Death, Rebirth, and Expansion
Warrior Hearts
Two stories of processing loss, and two practices to unleash your Warrior Heart.
Practices inside to unleash your courageous Warrior Heart… even in the darkest moments.
This week cracked us open with two great losses.
We lost our uncle, our dad’s only brother.
We also lost a beloved friend.
Death has a way of rearranging our insides. It pulls us into the deeper questions, the places we don’t always want to look, and it invites us into expansion… if we let it.
So we wanted to share two stories from our hearts to yours. May they remind you of the power inside your own Warrior Heart and offer simple practices to help you rise through the cycles of death, rebirth, and expansion.
What is Here for Me to Learn?
by Jill Emich
Note: This story has nothing to do with our friend who passed this week
The moment I heard he had committed suicide… I spun out.
Was I partially to blame?
My ex, let’s call him V, was a great love of mine. He struggled with addiction, which for him was a symptom of unresolved trauma and shame. The first time I met him, I was deeply intrigued. He was edgy, a little dangerous, wildly creative, and an incredible artist. He came into my restaurant asking to hang his art, and it was an immediate yes to the art and a date with the artist.
We quickly moved into an intense partnership. We lived together, traveled together, dreamed of a future together. I saw his darkness and tried to help, but back then, I didn’t know how to hold my own center inside someone else’s storm. Eventually, after years of trying, we separated. We stayed close friends until he moved to Bali to follow his passion for art.
When he eventually came back to the States, a few years had passed, and I was engaged to the love of my life. V came to Boulder and asked to come over to catch up, but his energy was different… agitated, angry at the world, hardened. It didn’t feel good to have him in my home. I cut the visit short.
A few days later, he disrupted a staff meeting at the new restaurant I was about to open. He asked to borrow my car, and when I said no, I felt sadness… and also anger. Not at him, but at the pain he was carrying. I was opening a restaurant, and I was in a very different place than I once was when I used to try to fix it. I didn’t take it on.
Six months later, the call came.
He had taken his life.
My heart broke wide open.
For him, for his family, and yes, I felt guilt in my belly.
I hosted a memorial at the restaurant and gathered people who had known him long before me. Many had experienced the same darkness, the same unresolved trauma.
And then this memory of him kept looping:
“Energy cannot be created or destroyed… only transformed.” It was something he used to ponder on often.
I heard his voice saying it, almost whispering.
And suddenly, something shifted.
He wanted to begin again.
He chose his destiny.
I couldn’t have saved him. No one could.
What I could do was honor what he gave me.
He taught me to be more carefree.
He’d say, “Why are you clinging to the shore when there’s a whole ocean to explore?”
He inspired me to join him in a morning practice ritual, which I still do every day, a mix of movement and meditation.
Sometimes when I’m scared, I hear his little giggle: “What are you waiting for? You got this, Jill.”
Instead of drowning in sadness or self-blame, I wrote down everything I appreciated about him… everything I learned… everything that expanded me.
This became my practice:
When life cracks open, when grief or shock hits, when something “bad” happens—and when I’m ready—I ask:
What is here for me to learn?
What beauty or wisdom wants to emerge?
Where is the expansion?
It always leads me back to my Warrior Heart.
Staying Open When We Want to Close
by Jessica Emich
Our dad and his brother were inseparable growing up. They lived in a tiny apartment and shared a bed for the first 18 years of their lives. Honestly, that might have been harder than sharing a womb with two sisters for 9 months. 😂
When we were kids, they played basketball together. We’d go to our uncle’s house for dinners, holidays, the whole thing. They were different in a lot of ways, but they were close.
Until they weren’t.
About ten years ago, they let differences get the best of them. Politics. Red vs Blue. Perspectives. And yes, being a die-hard Yankees fan vs. a Mets fan. They let it fracture the relationship.
Last week, dad got the call: His brother might not make it through the week.
Our dad is not a chatty man, but he pulled up his bootstraps and went to the hospital. His brother never opened his eyes, but Dad said he knew his brother knew he was there.
Two days later… he was gone.
His only brother.
A decade of silence between them.
It cracked something open in our dad.
And in us.
It made us wonder:
What if…
What if there’s a way to stay open when we want to close?
What if we paused before allowing our differences to divide us?
What if we practiced seeing beyond the surface?
What if we let our hearts rise to a higher perspective long before someone dies?
When we hold grudges or close off, we don’t just block connection…
We distort the view of who someone really is.
It’s human nature, yes. But so is growth. So is rising.
So is opening… even when it’s uncomfortable.
We are all longing for the same things:
To be seen.
To be heard.
To belong.
This Warrior Heart work is about letting life tenderize us.
It’s about opening the body, not just thinking differently.
It’s about letting the heart guide us toward common ground.
So this month, we invite you to soften, to stay open, to reconnect with someone who feels far away… even if only in your inner world.
Two Warrior Heart Practices
Simple, somatic, and powerful.
1. The “What Is Here for Me to Learn?” Expansion Practice
A Shine journaling ritual for transmuting pain into expansion.
Sit somewhere quiet.
Take 5 slow breaths into your heart space.
Ask yourself:
What is here for me to learn?Write freely for 3–5 minutes.
Then write:
What beauty or wisdom is emerging from this situation?End with 3 breaths, in through your nose, out through your mouth, imagining your heart expanding.
This practice clears shame, softens blame, and opens the door to a higher perspective.
2. The “Staying Open” Relationship Practice
A somatic way to soften toward someone you struggle with.
Bring a person to mind with whom you feel tension, hurt, or distance.
Place your hands on your heart and breathe slowly in and out for one minute.
Ask gently:
What are three positive qualities about this person?Then ask:
How have they helped me grow?Notice any sensation in your body. Imagine softening around it by two percent.
Send them this simple internal blessing:
May you be free. May you be at peace. May we find common ground.
This isn’t about bypassing or forcing reconnection. It’s about unclenching the heart.
A Final Invitation
What might the world look like if more of us stayed open inside our differences?
If we softened instead of hardened?
If we met life with Warrior Hearts instead of armored hearts?
May these practices support you in the times when life cracks open.
May they expand you into your highest expression.
And may we all remember…
We belong to each other.
Join us in the Movement of Unleashing our Warrior Hearts.
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We dedicate our love and this offering to the honoring of the beautiful life and death of two beautiful humans who left this realm this week:
Phillip Emich
Shane Coen
In love and light,
We are Jill & Jessica – the Shine Sisters – your guides to living your shine every day.
With our 40+ years combined experience in certified dance, yoga, reiki and nutrition ~ we are here to build community, empower from within and help you live your best life!
