Align Wellness

11/04/2025

There is room for you.

“There is some strange intimacy between grief and aliveness, some sacred exchange between what seems unbearable and what is most exquisitely alive.”
— Francis Weller

Join us for a Sunday morning in the cemetery, November 9th from 10:00 - 1:00. We will gather in the Bell Tower at Oakland Cemetery for an ancestor-focused grief ritual - grieving together our losses of loved ones, sharing in the griefs of our ancestors, lamenting the loss of the village, ritual, and earth-honoring ancestral practices that keep us grounded, witnessed, and held, holding grief for the larger harms done to and by our people, grieving with our other-than-human kin and Mother Earth. These griefs, and more, are welcome here.

Your facilitators for this ritual will be Melanie Storrusten, Sascha Demerjian, Shonali Banerjee, and Lauren Faulk.

Visit our Rituals page for more general info about our Grief Rituals, and reach out if you have any particular questions about this one. The Bell Tower is ADA-friendly.

Pricing options:

Pay it Forward Rate $200 - This rate is for folks who are able to pay a higher ticket price in order for us to sustainably offer these types of events and continue to make them more accessible to all.

Standard Rate $154 - This rate covers the costs of the event and provides basic compensation to our four facilitators.

Community Rate $108 - There are 10 spots available at our community rate. Our hope is that these spots would go to LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and disabled folks, folks who have recently had disruptions to their income due to our current political reality, or those who otherwise needs some financial assistance.

If our community rate is out of reach for you, please reach out to us and we will try to make accommodations as we are able.

to register, visit: www.alignwellnessatl.com/offerings/p/november-grief-ritual

11/03/2025

Thank you!!! We were nominated by enough folks to be in the Top Five for Best Counseling Services in 2025’s Best of Decaturish! We are touched and as proud as always to be a part of the beautiful and brave work all of our clients and collaborative partners are doing in the world. Voting is open until Nov 15th.

https://www.decaturish.com/best_of_decaturish_2025/ #/gallery?group=525650

11/02/2025

Purposeful action is our antidote to powerlessness and despair. Whether that is a big global action, or a small local action - it is important to find an effort that feels doable in this moment that contributes to the kind of world we want to live in. You may find that some of your efforts feel like banging your head into a wall - I encourage you to find a place to take action that offers less resistance for a while. We do need people to chip away at the wall, but it’s not sustainable to keep up fruitless action long-term. Find an action that allows you to see the impact, and allow that to restore you for a while.

10/31/2025

A seasonal blessing, from me to you: At this time when another world can feel closer, may that closer world be a source of strength and renewal. May we gain access to the storehouse that nourishes us and restores our faith in the foundations of things. May we benefit from the work of those who have come before us. May their victory through struggle inspire us. May we hold our neighbor up as they rest, and may we be held by our community as we rest. May our actions now make us good ancestors to those who will come after us. May we resist the resisting of slowing down. May we turn towards this turning inward. May we learn more deeply about the things that truly matter. May we do less, so that what we do is more meaningful. May we meander and wander and j u s t b e s t i l l . And may we do all these things with grace and ease.

10/31/2025

Your facilitators for our upcoming Grief Ritual will be Sascha Demerjian, Lauren Faulk, Shonali Banerjee, and Melanie Storrusten. We have lovingly crafted this ritual, and we are looking forward to how our ancestors and Grief will show up and move in even more beautiful ways. We are so honored to bring you this offering. May it be of benefit.

10/31/2025

We are a holistic and integrative therapy practice. Holistic means that we see our clients as whole people living within systems whose impact cannot be ignored. Spirituality is a big part of that picture. We define spirituality as any practice or set of beliefs that enhances our connection to God/the Universe/a Higher Power, to others and our rightful place of belonging and balance in this world, and/or to our highest and wisest Self - the place in us that is compassionate, curious, and connected to Source, resilience, hope, and love.

10/29/2025

We define community as the folks who can count on us to show up for them, and we count on to show up for us. Through community, there are gifts of giving and receiving; there is rupture and repair. No matter your circumstance, we must find good hearted folks to be in sustained relationship with.

