Dr. J’aime Morrison

Dr. J’aime Morrison is a Professor of Movement at California State University, Northridge and she holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from New York University. She is a faculty Fulbright Scholar in Movement. Dr. Morrison has taught Master Classes in Dance and Movement in Lisbon, Shanghai, Dublin, Belfast, London, Los Angeles and New York City. A dancer, choreographer, educator and most recently a filmmaker, she is an expert in movement, physical expression and somatic studies. With Mourning Surf, she turns her attention to grief and the body, specifically how grief is expressed physically and how movement is an essential part of the grieving and healing process.

After losing her beloved husband Jim to brain cancer in 2015, J’aime began working on a short film titled Upwell, which composes a visual intersection of body movements to translate her experience with grieving, illustrating the role of both dance and surfing in her journey. The film has been an Official Selection at numerous film festivals and won “Best Experimental Film” from The Santa Barbara International Fine Art Film Festival and the California International Shorts Film Festival and was awarded “Outstanding Excellence” in “Direction” and “Original Concept” at the Depth of Field International Film Festival.

For the international organization Hope for Widows, J’aime developed a series of expressive movement workshops offered via Zoom throughout the pandemic. She continues to build on this work by offering movement for grief workshops in collaboration with Groundswell Community Project, and soon for Camp Widow.

 About Mourning Surf

Our body’s efforts to bear the weight of grief and loss are often overlooked or ignored and yet studies have shown that grief can affect the immune system, the ability to tolerate physical pain, inflammation and may even worsen pre-existing conditions. Grief is a physical as well as an emotional state and by attending to this bodily experience we can move towards acceptance, healing and growth.

Mourning Surf offers a safe space to explore the ebb and flow of grief through healing movement both in and out of the water. Our workshops are inclusive and welcoming of all women who have experienced a grief or loss in their life. With the understanding that grief is a process and that the journey of mourning is not linear or finite, we offer an expressive movement practice as meditation, as a mode of transformation and as a creative force for our healing.

J’aime has led workshops for those experiencing fresh grief, anticipatory grief, and long-term grief and loss. While the impulse to start teaching movement in the grief space originated from the positive responses she received to her film, she embraces a broad understanding of surfing and the healing power of the ocean and draws on a diverse understanding of water, the sea, and waves as metaphors for riding the very real waves of grief.

Dr. J’aime developed the program for the Mourning Surf Grief retreat and will facilitate at the Waves of Grief™ Facilitator Retreat in 2024.