Grief 2 Growth

We tend to think of grief as something we feel — a heaviness in the heart, a fog in the mind. But what if grief is also something we store, physically, in the body? And what if the breath you take without thinking could be the very thing that sets it free?
In this episode, I talk with Kurtis Lee Thomas — the "Man from the Stars" — about a path to healing that didn't begin in a wellness studio, but in suffering. A five-year stomach condition no doctor could diagnose. The loss of his brother to gun violence. A 2 a.m. encounter with a medium at a gas station that cracked his worldview wide open.
What Kurtis found on the other side of that pain is a practice he calls humanity's original medicine. We explore why talk therapy can only reach so far, what actually happens when the breath quiets the mind's inner critic, and why grief in particular responds to this work like almost nothing else.
If you've done all the "right" things and still feel something stuck inside you, this conversation offers a different doorway — and a lot of hope.

About Kurtis Lee Thomas
Kurtis Lee Thomas is the founder of the global wellness movement Breathwork Detox and Chairman of the Just Breathe Foundation, which has partnered with Nike, NASA, and others to bring mental health solutions to those who need them most. A #1 best-selling author and corporate mindfulness trainer, his work has been featured on the Today Show and Bloomberg, and he was voted the #1 employee well-being provider of 2023. He's the author of Breathwork Detox: How to Thrive in the Age of Anxiety and The World Is Yours: The Secrets Behind The Secret.
Connect with Kurtis:
Website: https://breathworkdetox.com Instagram: @manfromthestars Foundation: https://justbreathe.org Books: Breathwork Detox: How to Thrive in the Age of Anxiety and The World Is Yours: The Secrets Behind The Secret

What We Cover
Why grief lives in the body — and the specific place the emotion of loss gets stored
What really happens in a breathwork session, and why roughly 60% of people end up crying
The mystery illness that no test could explain — and what finally moved it
The science of "transient hypofrontality": how breath quiets the inner critic and opens up clarity
Why breathwork has no barriers to entry, unlike meditation and yoga
The TED Talk that got banned for calling breathwork "the original medicine"
Starseeds, light workers, and the sense that something is shifting in our world
Letting go to let in: the airplane-runway secret behind grief, manifesting, and freedom

Let's Continue the Conversation
What resonated with you in this episode? Have you ever felt grief show up in your body — in your chest, your shoulders, your gut? I'd love to hear your experience.
Head over to the article for this episode at https://grief2growth.substack.com, where you can comment and connect with me and other listeners.
If you're wondering where you are in your own grief, take the free Grief Check-In at https://grief2growth.com/check-in — it's not a test, just a gentle way to understand how grief is showing up for you right now.
You've been listening. You're doing the work. But there's still this feeling that you're circling the same place.
Maybe you've thought about working with me one-on-one. Maybe something's held you back. 
I get that. And I want you to know there's still a place for you.
All of it, pay what you want. You decide what it's worth. Nobody gets turned away because of money.
https://grief2g
The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15.

Visit IANDS.org to register
The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15. 

Visit IANDS.org to register
Want to go deeper? My Substack is where I share solo essays on grief, consciousness, and continuing bonds — thoughts that don't always make it into the podcast. It's also home to a community of listeners who get it, because they're living it too. Free to subscribe. Find it at substack.com/grief2growth.
Support the show
🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏻 Join me on Substack- connect with others and me
👛 Subscribe to Grief 2 Growth Premium (bonus episodes)
📰 Get A Free Gift
📅 Book A Complimentary Discovery Call
📈 Leave A Review

Thanks so much for your support

What if your body isn't broken — it's trying to tell you something?
That's the question at the heart of this conversation with Inna Segal, one of the world's leading voices in energy medicine and body-mind healing. Inna's story didn't begin in a classroom or a clinic. It began in a body that was suffering — chronic back pain, psoriasis, digestive illness — and a loss so devastating it brought everything to a halt: the death of a stillborn child at age 20.
What happened next changed the course of her life, and has since helped hundreds of thousands of people worldwide understand what their bodies are actually saying.
In this episode, Inna and Brian explore the hidden language of physical symptoms, the way grief and trauma embed themselves in the body across generations, and what it actually looks like to heal from the inside out.
Topics covered in this episode:
How Inna healed chronic back pain and psoriasis through self-inquiry and emotional release — with no formal technique
The chiropractor who told her "your body wants to be stuck" — and why that fury became her turning point
The angelic vision she had after losing her child, and how it shaped her spiritual path
How she discovered she could see into other people's bodies — and the first time it was confirmed
The astral body, the etheric body, and why physical symptoms often originate somewhere else entirely
Ancestral grief: how her grandmother's Holocaust survival lived in Inna's digestive system across generations
Why grief that isn't felt gets stored — and what happens when you finally let it move
How Inna processed the loss of her grandmother by finding her qualities in strangers across America
What makes The Secret Language of Your Body different from every other body-mind book
Her masterclasses and the Awaken the Healer Within program
About Inna Segal:
Inna Segal is a pioneer in energy medicine and human consciousness who has spent over 25 years helping people heal physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Her bestselling book The Secret Language of Your Body has sold over a million copies and been translated into 27 languages. She works with trauma survivors, doctors, psychologists, and elite athletes worldwide.
🌐 Website: innasegal.com
Resources mentioned:
The Secret Language of Your Body by Inna Segal — available wherever books are sold
Inna's free masterclasses: innasegal.com → Masterclasses
Awaken the Healer Within — 10-day program at innasegal.com
You've been listening. You're doing the work. But there's still this feeling that you're circling the same place.
Maybe you've thought about working with me one-on-one. Maybe something's held you back. 
I get that. And I want you to know there's still a place for you.
All of it, pay what you want. You decide what it's worth. Nobody gets turned away because of money.
https://grief2g
The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15.

