- About Loren Arienne Uecker
Compassion & Presence
Lying next to my own mother as she prepared to cross over, I awoke to a recognition of death as my life-teacher, as well as to a call to the work of life & death transitions. Bearing witness in this way, I felt as if one of my two eyes, previously shrouded, was given sight. In the inextricable dance between the energies of life and death, I had been gifted the sight of death, and could now see Life more clearly.
My longing to stay close to the Mystery I witnessed my mother die into, led me on a 22-year journey, beginning with hospice volunteering, unfolding into graduate interfaith chaplaincy studies at Naropa University’s Divinity School, followed by 15 years of serving as a professional hospice Chaplain & Spiritual Counselor. Along the journey, I became steeped in two decades of study in 4 primary areas of focus: body-oriented psychotherapies; mindfulness meditation & Buddhist-influenced contemplative practices; shamanic healing modalities; grief & loss counseling.
I believe that the literal/physical and metaphorical death processes that are embedded in the fabric of Life, hold vital intelligence and deep medicine for those undergoing these transformations, as well as for the ‘village’ that supports and surrounds them. This medicine is indispensable to our collective capacity to live and understand Life fully, as well as to our evolution as beings that bridge the realms of Nature and Spirit.
It is my honor and purpose, to serve the return of life-death thresholds to their place in the totality of life, and to support those undergoing such transformative processes in drawing close to the spiritual journey that these passages invite and extend. It is my great joy to walk beside you as, together, we approach this Mystery ...
Trainings & Accreditations
Core Education
**Loren is registered as an Unlicensed Psychotherapist in the State of CO.
- Completed Masters of Divinity degree from Naropa University, 2007.
- Received ordination as a Buddhist Minister by the IOBM (International Order of Buddhist Monks), 2014.
- Qualified Meditation Instructor since 2006.
- Level IV Healing Touch practitioner.
Additional Trainings
- Currently pursuing Death & Grief Studies Certification from the Center for Loss & Life Transition, Fort Collins, CO.
- Completed 3-year Professional Shamanic Practitioner training, "The Art & Practice of Shamanic Healing" with Julie M. Kramer, Hygiene, CO., September 2019.
- Body-Mind Psychotherapy training with Susan Aposhyan, Boulder, CO, 2013-2015.
- Psychopomp Training, Boulder, CO, 2012.
- "Sacred Call of The Healer" training, Boulder, CO, 2011-2012.
- Somato-Respiratory Integration (SRI), Wellness Educator Program, Westminster, CO, 2011.
- Completed 5 units of Clinical Pastoral Education as hospital resident chaplain at St. Anthony’s Hospitals, Denver, 2007-2008.
- Advanced Buddhist Seminary, Dharma Ocean, Crestone, CO, 2005.
- Formal apprenticeship with Janet Adler in the Discipline of Authentic Movement, Sebastopol, CA. 1999-2004.
Loren's Offerings
When we approach a transformative threshold in our lives, or as we prepare for our deaths, we are moved out of our sense of individual self and beckoned into something larger, something Beyond....
Unfolding along this journey, the veils that ordinarily keep us separate from spiritual Source, become thin, and we are drawn near the Mystery. Perhaps as near as we have ever been.
When offered support to access this unique proximity to Source, we find it provides a deep well of sustenance and comfort, expanding our trust and capacity to move toward the unknown and the unfamiliar dimensions of the living and dying experience. In this way, we experience our fear, our grief, our losses, held by something greater, something at the very Heart of the spiritual world, to which we ultimately Belong.
End-of-Life Counselor
Dying holds the potential to be the utmost spiritually transformative event in the human life-cycle...
Yet we often lack the adequate support and road maps to accompany us on the journey and help us make sense of the unrecognizable experiences that can accompany this threshold. Spiritually centered end-of-life counseling offers a creative, heart-centered environment in which these experiences can be contextualized and explored, thus inviting the potential for deep spiritual healing where physical recovery or curing may no longer be possible.
Preparing well for this profound passage, requires touching all that we love along the way. This process can ask of us tremendous courage and willingness to stay present with life. As a counselor and guide, familiar with this territory, I walk alongside you, facilitating the voices of this unique transition to surface, bearing witness to and supporting the integration of what arises.
What is asking for release? What is ready to be celebrated? What gifts are yet to be given? What do I need to grieve? How can I allow myself to deeply receive from those who love me? How do I want to live as I am dying? How can I draw close to my spiritual support?
These and other important questions may arise. Together, we will create a sacred vessel to hold the invitations of this time, tending to the unknowns within a deep well of presence and resource.
Sacred Passage Midwife
Like birth, death is a labor that ushers us across sacred waters...
As a midwife to the dying, I am skilled and adept in navigating the final waters of life, and act as an indispensable guide for the dying and their family across the final threshold.
