora identity across different countriesThe tension between diaspora and homeland perspectivesHow art and storytelling preserve cultural memoryEveryday ways people stay connected to Iran (food, objects, ritual)Mentioned in this episode:📕 Roxanne's project Le Retour (The Return)🏝️ Roxanne's project Exile is an Island🎧 Halva for the Heart episode with Afghan author and activist Mina Sharif📚 Your War Our Lives by Mina Sharif📚 The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan KamaliConnect with Roxanne📸 Follow Roxanne on Instagram📥 Submit your story to Roxanne’s project Exile is an IslandIf you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

In this episode of Halva for the Heart, I explore Farvardingan, the ancient Iranian holiday when the fravashis (spirits of the departed) return to visit the living. This year, Farvardingan takes on profound significance as we grapple with unprecedented levels of loss: from war on Iran and regime violence to the ongoing genocide in Palestine and personal grief. I discuss how Farvardingan becomes an act of resistance in a world that gives us almost no space to grieve, and expand our understanding of ancestry beyond blood to include the many lineages that shape and sustain us.In this episode, I reflect on:- Memory as active care, not something to "move on" from- Continuity between the living and the dead- Farvardingan as a support for us during this time of war- Ways to stay connected ancestors- Different types of ancestry beyond blood lineage (as taught to me by my teacher Holly Truhlar)Resources Mentioned🔗 Holly Truhlar's Idea of Soul Lineage - Explore ancestral connections and soul lineage work🎵 Dard-e Del Playlist - Curated music for grief and ancestral connection📖 Farvardingan Guidebook - Deep dive into practices, rituals, and reflections for honoring the deadIf you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

In this special episode of Halva for the Heart, I share a recorded Nowruz meditation for those of us in the Iranian diaspora who are holding the question so many of us are sitting with this year as we watch our homeland be harmed by bombs: Do we celebrate Nowruz?This meditation doesn't offer an easy answer. Instead, it invites us into the deeper purpose of our ancestral rituals, not as performances of joy, but as living technologies of transformation, continuity, and survival.This meditation moves through two ancient practices: Chaharshanbe Soori, the pre-New Year fire ritual, where we offer our exhaustion (zardi) to the flame and receive its red aliveness (sorkhi) in return, not just for ourselves, but on behalf of all those inside Iran carrying fear and uncertainty.And the haftseen sofreh, reimagined as a place to both ask for what we need, and a place to send love, strength, protection, and hope toward Iran.This meditation was created for Iranians in diaspora who are grieving, exhausted, and unsure how to mark a new year that arrives whether we are ready or not. If you are not Iranian, you are welcome to sit with us in solidarity.There is no single right way to do Nowruz this year. Maybe this meditation is all that you do to honor the holiday. And that's okay. That is enough.*This meditation was first offered during a live Dard-e Del session. If you're a fellow Iranian in diaspora and are looking for community spaces to hold your grief with others like you, please join us in Dard-e Del. We meet on zoom 3 times a month to support one another.If you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