10/29/2025

Did you know that families used to gather for picnics in cemeteries? If you've ever been to one of Oakland Cemetery's tours, you have experienced yourself that its vibe is more historic and romantic than spooky. One of my core intentions for Grief Rituals are to bring back these communal, ritual practices in a way that is accessible and non-intimidating. These ritual gatherings may seem strange to us now (although, when you come, you may find it feels *familiar*), but at one time they were a very ordinary occurrence. Our goal is for them to feel ordinary again - sacred, but ordinary. Come spend a Sunday morning in the cemetery with us. Bring your griefs.

More info and registration available at

Join us for a Sunday morning in the cemetery, November 9th from 10:00 - 1:00. We will gather in the Bell Tower at Oakland Cemetery for an ancestor-focused grief ritual - grieving together our losses of loved ones, sharing in the griefs of our ancestors, lamenting the loss of the village, ritual, and

10/28/2025

It is both terrifying and relieving in a way to acknowledge and honor the historic reality of this moment we are living in. Terrifying because it’s too much for our minds to even really comprehend, much less cope with. And relieving because it can absolve us of some of the anxiety and shame we are carrying from our current challenges being framed as an individual failing. This failure is systemic. I’m sorry to be a bearer of the news: there are not sufficient strategies to get through it unscathed. This is a time of overwhelm. So, what do we do? In these times, every treatment plan and personal self-care plan should include: strengthening connection to local community in very practical, hands on ways, an exploration of spiritual beliefs and commitment to spiritual practices that help us make meaning and give us access to resilience, and purposeful action in whatever ways we are able.

10/27/2025

What if I know my ancestors did some awful things and I don't want to connect with them? It can be a common question regarding intergenerational work, especially from folks whose immediate ancestors have been members of an oppressing group. To that, my gentle answer is - this disconnection from your older, wise and well ancestors, their blessings and burdens, and their spiritual and communal practices is one of the ways you yourself have been harmed by colonization and the assimilation required by white supremacy and capitalism in all of its forms. It is by reconnecting with these older, healed lineages, that the work of healing and restoration can happen for us, and for the generations in between. All of us have ancestors who have harmed and been harmed, who have oppressed and been oppressed, who have colonized and been colonized. There is much to be grieved, and great potential for healing - even within and among our own multi-stranded lineages. You may be new to ritual, and you may be surprised at how familiar it feels. We welcome into our space only those who feel very safe and supportive. Our rituals are simple – creating beauty, lighting a candle, washing our hands. Our aim is to usher a return to these sacred, everyday communal acts of remembering. We hope you will come with us.

More information and registration available at https://www.alignwellnessatl.com/offerings/p/november-grief-ritual

10/24/2025

Yoga Nidra: A Guided Meditation for sleep - Kaleigh McAfee, AMFT and iRest Level One Teacher, offers an iRest guided meditation for sleep. iRest is a contemporary adaptation of ancient yoga nidra (yogic sleep) practices, and has the goal of helping us “meet each moment of your life with unshakable peace and wellbeing, no matter how challenging or difficult your situation.” Umm, yes please.
This is one of several free guided meditation offerings on our website, our gift to you.

https://www.alignwellnessatl.com/offerings

10/23/2025

When the weather turns colder, and the nights get longer, cultures around the world and throughout time have recognized this as a time of year where those we have lost are closer to us. Mexican Dia de los Mu***os, Celtic Samhain, Catholicism's All Saints Day and All Souls Day, Buddhism's Hungry Ghost Festival, Voudou's Fet Gede, and others. Our Grief Ritual held this November 9th honors this time of year by bringing an ancestral focus to our grieving together. All griefs are welcome. As we dream this ritual into being, themes are emerging: griefs for lost loved ones, griefs for lost connections to lineage and ancestral wisdom, ungrieved griefs of our ancestors, griefs of harms done to our people, and of harms done by our people. As our perspective on grief expands back through time, not only ancestors of blood lineages, but also ancestors in the struggle for liberation and freedom from oppression have RSVP'ed yes. Will you?

https://www.alignwellnessatl.com/offerings/p/november-grief-ritual