Together, we create a sacred space where:
- Vigil can be tended
- Dying can happen with greater ease and equanimity
- Presence is heightened
- Important healing between the dying and their loved ones can clarify and take place in a mindful & loving environment
Adding ceremony and ritual, we:- Create beauty and nourishment
- Honor the spiritual dimensions of the end-of-life threshold
- Invoke the participation of sacred elements and principles that enrich, protect and lend their support to the vessel of care surrounding the dying
- Mark the sacred passage
Grief Work
Grief is the very process by which we transform our lives from a path interconnected with our beloved, to one wherein we can rediscover joy, vitality and engagement, while still honoring their absence...
The loss of someone we love can be one of the most disorienting and trying experiences of a lifetime. Following a loss, the support of the family, friends and healthcare providers who have been our community, return to their lives...yet we are still grieving. If we have been a primary caregiver for our loved one, then we may also grieve the loss of purpose that we found in caregiving, a purpose perhaps more singular and meaningful than any we have felt previously.
Grief is the journey by which we reorganize and rediscover our purpose and identity in life. It is not a sign that something is wrong with us. Rather, it is a sign that the processes of nature are working in and on us accurately. The deeper our attachment to our beloved, the deeper this unwinding must necessarily be. Spiritual Counseling witnesses grief as a sacred space that has a vital place in the unfoldment of a fulfilling life. It supports the bereaved to find resources within the grief that allow space from, and greater flexibility within, its intensity. This leads to increased perspective and meaning-making and hones our navigation skills as we engage the delicate dance between our lives and hearts that grief requires.
Shamanic Healing
When we approach a healing crises or transformative threshold in our lives, our egoic sense of self becomes more porous, and as a consequence, the veils that usually appear to separate us from Source, become thin. This precious doorway lends us access to realms of spiritual and energetic assistance, guidance and support that play a vital part in our growth and healing as human beings.
Shamanism is an ancient healing modality that acknowledges the profound wisdom and intelligence of the life-force energy that infuses and animates all things, material and spiritual, alike. When we engage spiritual healing from a shamanic point of view, we turn our attention to this energetic world, “unseen” to our physical senses, yet very much alive, participating and interpenetrating our known reality. As we do so, we find countless energies and forces, whose very purpose is to assist us in understanding and navigating, living and evolving fully as spiritual beings in a physical world.
Through the wisdom and unconditional witness of these forces of nature and spirit, we gain insight into our soul’s purpose here, into what may be hindering or blocking the fullest expression of our soul’s medicine, and how to bring healing to that which no longer serves us.
Shamanism offers us ritual healing methods with which we can attend to this transformational process, including but not limited to:
- Divination
- Guided Journeying
- Soul Retrieval
- Psychopomp
- Compassionate De-possession
- Curse Unraveling
- Ceremony
My personal medicine as a shamanic practitioner is deeply rooted in empowering my clients to gain greater access to, and facility in, the unseen world of Spirit, such that it becomes an ever-deepening well of connection, wisdom, resource, vitality, guidance and blessing for their lives and hearts. In service of this, my support is grounded in giving you the tools you need to gain a sense of proficiency in navigating the unseen, and deepening your relationship to these forces.
The ‘helping spirits’ and beings of these worlds are deeply invested in supporting your healing and evolution. With their assistance, a healing map will gradually become revealed to us, consisting of the shamanic healing methods, rituals and ceremonies that will help you draw closer to your true potential.
End-of-Life Educator
Loren has a passion for teaching and has developed and taught spiritual care models for hospice volunteer and staff across multiple organizations. She currently serves as core faculty for the Willow Farm Contemplative End-of-Life Care training program, educating hospice professionals, death doulas, volunteers & caregivers, and teaches regularly for Agape Hospice.
Ongoing Trainings
"Loren's capacity to hold a group through the curiosities that live in the realm of end-of-life care is remarkable. Her kind, gentle and poetic approach leaves us all in awe and wonder for the world we are about to step into..." -S.A., Death Doula & Hospice Volunteer
Being with Self, Being with Other, Being with Dying
How does our conscious presence with ourselves—our bodies, minds and hearts—directly inform and enhance our presence with others?
This embodied journey gets to the “heart of the matter”, directing us toward an intimate personal encounter with the active and dynamic continuum between Self and Other. Here, we will gain tools for sitting in the belly of suffering—our own and others, living and dying. This day-long retreat will introduce a variety of presence-practices. Background in meditation practice(s) of any form or tradition is encouraged.
Psycho-Spiritual Dimensions of End-of-Life
Explores the following topics in depth:
- Cultural contexts of end-of-life
- The dissolution of ego during death/dying and the transformative opportunities this process presents
- Meaning-making at end-of-life
- How to work with what arises for us as caregivers when we are in the presence of suffering (not fixing, judging or turning away)
- Gateways for developing presence and self-compassion that arise on the caregiving journey
