“Stories have to be told or they die and if they die we can’t remember who we are and why we are here and where we are going.
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“I did the year-long “Becoming an Offering” program with Siobhan, including the pilgrimage walk in Spain, and she creates one of the safest containers for grounding and opening that I’ve ever been part of. The walk itself was striking: we headed west to the coast for a ceremony on the summer solstice, then turned east, walking against the grain — a deliberate shift from death toward life. That physical turn mirrored something real happening inside me, and it gave me a lasting sense that transformation like that is actually possible.

On top of the depth of the experience, Siobhan handled everything — pacing, lodging, meals, the route — so thoughtfully that I never had to think about logistics. I could just be fully present for the walk and what it opened up in me.”

“Becoming an Offering with Siobhan Asgharzadeh was not just a year-long program; it was a living pilgrimage of preparation, surrender, and quiet rebirth that culminated in two weeks on the Camino de Santiago last June.

Over the course of the year, our monthly meetings became a kind of sacred scaffolding. They readied us both inwardly and as a group for the intensity of the walk—physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Through them, I arrived on the Camino not as a tourist, but as a pilgrim who had been gently, steadily invited into deeper layers of honesty and presence.

Siobhan’s guidance is extraordinary. She offers a rare blend of wise counsel, encouragement, and deeply grounded spiritual insight. I felt held by the container she created—enough structure to feel safe, supported, and oriented, and yet enough freedom to walk, wander, and listen for what I most needed. It was the perfect balance of being companioned and being trusted.

Our first week on the Camino, we walked west—toward the setting sun, the “Costa del Muerte.” In that movement toward the dying light, Siobhan continually invited us to ask: What am I ready to lay down? What burdens no longer need to be carried? What beliefs, identities, or stories are keeping me small or bound to old pain? On the Solstice, we gathered at the beach and, through ritual, offered our grief to the sea. It was simple, potent, and deeply affecting.

Then, as we turned and walked back east for the second week—toward the rising sun—our attention shifted to harvesting. What were we reclaiming from our grief? What gifts, strengths, and hard-won wisdom had been forged in the fire of loss? The Camino became a moving altar where endings and beginnings, death and renewal, were held side by side.

For me, this journey wove together the strands of the last five years of grieving my son’s death. The days on the trail—where I often walked alone—gave me spaciousness to be fully with myself and my feelings: no distractions, no obligations, just the rhythm of my feet and the open sky to hold whatever arose. Each evening, I returned to the circle of a well-held group, where I could rest in community, reflection, and gentle witnessing. That interplay of solitude and togetherness was profoundly healing.

There were days that were brutally hot, long, and demanding—physically and emotionally. On those days, I learned that I could go farther than I believed, that my body and spirit could endure more than I imagined. And each time I wavered, when doubt or exhaustion crept in, I found myself met with encouragement, loving presence, and the kind of support that doesn’t rescue you from your path, but walks alongside you so you can claim it as your own.

This experience has become a deep, integrative chapter in my grief journey—a threshold that allowed me to release, remember, and reorient my life in quiet but lasting ways.

I recommend this pilgrimage with my whole heart. If you are feeling called to work with grief, transition, or personal transformation in a way that is soulful, embodied, and beautifully held, I cannot imagine a more skillful or loving guide than Siobhan or a more powerful container than Becoming an Offering.

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