Nine Keys & Co: the art, soft-business, activism, and mystery of death work

In this episode What Is So: The Nature of Grief and Surrender , Narinder talks with her friend Melissa Word ( melissaword.com ), a movement artist, your favorite coach, and death worker who moves like a poem, about what happens when we stop trying to manage life and actually let grief have us. They get into that uncomfortable posture of being both soft and sturdy, spine intact, heart open. Th...

What is a death doula, really? In this episode, Narinder unpacks the limits of the most common definition, "non-medical support at the end of life", and invites listeners into a much deeper understanding. With tenderness and clarity, she explores how death work is inherently political. Drawing from over a decade in the field, Narinder shares how her own practice began to reveal the inequities bake...

In this episode of the Nine Keys podcast, Narinder speaks directly to death workers and grief workers who are ready to stop playing it safe with their offerings. She shares why getting specific with your grief events isn’t restrictive, it’s magnetic. From climate grief about plastics to grief groups for people who've endured a best friend breakup, Narinder offers real examples of how themed, boldl...

In this soul-nourishing episode, Narinder is joined by the luminous Arria Deepwater - intuitive healer, writer, and speaker - for a conversation that moves gently. Together, they explore the radical power of deep rest, the wisdom of moving slowly, and the sacred choices we make to honor our bodies and spirits in a world that often demands speed and productivity. They speak candidly about living wi...

In this episode of  Nine Keys , recorded under the potent full moon in Scorpio with the Sun in grounded Taurus, Narinder gets bold, grounded, and beautifully honest. She  runs the numbers, yes, real numbers, on what a sustainable, abundant living wage can look like for death workers outside of institutions, outside of burnout, and outside of the myth that sacred work must mean self-sacri...

In this episode of  Nine Keys , Narinder explores what it truly takes for death workers to become solid infrastructure for new worlds. What happens when our own bodies, soft-businesses, and inner-facing death work become the foundation for cultural transformation? Narinder speaks to the necessity of being well-resourced, boundaried, creative, and in rhythm, so that our death work doesn't beco...

In this episode of  The Nine Keys Podcast , I'm joined by Annie Wilson, the brilliant lead instigator behind the Philadelphia Death and Arts Festival. MAY 29 - JUNE 1 2025 Our conversation is full of information, vision, and deep truth as we explore the beauty and power of weaving deathwork and art into a shared cultural experience, one that invites tenderness, provocation, and collective tra...

If you're just beginning your journey as a death worker, this episode is for you. It’s a grounding love letter of encouragement for you who are answering your first calls, tending your first thresholds, or simply wondering if you're ready. This episode is a pocket-sized companion for your journey—save it for the days you need a little courage and clarity. Reach out for support if needed. Go to www...

In this episode, Narinder invites death workers and grief workers into a deep remembering: you are not here to replicate what has already been done — you are here to dream, to create, to reshape death care itself. Narinder speaks about the quiet trap of seeking approval — how it waters down your vision, drains your energy, and keeps your deepest offerings hidden. She shares personal stories about...

So many healers, artists, and death workers feel called to grief work but hold themselves back—waiting for a certification, a title, or someone to tell them they’re “qualified.” But grief isn’t something you master. It’s something you witness, hold, and walk with. Grief teaches grief. In this episode, Narinder unpacks the myth of expertise in grief work and why you don’t need permission to show up...

Press play and let the unraveling begin. In this episode, Narinder sits down with The Story Doula, Vision Midwife  Dajé Alōh , to explore the wild and real terrain of bringing our visions to life, our soul's work to the world. From the grief that shapes our boldest creations to the authentic expression that leads us to liberation, Dajé invites us into a deeper understanding of what it means t...

Expanding on something said in the previous Nine Keys episode, The Death Worker's Antenna, through storytelling and poetry, Narinder explains the Great Mother's world that is being built through people who listen to her direction. A world where work is balanced with play and rest. Service that comes through devotion to her and not the exploitative ways we are used to working. If you are a hospice...