In this episode, I sit down with Sahar Kaur, a decolonial womb educator whose work lives at the intersection of menstrual health, ancestral memory, and identity.We talk about how her path into womb education grew from a desire to return to grounded, lived wisdom, not spiritual trends or aesthetics, but knowledge rooted in lineage, culture, and survival. Sahar shares how Traditional Persian Medicine informs her work, and what it actually means to decolonize menstrual care: making it accessible, culturally relevant, and responsive to real lived conditions.We explore herbal support for menstrual cycles and grief, including gol-e gāv-zabān (borage), traditionally used to calm the nervous system and tend heartbreak. Sahar reflects on her work with displaced and refugee women, and how womb education shifts when survival, migration, and instability are part of someone’s reality.We close with a powerful conversation about the Kurdish serpent goddess Shahmaran (the protector, healer, and symbol of feminine wisdom) and how her mythology connects to womb space, surrender, and ancestral remembering.About SaharSahar is a decolonized womb health educator working at the intersection of cyclicity, identity, and ancestral memory. A daughter of ancient Elam and Bactria (early cradle civilizations of what is now Iran and Afghanistan) her work honors the womb as a site where memory, lineage, and truth are held.Through independent research in traditional Persian medicine, she is reviving ancestral menstrual wisdom and womb rituals erased by colonial history. Her work invites women — especially those from the SWANA region — to reconnect with womb health as cultural inheritance rather than aesthetic spirituality.In this episode, we explore...Decolonizing menstrual educationWomb memory and ancestral identityHerbal support for grief and menstrual cyclesCultural reclamation in healing spacesWorking with displaced and refugee womenKurdish Shahmaran mythology and serpent wisdomFeminine surrender and embodied knowledgeMentioned in this episode:🎧 Episode: Celebrating Yalda with Shahmaran🎧 Episode: Knitting as Ancestral Memory📖 Shahmaran: A Wintering Spent with the Queen of Serpents (zine)📺 Shahmaran teleision series🤝 Nisaba: the refugee women’s organization Sahar mentions📚 There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif ShafakA note on language & inclusivityIn this episode, we sometimes use the word “women” when talking about womb health and menstrual cycles. However, the wisdom we discuss is expansive: it applies to anyone who identifies as a womxn or femme, as well as anyone who has or has had a menstrual cycle.Even if that’s not your experience, traditional Persian teachings about cycles, rest, and grief offer healing insights that can support anyone. This conversation is meant to be inclusive, honoring the many ways people relate to their bodies and to this knowledge.Connect with SaharYou can find Sahar on Instagram and join her Diasp'AURA Telegram communityHoliday Guidebooks & Community AccessI create seasonal Iranian holiday guidebooks that explore ritual, remembrance, and ancestral practice. The Esfandegan guidebook focuses on devotion to the earth and to womxn & femmes, and honoring the Mother Earth goddess Spenta Armaiti through Iranian tradition.If you are a member of Dard-e Del, an online Iranian grief circle and community space I facilitate 3x a month, you receive access to all of these guidebooks free as part of your membership. The intention is to make cultural and ritual knowledge communal, as something we return to together, not practice alone.If you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

In this special episode of Halva for the Heart, I share a recorded grief ritual meditation offered during our recent Dard-e Del gathering for the Iranian diaspora.This meditation is rooted in Sadeh, the ancient midwinter fire festival that takes place on January 30, at the end of the darkest stretch of winter known as Chelleh-ye Bozorg. Traditionally, Sadeh is a night when our ancestors gathered around a great bonfire for warmth, protection, and hope during the coldest, hardest days of the year.This year, that darkness has felt especially heavy.During this meditation, we will gently and somatically honor the thousands of martyrs recently killed in Iran. We will work with flame as ancestor, witness, and companion, offering our grief to the fire and receiving strength, resilience, and warmth in return.This practice is created specifically for Iranians living in diaspora, who are carrying not only grief for lives lost, but also the pain of distance, disconnection, and witnessing from afar. If you are not Iranian, you are still welcome to sit with us in solidarity and remembrance.Please find a quiet place to rest. If you can, bring a candle. This meditation is meant to be experienced with flame 🔥Links:📘 Download the Sadeh Guidebook (sliding scale $3-33)❤️‍🩹 Join us in Dard-e Del, our Iranian diaspora grief spaceIf you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

In this intimate conversation, I sit down with Iranian-Armenian psychologist and therapist Pauline Yeghnazar, whose work centers the emotional lives of daughters and children of immigrants. Together, we explore what happens when grief has no homeland to land in. When sorrow is inherited, rituals feel fractured, and loss lives in the body across generations.Pauline brings both clinical depth and lived experience to a dialogue about diaspora grief that stretches beyond individual death into land, exile, identity, culture, and the losses our parents never had the privilege to mourn.In this episode, we explore:Watching Iran from afar and how grief lives somatically in the bodyThe terror of disconnection during the current internet shutdown in IranAncestral longing for a homeland never fully knownHow immigrant elders often didn’t have space or permission to grieveWestern grief timelines and the pathologizing of sorrowHow cooking and cultural practices metabolize grief through the bodyInviting ancestors into everyday acts of remembranceGrief as something that includes laughter, presence, and connectionPrevious Halva for the Heart episodes mentioned:Episode 19: Knitting as Ancestral MemoryEpisode 3: Healing with My SisterPauline shares powerful frameworks for daughters of immigrants navigating identity, guilt, family obligation, and inherited emotional survival patterns.Pauline’s offerings and resources:Free Translation Guide for Communicating with Your Immigrant ParentsFree Book Club for the Children of ImmigrantsRoots & Fruits: A Group Program for Daughters of ImmigrantsNoor Therapy & Wellness (for folks in California and New York)Email Pauline for 1-hour long $99 coaching calls if you're outside of CA or NYAll these offerings and more can be found on Pauline's websiteAnd follow Pauline on InstagramIf you're Iranian and looking for a culturally specific community space (since Pauline’s offerings serve all diasporas), you’re warmly invited to join us in Dard-e Del, our Iranian grief gathering that meets three times a month on Zoom, to be in community, witness each other, and hold what can’t be held alone.If you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

