The holiday season can be especially tender when you are grieving. Familiar traditions, gatherings, and quiet moments can intensify the ache of missing someone you love. Even well meaning silence from others can make the loss feel heavier and more isolating.

In this episode of the Mindfulness and Grief Podcast, thanatologist, yoga therapist, and author Heather Stang talks honestly about why the holidays can be so painful, the social awkwardness many grieving people experience, and how meditation can offer a quiet place of connection when your heart feels full. Heather introduces the concept of continuing bonds and shares the Life Imprint practice, originally developed by C. J. Vickio and taught by Robert Neimeyer, as a way to honor love without forcing cheer or closure.

This episode points you to a gentle guided meditation that can be practiced during the holidays or anytime you are missing your person. The reflection can also be used as a journaling practice and is suitable for both simple and complicated relationships.

🎁 Download your free Grief Sensitive Holiday Planner:
HeatherStang.com/holiday-planner
Includes mindful prompts and reflection exercises to help you plan the holiday season with care and compassion.

You will learn:

• Why missing your loved one can feel sharper during the holidays
• How silence and avoidance from others can add to grief, even when intentions are good
• What continuing bonds means and why many people find it comforting
• How the Life Imprint practice supports connection, even in complicated relationships
• Why meditation can help you sit with longing without becoming overwhelmed
• How this practice fits into the Mindfulness and Grief System, Step Six, Continuing Bonds
• Ways to use this reflection as a meditation or journaling practice

If you find this episode helpful, please follow the podcast and consider leaving a review so others can find support when they need it most.

Thanksgiving can be an emotionally complex day when you are grieving. Even simple traditions or familiar gatherings can feel overwhelming when your heart is carrying loss. Whether this is your first Thanksgiving without your person or one of many, it is normal to feel tender, unsure, or stretched thin by expectations and family dynamics.

In this episode of the Mindfulness and Grief Podcast, thanatologist, yoga therapist, and author Heather Stang shares seven mindful tips to help you navigate Thanksgiving before the day arrives, during the gathering itself, and afterward when everything settles again. Through personal stories, trauma sensitive guidance, and practical mindfulness tools, Heather offers a grounded way to care for your heart and reduce unnecessary suffering on this meaningful holiday.

🎁 Download your free Grief Sensitive Winter Holiday Planner:
heatherstang.com/holiday-help
Includes mindful prompts and reflection exercises to help you plan for the holidays with clarity and compassion.

You will learn:

• How emotional tension builds before Thanksgiving and how mindfulness can help you recognise it early
• A simple visualization practice to uncover what may feel difficult on the holiday
• How to understand and express your needs clearly, including a real life story of how one family transformed their day
• Personal rituals that can bring comfort and meaning during Thanksgiving
• Why children's grief is often overlooked, how to talk with them honestly, and how to support them at their own pace
• How different grieving styles, such as instrumental and intuitive grief, shape family dynamics during the holidays
• What to expect after Thanksgiving, why an emotional drop is normal, and how to tend to yourself with care

If you find this episode helpful, please follow the podcast and consider leaving a review so others can find support when they need it most.

Holiday invitations can feel complicated when you are grieving. Even the kindest offers can bring pressure, guilt, or a sense that you should show up in ways your heart simply cannot. Whether this is your first holiday without your person or your twentieth, it is normal to feel overwhelmed by expectations, social demands, and the weight of what has changed.

In this episode of the Mindfulness & Grief Podcast, thanatologist, yoga therapist, and author Heather Stang explores why saying no is so difficult during grief and how you can make compassionate choices about the gatherings you are invited to. With grounded, practical guidance, Heather walks you through a mindful four step process to help you decide what to attend, what to decline, and how to communicate your needs with honesty and kindness.

🎁 Download your free Grief-Sensitive Winter Holiday Planner: heatherstang.com/holiday-help filled with mindful prompts and reflection exercises to guide you through the season.

You will learn:

• Why holiday invitations feel emotionally charged when you are grieving
• How to recognise internal and external pressures that make saying no difficult
• A simple four step method to help you decide what you can manage this year
• How to decline invitations in ways that protect relationships and your wellbeing
• Gentle ways to support yourself if you choose to say yes
• Why this year is only this year, and how grief shapes but does not define future holidays