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Yoga is widely known as a method of movement.
This is not yoga in it’s totality.
Yoga, as a word, means to “yoke” or join together matters of the mind, heart and body. It is looking after and caring for our mental, emotional, spiritual and physical well-being.
The yoga that I practice, both personally, and with my clients, is the Yoga that encompasses all of these fragments.
This means introspection, breath-work, meditation, self-growth, journaling, community and, yes, movement.
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Currently, I work 1:1 with individuals through a 10-session curriculum (complete with a workbook) to provide a foundational understanding of the ways we can take this yoga practice off the mat and use it to bring us greater levels of peace in our everyday lives. Soon, I will be releasing the self-guided mini-masterclass for new grievers as well as trauma-informed yoga teacher training, in case you are at a level of your own healing where learning more, and providing assistance to others, is right for you.
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Intentional Living is the moment-by-moment choice to live a wide-awake life. This means that you approach the circumstances of your days, whether or not they are of your choosing or design, with an intention to feel, to heal and to thrive.
It means the practice of making decisions from a place of learning, reflection, expansion and processing instead of emotional reactivity.
Often, when we find ourselves Living Intentionally, we are bolstered by the framework of a personal or spiritual set of beliefs or practice…a system that strengthens, stabilizes and serves to help provide context and meaning to our emotions, thoughts and encounters.
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Socially, we tend to regard loss as an identifiable end to something tangible…often a death. I believe it is important to acknowledge all of the kinds of loss that can occur within our lives.
Some of these include:
death of a beloved human or animal
“invisible” losses in the form of miscarriages, stillbirth or the inability to become pregnant
loss of a job, a home or a beloved possession
the absence of a sense of safety, peace or contentment in life
disillusionment or total absence of what was once a dream, a plan or a lifestyle that was close to your heart
a loss of a sense of self…a feeling like you are out of touch with who you have become or the need to re-invent yourself following life changes.
loss due to physical illness, immobility, a diagnosis or prognosis or the incorporation of new methods by which you need to make investments in your own health and self-care.
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Loss of any kind, can shake us to our core. This is because our sense of self and safety are built upon the life that we have crafted during the times we made choices and experienced a sense of control.
Loss is a lack of control.
There are many ways to learn to develop a sense of safety and self again…all over lengths of time…but some of them include:
Naming or writing down what it is you feel
Acknowledging the visceral emotion and reaction/feeling
Experiencing the work that is looking at your pain, and balancing it with looking away/towards hope, health and joy.
Establishing a community of “safe” people with whom you can share, in various ways, the journey that you are on…this can be family members, dear friends or even therapists and teachers (like myself).
Allowing for feelings and emotions to arise and practicing sitting in the discomfort of experiencing those feelings.
Forming routines and Rituals in your day to day life, that create the space and time for getting to know and meet your new, and ever-evolving needs.
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The phrase “sit with” our feelings is truly the opposite of turning away from, dismissing or distracting from the weight of the human experience.
It is normal to desire, or even need to, avoid noticing and allowing for emotions to arise.
The processing of grief and trauma need not be on a timeline.
You will know when you are ready to “sit with” and experience, in little bits, what needs to be acknowledged.
Once a sense of safety is established (you can read more about this above), it becomes a little easier to invite opportunity for discovery.
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There are surprisingly, many researchers and clinicians, who teach to this very point.
Much of the work that I have done in my own healing, and much of what I guide my clients and fellow yogi’s towards, is an understanding of the autonomic nervous system.
You can learn a little more about this complex subject, in the offerings I provide and by researching some of the following (and favorite) resources:
Book: The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk
Dr. Peter Levine
Dr. Stephen Porges
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Let there first be the simple acknowledgement that grief, like really any other emotion, is not at all linear.
In each moment and in each way, we transform.
We either move
toward or away,
with or against,
inward or outward;
and each of these guides us towards the Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall of our grief.
And unlike the (reasonable) predictability of the weather in your hemisphere, these seasons are very likely guaranteed to change on a regular basis.
It is in the acknowledgement of the changes, of the expectation of times our hearts and bodies will feel heavier, and of the times we can feel light and unencumbered that we can begin to stop perceiving our grief as ‘other’ and unnatural, and take a step towards the journey that is moving forward, living and thriving alongside our loss.
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This daily meditation book is an accessible and meaningful tool to offer to those with heavy hearts.
Otherwise, the very best thing that you can give, in my opinion, is your loving attention as a witness to whatever needs to be shared (or not to be shared).
(When you make a purchase through the amazon link above, I do earn a commission on said purchase, at no additional expense to you. I am only affiliated with meaningful products that I use personally or that I utilize in work with my clients.)
