Uma Girish

UMA GIRISH

Uma Girish is a Grief Guide, Life Purpose Coach and Award-Winning Author. She supports spiritually-oriented women who are grieving a loss whether it is the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, the loss of a dream or watching parent die. She helps them make peace with their pain so they can finally feel a sense of control over their lives.

Her book "Understanding Death: 10 Ways to Inner Peace for the Grieving" is available on Amazon. Her transformational memoir titled "Losing Amma, Finding Home: A Memoir About Love, Loss and Life's Detours" has been published by Hay House. Uma's articles and features have been published in 7 countries and her short stories have won several awards.

She also facilitates a weekly Life Story group at a retirement community to provide a safe space for seniors to share their stories and be validated. As an extension of that experience, she is embarking on a Legacy Books project where the seniors get to "speak" their stories. Uma will record them and put them in book form so their friends and family can benefit from the lasting legacy of their lives.

Uma also hosts a podcast called The Grammar of Grief.

As a hospice volunteer who works with dying people and their bereaved families, Uma gets to experience the raw and vulnerable nature of grief. She constantly reminds us that the stories of regrets and unfinished dreams that come to her from those that are dying bear testimony to what we are meant to focus on before it's too late.

That is the message Uma brings to those who work with her. She is passionate about helping women turn their pain into purpose and find life after loss.

It was her personal loss--that of her mother in India--eight months after she and her family moved to Chicago that led her down the path of grief healing. As she learned the tools she needed to heal her own pain she gained clarity about what she was meant to do with that pain. Using her pain to serve others became her mission.

Watching her mother's lifeless body, Uma was suddenly confronted with the big life questions. Who am I? Why am I here? What am I meant to do with this life? What is really important? In finding answers to those questions from the university of life, Uma embarked on a mission to help her clients find and fuel their dreams by discovering their life purpose...so they could live lives of meaning and joy and die in peace.

UNDERSTANDING DEATH

"Understanding Death: 10 Ways to Inner Peace for the Grieving" was born as a result of Uma's personal search for answers to the top ten questions she had about grief, death and dying. In writing the book, she now believes they are the same ten questions every person mourning the loss of a loved one is confronted with. What happens when we die? Why do bad things happen to good people? Is my loved one lost to me forever? Every section has an affirmation and meditation that helps the reader find more clarity about the information presented and find their own inner truth.

LOSING AMMA

"Losing Amma, Finding Home: A Memoir About Love, Loss and Life's Detours" is Uma's transformational memoir, a Hay House publication due to be released in the spring of 2014. In it she tells the painful story of living through her mother's death and how it changed the entire course of her life, propelling her down a path she had no idea she would be walking. As she navigated a new country and culture, she was also called to navigate the lonely and frightening territory of grief. Uma's memoir is a compelling multicultural tale of how a devastating incident carries within it the seeds of a new beginning, if only we are willing to stop and look.

GRAMMAR OF GRIEF

Her blog "The Grammar of Grief" is on her website www.umagirish.com and contains several articles, books and interviews with those who have lost loved ones and found their way back to life. Also featured are inspirational books that help one process the complex emotions of grief and find peace and comfort. She addressed a variety of topics related to grief such as near-death experiences, caring for the dying, what to say and what not to say to the grieving.

GRIEF GUIDE

As a Grief Guide, I help women heal their grief and move beyond the suffering to a life of joy and meaning by finding the purpose behind their pain. I offer private sessions as well as group coaching programs. A 6-week program I love to teach is FROM GRIEF TO GRATITUDE where I introduce my participants to a variety of healing modalities that help them view their grief through the lens of empowerment. They begin by setting an intention to heal their grief and work through the weeks to dealing with unfinished business, adopting self-care tools, increasing their energy and vibrational frequency, finding their way back to joy and creativity and shape-shifting their grief story to write a story of empowerment, meaning and purpose.