In this intimate episode of Halva for the Heart, I share a raw voice memo I recorded two years ago, just moments after I had the experience of my hands had been taken over by my ancestors ✨It happened when I had sat down to start a knitting project, but I couldn't remember how to cast on. After struggling for awhile and almost getting frustrated, something unexpected happened: my hands just knew what to do. It felt like my grandmother was moving through me, guiding me through a cast-on method I didn't remember learning. It got me thinking about yarn as memory, knitting as something our ancestors pass down, and how grief can actually live in your hands.This episode is about communing with your ancestors through fiber work, how your body remembers things your mind doesn't, and why knitting and stitching got written off as "just hobbies" when they're actually powerful spiritual practices.This episode is an invitation tp grieve through fiber, to let your ancestors teach you through your hands, and to trust that the wisdom is already there.In this episode, I explore:Knitting as ancestral memory and embodied wisdomFiber, yarn, and cloth as grief companionsWhy slow crafts are sites of resistance and careHandwork as a way to grieve what was never taughtPassing down love through making, not perfectionInvitationIf this episode speaks to you, you’re invited to join our Fibers of Grief circle, a monthly online gathering exploring grief through slow stitching, yarn work, and visible mending as care practices.🧶 January’s circle focuses on working with yarn🪡 February’s circle will explore visible mendingSign up ➡️ hereIf you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

In this episode of Halva for the Heart, I turn toward Shab-e Yalda, the ancient Iranian winter solstice holiday, and reflect on what it offers us as people living, grieving, and resisting in diaspora. I explore Yalda as a collective vigil through the longest night of the year, and how it initiates Chelleh-ye Bozorg: the 40 coldest, darkest days that mirror grief cycles, mourning traditions, and the necessity of communal care. Through the mythology of Shahmaran, the Kurdish queen of serpents, I reflect on winter as a sacred time for collapse, inner death work, and transformation personally, collectively, and politically.In this episode, you’ll hear:what Shab-e Yalda and Chelleh-ye Bozorg teach us about grief and survivalhow Yalda functions as a vigil and a form of ancestral death workwhy Shahmaran’s underground cavern mirrors the womb/tomb space of griefhow Iranian mourning traditions align with seasonal cycleswhy rest, collapse, and community care are essential for sustainable liberationhow Yalda invites solidarity, hope, and resistance in dark times🌑 This episode is an invitation to soften into the darkness, gather in community, and trust that the sun—and liberation—will return.Links:📘 Shab-e Yalda Guidebook🐍 The Omi Collective’s Shahmaran Azadi Zine & Talisman❤️‍🩹 Join us in Dard-e Del🗝️ Narinder Bazen's concept of Inner-Facing Death WorkIf you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

In this episode of Halva for the Heart, I talk through a question I’m asked all the time: What exactly does a death doula do?I share how death work isn’t only for people at the very end of life, it’s for anyone navigating mortality, grief, fear, or the desire to meet death with more intention and clarity. I walk through the many roles a death doula can hold: educator, advocate, companion, household support, vigil-sitter, home funeral guide, advance directive facilitator, and someone who brings ancestral, community-rooted care back to the bedside. I also speak about the long history of this work, how it existed for millennia before the medical system claimed the dying process, and why reclaiming these roles matters.Throughout the conversation, I keep returning to one truth: death doulas are an ancient role with a modern title.In this episode, I cover:What a death doula is and the many roles we holdWhy death care is for everyone, not just the actively dyingThe ancient history of community death careHow death doulas can advocate for your wishes at the end of lifeOptions like home funerals, body care, and spending time with loved ones after deathIf you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

