Writing Our Grief

Harlem Wellness Center in Partnership with DD Wordsmith

Geared toward the BIPOC community, Writing Our Grief Workshop, is a writing workshop that combines embodiment practices, stress management, guided meditation and writing to create an environment where participants can honor and grieve the losses of the past year. People of color have been disproportionately affected physically, emotionally and spiritually by the social uprisings and simultaneous pandemic of the past year and a half. There have been very few opportunities to breathe, so to speak. This workshop provides a space to pause, catch our breadth and collectively acknowledge our losses.

This 1/2 day workshop will begin with gentle movement specifically geared toward stress management to provide a more easeful experience. This will lead into a guided meditation where participants can feel centered and grounded. From here we'll begin writing from the heart. There will be a group share for anyone who wishes to participate, and a non-alcoholic toast to our lost loves.

Writing Our Grief is the recipient of a grant through the City Artist Corps Grants program, presented by The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), with support from the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) as well as Queens Theatre

Writing Our Grief Workshop Team:

Diana Diaz is a Native New Yorker, author and educator of writing. She conducts writing workshops throughout New York City and online. Her most recent creative nonfiction appears in the anthologies Acendencia (2020), Latina Outsiders Remaking Latina Identity (2019), which was featured in NBC’s top 15 reads for Hiospanic Heritage Month, and Boricua en la Luna: An Anthology of Puerto Rican Voices (2019). Her work is also featured in Red WheelBarrow and in A Cup of Comfort for Mothers To Be. She is currently a staff writer for Hispanecdotes, for which she serves as editor.. Diana is also a 200 hr certified yoga teacher.

Thai James is an accomplished classical cellist and plays internationally with The SymphoNYChorus in New York City. He provides empowering classes of mindful movement hoping to curate a practice of abundance and self exploration. Thai is an accomplished classical cellist and plays internationally with The SymphoNYChorus in New York City. Thai James is a 500-hr certified yoga teacher based out of Brooklyn. He provides in-person and virtual instruction for private, group and corporate settings.

Sound artist and Harlem Resident Daniel Marcellus Givens is a certified yoga,meditation teacher, and gong & bowls player. He has released several albums of original music for the Aesthetics Label (2000-2010) and has collaborated with Swami Laraaji Nadabrahmananda on several albums (2016-2018). His debut Age was named the record of the year by Italian magazine Blow Up. Daniel has performed internationally and is member of Guadalupe Maravilla’s group of BIPOC sound healers which has held events in 2021 in Socrates Sculpture and Queens Museum. He will be featured at MoMa through 2021-2022 as part of several public events and special healings for cancer patients.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Jewish Community Center (Harlem), 318 West 118th Street, New York, United States