Shamanic energy teacher Karen Johnson writes with both hope and compassion in a book described by bestselling author and noted shamanic teacher Alberto Villoldo as "The owner's manual for embracing grief with courage and transforming it into wisdom, to discover the ultimate and lasting gift of joy."
Before Karen experienced grieving for herself, it never occurred to her to see grief as a journey of transformation, or to find the blessings of the grieving process, or to allow herself to grow into the state of living with the wisdom of grief. She had to figure it out by herself. It was a lonely path of self-discovery that was not mainstream and not accepted.
She didn't think she could ever find her way out of despair, but she found a process that worked, a sacred journey and map, that she wants to share with others so they can heal too. She does that in LIVING GRIEVING and urges that instead of staying stuck in the stagnation that so often accompanies grief, we can embrace death to ultimately bloom and grow into a new and better version of ourselves fully supported by our departed loved ones.
The book is structured around practices that are part of the Four Winds Medicine Wheel as developed by Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D. In each chapter, Karen blends her personal story and meaningful experiences with each direction of the Medicine Wheel, offering exercises related to each of the four practices. These exercises are stillness meditations guiding the reader to answer questions related to each practice with radical honesty - meaning no holds barred, nothing held back. The answers are then taken to fire and burned as a shamanic path to rapid transformation. Karen Johnson is a graduate of Georgetown Law Center in Washington, D.C. and holds Master's Degrees in Public Health and Public and International Affairs (JD, MPH, MPIA) from the University of Pittsburgh. Karen is a retired federal administrative law judge and practiced criminal and energy law for over 30 years. She is a former hospital administrator and Fulbright Scholar in Afghanistan. She also is a former U.S. Army officer, Major, USAR (inactive).
