Halva for the Heart: Dying and Grieving in Diaspora Podcast Por Misha | Hafez Death Care arte de portada

Halva for the Heart: Dying and Grieving in Diaspora

Halva for the Heart: Dying and Grieving in Diaspora

De: Misha | Hafez Death Care
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Halva for the Heart is for both the collective in general, and for those of us living in diaspora specifically. Here we will explore topics of grief tending and death care as a way to build the liberated future we envision for our world, as well as what is means to be dying and grieving while living in diaspora, especially for those of us who have roots in the SWANA region. All are welcome here - befarmāid.Copyright Misha Ciencias Sociales Espiritualidad
Episodios
  • Traditional Persian Medicine as Grief Care with Sahar Kaur

    Traditional Persian Medicine as Grief Care with Sahar Kaur
    Feb 17 2026
    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
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    1 h y 14 m
  • Sadeh Meditation for the Martyrs: Holding Grief for Iran in the Darkest Days of Winter

    Sadeh Meditation for the Martyrs: Holding Grief for Iran in the Darkest Days of Winter
    Jan 28 2026
    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 space

    If you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you...
    • Leave me a 90 second voice note
    • Message me on Instagram
    • Send me an email
    Learn more about my work at my website www.hafezdeathcare.com
    Subscribe to my weekly newsletter

    🎵 Theme song: 'Lullaby' by Iranian oud player Negâr Boubân
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    26 m
  • Carrying Iranian Grief with Pauline Yeghnazar: Ancestral Sorrow, Diaspora Grief, and Intergenerational Healing

    Carrying Iranian Grief with Pauline Yeghnazar: Ancestral Sorrow, Diaspora Grief, and Intergenerational Healing
    Jan 17 2026
    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
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    1 h y 10 m
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