In this episode of Halva for the Heart, I reflect on Bloody Aban - the brutal massacre that killed over 1500 Iranian protestors in November of 2019 - and what it means to grieve this atrocity from diaspora six years later. I revisit the fear and confusion of those five days in 2019 when Iran’s internet was shut down, hundreds were killed, and many of us outside the country were feeling utterly alone in our grief. I also share the stories of five martyrs in particular, honoring their lives and the unbearable cost of state violence. In this episode, you’ll hear:what made Bloody Aban feel so isolating for Iranians in diasporahow Western media silence and orientalism shaped whose suffering was acknowledged and whose wasn’twhy the grief of Bloody Aban hardened in our bodies differently than other collective traumasthe privilege (and responsibility) of diaspora safety, and what it makes possible in our healingwhy some grief (like that of Bloody Aban) may take years before we feel ready to face it🌹 This episode is an invitation to turn toward this grief gently with spaciousness, honesty, and compassion for where we each are in our process. Links: 📘 Abangan Guidebook for Ancestral Reclamation 🗺️ Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran’s Map of Protestor Suppression❤️‍🩹 Join us in Dard-e DelThe five martyrs honored in this episode: 🥀 Mohammad Dastankhah: Born in 2004, in Shiraz🥀 Mina Sheikhi: Born in Kurdistan, lived in Tehran🥀 Mohsen Mohammadpur: Born in 2002, in Khuzestan🥀 Puya Bakhtiari: Born in 1992, in Karaj🥀 Farzad Ansarifar: Born in 1992, in Khuzestan If you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

In this solo episode of Halva for the Heart, I reflect on the ancient connection between fiber arts and grief care. From slow stitching and mending to knitting and quilting, I explore how our hands hold ancestral wisdom, how the rhythmic, tactile act of making with thread can help us process what our minds cannot.This episode weaves together:reflections on fiber arts as embodied grief care, from quilting to visible mendingthe story of Elizabeth Roseberry Mitchell’s Graveyard Quilt and other memorial textileshow knitting, crochet, and yarn wrapping can become rituals of remembrance and releasemy personal story about returning to knitting in grief, and the healing power of communal making✨ Join the next Fibers of Grief gathering or download the free Slow Stitching with Grief guidebookLinks:🧶 Fibers of Grief: online gathering every first Thursday of the month📘 Free Guidebook: Slow Stitching with Grief🧵 Melissa Word's Grief Threads🪦 Elizabeth Roseberry Mitchell’s Graveyard Quilt🏳️‍🌈 AIDS Memorial Quilt🕊️ Stitch Their Names Together: honoring Palestinians killed in Gaza🪡 Craftivist CollectiveIf you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

In this heartfelt conversation, I sit down with Yarrow Magdalena, a maker, writer, and grief companion living on the east coast of Scotland. Yarrow shares their journey into death work, from training as a death doula in 2019 to navigating profound personal loss after the unexpected passing of their mother in July 2024.Together, we share what it means to tend to grief through handmade practices using thread, cloth, and ritual, and how creativity can become a sacred space for healing.In this episode, we explore:How Yarrow came to death work before experiencing major personal loss, and how their practice has deepened since their mother’s passingThe similarities and differences between various types of shock and grief — from a life-changing accident to sudden lossThe powerful practice of creating memorial quilts using loved ones’ textiles and clothingWhy hand-stitching and textile work can be such healing practices during griefThe importance of naming our identities, and how different aspects of who we are carry their own griefPractical ways to be an activist for folks who are disabled, living remotely, or have limited capacitySimple rituals that help, like creating a physical grief space in your home or working with tarotYarrow also shares touching memories of their mother Marina, the gift of their last goodbye, and how they balance running two podcasts (Grief Glimmers and The Kind Business Podcast) while honoring their own grief journey.Be sure to head over to Grief Glimmers to listen to my episode on Yarrow's podcast.Find Yarrow’s work at glimmerportal.com and pinkwellstudio.com.If you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

