GRIEF AND LIGHT

Nina Rodriguez
  • 5.0 (30)
  • RELATIONSHIPS

This space was created for you by someone who gets it – your grief, your foundation-shattering reality, and the question of what the heck do we do with the shattered pieces of life and loss around us.It’s also for the listener who wants to better understand their grieving person, and perhaps wants to learn how to help.Now in its fourth season, the Grief and Light podcast features both solo episodes and interviews with first-hand experiencers, authors, and professionals, who shine a light on the spectrum of experiences, feelings, secondary losses, and takeaways.As a bereaved sister, I share my personal story of the sudden loss of my younger brother, only sibling, one day after we celebrated his 32nd birthday. I also delve into how that loss, trauma, and grief catapulted me into a truth-seeking journey, which ultimately led me to answer "the calling" of creating this space I now call Grief and Light.Since launching the first episode on March 30, 2023, the Grief and Light podcast and social platforms have evolved into a powerful resource for grief-informed support, including one-on-one grief guidance, monthly grief circles, community, and much more.With each episode, you can expect open and authentic conversations sharing our truth, and explorations of how to transmute the grief experience into meaning, and even joy.My hope is to make you feel less alone, and to be a beacon of light and source of information for anyone embarking on this journey."We're all just walking each other HOME." - Ram DassThank you for being here.We're in this together.Nina, Yosef's Sister--For more information, visit: griefandlight.com

  1. Food Allergy Anxiety & Chronic Illness | Dr. Amanda Whitehouse on Trauma-Informed Care & Not Feeding Fear

    1D AGO

    Food Allergy Anxiety & Chronic Illness | Dr. Amanda Whitehouse on Trauma-Informed Care & Not Feeding Fear

    What does grief look like when it lives inside a body that can't always feel safe? Dr. Amanda Whitehouse joins Nina to explore food allergy anxiety, trauma, and the layered losses that chronic illness brings. Summary: Grief doesn't only come from death. Sometimes it comes from a diagnosis. From the life you imagined slipping away, from food becoming a source of fear, from watching your child struggle to breathe and feeling helpless. That is grief, too. In this episode, Nina Rodriguez welcomes Dr. Amanda Whitehouse, a licensed psychologist who specializes in food allergy anxiety, trauma, and chronic illness. Dr. Whitehouse is also a mother navigating food allergies firsthand and the host of the Don't Feed the Fear podcast.  Together, they unpack the layered emotional experience of living with food allergies (anaphylaxis), including the grief, the trauma, and the profound work of returning to safety in your own body. They also go deeper. Dr. Whitehouse shares the story of her brother Adam, who died from cancer in 2020, and what his death taught her about closure, connection, and continuing bonds with loved ones beyond physical presence. In this conversation: Why grief in chronic illness is real, and why it often goes unnamedThe critical difference between trauma, anxiety, and fear in the context of food allergies, and why language mattersWhat trauma-informed care looks like for food allergy patients and familiesCommon myths about food allergies debunked (including "avoidance is enough" and "epinephrine is the last resort")How to return agency to yourself and set boundaries with loved ones who don't fully understandThe physical toll of grief on the body, and why that connection mattersDr. Whitehouse's personal grief: losing her brother Adam, the gift of time, and continued bonds in dreamsGratitude as awareness, not positivity, making space for "this AND that"Connect with Dr. Amanda Whitehouse: Website: thefoodallergypsychologist.comInstagram: @thefoodallergypsychologistPodcast: Don't Feed the FearWhether you're living with a food allergy, loving someone who is, or simply navigating a body and a life that grief has changed, this conversation is for Send us Fan Mail Support the show Grief and Light is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, and deeply human experience of loss. We're on a mission to foster a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time.  🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · TalkDeath Readers' Choice Best Podcast 2025 · Women Who Podcast Awards 2025 Winner · Podground Editor's Pick New episodes wherever you watch or listen. Connect with Nina Rodriguez: griefandlight.com@griefandlightResting Grief Face on SubstackThank you for listening!  If this conversation resonated with you: ✅ Share this episode with someone who needs it ✅ Follow Grief and Light so you never miss a conversation ✅ Leave a review! It helps this podcast reach more hearts Disclaimer: griefandlight.com/safetyanddisclaimers

    57 min
  2. Life After Sibling Loss: Identity, Faith & Following Your Destiny | Destiny Rael

