S2 E5 I Love You Still: A Memorial Baby Book with Margaret Scofield and Ann Pearson

S3 E4 Guided Relaxation for Holiday Stress

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:

Website:  BirthEaseServices.com /loss-support

Facebook:   Birth Ease Baby Loss Support

Instagram:   @birtheaselossssupport

LinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle Smith

Thank you for listening! Remember, you are not alone in your grief. 

S3 E3 Different Types of 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 Rev. Michelle:

Website:  BirthEaseServices.com /loss-support

Facebook:   Birth Ease Baby Loss Support

Instagram:   @birtheaselossssupport

LinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle Smith

Thank you for listening! Remember, you are not alone in your grief. 

S3 E2 Understanding the Six Stages of 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 help 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 Rev. Michelle:

Website:  BirthEaseServices.com /loss-support

Facebook:   Birth Ease Baby Loss Support

Instagram:   @birtheaselossssupport

LinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle Smith

Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss Training:  birtheseservices.com/training-for-professionals

Thank you for listening! Remember, you are not alone in your grief. 

S3 E1 Good Grief Parenting with Michele Benyo

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 

About Michele: 

Michele Benyo is a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist®, parent mentor, and founder of Good Grief Parenting, whose purpose is to support parents who are raising young bereaved siblings after child loss. Her mission is to be a voice for the youngest of grievers and to help parents nurture and understand the unique needs of children who have lost a sibling in early childhood.

When Michele’s six-year-old son died of cancer, her daughter said, "Mommy, half of me is gone." She was just 3 1/2 years old. Even though Michele was teaching early childhood parenting classes and had a Masters in early childhood education, she didn’t know how best to help her daughter. This inspired her to become the support she had needed most during that time so that parents like her wouldn’t have to go it alone. She’s spent more than 20 years learning all she can about early childhood sibling loss, its lifelong impact on the surviving sibling, and how parents can help their bereaved child grow up whole and happy.

Michele equips parents with tools to help their family heal after child loss, to foster hope, and to build resilience. Parents who work with Michele tap into their own wisdom and gain the insights, skills, and confidence to live forward toward a future bright with possibilities and joy.

Connect with Michele Benyo: 

Website: https://goodgriefparenting.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/goodgriefparenting

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelebenyo/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodgriefparenting/

Connect with Rev. Michelle:

Website:  BirthEaseServices.com /loss-support

Facebook:   Birth Ease Baby Loss Support

Instagram:   @birtheaselossssupport

LinkedIn:  Birth Ease Michelle Smith

Thank you for listening! Remember, you are not alone in your grief. 

S2 E8 Renew- Compassionate Breathing for Healing after Abortion

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 about the Calm Abortion meditations at Instagram @calmabortion   and  Facebook @calmabortion

Learn more about the practice of Tonglen:

Pema Chödrön : Tonglen Meditation

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

Grief After Abortion: healing from unspoken loss