Siobhan Azgharzadeh joins us on this week’s podcast for a walk with grief.
When she was in her early 30s, Siobhan’s best friend died suddenly. Siobhan followed her beloved friend into the underworld, fully consumed by grief. A month into her grief, she woke up one day unable to see. Doctors looked at her double vision and headaches, her loss of motor function in her legs, and brain scans showing lesions and concluded she had Multiple Sclerosis. Siobhan had trouble accepting this diagnosis, as to her, it seemed obvious that her symptoms were an expression of her almost unendurable loss.
Steroids and immunosuppressant drugs could neither cure nor heal Siobhan, and so she undertook a healing journey guided by myths and stories. She learned to walk with her grief and MS as teachers and companions. Now she walks this sacred path with other pilgrims, as an elder.
More information about Siobhan can be found at Grief Pilgrim. She has multiple offerings coming up soon, including a year-long mentorship program culminating in a pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago. A grief retreat working with story is open to all in July and will feature land sojourns and kintsugi, among other medicine. In August she hosts a retreat for mothers who have lost their children. You can also work with her in an upcoming group container or one-on-one to find a place for your grief to belong.
Siobhan Asgharzadeh, the Grief Pilgrim