Visit IANDS.org to register
The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15. 

Visit IANDS.org to register
Want to go deeper? My Substack is where I share solo essays on grief, consciousness, and continuing bonds — thoughts that don't always make it into the podcast. It's also home to a community of listeners who get it, because they're living it too. Free to subscribe. Find it at substack.com/grief2growth.
Support the show
🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏻 Join me on Substack- connect with others and me
👛 Subscribe to Grief 2 Growth Premium (bonus episodes)
📰 Get A Free Gift
📅 Book A Complimentary Discovery Call
📈 Leave A Review

Thanks so much for your support

The casseroles arrive. The flowers fill the house. For a few weeks, people show up.
And then they don't.
For most grieving people, the silence that follows the funeral is one of the loneliest parts of loss — and one of the least talked about. In this episode, Brian sits down with Kelly Edmondson, a trauma nurse, grief counselor, and Shining Light mother who lost her son Darius on January 3rd, 2023. Kelly spent years delivering devastating news to families in the ER. She thought she understood grief. Then it happened to her.
What she discovered — in the gap between clinical knowledge and lived experience — became the foundation for Timely Presence, a year-long grief support service that sends meaningful, curated gifts on the days that hit the hardest: the first birthday, the first Mother's Day, the first wedding anniversary without your person.
This conversation is for anyone who has ever wanted to show up for someone grieving but didn't know how — and for anyone who has felt the world move on while they were still standing in the wreckage.
In this episode:
How Kelly's son Darius lived — and what his life continues to mean
What a career in trauma nursing teaches you about grief that lived experience still catches you off guard
How to deliver heartbreaking news with compassion and clarity
Why people go silent around grievers — and why silence does more damage than an imperfect word
What not to say (and what actually helps)
How Timely Presence fills the gap in grief support after the funeral
The first gift Kelly ever sent — and the prisms it left dancing on a wall
About Kelly Edmondson
Kelly Edmondson is a nurse, grief counselor, and the founder of Timely Presence — a year-long grief gift service designed to show up for the bereaved on the dates that matter most throughout the first year of loss. Drawing from her background in trauma care and her own journey through child loss, Kelly created a service that didn't exist before: one that remembers, so the people around you don't have to carry it alone.
🌐 Website: thetimely presence.com 💼 LinkedIn: Kelly Edmondson 📸 Instagram: @the.kelly.edmondson
You've been listening. You're doing the work. But there's still this feeling that you're circling the same place.
Maybe you've thought about working with me one-on-one. Maybe something's held you back. 
I get that. And I want you to know there's still a place for you.
All of it, pay what you want. You decide what it's worth. Nobody gets turned away because of money.
https://grief2g
The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15.

Visit IANDS.org to register
The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15. 

Visit IANDS.org to register
Want to go deeper? My Substack is where I share solo essays on grief, consciousness, and continuing bonds — thoughts that don't always make it into the podcast. It's also home to a community of listeners who get it, because they're living it too. Free to subscribe. Find it at substack.com/grief2growth.
Support the show
🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏻 Join me on Substack- connect with others and me
👛 Subscribe to Grief 2 Growth Premium (bonus episodes)
📰 Get A Free Gift
📅 Book A Complimentary Discovery Call
📈 Leave A Review

Thanks so much for your support

What if the people you love aren't as far away as they seem?

For more than two decades, Dr. Irene Blinston has been quietly studying something most psychologists won't touch — an ancient Greek practice called the psychomanteum. 
Grievers sit in a darkened room with a tilted mirror and open themselves to contact with the other side. The research is staggering: 92% of participants experienced a measurable reduction in grief symptoms, and the relief held for months afterward.

In this conversation, Dr. Blinston and I go somewhere most grief conversations never go. We talk about what happens when ancient wisdom and modern psychology stop arguing and start working together. She shares her doctoral research on adults who saw corporeal apparitions as children — including a thirteen-year-old in South Africa who found himself standing beside Jesus after a car struck his bicycle. She tells me about the woman whose only child was killed in a cycling accident, who walked into the psychomanteum devastated and walked out transformed, carrying a message from her daughter: "You feel the only way to stay connected is through pain. But we're always connected by love."

I got chills. You will too.