I also help my clients find their life purpose and work on a dream aligned with that purpose through a ten-step Dream Coaching program. Here, they deal with their limiting beliefs and fears, craft a life purpose statement and identify a dream that stems from their purpose. Step-by-step we work together to move the dream forward and set in motion the events and choices that will propel their dream in the world.

As a well-published writer, I am excited to offer workshops and 1:1 consultations to help wannabe writers get started on their dream writing projects.

You can reach me at uma@umagirish.com to discuss how we can work together and how I may best serve you.

BEST SHOW HIGHLIGHTS

Favorite Shows from "The Grammar of Grief" archives:

Judith Redwing Keyssar, Director of the Palliative and End-of-Life care at Jewish Family and Children's Services of the San Francisco Bay Area, discusses how choosing hospice is choosing love. She busts many of the myths that surround hospice care and also offers wonderful tips on how to support someone who is facing death.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/creatingcalmnetwork1/2013/07/17/grammar-of-grief-with-uma-girish

Lo Anne Mayer, author of Celestial Conversations, discusses how transpersonal journaling helped her communicate with her deceased mother and heal a lifelong rift between them. She also used the same journaling technique to communicate with her daughter who took her own life.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/creatingcalmnetwork1/2013/08/21/the-grammar-of-grief-with-uma-girish

Tim Overdiek, whose life was turned upside down in minutes when his wife Jennifer was killed by a speeding cop who ran a red light, talks about the power of forgiveness and the challenges of a widower's lonely life.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/creatingcalmnetwork1/2013/08/29/the-grammar-of-grief-with-uma-girish

Randi Belisomo, WGN Reporter, and advocate of end-of-life conversations shares her personal story how she was called on to make an emotional decision when her husband was dying--because they never discussed Advance Directives when they were well and healthy.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/creatingcalmnetwork1/2013/10/03/the-grammar-of-grief-with-uma-girish

Linda & Allen Anderson, founders of the Angel Animals Network, talk about what our beloved pets teach us even when they choose to leave us. Filled with stories and anecdotes, the Andersons shine a spotlight on our animal angels who teach us about what truly matters.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/creatingcalmnetwork1/2014/01/09/the-grammar-of-grief-with-uma-girish

Christina Rasmussen, author of Second Firsts and founder of an organization by the same name, talks about grief recovery and neuroplasticity. The brain, she explains, can make new neural connections and help us reengage with life.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/creatingcalmnetwork1/2014/01/16/the-grammar-of-grief-with-uma-girish

UMA GIRISH'S FAVORITE BOOKS

1. Still Alice by Lisa Genova

2. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

3. An Invisible Thread: The Story of an 11-year-old panhandler, a busy sales executive and an unlikely meeting with destiny by Laura Schroff

4. Devotion by Dani Shapiro

5. Still Writing by Dani Shapiro

6. Chasing Daylight: How My Forthcoming Death Transformed My Life by Eugene O'Kelly

7. Roots by Alex Haley

8. The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister

9. Arranged Marriage and Other Stories by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

10. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

UMA GIRISH'S WRITING HIGHLIGHTS

* I was selected by the British Council in Chennai (India) to participate in a 5-day residential creative writing workshop with UK's Booker Prize winning author Bernice Rubens.

* I was invited to participate in a writing workshop hosted by Valerie Miner and the United States Consulate in Chennai.

* I won second place in a nationwide short story writing competition hosted by Oxford Books, Penguin India and Reader's Digest.

* My essays have been published in anthologies like Penguin's First Proof, Seasoned Sistahs, The Voices of Alcoholism and More Seasoned Sistahs.

* My Tamil-to-English translation of renowned South Indian author Sivasankari's novella was published as

Facebook is my favorite social media platform because it gives me an opportunity to share inspirational message and enjoy a heart-centered connection with those who resonate with my work. I enjoy Pinterest because of its visual appeal and feel energized by the color and images that inspire, inform and educate.