This episode of Nine Keys is the last episode in a six part series called The Death Healer's Hexagon. If you haven't checked out the previous episodes in this series, you might enjoy going back to part one of the series. Death Work as a Path of Devotion is a topic close to Narinder's heart. Here she is, unscripted, talking about what death work as a path of devotion is, what it requires of us, and...

From bespoke shrouds, to grief memes, to death art, to conceptual art spaces that double as death education spaces, creativity weaves infinitely through death work. In this episode, Narinder talks with artist and death worker Meghan Johnson about the facet of The Death Healer's Hexagon that is Death Work as Art Form and Medium. Death work and art go together seamlessly. Both artists and death work...

You're invited to press your ear up against the studio door and listen in on this lyrical conversation between Narinder and her friend and colleague Melissa Word as they sing of the beauty and the hard realness of Death Work as Culture Midwifery. The conversation grows tendrils that touch on our collective grief, our body's intelligence, the power of keeping prosperity flowing in the eddies of com...

This episode is the third episode in a six part series called The Death Healer's Hexagon: the six facets of death work as Narinder Bazen knows it, sees it, and teaches it. In this episode, Narinder is highlighting the facet of the hexagon that is death work as soft-business. Narinder is joined by her friend, death worker colleague, and business inspiration Yarrow Magdalena . Yarrow is a web design...

Death worker, the entire death work movement in hinging on our own inner-facing death work. Inner-facing death work is one of the facets of The Death Healer's Hexagon, and it's a whopper! This piece of our work greatly informs our outer-facing death and all of the facets of our work. In this episode, Narinder dives deeply into our inner-facing death work with her friend and colleague Mary Grace Al...

In this first episode of the six part series The Death Healer's Hexagon Narinder drops a lot of information about what exactly outer-facing death work is. It's not all the New York Times says it is, it's SO much more!  Not only is Narinder giving information, she's giving permission, clarity and invitations in this episode to death workers and death work curious folks. She's also highlighting...

In this episode of Nine Keys, Narinder talks with death worker colleague, collective work comrade, and fellow magical being Cassie Uhl about her new book Craft Your Own Magic. This episode is loaded with tenderness, insight and healing. Cassie Uhl (she/her) is a magic practitioner, death and energy worker, rites of passage facilitator, artist, and author. She is the author and illus...

Pour yourself a cup of tea, get cozy, and listen to this episode of Nine Keys where Narinder shares some of her death midwifery stories. Maybe there's a treasure for you in this storytelling. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Nine Keys, Narinder shares a calming message for those who are grieving the state of the world and for those who are needing some guidance for sitting in the acceptance of the prognosis of such a state.  Grieving in solitude has its purposes. So many times we can think that we are doing something wrong with our grief, if we prefer to be alone with it. Narinder wan...

In this episode of Nine Keys, Narinder, with humor and grace, takes the charge out of our Death Worker Inner Saboteurs and gives us practical tips on how to invite them along for the ride in our work, but not to give them the wheel. You won't want to miss this episode if you've got a Nagging Nelly keeping you back from letting your death work be its fullest expression. If you find what Narinder sh...

In this episode Narinder takes you on a journey through the countryside, gratitude, and her thoughts on what it's like to be a person in service for over twenty-five years and what she's learned about helping other death workers find their fortification in their service work. Narinder talks a little bit about Dead of Winter - a lighthearted space of respite through the winter for artists, crafters...

In this episode of the Nine Keys podcast, Narinder speaks about death workers talking about natural death and dying while the world's on fire, death work as a soulful path, the life/death/life cycles of death work for the one doing it, and also art making and death themed artist camaraderie. In this episode Narinder talks about Dead of Winter: a place of respite and art making through the winter f...

In this episode of Nine Keys, Narinder talks with Denise Johnson about how serendipitous events surrounding her mother's death four years ago led her to become a very busy end-of-life doula today.  Denise and Narinder met at Denise's mother's bedside three months before her death. Narinder was called in to serve as Ms. Thelma's death midwife. What she didn't know was that she'd end...