Finding Rest Within Grief | Holding On To Love | Yoga Nidra

Grief can feel like a weight suddenly placed upon the body, something we never chose to carry, yet may not be ready to put down.

This gentle Yoga Nidra practice offers a place to rest within grief, loss and bereavement without asking you to let go, move on or leave your love behind.

Inspired by my own experience of sudden bereavement, the practice explores grief as a cloak: initially heavy, consuming and almost impossible to carry, yet also something that can feel deeply connected to the person we have lost. Sometimes we don't want our pain taken away. It can feel intertwined with love, memory and the continuing bond we hold.

Through body awareness, breath, gentle rotation of consciousness and guided rest, you are invited to soften beneath some of that weight for a while, not by removing the cloak, but by allowing yourself to rest within it.

This practice is accompanied by a gentle 432 Hz meditation music soundscape, offering a soft background for rest and stillness.

Transcript

Hi there, I'm Carly. And when you're ready. Find somewhere your body can be supported for the next few minutes lying down if you can. And allowing the legs to settle wherever they naturally fall. The arms resting easily perhaps pulling a blanket over you if that feels comforting Maybe a pillow onto your legs and onto your neck. Really anything that's gonna allow you to feel entirely comfortable during these next few minutes. And if closing your eyes feels okay today. Allowing them to shut down Letting them rest in this forget. Nothing to do. Nothing to see or take in there's nothing you need to prepare for here as begin to feel the surface beneath you and let yourself arrive here if you are here because you are carrying grief. I know something of this place too. And I want to be clear from the beginning This practice isn't here to move you away from your grief. I won't ask you to leave anything behind. And I won't ask you to let go of something you may have absolutely no wish to let go of. Nothing is being taken from you here sometimes grief can feel almost physical visceral. I understand this. Maybe you can imagine it's as though something has been placed upon the body Something invisible to everyone else. Imagine if it feels right for you now the clay. And that's a light leg, Like a short leg. The heavy ones. The cloak is your green. Perhaps it has already been around you for some time. Perhaps the day it feels newly placed across your shoulders There is no need to decide what it looks like. Simply sense its presence feel where that cloak might meet the shoulders its weight across the upper back around the chest. Perhaps falling down the arms. Across the belly. The hips the thighs dragging all the way towards the feet notice what happens in the body beneath that weight are changing it. Just noticing. The shoulders may feel heavy. Your chest may ache. The limbs may feel weary. The whole body may carry an exhaustion that sleep doesn't seem to touch. Or perhaps your experience is completely different. Whatever is here today is enough. Grief can be extraordinarily heavy. As so much of that weight is invisible you may carry it into rooms where nobody knows through conversations. Through ordinary tasks. Through mornings that somehow begin again. Through moments when the rest of the world appears to be carrying on. And beneath the clay There is your body. That has been carrying all of this. Bring your attention towards your temples maybe noticing the tension that sits behind here Imagine smoothing away the crease in between your eyebrows and softening the lips. And the chin set for survival loosening the jaw that could be holding on to so much dropping your attention towards the back of the head. And feel the support beneath it. The shoulders. Perhaps feeling their way. And beneath them support. Goodbye. Its contact with the surface beneath you the pelvis. Relax. The heels. One by one, Noticing the places where gravity is already doing something for you The cloak is still here. I haven't taken it away but maybe you can notice that the body and the cloak are both being held by something beneath you you do not have to put grief down in order to rest house for these few moments. You simply don't have to carry all of its weight alone. Feeling again the shoulders beneath the clay and your support beneath the shoulders. The heart beneath the clothes. The ribs moving quietly with the breath the back of the body supported. Layer upon layer. Green. Body. Support. Nothing has been removed. Nothing has been abandoned. Nothing has been forgotten. And maybe that matters because sometimes the thought of putting grief down can feel impossible. And wanted. Like a betrayal. As though loosening our hold upon grief might somehow loosen our connection to what or who we have lost. So we won't put it down Not for now. We can allow the cloak to remain and we can rest beneath it Notice the natural breath No need to make it deeper feeling perhaps the tiny rise beneath the cloak as the breath arrives and the tiny settling as it needs. Again the body breathing beneath what it carries and perhaps silently allowing these words i can rest beneath the weight of what i carry i can rest beneath the weight of what i carry and if those words don't feel right today just leave them I'm so gay. I understand what little bandwidth you might have right now there is nothing you have to believe here simply returning to the feeling of the support beneath you asking nothing. Perhaps sensing the whole body now the whole head and neck and shoulders. The whole front body. And the whole back body. Inside the whole globe. And the whole body together Nothing separate. The weight of yourself resting in. Comforted by your grief. Comforted by your clothes. You don't need to make grief lighter. Not here. You are not required to find meaning in it. And you're certainly not required to be any further along than you are. As you meet yourself here today. For these next few minutes the invitation has been only to stop carrying everything quite so actively to allow gravity and support in this moment. To take some of the weight with you if you'd like to continue to rest here Please do so. You may wish to remove your headphones or pause your media. Otherwise begin to become aware again of the space around you. And the temperature of the air any sounds nearby. Or tuning in to sounds further away. The surface still beneath you moving and stretching in whatever way your body feels you need right now There's no need to hurry. Before you leave, Notice once more the cloak remains. Your grief hasn't been taken from you. Your love hasn't been taken from you. You've simply rested beneath its weight for a while. And when it feels right gently allow your eyes to open again carrying only what you need to carry into the next moment with the greatest warmth dear ones calling.