This is Part Two of my Colorado Mountain Pilgrimage series — a journey into grief, self-discovery, and awakening the medicine within. Each section is its own chapter. Start with Part One here.

The Climb That Cracked Me Open

When I set out on my Colorado mountain pilgrimage, I thought I knew what I was there for. 

12,000 feet of elevation.

2,400+ feet of gain.

35ish pounds strapped to my back.

It was supposed to be a hike.

A challenge.

A test of endurance and grit.

With every steep incline, I returned to my breath. Each inhale, a prayer. Each exhale, a release. The mountain reminded me that my breath is always my anchor.

But somewhere between the switchbacks and the silence, I realized the mountain had something else planned. 

It didn’t just want my sweat.

It wanted my tears. 💦

The Quiet Arrival of Grief

Grief isn’t just about death. (and yes, thats really freaking hard!)

• It’s also the end of a relationship. 💔
• The unraveling of a marriage.
• The career you’ve outgrown.
• The version of you that no longer exists.

On this trail, the mountain ⛰️ became my witness.

It held me as I wept for the woman I was in Costa Rica 🇨🇷

the one who built a beautiful life by the ocean,

who ignored the whispers to leave,

and who didn’t yet know how to choose herself.

😢 I cried for the parts of me I had abandoned.

For the stories I had clung to.

For the chapters that had closed before I was ready to let them go.

You see, Grief cracked me wide open.

And what poured out was medicine I didn’t even know I was ready to receive❤️

The Lessons Grief Taught Me

Grief doesn’t just take, it also gives.

If you’re willing to sit with it, to lean into the discomfort instead of numbing or running, grief will show you its gifts. 🎁 

Here’s what the mountain whispered to me, step after step, breath after breath:

1️⃣ Within grief lives forgiveness. 🕊️

The soft, quiet kind that doesn’t ask you to forget, but allows you to release.

2️⃣ Within forgiveness lives release.

The letting go of timelines, expectations & the heaviness you’ve carried for so long.

3️⃣ Within release lives celebration.

A reminder to honor every version of you — even the ones that hurt. 

4️⃣ Within celebration lives self-trust. 🦋

Every time you meet your pain with tenderness instead of judgment, you build trust in your own strength.

5️⃣ And within self-trust lives choice. 🪶

The power to choose again and to opportunity create new stories.

Grief as a Portal to the Medicine Within

That mountain taught me that grief doesn’t have to be heavy.

It can be sacred.

It can be a bridge.

Alot like in my breathwork practice, the mountain showed me that the medicine rises when you create space to feel it all — the tears, the stillness, the quiet. Each breath cracked me open a little more, teaching me that healing begins in presence.

It can be the portal that brings you home to yourself...to the parts you forgot, the ones you buried, the ones you thought you’d lost.

Grief, I learned, is not an ending.

It’s an opening.

And when you allow it, it becomes medicine💊

not because it erases the pain, but because it can transform you.

Your Invitation

If you’re holding grief — for a person, for a chapter, for a version of yourself that no longer exists — this is your invitation: 

🌿 Sit with it.

🌙 Let it rise.

🪶 Let it teach you.

Because within grief lives forgiveness.

Within forgiveness lives release.

And within release, the quiet, undeniable knowing…that you are already whole.

This pilgrimage deepened my devotion to the work I guide others through — using breathwork, microdosing, and the medicine of nature to remember that everything we’re searching for has always been within.

Grief. Release. Medicine. ➡️  [Here's how it unfolded in real time...]