Sherri Drake Hypnotherapy And Death Doula Services

05/18/2025

This webinar is for anyone wishing to have a good death and for those who care for them - also Level II of our Death Doula training. Students are welcome to take Level I at a later date.
Please join us!
https://sacredcrossingsinstitute.getlearnworlds.com/course/june-7-8-2025-level-ii-conscious-dying-webinar

“The instruction is organized within a safe, sacred, and loving space that even over zoom, the power, tenderness and spirituality is felt very profoundly, it is absolutely an amazing and unique experience. This is what I have instinctively been looking and hoping for my entire life.” – Clara Forwell

“Olivia creates a sacred container to move through a tremendous amount of content with ease, tenderness and grace.” – Satya Love

10/09/2024

There are so many feeling...so many important words that need to be spoke, and so much love to take in. Don't give up when someone is pushing you away during their decline in health. And during their acceptance of their diagnosis, share your feeling, fear and hopes...

I sat down next to his bed and told him matter-a-factly, “you have to let people help you, you cannot do this on your own anymore.” I watched his eyes fill with tears and felt my own start to sting as they too began to spill over. He was only 42 years old. That was the beginning of our journey t...

08/25/2024

This company is on the US and costs around $5,000 (USF) and takes about 60 days to get back your loved one's compost. According to their site. About 400 pounds of compost is a beautiful gift back to the earth. What do you think of this?

Send a message to learn more

07/10/2024

When people ask me what to say to a grieving friend or family member, I share this. And let me send this reminder as well: grieving doesn't only mean losing someone you love, a person can grieve the loss of a job, their health or a pet. So, tuck this post in the back of your mind and use it when you feel someone needs it. Thank you 💜

instead of saying, "i know what it feels like", let's say "i cannot imagine your heartbreak".

instead of saying, "you're strong, you'll get through this, let's say " you'll hurt, and I'll be here.

instead of saying, "you look like you're doing well, let's say, "how are you holding up today?"

instead of saying, "healing takes time", let's say "healing has no timeline".

instead of saying, "everything happens for a reason, let's say "this must feel so terribly senseless right now".

and when there are no words to say at all, you don't need to try and find some. love speaks in silences too.

~ 'words' by Ullie Kaye Poetry

~ Art by Jennifer Yoswa

05/08/2024

Beautifully written. This is worth a read. Or two, especially if you know someone this relates to.

There’s an order that life is supposed to follow. An order of breaths we are supposed to take, as if we are passing a torch from one generation to the next.

And our torch is supposed to go out before our child’s flame is extinguished. We are supposed to watch them take their first breath. But not their last.

We are supposed to hear the thud-thud of their heart when it starts beating. But never the silence when it stops.

That heart that we once carried inside of us. That breath that we gave them. That life that we kept safe, protected.

So when the order of life is disrupted,
when their torch goes out before yours, it is as if you too have been robbed of your breath and as if your heart has stopped beating as well.

There is nothing that can make it less painful. You would blow out your flame if it meant theirs could burn.

But you can’t. Even though that’s how it should be. So all you can do is carry them inside you - like you did once before. Except now they have to stay in your heart forever.

And though it hurts, know that they are safe there. They are protected.

Because a mother’s love is unending.
Because it burns forever with every breath you take and with every beat your heart makes.

Because a mother’s love is a flame
that can never be extinguished 🧡

Wonderfully written by Becky Hemsley 2023
Beautiful artwork ©️Akira Kusaka

My Garden of Grief

04/12/2024

Beautiful words from Sara Rian ...

Please be gentle with the grief that fills them and the loss that left them empty.

04/03/2024

A beautiful way to see grief...

I held a party the other week and grief came.

She wasn’t invited but she came anyway - barged her way in through the door and settled down like she was here to stay.

And then she introduced me to the friends she’d brought with her - Anger. Fear. Frustration. Guilt. Hopelessness.

And they sang in the loudest voices, took up space in every corner of the room and spoke over anyone else that tried to talk.

They made it messy and loud and uncomfortable.

But finally, they left.

And long afterwards, when I was all alone,
I realised there was still someone here.
Quietly clearing up after the rest.

I asked who she was and she told me, “Love.”

And I assumed that’s why she looked familiar - because I had met her before.
“Or perhaps,” she said, “it’s because I’ve been here the whole time.”

And I was confused then because I hadn’t seen her all evening.

But when I looked more closely,
when I looked into her eyes,
I realised quietly that she had been here.
All the time.

She’d just been dressed as grief.

*****

Becky Hemsley 2023
Image created with Canva

I share this poem a lot because I think it can be quite comforting to think of grief as simply love in disguise ❤

‘Afterparty’ is from the book When I Am Gone
https://a.co/d/35WJcRh

03/15/2024

03/08/2024

Did you know this? 😃
"DID YOU KNOW... that a lot of coffins do not have weight bearing handles?

Many coffins out there on the market have handles that are for aesthetic purposes only - they are simply not designed to bear the weight of a coffin with a human being inside it.

As a result, this makes it much more difficult for families and friends to carry the coffin themselves. Lifting and carrying a full coffin on your shoulders can be very uncomfortable and it is precarious. Which is why most funeral directors 'employ' others to do this.

Not only can this incur an additional financial fee, I believe it also takes something away from those families and friends - another opportunity to be close to the person who has died. To literally bear the weight of their body and physical presence one last time.

I believe strongly that we need to more involved in these rituals. They bring us closer to those we are grieving and therefore to the viscerality of grief itself.

All Wild Heart coffins have load bearing handles and can carry a weight of up to 158kg ⚰️❤️" - Wild Heart Coffins