If you are grieving,
If you are learning to live with loss,
Then you have experienced the flooding emotional intensity that affects your body,
Mind,
And spirit.
This guided meditation will help you manage and flow with your feelings.
Let us begin.
I invite you to close your eyes and notice your breath.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Let yourself drop into a place of inner stillness.
When you've experienced a major loss,
When someone you love has died,
You will feel many emotions,
Intense emotions,
All-encompassing emotions.
Grieving,
Allowing yourself to feel your feelings,
Is hard work.
It may feel exhausting to your mind,
To your body,
And to your spirit.
This is normal.
This is grief.
You might feel anger,
Guilt,
Sorrow,
Despair,
Confusion,
Regret,
Rage,
Longing,
Desperation,
Pain,
Agony.
You may feel some or all of these feelings,
And all of these feelings are normal.
All of this is grief.
We are sometimes taught to stuff our feelings down,
To minimize them.
We are sometimes taught that expressing our feelings is bad,
Or perhaps we are afraid of our feelings,
Afraid that they will overtake us.
Here,
Now,
In this moment,
We are making space for all of the feelings,
Your feelings.
It is safe to feel them.
Your feelings are a natural response to being alive.
Your feelings are important and necessary.
Your feelings connect you to life and to death.
And most importantly,
Your feelings connect you to love.
Allowing your feelings to open into spaciousness,
Into acceptance.
Allowing your feelings to arise and fall leads to true healing.
I invite you now to imagine yourself at the ocean.
Notice the sun,
The sand,
The smell of salty air.
Imagine yourself looking out at the waves.
Watch the waves crest rise and fall.
Listen to the thunderous crash.
The waves ebb and the waves flow.
Grief also ebbs and flows.
It washes over you with a thunderous crash.
Sometimes the waves of grief knock you over,
Knock you to your knees.
Sometimes they simply lap at your feet.
Imagine yourself in the water,
Touching the water,
Flowing with the waves,
Riding the waves of grief.
Breathe in,
Breathe out.
Breathe in,
Breathe out.
You have to feel in order to heal.
Your pain has a purpose.
It must be processed and honored.
Now I invite you to imagine a different water scene,
A quiet water,
A slow meandering river.
You are on a large buoyant raft floating down this gentle river.
You can relax.
The river is carrying you and you are safe.
As you rest on this raft,
See if you can locate grief in your body.
Is it in your throat,
Your chest,
Your stomach?
Rest your hand now on the place or places where you feel grief in your body.
Does your grief today have a color?
Is it transparent or clouded?
What is the texture of your grief today?
Today is it heavy or light?
Let it be as it is for today.
Grief is always changing,
Moving,
Shifting.
It is like the river.
Continue to imagine yourself on this sturdy,
Safe raft,
Drifting slowly along the water.
The river wants to flow.
Your grief wants to flow.
Let it move and trust the process.
Breathing in and breathing out,
You are on a journey.
Now leaving the river,
Bringing your attention back into the room where you are resting.
Coming back into this present moment,
I invite you to wiggle your fingers and toes.
Going into your space here and now with awareness.
Hearing the sounds around you,
Becoming aware of the air on your skin.
Noticing the sensations within your body.
You are on a journey.
Grief is going to ebb and flow in your life.
At times grief may wash over you.
Let it.
Let tears flow.
Let feelings flow.
Trust it to gently flow as it needs to,
Carrying you safely towards healing.
Many emotions will come and go over time,
Sometimes without any warning.
But you can trust the process to unfold as it needs to.
And remember,
Grief at its core is always connected to love.
To love.
You are on a journey.
Now you may open your eyes.
You are on a journey.
Now you may open your eyes.