In this episode of Halva for the Heart, I invite you into the ancient Iranian holiday of Mehregan - a celebration of light, justice, truth, and friendship.I share the mythic story of Kaveh the Blacksmith and Fereydoon’s uprising against the tyrant Zahhak as told in the Shahnameh, and reflect on what these ancestral teachings offer us today: how we resist tyranny, anchor ourselves in community, and transform our grief into courage.I also speak about the upcoming Palestine Grief Circle on October 10th, a virtual space I’m co-facilitating with my friend Shivani (listen to my interview with them in episode 8). This donation-based offering is a way to honor our shared grief and fight for collective liberation, and to remember Mithra as the honored god of Mehregan and the guardian of truth and justice, and allow him to guide us in standing for what is sacred.👉 Join the Palestine Grief CircleThroughout the episode, I share ways you can celebrate Mehregan from wherever you are: creating a sofreh or altar, honoring the changing light, and tending the threads that bind justice, grief, and love.In this episode, I reflect on:The mythology of Mithra, Kaveh, Fereydoon, and ZahhakHow Mehregan invites us to act for justice and truthThe connection between grief work and liberationSimple seasonal and altar practices for MehreganIf you'd like to go deeper with the themes of Mehregan, I invite you to download the Mehregan Guidebook or join us in Dard-e Del.👉 Note: The Mehregan Guidebook is free for Dard-e Del membersIf you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

Three years have passed since the Woman Life Freedom uprising erupted in Iran with the death of Jina (Mahsa) Amini. As an Iranian in diaspora, this movement changed me—it filled me with so much hope, and it also left me with heavy grief that I still carry today.In my work as a death doula, I guide people at the end of their lives through a process called a Life Review: reflecting on unfinished business, regrets, accomplishments, and hopes for what comes next. In this episode, I bring that same practice to a cultural scale, sitting with the Woman Life Freedom movement as if she were a dying person—asking  her the questions I would ask someone nearing the end of their life and imagining how she might respond.This episode is both reflection and an invitation to honor the grief and legacy of Woman Life Freedom, and to consider how we carry her memory forward in Iran, in diaspora, and in ongoing movements for liberation around the world.If you're Iranian in diaspora and looking for community, joi us in Dard-e Del ❤️‍🩹 📸 Cover image by Laura AcquavivaIf you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

In this episode of Halva for the Heart, I share some tender reflections about home, homeland, and the grief of not quite belonging anywhere. After nearly ten years in Korea, I’ve realized I will always be a guest here—and that realization has stirred up so many questions for me: If not here, then where? What does it mean to feel at home in my body? What does it mean to be a settler on Turtle Island? And can I still call Iran my homeland if I’ve never truly known its land?Throught the episode, I read from Stephen Jenkinson’s Die Wise and talk about how his words opened up new ways of thinking about home, land, and obligation. I also share stories from grief circles and community conversations, where we explore how food, seeds, and even longing itself can be ways of being in relationship with the land we come from.If you’ve ever wrestled with homesickness, with the ache of displacement, or with the question of how to pass something on to the next generation—you’re not alone. This episode is me sitting with all of that, out loud.Mentioned in this episode:Interview with Sama of Reyhan Herb FarmInterview with Mina Sharif and her book Your War, Our LivesDard-e Del: a online support space for Iranians in Diaspora ❤️‍🩹Die Wise by Stephen JenkinsonNine Keys from Narinder BazenIf you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

In this episode of Halva for the Heart, we explore a radically different approach to grief—one that invites your inner child to lead the way. I share how my own grief has shown up in playful ways—like dancing with the memory of my mother—and offer an invitation for you to imagine your grief as a childhood friend asking you out on a “play date.”If you’ve ever longed for a lighter, more curious way to be in relationship with loss, this episode offers a gentle doorway into play, wonder, and childlike connection with your grief.Upcoming eventsIn Seoul: Poetic Play Grief Ritual with Mallory Dowd on September 7Register at https://ritual.hafezdeathcare.comOnline: Fibers of Grief every first Thursday of the monthRegister at https://fibers.hafezdeathcare.com If you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

