The intention of this meditation is to be with grief.
Grief is a heavy emotion,
One that comes and goes when we least expect it.
Grief can make those around us feel uncomfortable and unsure how to support us.
Grief can even make us feel like distracting ourselves from its intensity.
And yet grief is part of the human experience,
Something we all must walk through in this life.
This practice is designed to gently,
Slowly,
And safely support you through the journey of grief.
As you settle into this meditation,
Take a look around the space you've chosen to meditate in and notice if you'd like to make any changes to feel more held in this space.
Perhaps you'd like to close the door,
Get tissues or a blanket,
Or silence your phone.
Whatever you need to be able to give yourself over to the feeling of grief.
Notice one thing in your space that brings a smile to your face.
If you can't find anything.
What is an activity that you like to do that usually brings a smile to your face?
Whether you have an object in view or an activity in mind.
This is a place for you to come back to as a touchstone if anything in this meditation feels like too much today.
Start to move your body back and forth as you connect to the earth and whatever you've chosen as your meditation support for today.
Feel your hips,
Your sitting bones softening into the ground or the cushion.
If it feels nice to you,
Roll your neck from side to side.
Perhaps lift your shoulders up to your ears and let them fall gently down your back.
Massage your jaw and underneath your chin where we tend to hide tension.
I'll give you a few moments to find any intuitive movement that feels good in your body.
Whatever would help signal to your body that it is time to rest and release.
Throughout this meditation,
I invite you to surrender to the flow of your thoughts,
Feelings,
And sensations.
When we spend time with ourselves,
It is common for things we didn't expect to rise to the surface of our attention.
If you are able to be with whatever arises today from a place of safety and ease in the body.
I encourage you to walk the path.
If something arises that feels like too much to handle,
You are welcome to come out of the meditation,
Reconnect with the object or activity that makes you smile,
And save whatever needs your attention for another day.
Take note of how your body feels as you settle in.
Maybe areas of tension have made themselves known to you.
Can you rest your attention in the tension and see what lies beneath?
Sometimes the tension wants us to do something to make it better.
Sometimes the tension just wants our attention.
Trust your instincts.
You have a natural ability to sense what your body,
Mind and spirit needs.
This meditation is a time for that intuitive knowing to be heard.
In the silence between invitations,
Trust that whatever rises to your attention is meant for you.
Your thoughts,
Feelings,
And sensations are welcome.
Take a moment to connect with your grief.
Can you find the grief in your body and rest your attention there?
If you feel your grief in many parts of your body,
Pick the place where it is the strongest for you.
Stay there until it changes.
It might disappear or move to another part of the body,
And if it does,
Go with it.
But if it stays exactly where it is now for the whole meditation,
Stay there.
What does your grief feel like?
What is the texture of your grief?
The temperature If it was a color,
What color would it be?
If your grief was an animal,
What animal would it be?
How does your grief want to express itself?
If there are other thoughts,
Images,
Or even other emotions that are arising in your awareness with your grief.
Can you welcome them into the room of your mind?
Not pushing aside the grief,
But holding them all together.
Your grief is welcome exactly as it is.
This is a space for your grief.
What does your grief want you to know?
Grief points to love.
We grieve because we have lost something we love.
What would it be like to welcome love into the room with grief?
How does your body feel now?
Notice if anything has changed in your body.
Emotions are energy in motion.
It is normal when we attend to our emotions for things in our physical experience to shift and change.
Continue to be on the journey with grief.
Give yourself permission to be with whatever is arising in this moment.
Trust your own instinctive wisdom that what you need most right now is coming to you.
Lovingly tending to our grief and all of the memories,
Images,
People,
Sounds,
Sights,
Smells,
Or other associations that come with it.
What would it be like to thank your grief and all of the emotions that make up the rich tapestry of your life?
As we transition out of this meditation.
You might like to visualize the emotions you've been with leaving the room of your mind like people at the end of a dinner party.
Give them a hug.
Wish them well.
Welcome them back another day.
As you come back into your body.
Take some gentle movement to reorient yourself to the room you are in.
If you feel called,
Find a physical gesture you can make to express love and gratitude to yourself for the courage it took to go on this journey with your grief.
You are walking the path to a deeper human experience.
After this meditation is over.
Linger a moment with yourself and take the transition into the real world slowly.
Being with our grief can feel a bit like opening a wound,
And you want to give it some time to heal before throwing yourself into activity.
You might like to journal about the experience or just rest your attention back in the thing that makes you smile.
You deserve to experience lightness along with the darkness.
Go easy on yourself today and revisit this practice whenever you feel your grief calling again.
