EP: 75 Widow Wellness with Kirsten Joy Burch of Living Yoga Dallas

ALLWays Another Way

When you think of a widow - I bet an elderly woman comes to mind. Death is a seldom talked about topic and widows and widowers seem to get lost by the wayside. At any age, what do you do when you suddenly lose your spouse? Is it more difficult when you are of an age that people don't expect that to happen? What are the challenges that no one talks about? Will things ever be the same? Where does one go for support? My guest has been through it all. She became a widow at a young age and is no stranger to death. Hear her story of moving through grief and coming out on the other side. You are not alone. Kirsten Joy Burch started her professional career as a medical assistant / office nurse in Dallas and Denton, she ran business operations for a large hospice in Missouri, and came back to Dallas for a career in finance & sales operations in the software industry during the booming late '90s. A wave of death came into her life around 2011, and she lost her step dad, godfather, and father from emphysema, pneumonia, and small cell carcinoma. Two months after her father died in her arms, her husband developed brain cancer. He was 40. She quit her corporate job to become his caregiver. Counseling and Yoga Therapy was her tool to stay functional. A short while after her husband passed away, she began a 26 month intensive studying the science and philosophy behind why the yoga was working so well for her; She was healing, and regaining mental capacity steadily. Kirsten studied ParaYoga with Rod Stryker, and was initiated into the tradition October 2014. She continued her studies in ParaYoga, and the her Ayurveda Lifestyle Counselor certification in 2015 with Arpita Shah of Om Yoga Journey and have certifications in Yoga4Cancer, and Yoga for Anxiety & Depression. Kirsten leverages yoga as medicine, and teaches traditional yoga and ayurveda, meditation, and Yoga Nidra. For privates or private group classes, please contact her directly at [e-mail] or [e-mail] www.allwaysanotherway.com