Health

A world-renowned trauma psychologist becomes a recreational circus aerialist and recommends movement for anyone processing grief

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The movement provided a counterbalance to all the emotional weight I was carrying, which helped keep my body strong and healthy even though my heart was in pain.


BALTIMORE, Md. (PRWEB)

Published Author:

World-renowned trauma psychologist Sherry Walling, Ph.D., examines the inner workings of grief through her lens. The author of Touching Two Worlds lost two family members in very different ways. Her personal insight offers a map for rebuilding hope in the aftermath of loss.

Recreational Aerialist:

Sherry Walling, Ph.D., has been internationally recognized for her unique perspective on how movement is a vital tool to help navigate the grieving process. Walling incorporates movement into her holistic therapy. She is a yoga instructor and recreational aerialist who sees movement as a powerful tool to balance brain activity. Stress, trauma, and grief can cause imbalances in neurological activity, and movement can help balance the brain’s neurological circuitry. Walling finds the grieving process must incorporate both the mind and body experiences.


  • Sherry Walling, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, speaker, podcaster, and entrepreneur. Her life’s work is helping high-achieving people navigate painful and complex experiences.

  • Sherry Walling’s podcast, ZenFounder, has been called a “must listen” by both Forbes and Entrepreneur magazines and has been downloaded more than 1 million times.

  • She is an author, and her latest book ‘Touching Two Worlds’ examines her own raw emotions after losing two loved ones: one after a terminal illness, the other by suicide.

  • Her expertise gives insight into the taboo topic of death from an authentic, genuine, and honest viewpoint while providing comfort and a deep understanding of the process.

  • Sherry Walling is also a yoga instructor and recreational aerialist who sees movement as a powerful tool to balance brain activity. Stress, trauma, and grief can cause imbalances in neurological activity, and movement can help balance the brain’s neurological circuitry.

  • Sherry Walling paired with another artist to create a circus show about grief. The show creates a collective space for the expression of grief and allows a shared emotional experience among a community of strangers. The event is beneficial because it encourages creative expression and diminishes isolation.

Dr. Walling sends her patients on a journey to explore non-traditional pathways to wholeness in the aftermath of loss. This exploration led the grieving psychologist on her journey, which ended at an unlikely place: the circus.

Dr. Walling practices what she preaches. As a yoga instructor and recreational aerialist, she finds “clients progress better when they tend to their holistic health. My aerial practice corresponded with the deaths of my father and brother. In my grief process, I needed something light and playful to keep myself from being fully immersed in the sad, heavy coldness of death. The movement provided a counterbalance to all the emotional weight I was carrying, which helped keep my body strong and healthy even though my heart was in pain.”

http://www.sherrywalling.com

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http://www.touchingtwoworlds.com

Available photos and video:

Aerial performance video:

https://vimeo.com/787888941

Highlight reel of conversations about grief

https://vimeo.com/786667288

TEDx video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXa5Mm4x7Ew

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