Resilience is an Act of Care

September 06, 2022 by Sarah Davis in Season 3, Naila Francis

“We often feel like maybe it's a betrayal of our grief to feel joy or that there's no room in grief for joy, or that it means, if we're grieving the loss of somebody who died that we loved, maybe we're not loving or honoring their memory enough or whatever the stories are that we tell ourselves. But we need joy to hold the heavy and the sad.”
— Naila Francis

This episode is part of the Breathing Wind miniseries titled Joy as Resilience, hosted by Naila Francis. The Joy as Resilience miniseries explores why embracing joy is not frivolous and how cultivating it can help us weather challenging times and open our lives to greater connection and purpose.

In this episode, Naila talks with Sarah Davis, producer, about her miniseries, joy as resilience, and the ways that resilience appeared in her conversations.

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Born into Grief and Fully Embracing Joy with Colleen Attara

August 23, 2022 by Sarah Davis in Season 3, Naila Francis

“I understood really early about when you go through extreme grief, that there's loss in different kinds of ways. It’s not just the person that passed away…It’s all the threads that hold you close.”
— Colleen Attara

In this episode, Naila talks with Colleen Attara about her early experience of grief and how that’s informed her journey as an artist and educator; her willingness to embrace joy in the midst of transformation; and the gift of being a caregiver to her mom, which inspired her altered book art practice.

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Colleen is a storyteller, a photographer, a mixed media artist and at her core, a defiant creative. Her superpower is connecting others to their unique creativity.

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The Body is Everything: Making a Home for Grief and Joy with Simon Baker

August 09, 2022 by Sarah Davis in Season 3, Naila Francis

"…So it's not [about] bypassing the grief... It's about creating space for it, holding it, seeing it, recognizing it, having a conversation with it, you know, and really honoring it. And knowing that underneath that is this place for you to access your joy as well."
— Simone Baker

In this episode, Naila talks with Simone Baker about her earliest experience with grief, how she began to “thaw” from the deep sadness she carried, and how the body can help process both joy and grief.

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As a women’s sexual empowerment coach, Simone Baker supports women in creating a deep sense of wholeness, intimacy, and pleasure through the healing exploration of their sexuality. Her work is trauma informed, rooted in her deep interest in connecting to the body and also combines her skills as a Kundalini yoga teacher and Reiki practitioner through somatic practices, movement, sound, meditation, and so much more. Simone helps women reclaim their wholeness, self love, sense of play, self expression and freedom.

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Devoted to Joy, Devoted to Grief

July 26, 2022 by Sarah Davis in Season 3, Naila Francis, Favorites

"I think you really have to have the sad to also appreciate the beauty."
— Moon Fang

In this episode, Naila talks with Moon Fang, Southern California-based death doula and enthusiast about their work in the death awareness community, their experience with partner loss, and how the difficult moments can help with receiving joy.

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Moon is a queer podcast host of Queer Death Stories and a future co-host of a project called Queering the Moon. They are a writer, a ritual dabbler and a seeker and a singer. A storyteller and a connector. Curiousness is their vice.

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