Interview with
Oceana Sawyer
Oceana’s experience as an End-of-life Doula really intrigued us. We are grateful she took the time to share about some of her life experiences and learnings from her practice. You can hear how Oceana looks at the transition of death with curiosity and grace. She offers insights about grief and rituals by telling of her own important transitioning moments. To her, learning the wisdom from these transitions was often a lesson of discernment.
About our guest
Oceana Sawyer
Oceana Sawyer is a grief and liberation explorer in the liminal spaces of life and death. She is currently working in the realms of embodied grieving, deep ecology and liberatory praxis. Trained as a facilitator, sensuality educator, and in integral counseling, rooted in earth-based spirituality and an intensive study in the expressive arts, she brings a compassionate presence to her work with groups. You can follow her on her website, Patreon, and now on Substack.
Her first book, Life, Death, Grief and the Possibility of Pleasure is available at Kizzy’s Books and More and Amazon.
1. What does it mean to be an Elder?
Oceana starts presenting herself by talking about the community she lives in now and how her life has led her to this place. It was not only by a desire to be in community but also by an inquiry about finding a place to engage into eldership. She shares about the role that rituals play in this process then reflects about what shifted for her in this journey.
“It’s not that I consider my word or ponder what I’m gonna say, it’s not that. It’s more like I am careful to speak into the space that has been called for me to speak from or into.”
— Oceana Sawyer
2. What might adults do to age healthier?
The conversation continues talking about the path of life and how there is no shortcut through it. Learning to process your own lessons is an exercise you have to experience. Oceana pursues by explaining what maturity means for her. You can hear her expand on the kind of discernment that can be nurtured and practiced to get to a healthier space in life.
3. What are some beliefs and experiences associated with dying and death?
Stepping into her experience as an End-of-life Doula, Oceana tells about how practices and rituals help metabolizing the grief of the loss. She gives examples of ways different gestures have impacts on our grieving processes. She then weaves into the conversation what her legacy as an African American woman can come alive for her. At the end, you can hear Oceana explain why she sees death as an important portal to prepare for.
“We don’t have to have a conversation about this. you don’t have to make me feel good that I just said something that impacted you, I don’t care. What would be more interesting to me at this point is : how did it land? and what did it create?”
— Oceana Sawyer
“The potency of the honouring of transitions and how that acknowledgment and the care of transitions makes the maturity in the person. It’s very different from the way I think a lot of younger people think about it like “I need space to bouhou and grieve”. That’s true too, but what are you making of it?”
— Oceana Sawyer