    APR 28

    Life After Sibling Loss: Identity, Faith & Following Your Destiny | Destiny Rael

    What happens when grief doesn’t just take your person, but reshapes your identity, your faith, your career, and your sense of what’s possible? In this episode of Grief and Light, Nina Rodriguez sits down with Destiny Rael, a trauma-informed life and grief coach, group facilitator, and sibling loss survivor, for a deeply personal and expansive conversation about what it means to live with grief and still create a meaningful life. Destiny lost her brother Joseph who she describes as her best friend, creative partner, and fellow musician, two days after his 34th birthday in January 2011 to a sudden aortic dissection. She has spent the years since learning how to carry that loss forward without leaving him behind. Together, they explore the duality of grief and joy, the evolution of identity after loss, and how purpose can emerge in the aftermath of devastation. We explore:  Sibling loss and identity: why this type of grief is often overlooked  The coexistence of grief and joy in a purposeful life  Destiny’s story of losing her brother Joseph, and their deep sibling bond The significance of sibling bonds, shared music, and inside jokes  How grief reshapes identity, especially for creatives and performers  Navigating faith, spirituality, and questioning God after loss  The connection between childhood trauma, abuse, and grief  The shift from music career to trauma-informed grief coaching  Supporting the mind, body, and spirit through grief recovery  The role of grief in life transitions, relationships, and personal growth  Tools for support: grief groups, coaching, and creative expressionConnect with Destiny Rael: Website: destinyrael.comIG: @destinyrael"Joseph's Destiny" & MusicYouTube ChannelIf you're navigating grief, sibling loss, or a life that no longer looks like the one you planned, you are not alone. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Grief and Light is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, and deeply human experience of loss. We're on a mission to foster a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time.  🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · TalkDeath Readers' Choice Best Podcast 2025 · Women Who Podcast Awards 2025 Winner · Podground Editor's Pick New episodes wherever you watch or listen. Connect with Nina Rodriguez: griefandlight.com@griefandlightResting Grief Face on SubstackThank you for listening!  If this conversation resonated with you: ✅ Share this episode with someone who needs it ✅ Follow Grief and Light so you never miss a conversation ✅ Leave a review! It helps this podcast reach more hearts Disclaimer: griefandlight.com/safetyanddisclaimers

    59 min
  3. Grief Doesn’t Have to Rule the Show: Living Alongside Compounded Grief with Sylvia Wolfer

    APR 21

    Grief Doesn’t Have to Rule the Show: Living Alongside Compounded Grief with Sylvia Wolfer

    Sylvia Wolfer has lived through a lifetime of loss. Her father died suddenly when she was seven. Her younger brother, Johan, at sixteen. Her older brother, Stefan, in 2019. Her mother in 2023.  She has navigated decades of layered grief. Through neuroscience, mindfulness, and work in the body, she has come to understand that grief can be in your life without running your life. In fact, you get to be "the boss." In this conversation, we explore what it means to live alongside loss without being consumed by it. We talk about the weight of sudden grief, the complexity of family dynamics, and the quiet, ongoing relationship we maintain with those who have died. We Explore: Why grief is so often misunderstood, and why we are not powerless to it The distinct impact of sudden versus anticipated lossHow grief moves differently through sibling bonds, parent-child relationships, and across timeHer practice of “grief appointments," a structure that allows emotion without overwhelmAnger in grief, how to leverage its energy, and what it protects The "body budget" and why supporting the nervous system is foundational Post-traumatic growth, the window of tolerance, and what integration actually looks likeContinued bonds: how each person we've lost lives on differently within us Buddhist grief practices, the dana tradition, and a different relationship to deathIf you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by loss(es), unsure how to move forward, or disconnected from yourself in grief, this conversation offers a deeply human, grounded perspective. Connect with Sylvia Wolfer: WebsiteInstagramLinkedInGuided Meditations by SylviaSibling Grief: The Overlooked LossSend us Fan Mail Support the show Grief and Light is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, and deeply human experience of loss. We're on a mission to foster a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time.  🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · TalkDeath Readers' Choice Best Podcast 2025 · Women Who Podcast Awards 2025 Winner · Podground Editor's Pick New episodes wherever you watch or listen. Connect with Nina Rodriguez: griefandlight.com@griefandlightResting Grief Face on SubstackThank you for listening!  If this conversation resonated with you: ✅ Share this episode with someone who needs it ✅ Follow Grief and Light so you never miss a conversation ✅ Leave a review! It helps this podcast reach more hearts Disclaimer: griefandlight.com/safetyanddisclaimers

    55 min
  4. Grief as the Highest Form of Intelligence: Paula Gasparini-Santos on Trauma, Transformation & Sitting with the Unknown

