Halva for the Heart: Dying and Grieving in Diaspora

In this episode of Halva for the Heart: Dying & Grieving in Diaspora , I'm joined by Iranian vocalist, sound practitioner, and grief alchemist Elaheh Roya for a deeply moving conversation about inherited grief, migration, family history, and the ways sound can carry us through what words cannot. Elaheh shares the story of growing up in Iran, discovering her family's hidden history of political...

In this episode of Halva for the Heart: Dying and Grieving in Diaspora , I sit down with grief companion, author, and Human Design guide Uma Girish to explore the intertwined losses of death, migration, home, and belonging. Born and raised in India and now living in the United States, Uma shares the story of her mother's death shortly after her immigration to the U.S., and the profound loneliness...

In this episode, I sit down with Roxanne Cassehgari , a writer, photographer, and artist documenting the Iranian diaspora. We talk about growing up Iranian outside of Iran, navigating mixed identity, and the complicated relationship to a homeland you may not fully know but deeply long for. Roxanne shares about returning to Iran and how it reshaped her understanding of belonging, language, and self...

In this episode of Halva for the Heart , I explore Farvardingan , the ancient Iranian holiday when the fravashis (spirits of the departed) return to visit the living. This year, Farvardingan takes on profound significance as we grapple with unprecedented levels of loss: from war on Iran and regime violence to the ongoing genocide in Palestine and personal grief. I discuss how Farvardingan becomes...

In this special episode of Halva for the Heart, I share a recorded Nowruz meditation for those of us in the Iranian diaspora who are holding the question so many of us are sitting with this year as we watch our homeland be harmed by bombs: Do we celebrate Nowruz? This meditation doesn't offer an easy answer. Instead, it invites us into the deeper purpose of our ancestral rituals, not as performanc...

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 Medic...

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 gather...

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...

In this intimate episode of Halva for the Heart, I share a raw voice memo I recorded two years ago, just moments after I had the experience of my hands had been taken over by my ancestors ✨ It happened when I had sat down to start a knitting project, but I couldn't remember how to cast on. After struggling for awhile and almost getting frustrated, something unexpected happened: my hands just knew...

In this episode of Halva for the Heart , I turn toward Shab-e Yalda, the ancient Iranian winter solstice holiday, and reflect on what it offers us as people living, grieving, and resisting in diaspora. I explore Yalda as a collective vigil through the longest night of the year, and how it initiates Chelleh-ye Bozorg : the 40 coldest, darkest days that mirror grief cycles, mourning traditions, and...

In this episode of Halva for the Heart , I talk through a question I’m asked all the time: What exactly does a death doula do? I share how death work isn’t only for people at the very end of life, it’s for anyone navigating mortality, grief, fear, or the desire to meet death with more intention and clarity. I walk through the many roles a death doula can hold: educator, advocate, companion, househ...

In this episode of  Halva for the Heart , I reflect on  Bloody Aban - the brutal massacre that killed over 1500 Iranian protestors in November of 2019 - and what it means to grieve this atrocity from diaspora six years later. I revisit the fear and confusion of those five days in 2019 when Iran’s internet was shut down, hundreds were killed, and many of us outside the country were feeling utterly...

In this solo episode of  Halva for the Heart , I reflect on the ancient connection between fiber arts and grief care. From slow stitching and mending to knitting and quilting, I explore how our hands hold ancestral wisdom, how the rhythmic, tactile act of making with thread can help us process what our minds cannot. This episode weaves together: reflections on fiber arts as embodied grief care, fr...

In this heartfelt conversation, I sit down with Yarrow Magdalena, a maker, writer, and grief companion living on the east coast of Scotland. Yarrow shares their journey into death work, from training as a death doula in 2019 to navigating profound personal loss after the unexpected passing of their mother in July 2024. Together, we share what it means to tend to grief through handmade practices us...

In this episode of Halva for the Heart , I invite you into the ancient Iranian holiday of Mehregan - a celebration of light, justice, truth, and friendship. I share the mythic story of Kaveh the Blacksmith and Fereydoon’s uprising against the tyrant Zahhak as told in the Shahnameh , and reflect on what these ancestral teachings offer us today: how we resist tyranny, anchor ourselves in community,...

Three years have passed since the Woman Life Freedom uprising erupted in Iran with the death of Jina (Mahsa) Amini. As an Iranian in diaspora, this movement changed me—it filled me with so much hope, and it also left me with heavy grief that I still carry today. In my work as a death doula, I guide people at the end of their lives through a process called a Life Review: reflecting on unfinished bu...

In this episode of Halva for the Heart , I share some tender reflections about home, homeland, and the grief of not quite belonging anywhere. After nearly ten years in Korea, I’ve realized I will always be a guest here—and that realization has stirred up so many questions for me: If not here, then where? What does it mean to feel at home in my body? What does it mean to be a settler on Turtle Isla...

In this episode of Halva for the Heart, we explore a radically different approach to grief—one that invites your inner child to lead the way. I share how my own grief has shown up in playful ways—like dancing with the memory of my mother—and offer an invitation for you to imagine your grief as a childhood friend asking you out on a “play date.” If you’ve ever longed for a lighter, more curious way...

On this episode of  Halva for the Heart , I am thrilled to be interviewing Afghan-Canadian author Mina Sharif. Mina spent 15 years living and working in Kabul, Afghanistan. She’s the author of Your War, Our Lives , a short story collection that brings heart, humor, and nuance to everyday life in Afghanistan during the international occupation. Through her work, she shares the quieter, more human s...

On this episode of Halva for the Heart, I am joined by my friend and fellow death doula Shivani Narang. Shivani is a death worker, a grief worker, and a postpartum, abortion, and post-abortion doula who is deeply connected to their ancestors. Their work is an act of devotion. In this conversation, Shivani and I speak about surrendering to the wisdom of our ancestors and allowing them to guide our...

In this special episode of Halva for the Heart, I offer a guided meditation created specifically for the Iranian diaspora. Since Israel's attack on. Iran, many Iranians—myself included—have been struggling with emotional overwhelm, fear, grief, and dissociation. In response, I’ve been hosting grief support spaces for Iranians, and this meditation emerged from those gatherings. Rooted in the teachi...

In this episode, I discuss the recent Israeli bombings happening throughout Iran and how my work as an Iranian-American death doula can help me support my community in this moment. If you're Iranian, join us for Dard-e Del three times a month. Learn more and signup here . Let us support each other 🫂 If you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you... Leave me a 90 second voice note Mes...

Death and grief are deeply political, especially during this moment in history. Listen as I discuss how turning towards our grief and deepening our death work can help us as we live through this time of collapse. ❤️‍🩹 Cover image is Palestinian docter Dr. Alaa Al Najjar whose nine children were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza If you'd like to share what this episode brought up for you... L...

In this episode, I'm joined by my friend Mallory Dowd. She is a clinical therapist, intuitive tarot reader, and art witch based in Seoul. Together, we will be hosting a community grief circle soon and I wanted to bring her on the podcast to talk about relationship to grief. 🖤 Content Warning for discussions about grief from a loss by suicide. Get in touch with Mallory on Instagram @mallorydowd or...

This episode is all about my sister and our relationship. How we've finally found reconciliation after so many years of guilt and resentment from how we each handled our mom's death. We sat down to record this episode while she was visiting me in Korea with the simple topic of "Let's talk about our grief". I didn't know what to expect because we had never really spoken about our grief together bef...