The Institute for Grief Massage Inc. was created to serve massage therapists who feel called to work with grieving clients. Photo by Stefan Steinbauer on Unsplash
Grieving healers, healing grievers, and mission-driven massage therapists. I built this place for you.
You feel called to, or at least curious about, the path of grief and massage therapy. You see the imperfection and impermanence of of every day life - how in an instant, everything can be lost.
Everything can change. You don’t turn away from the so-called darker aspects of being human: grief, suffering and loss. Or…you want to learn how to not turn away.
You can’t — won’t — pretend that grief, suffering and loss don’t exist. You know too much to do that. You have been initiated in some way.
You’ve lived through a loss. Or, you’ve watched someone dear to you as they grieve. Or, perhaps you’ve witnessed grief from further away.
But somehow, you got a sense of how helpless this experience can feel. How important safe places and touchstones can be. How restorative it can be when a gentle touch and nonjudgmental compassion meet grief.
Encountering death, loss and grief isn’t simple.
Being human isn’t simple. This path isn’t simple. Rather, it tugs at the very roots of what it means to be who we are. Like death, like loss, this path challenges us and has the potential to bring us to our knees.
But you weren’t expecting simple.
And so, I deeply honor you for being here.
Whatever you brought you here to this place I’ve built, The Institute for Grief Massage Inc, I honor your journey. You are welcome to read, listen and learn. Run everything I say through your own system: gut check it, use your discernment, be intuitive. And, know that you are in a safe place.
I love teaching the basics of the Grief Massage philosophy + approach to massage therapists who feel called to do this work. Explore the beginner-friendly class “The Joy of Grief Massage” (1st of its kind in our field) when you feel ready to step into working with grieving clients.
It’s important to me that you feel honored and empowered, so I limit in-person/Zoom class sizes & I crafted the fully online class version to feel cozy, warm and personal.
By the end of 2023, I plan to add 1:1 Zoom mentoring to all training packages. Research in other fields has shown that training + mentoring yields much more powerful results than training alone. So, my vision for the future is to work closely with students to support them in integrating the material and putting their calling into action in the world.
My why.
I believe I was meant to offer these teachings in this lifetime, although I never consciously expected to walk this path of honoring and holding space for loss. In fact, I grew up in a family where grief was not honored. But my soul always knew the story of my calling in life.
And when, at the age 24, I suffered the sudden, traumatic death of my brother Chris (the person I loved and trusted the most in the world), my soul began to take center stage and guide me. I was initiated onto this path.
Developing the Grief Massage philosophy + approach did not happen overnight - through an organic process of benefiting from massage while grieving, working with grievers in my community, suffering the sudden, traumatic death of my mother several years after losing my brother, and being guided to important opportunities, this work and this path unfolded. It is my honor to share it with you.
-Aimee Joy Taylor, Founder of The Institute for Grief Massage Inc.
My Bio:
Aimee has been a licensed massage therapist since 2007 and holds a MA in Counseling along with a BA in Psychology (minor in Public Health). She spent her final year of counseling training as a grief counselor intern at a Hospice organization.
She created the Grief Massage modality after massage therapy helped her heal from the sudden and traumatic death of her brother, Chris, in 2005. Her Grief Massage work deepened after the sudden and traumatic suicide death of her mother, Karen, in 2009.
She believes that touch, safety, and unconditional acceptance can play a vital role in creating a kinder world for grieving people. In her work, she explores the grief experience as both deeply personal and profoundly cultural. She believes that Grief Massage is a powerful intervention that can provide relief from the stress, loneliness and isolation that many grievers face.
Her relevant professional experiences in Grief Massage include: 2 time recipient of Community Service grants from the Massage Therapy Foundation (for Grief Massage, 2012/2013) & author of "Massage for the Grieving", an article published in Massage & Bodywork Magazine, September 2017