    APR 14

    Grief as the Highest Form of Intelligence: Paula Gasparini-Santos on Trauma, Transformation & Sitting with the Unknown

    Paula went into "the void," and returned with a question that changed her life: What if grief is actually the highest form of intelligence? In this episode of Grief and Light, I sit down with trauma and grief therapist and artist, Paula Gasparini-Santos, to explore a different way of understanding grief, one where loss becomes a portal, and "the void" transforms us. Paula's work sits at the intersection of trauma therapy and grief, and she brings a framework that honors how intelligent grief actually is. She shares how grief operates as a form of intelligence, and how to access what it's trying to teach us. We go deep on the surprising relationship between grief and trauma, Paula's own journey of developing intimacy with her pain, and the growing use of AI in grief support, what it can genuinely offer, and where it keeps us at arm's length from the real work. We also get into the difference between real curiosity and curiosity that's just fear with better PR.  Paula explains how our information-gathering instinct, especially in grief, often becomes a way to stay safe rather than a way to grow. And she offers practices for building a relationship with emptiness, with silence, with the parts of ourselves we usually try to outrun. If you're looking for a different perspective on grief, and ways to move through, tune in. In this episode: Grief as one of life's highest forms of intelligenceWhy grief and trauma are more connected than we thinkWhat "intimacy with grief" actually looks like in practiceWhat "the void" is, and isn'tHow to trust the unknownAI in grief processing: where it helps and where it doesn'tThe distinction between true curiosity and fear-based seekingLow-dopamine practices for reconnecting with yourselfWhy sitting with emptiness might be exactly what healing requires💬 "If we deny grief as a universal experience, we deny the pivot point for regeneration and expansion to happen." — Paula Gasparini-Santos Connect with Paula Gasparini-Santos:  Art: https://paulagasparini-santos.com/ Work with Paula: https://www.theconsciousconnection.org/ SubstackInstagramTikTokSend us Fan Mail Support the show Grief and Light is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, and deeply human experience of loss. We're on a mission to foster a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time.  🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · TalkDeath Readers' Choice Best Podcast 2025 · Women Who Podcast Awards 2025 Winner · Podground Editor's Pick New episodes wherever you watch or listen. Connect with Nina Rodriguez: griefandlight.com@griefandlightResting Grief Face on SubstackThank you for listening!  If this conversation resonated with you: ✅ Share this episode with someone who needs it ✅ Follow Grief and Light so you never miss a conversation ✅ Leave a review! It helps this podcast reach more hearts Disclaimer: griefandlight.com/safetyanddisclaimers

    53 min
  5. When Loss Becomes Initiation: Somatic Grief, Ancestral Practices, and Sacred Healing with Sundari Malcolm

    APR 7

    When Loss Becomes Initiation: Somatic Grief, Ancestral Practices, and Sacred Healing with Sundari Malcolm

    What if grief wasn't something to survive, but something to move through with presence, ritual, and the full weight of your body? In this episode, Nina Rodriguez sits down with Sundari Malcolm, a birth, grief, and death doula, yoga and breathwork teacher, author of Grief Gems, and founder of A Healing Doula Academy. Raised by Yogi parents, Sundari brings a deeply embodied and ancestrally grounded lens to loss. After seven years caregiving for her mother before losing her to breast cancer at 27, and later losing her father to brain cancer, Sundari wasn't just grief-stricken. She was initiated. This conversation explores what that initiation looks like, and how honoring grief as a sacred passage can transform your relationship with loss, your body, and your lineage. In this episode: Caregiving, anticipatory grief, and identity shifts in young adulthoodGrief as an initiatory and spiritual awakening processThe somatic side of loss and how the body holds griefReclaiming ancestral rituals, altars, and indigenous death practicesWhat a grief or death doula actually doesBreathwork, candle meditation, and practical tools for tending griefNavigating collective grief without losing yourselfChallenging Western death narratives and systemic barriersConnect with Sundari Malcolm:  Website: ahealingdoula.com Book: Grief GemsInstagram: @sundariblissAcademy: A Healing Doula AcademySend us Fan Mail Support the show Grief and Light is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, and deeply human experience of loss. We're on a mission to foster a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time.  🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · TalkDeath Readers' Choice Best Podcast 2025 · Women Who Podcast Awards 2025 Winner · Podground Editor's Pick New episodes wherever you watch or listen. Connect with Nina Rodriguez: griefandlight.com@griefandlightResting Grief Face on SubstackThank you for listening!  If this conversation resonated with you: ✅ Share this episode with someone who needs it ✅ Follow Grief and Light so you never miss a conversation ✅ Leave a review! It helps this podcast reach more hearts Disclaimer: griefandlight.com/safetyanddisclaimers

