with Carol McMurrich & Lauren Singer

Grief is a journey that none of us can avoid. Over lifetimes, we inevitably face the loss of ones we love. The holes that are created in the fabric of our lives knit slowly back together over time, and careful attendance to the grief process, especially in the company of others who understand the journey, can facilitate the process. 

During this session, Carol McMurrich and Lauren Singer of Empty Arms Bereavement Support will open a safe circle to gently hold the grief you carry. Then, using several different prompts and writing invitations, Lauren will invite participants to write and share with one another in a partner, small group, and large group format as they feel comfortable. During the two hours we will be together, participants can expect 1-2 short writing exercises along with one more extended invitation. 

Lauren Singer came to Empty Arms following the death of her son Ziggy, who was stillborn at full-term in June of 2021. The death of her son upended her and left her without language, something she often names when describing the suddenness of unexpected grief. We live in a world that often sterilizes and alienates us from death, and to be confronted with it in such an all-consuming way, while others tip-toed quietly around it, avoiding the topic and often saying nothing at all, left her in what felt like one of those dreams where you're screaming but no one can hear or understand you. A few months after Ziggy died, Lauren joined the Empty Arms stillbirth and infant loss group and found that though this new language she was speaking was foreign and painful, there were others who understood her now, and this untranslatable new terrain became less impossible to navigate. Two and a half years into her loss, she began co-facilitating the group with Carol, which has been healing in a multitude of ways--namely it allows her a space to live alongside her son and to celebrate him despite the sadness attached to his small life, and also to help those new to the landmine of infant loss navigate the terrain in a way that hopefully offers just a bit of softness and healing.

In addition to co-facilitating this group, Lauren is a therapist in private practice and has been a part of the writing/literary world for a long time. She co-facilitate another grief group centered on the experiences of bereaved mothers and has been a staff judge (of poetry/essay/book awards) at WinningWriters.com since 2012. In April of this year, her first full-length manuscript of poetry, Raised Ranch, which is an exploration of life after loss, will be published by Game Over Books, and she is currently an attendant of Story Studio's Novel in a Year program, where shevhopes to complete her first book-length work of fiction. As someone who has always used writing as a tool to process emotion, writing through grief has been one of Lauren's main coping skills following her loss.

Note: Pre-registered participants can get a free pass to Sanctuary's Restorative Yoga class, immediately preceding this class (5:30-6:30pm on Friday, January 31). Contact studio@yoga-sanctuary.com to claim your pass. 

Friday, January 31, 7-9pm (in-studio)

Pay-what-you-can, by donation: $0-50*. All proceeds will be donated directly to Empty Arms Bereavement Support. 

*If contributing $0, please reach out to us at studio@yoga-sanctuary.com so we can reserve your spot in class.