Shona Sundhari

I’m Shona…

… a Grief Tender, End of Life Doula, Funeral Celebrant and Way of Council Facilitator

My heart and soul is on fire with the question… ‘How can we create supportive, resilient communities in our world today?’ I hold a vision of humans coming together, living in balance with nature and each other, and of relighting the ancient ways of simple and deep connection.

Through the gathering together of people, weaving ceremony and sacred time, this vision comes alive for me. In my practice of Way of Council, facilitating Grief Tending in Community, and in my role as an End of Life Doula and Funeral Celebrant, I get to share deep space and time with other humans, where tender listening, healing, and compassionate connections are made.

When I work with individuals or families, or community groups, I am continuously reminded of how connected we all are as humans, and how not so very different we are. Different experiences and journeys, however the same threads of life are woven…love, loss, joy, grief, connection, isolation, longings, hopes, disappointments. We all have them.

My training is in Psychology, Primary Education Teaching, Forest School facilitating, Apprentice to Grief and training as an End of Life Doula with Living Well Dying Well and with The Last Word as a Funeral Celebrant. And, most importantly, my training comes from living fully as a human being. I have experienced loss and love, ill health and grief, fear for the world and ecstatic joy at the great beauty of it.

I have apprenticed with Sophy Banks, Jeremy Thres and Dita Vizoso on the Apprenticing to Grief programme and I am mentored by Pippa Bondy in my practice of Way of Council. I feel supported by and connected to the wisdom of many teachers, which include Joanna Macy, Malidoma and Subonfu Some, and Francis Weller.

My life journey has gifted me great joys and also great suffering and heartbreak. This allows me the capacity to listen deeply to another and feel compassion, understanding, and care. It matters to me that human beings feel witnessed, seen, heard, acknowledged in their life journeys, especially the rites of passages of our lives such as death, loss and change. We need supportive spaces, non-judgemental listening, places where people are not trying to fix us. Space to just be and listen to the truth in our heart and share it.

My work is birthed from my own grief and unmet longings, and my great love and belief in the human heart and interconection of us all. In this fast paced world where there are terrible fractures between people and lands, to remember and practice how to stop, listen and be together, to honour moments, stories and passings is essential to keep us connected and hopeful.

Alongside being a deeply feeling human and community gatherer, I love to be outside in nature with my hands in the soil. I am a community food-grower, a tender-of-gardens, a food and medicine forager, a Forest School facilitator and I love to swim in the rivers and sea. I am the Founder, Director and Creatrix of Buzzards and Worms CIC, working with humans in nature. Dance is another soul medicine for me, as is my wonderful dog Haskell.

Please do look around my website and be in touch if you would like to connect.