    1h 10m
  6. The final "goodbye": Estrella Quiroz on losing her father & co-founding Last Farewells

    MAR 31

    The final "goodbye": Estrella Quiroz on losing her father & co-founding Last Farewells

    Before he passed, Estrella's father left her a message worth more than billions: ✨ "I hope a million angels look after you." ✨ Those seven words changed everything. They carried her through grief. They inspired her to travel to over 50 countries. And they ultimately led her to co-found Last Farewells — a platform helping people leave their own meaningful messages for the ones they love, even after they're gone. In this inspiring episode, Estrella Quiroz, self-proclaimed "life enthusiast" and death tech entrepreneur, opens up about the moment her father's passing cracked her world open, and how she transformed that pain into a mission: to help others "leave no words left unspoken." Her story is about more than grief. It's about agency, faith, acts of kindness, and what it really means to leave a legacy. What you'll take away: + Why the words we leave behind matter more than anything else + How faith and personal values can anchor you through unimaginable loss + What "end-of-life planning" looks like when it's driven by love, not fear + How one woman turned heartbreak into a movement 💬 What message would you want to leave behind? 🔔 Subscribe for conversations about purpose, resilience, and living fully, even in the face of loss. Key Topics: The powerful story of Estrella’s father’s voicemail and its influence on her lifeHer experience traveling solo across 50+ countries and how loss shifted her prioritiesThe origins of Last Farewells and its mission to fill the emotional gap in end-of-life planningHow creating last messages can bring peace and agency during griefThe role of faith and spirituality in healing and purposeInsights into death tech: what it is, how it works, and its impactThe importance of authenticity and acts of kindness in content creationPersonal stories of helping others, from an elderly grandmother to terminally ill patientsThe significance of signs, synchronicities, and trusting life's journey Connect with Estrella Quiroz & Last Farewells: lastfarewells.comInstagram: @lastfarewellsapp x @estrellaq95Send us Fan Mail Support the show Grief and Light is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, and deeply human experience of loss. We're on a mission to foster a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time.  🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · TalkDeath Readers' Choice Best Podcast 2025 · Women Who Podcast Awards 2025 Winner · Podground Editor's Pick New episodes wherever you watch or listen. Connect with Nina Rodriguez: griefandlight.com@griefandlightResting Grief Face on SubstackThank you for listening!  If this conversation resonated with you: ✅ Share this episode with someone who needs it ✅ Follow Grief and Light so you never miss a conversation ✅ Leave a review! It helps this podcast reach more hearts Disclaimer: griefandlight.com/safetyanddisclaimers

    59 min

  7. MAR 20

    The Family Tree That Ends With Me: Reclaiming Legacy as a Childless, Childfree Woman

    In this deeply personal reflection, Nina Rodriguez shares her experience with the profound grief and loss of her only sibling, and the realization that the family tree may end with her. This emotional healing journey is further explored through her contributions to Get Griefy Magazine, offering a space for shared understanding. Nina Rodriguez shares a powerful reflection on redefining legacy beyond lineage, revealing how our influence, choices, and relationships create a ripple effect that endures long after we're gone. She dives into the societal stories that tie worth to continuity and permanence, and explores how legacy is actually about the imprint we leave: the lives we touch, the courage we inspire, and the rooms we fill with our presence. Key Points: Why the traditional family tree is only one metaphor for continuityHow our influence extends through relationships, not just DNASurprising insights into the fragility of digital memories and the illusions of permanenceIn a world where milestones like marriage and children are no longer guaranteed, Nina offers a liberating perspective: Legacy is less about who continues your bloodline and more about the ways your life radiates outward.  She challenges you to consider how your unique story, actions, and relationships form a lasting imprint, even if you never become a mother or an ancestor in the traditional sense. How does your life echo in the lives of other simply by the way in which you exist? Key topics: The burden of being the "last" in a family line after the loss of loved onesThe societal narrative of legacy tied to reproduction and lineageThe distinction between lineage (biological) and legacy (relational, influence)How non-biological relationships shape our sense of legacyThe impermanence of digital memories and the illusion of permanencyLegacy as diffusion, participation, and ripple effect rather than extensionThe importance of intentional impact over recognition or recognitionPractical ways to reframe personal legacy in a shifting worldRead on Get Griefy Magazine: The Family Tree That Ends With Me Visit getgriefymagazine.com Send us Fan Mail Support the show Grief and Light is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, and deeply human experience of loss. We're on a mission to foster a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time.  🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · TalkDeath Readers' Choice Best Podcast 2025 · Women Who Podcast Awards 2025 Winner · Podground Editor's Pick New episodes wherever you watch or listen. Connect with Nina Rodriguez: griefandlight.com@griefandlightResting Grief Face on SubstackThank you for listening!  If this conversation resonated with you: ✅ Share this episode with someone who needs it ✅ Follow Grief and Light so you never miss a conversation ✅ Leave a review! It helps this podcast reach more hearts Disclaimer: griefandlight.com/safetyanddisclaimers

    10 min
  8. Brotherhood Is Medicine: How Broreavement Is Changing the Way Boys and Men Grieve | Podcasthon 2026

    MAR 18

    Brotherhood Is Medicine: How Broreavement Is Changing the Way Boys and Men Grieve | Podcasthon 2026

    Grief and Light is proud to participate in Podcasthon 2026, the world's largest podcast charity initiative, joining podcasters across the globe to amplify the organizations doing work that the world needs to hear about. Learn more: podcasthon.org *** What happens when men are never given permission to grieve? In this episode, we hear from Daniel Ratchford, founder and president of Broreavement, and Quaheem Brooks, two men who are building something life-affirming: a brotherhood for men and boys of color navigating the turbulent, often silent, experience of grief and loss. Broreavement was born from personal pain and transformed into a mission. A mission to break the stigma around men's grief, create safe spaces for emotional expression, and prove that healing doesn't have to happen alone. This episode celebrates the power of shared stories, safe spaces, and community efforts to heal grief and build resilience among men and youth. If this message resonates with you, consider supporting or joining Broreavement’s mission to expand the healing brotherhood. This conversation explores: The origin story behind Broreavement and the loss that sparked it Why men and boys of color are often the most underserved when it comes to grief support How vulnerability, trust, and brotherhood become tools for healing The role of everyday activities (like cooking, sports, art, finances, fishing) in creating connectionCommunity programs like prom suit drives and after-school initiatives that offer hope to young people in grief Their vision for taking Broreavement national, and eventually global How you can support this work and create ripple effects of healing in your own communityThis one is for every boy and man who was told to hold it together. Resources & Links:  broreavement.org🌟Donate Here🌟@broreavementFrom workshops to recreational outings to educational resources, Broreavement meets men and boys where they are, offering practical tools, emotional guidance, and real community to those navigating the loss of a loved one. Because healing looks d Send us Fan Mail Support the show Grief and Light is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, and deeply human experience of loss. We're on a mission to foster a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time.  🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · TalkDeath Readers' Choice Best Podcast 2025 · Women Who Podcast Awards 2025 Winner · Podground Editor's Pick New episodes wherever you watch or listen. Connect with Nina Rodriguez: griefandlight.com@griefandlightResting Grief Face on SubstackThank you for listening!  If this conversation resonated with you: ✅ Share this episode with someone who needs it ✅ Follow Grief and Light so you never miss a conversation ✅ Leave a review! It helps this podcast reach more hearts Disclaimer: griefandlight.com/safetyanddisclaimers

    45 min
See All (116)

Trailer

5
out of 5
30 Ratings

About

This space was created for you by someone who gets it – your grief, your foundation-shattering reality, and the question of what the heck do we do with the shattered pieces of life and loss around us.It’s also for the listener who wants to better understand their grieving person, and perhaps wants to learn how to help.Now in its fourth season, the Grief and Light podcast features both solo episodes and interviews with first-hand experiencers, authors, and professionals, who shine a light on the spectrum of experiences, feelings, secondary losses, and takeaways.As a bereaved sister, I share my personal story of the sudden loss of my younger brother, only sibling, one day after we celebrated his 32nd birthday. I also delve into how that loss, trauma, and grief catapulted me into a truth-seeking journey, which ultimately led me to answer "the calling" of creating this space I now call Grief and Light.Since launching the first episode on March 30, 2023, the Grief and Light podcast and social platforms have evolved into a powerful resource for grief-informed support, including one-on-one grief guidance, monthly grief circles, community, and much more.With each episode, you can expect open and authentic conversations sharing our truth, and explorations of how to transmute the grief experience into meaning, and even joy.My hope is to make you feel less alone, and to be a beacon of light and source of information for anyone embarking on this journey."We're all just walking each other HOME." - Ram DassThank you for being here.We're in this together.Nina, Yosef's Sister--For more information, visit: griefandlight.com

Information

  • Creator
    Nina Rodriguez
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    116
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 GRIEF AND LIGHT
  • Show Website
    GRIEF AND LIGHT

You Might Also Like