We also explore:

🪞 What a psychomanteum is and how the ancient Greeks used it as an Oracle of the Dead
📊 The 92% grief symptom reduction Dr. Blinston documented in her research
👁️ Why corporeal apparitions are so rare — and what makes them different from typical signs
💞 Why 60 to 75% of grieving spouses have after-death contact but won't talk about it
⚖️ How "scientism" became its own dogma and what it's costing grievers today
🌟 Dr. Blinston's own childhood apparition of Jesus and her years of "night school" dreams
🚪 Why she believes the mirror is a portal — and why you cover it when you're done

About Dr. Irene Blinston:

Dr. Irene Blinston is a transpersonal psychologist, independent researcher, and one of the rare voices in mental health who takes the sacred seriously as science. She holds a PhD in transpersonal psychology and is the author of Gazing into the Afterlife: Using the Mystery of the Psychomanteum to Heal Grief in All Its Forms. Her research spans childhood religious apparitions, mirror gazing as a grief intervention, and the convergence between ancient wisdom and modern psychology. She is developing a certification program to train new psychomanteum facilitators.

Connect with Dr. Blinston:

🌐 Website: https://portal2healinggrief.com
📖 Book: Gazing into the Afterlife (available on Amazon and major retailers)

What resonated with you in this episode? Have you had a visitation, a dream, or a moment of presence with someone you've lost? Leave a comment on the article at grief2growth.com — I read every one, and I'd love to hear your story.

If this episode meant something to you, share it with someone who needs to hear that the love doesn't end.
You've been listening. You're doing the work. But there's still this feeling that you're circling the same place.
Maybe you've thought about working with me one-on-one. Maybe something's held you back. 
I get that. And I want you to know there's still a place for you.
All of it, pay what you want. You decide what it's worth. Nobody gets turned away because of money.
https://grief2g
The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15.

Visit IANDS.org to register
The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15. 

Visit IANDS.org to register
Want to go deeper? My Substack is where I share solo essays on grief, consciousness, and continuing bonds — thoughts that don't always make it into the podcast. It's also home to a community of listeners who get it, because they're living it too. Free to subscribe. Find it at substack.com/grief2growth.
Support the show
🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏻 Join me on Substack- connect with others and me
👛 Subscribe to Grief 2 Growth Premium (bonus episodes)
📰 Get A Free Gift
📅 Book A Complimentary Discovery Call
📈 Leave A Review

Thanks so much for your support

What happens when the person you've loved since childhood is suddenly gone — and you're left at 29 with three small children and no idea how to be an adult without them?
Courtney Pray Duke doesn't answer that question with easy comfort. She answers it with her life. Widowed after her husband Andrew was killed in a cycling accident, Courtney walked through the kind of loss that rewrites everything — and came out the other side not unscathed, but transformed.
In this episode, Courtney and Brian explore what grief and faith after losing a spouse actually looks like — not the sanitized version, but the raw, fog-filled, one-step-at-a-time reality. They find real common ground across their different frameworks (Courtney's deep Christian faith and Brian's evidence-based consciousness research) because at the end of the day, they're both after the same thing: hope that holds up.
In this episode we cover:
Who Andrew was — the childhood friend who became her soulmate and the father of her children
The moment the world went black and white — and the long fog that followed
How faith shifted from head knowledge to a true lifeline in the darkest season
The jagged, non-linear nature of grief and why there's no "right" timeline
Signs and synchronicities that made her feel less alone in the wilderness
Whether it's possible — and okay — to love again after losing a spouse
Raising children who remember their father and keeping his memory alive
How her pain became the foundation for her purpose and her new book
About Courtney Pray Duke
Courtney Pray Duke is an author, speaker, and widow who was widowed at 29 after her husband Andrew was killed in a cycling accident, leaving her with three young children. In the years since, she has built a life and a ministry centered on helping others find hope after devastating loss. Her newly released book, And She Got Up: Shattered by Loss, Restored by Jesus, tells her story with the kind of honesty that only comes from someone who has actually been through the fire.
🌐 Website: https://courtneyprayduke.com 📖 And She Got Up — available wherever books are sold

You've been listening. You're doing the work. But there's still this feeling that you're circling the same place.
Maybe you've thought about working with me one-on-one. Maybe something's held you back. 
I get that. And I want you to know there's still a place for you.
All of it, pay what you want. You decide what it's worth. Nobody gets turned away because of money.
https://grief2g
The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15.

Visit IANDS.org to register
The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15. 

Visit IANDS.org to register
Want to go deeper? My Substack is where I share solo essays on grief, consciousness, and continuing bonds — thoughts that don't always make it into the podcast. It's also home to a community of listeners who get it, because they're living it too. Free to subscribe. Find it at substack.com/grief2growth.
Support the show
🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏻 Join me on Substack- connect with others and me
👛 Subscribe to Grief 2 Growth Premium (bonus episodes)
📰 Get A Free Gift
📅 Book A Complimentary Discovery Call
📈 Leave A Review

Thanks so much for your support