On this episode of Halva for the Heart, I am thrilled to be interviewing Afghan-Canadian author Mina Sharif.Mina spent 15 years living and working in Kabul, Afghanistan. She’s the author of Your War, Our Lives, a short story collection that brings heart, humor, and nuance to everyday life in Afghanistan during the international occupation. Through her work, she shares the quieter, more human sides of conflict, and what it means to belong to more than one place at once. In this conversation, Mina and I speak about her new book (comes out August 1, 2025!), the diasporic experience, and how fully embody your heritage identity, even if others say you "don't count".You can purchase Your War, Our Lives ar Mina's website: www.minasharif.comAnd follow Mina on InstagramIf you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

On this episode of Halva for the Heart, I am joined by my friend and fellow death doula Shivani Narang. Shivani is a death worker, a grief worker, and a postpartum, abortion, and post-abortion doula who is deeply connected to their ancestors. Their work is an act of devotion.In this conversation, Shivani and I speak about surrendering to the wisdom of our ancestors and allowing them to guide our death work. We also discuss magic of grandmthers and great-grandmothers, and how we stay connected to our ancestral homelands while having grown up in the US.You can connect with Shivani Narang on their website and on Instagram @deathworkwithshivAlso follow their new podcast series @of.sweetness.and.spiritIf you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

In this special episode of Halva for the Heart, I offer a guided meditation created specifically for the Iranian diaspora.Since Israel's attack on.Iran, many Iranians—myself included—have been struggling with emotional overwhelm, fear, grief, and dissociation. In response, I’ve been hosting grief support spaces for Iranians, and this meditation emerged from those gatherings.Rooted in the teachings of Valerie Kaur, Holly Truhlar, and my death midwifery mentor Narinder Bazen, this episode is a somatic, ancestral, and heart-centered meditation practice. Please find a quiet, comfortable place to rest. Bring your grief, your tenderness, your longing. It's all welcome here. If you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

In this episode, I discuss the recent Israeli bombings happening throughout Iran and how my work as an Iranian-American death doula can help me support my community in this moment.If you're Iranian, join us for Dard-e Del three times a month. Learn more and signup here. Let us support each other 🫂If you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

Death and grief are deeply political, especially during this moment in history. Listen as I discuss how turning towards our grief and deepening our death work can help us as we live through this time of collapse.❤️‍🩹 Cover image is Palestinian docter Dr. Alaa Al Najjar whose nine children were killed by an Israeli airstrike in GazaIf you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

In this episode, I'm joined by my friend Mallory Dowd. She is a clinical therapist, intuitive tarot reader, and art witch based in Seoul. Together, we will be hosting a community grief circle soon and I wanted to bring her on the podcast to talk about relationship to grief. 🖤Content Warning for discussions about grief from a loss by suicide.Get in touch with Mallory on Instagram @mallorydowd or through her website www.mallorydowd.comIf you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

This episode is all about my sister and our relationship. How we've finally found reconciliation after so many years of guilt and resentment from how we each handled our mom's death.We sat down to record this episode while she was visiting me in Korea with the simple topic of "Let's talk about our grief". I didn't know what to expect because we had never really spoken about our grief together before, but recording this episode brought us so much closer to one another.If you have any strained relationships in your life, I hope this brings you some hope and healing 🌹If you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

In this episode, you'll hear about:● what drew me to deathwork● when I first encountered the term 'death doula'● why I named my podcast 'Halva for the Heart'Have some tissues ready for this one! I was in tears recording it 💙If you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân 

Welcome to the very first episode of Halva for the Heart! We're kicking things off with an episode about a Grief Walk event I'll be hosting for Annual Grief-in-Public Day, and why the act of walking is so valuable for grief care.Plus, I discuss a bit about why community grief care is so important to me and the world I'm trying to help build.If you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...Leave me a 90 second voice noteMessage me on InstagramSend me an emailLearn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.comSubscribe to my weekly newsletter🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân