Grieving In The Chakras

This is a recording of a live event all about how grief gets embodied through the chakras. It includes a talk/discussion and a guided movement practice to help you start to feel these connections in your own body. Apologies in advance for any sound quality issues.

Transcript

Hello,

Hello.

Welcome,

Welcome to grieving in the chakras.

This event has,

Hi Autumn,

This event had more pre signups than any of my other live events.

So it tells me that this information is needed.

I'm really,

Really looking forward to guiding y'all through this practice today.

And feel free to share your name and where you're coming from.

And yeah,

Anything else you'd like me or the group to know about your current state of being about your grief.

If I haven't guided you before,

My name is Grace.

And I'm a dance movement therapist and embodied grief guide.

Hi Kit,

So good to see you.

So I help people move through grief using their bodies.

That's my jam.

And I'm going to share my screen.

And hi,

Nikki,

Where's the kinnicky?

I'm not sure.

But welcome.

So glad you're here.

And in my experience,

And in my what I see with my clients,

Okay,

Awesome.

What I see with my clients is that once we activate our bodies in service of our grief,

The grief is allowed to process a whole lot faster.

And a lot more easily,

Honestly,

Than talking about it.

Hi,

Sherry.

So glad you're here.

That's okay,

Kit.

It's still the new year.

So you can think of this as your own personal New York grief session.

Yeah,

We're still quite early in January,

It feels like a lot has happened.

I don't know about anybody else,

But I'm like,

Wow,

It's,

It feels like the whole month of January should be over by now.

And yet it's like the second week,

I think.

So anyway,

Welcome to my office.

I'm in my office today.

So we'll start with just kind of,

I'll just sort of break down what I see as a connection between grief in the chakra system,

And how I see that and how I see grief manifesting in the different energy centers.

And then I'll just guide you through a meditation and a movement practice to help you feel this connection in your own body.

Yeah.

And if I haven't guided you before,

I always just like to ground us in the understanding that you are your own expert,

You know your body best.

There's nothing that anybody can tell you about grief that you can't experience in your own flesh and blood,

Right?

So that means that any invitation for movement that I give is simply that,

Right?

Simply an invitation.

Follow your own body,

Follow what feels right to you.

You know,

If we were working together one on one or in a group,

I would be able to see your body and I can.

So I really trust that you can,

You know,

Follow your own wisdom here and and go where you need to go.

Yeah.

Okay,

Let's get down to it.

So as I talk,

I do invite us to be a discussion.

Yeah.

I'm glad to see that the comments are working.

They weren't working the other day and I was missing the back and forth.

And I also invite a sense of embodiment,

Even with this discussion portion.

So really try to sense what is happening in your body as I talk about the different chakras and and start to just notice if there's anything bubbling up right away.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And if this resonates with you,

Feel free to donate.

That really helps me keep keep these free sessions,

Which I love doing so much.

I'm so grateful for this platform and for y'all.

And I'm really excited to dive in.

I even wrote notes today I made a special playlist and like very excited to be able to talk about it.

Okay.

So,

Um,

I don't think I have to tell anyone here what the chakras are there,

But just to,

You know,

Ground us there.

These are sort of the main energy centers in the body moving from the root,

All the way up to the crown.

Yeah.

These are not the only energy centers.

There's we have energy centers all over our bodies.

And this,

You know,

Particular system comes from yoga philosophy from India.

There are other words,

Other systems and other cultures.

But I think it's a helpful system to ground our understanding of embodiment because you know,

Very often will feel things and we want to know why.

Right.

The mind loves to know why.

And so this offering is I think,

A chance for you to get curious about the why and perhaps start to understand your own why from your own intuitive wisdom.

Yeah.

So I hope that makes sense.

And if there's any questions or if you're,

You know,

If you have a response as we chat,

I'd love to hear them.

Yeah.

So beginning with the root system.

I invite you to just take a breath right now.

Hi Jess,

So glad you're here.

See what it's like to breathe into your root.

So you can think of this as the pelvic system as the sexual organs.

Right.

It's also like the womb area,

You have a womb.

Take a breath into this space for yourself.

This really deep,

Deep,

Deep area.

This area is associated with our feelings of safety,

Of security,

Of our feelings of self-awareness.

This area is associated with our feelings of safety,

Of security,

Sense of grounding,

Sense of rootedness.

Yeah.

How present are you in your body in this present moment?

All of that is sort of the energy of the root chakra.

And in grief,

It's really common for people to have pain or pelvic issues or even reproductive issues in response to loss in this area.

If your loss is associated with some kind of trauma,

If your loss is associated with the sense of lack of safety.

Think of this as like your stable point.

Yeah.

So if there's like other complexities associated with your personal loss,

Other traumas,

Or if your loss itself was traumatic,

It's not uncommon to have pain or just kind of stuck energy in this area.

I don't like to use the term blockages because I really just think that any sensation that we feel in our bodies is just a kind of a I don't like to use the term blockages because I really just think that any sensation that we feel in our bodies is just information.

Yeah.

So I'm going to talk about some of the things that we can do to help people to feel safe.

So I'm going to talk about some of the things that we can do to help people to feel safe.

Because I really just think that any sensation that we feel in our bodies is just information.

Yeah.

And there are some things that we'll move through.

There are some sensations,

There are some feelings that will fully move through us.

And there are others that won't,

Right?

There are others that they settle and then they come back and they settle and then they come back.

And they're just information.

Yeah,

They're just telling us that,

Oh,

This grief is still here.

Yeah.

Moving up,

We've come to the sacral chakra.

So you can take a breath.

It's still like your sort of lower belly area,

But it's also your hips,

Your sacrum,

That flat bone in your lower back.

Maybe even place a hand there.

Take a breath.

This is the center of creativity,

Of abundance,

Of sexuality,

Play,

Of pleasure.

And it's really common for people to have digestive issues or pain,

Like kind of that fold feeling in your lower belly or like heaviness in your lower back.

That's a common area for grief to be held as well.

And I also,

And in this area,

And think about your hips too,

Like how much our hips hold.

And for this area,

I really want us to tune into the fact that grief is inherently unbalancing.

It is inherently destabilizing,

Right?

And so if you think about your hips as like the stabilizing structure,

If you've ever seen like a skeleton,

A picture of a skeleton of the hips,

It's literally like a butterfly,

Right?

They're really beautiful.

And it's very stabilizing in our bodies.

And so when we have a loss,

Particularly if it's a core loss,

Like a parent or a child or a partner or a really close friend,

It's really normal to have pain here.

It's really,

Really normal to have,

You know,

A lack of,

Like a lack of mobility.

It's really,

Really normal to maybe even have pain when you walk.

And so it's really normal to have pain when you walk.

Maybe you would have pain when you walk.

Just,

You know,

Speaking from personal experience,

The year after my mom died,

I had a very,

Very intense pain in my left hip.

And it hurt to walk.

And I'm a dancer,

I'm a looser,

And I do yoga.

And nothing really,

Really helped it.

You know,

It's just,

I just had to sort of go through that period of grief,

And I ended up,

You know,

Getting physical therapy for it.

But the root of it was emotional,

Right?

The root of it was that lack,

Was that lack of stability that I was literally healing in my bones.

So if that's you,

Just know that,

Like,

You're not crazy.

Just know that as we talk about this,

If you feel that the root of your pain is emotional,

Then it probably is.

Yeah.

A body's speak,

Our bodies are highly intelligent.

So all of that is just information.

All of those sensations are there for a reason.

Yeah.

So just notice if there's any responses coming up as you,

As I talk about this,

As you reflect on your own experience.

You don't need to share anything unless you feel called,

But just sort of notice for yourself what's,

What's coming up.

Yeah.

Moving up to the solar plexus.

So this area right here.

Yeah.

This is a really,

Really,

Well,

It's central in the body,

Literally,

Right?

This is the source of our power,

Right?

The source of our sense of I am.

This is who I am.

This is who I am.

Right?

Being authentic.

Really standing in who we are,

Regardless of what's happening.

That,

That power sense,

That's all the solar plexus chakra.

Yeah.

Take a moment,

Place a hand there perhaps,

And just breathe into this area.

And it's important to note that for all the chakras,

Especially the ones like moving upwards,

They all have a front and a back.

And this blew my mind when I first realized this because I was like,

Oh my God,

I have a back of a heart.

Hello.

Like there's,

There's the front and the back body.

Yeah.

Just know that like any sensation or tightness that you feel in this area,

It might be coming from the front and it might also be coming from the back.

And back pain in general is really common in grief because we're carrying a lot and very often we're carrying other people's expectations and pressures and worries and stresses along with our own.

Right?

It's this,

This area in grief,

It's really common to like,

Not feel like you can take a deep breath.

Right?

So just notice that for yourself,

Like even as I say,

Breathe into this area,

Notice how easeful it is,

Notice how free or tight it is.

Yeah.

So if you are grieved,

If your loss is associated with like a lack of your sense of self,

If after your person or your pet or part of yourself or whatever you're grieving,

If you start to just feel like,

I don't know who I am.

Right?

Who am I without this person being whatever?

That's really normal.

Right?

I often compare like the early grieving process to being a baby.

It's like we really sort of,

We're sort of like,

We're sort of like,

We really sort of go into this,

This very early kind of developmental area,

When we kind of don't know who we are,

We have to really learn who we are again,

Without our people,

Without the thing of the person that we're grieving.

Right?

This whole area,

Again,

This is also like connected to the digestive area.

Right?

We don't often think about digestion as being impacted by grief,

But like raise your hand if that's happened for you.

It's totally happened for me.

It's like,

You know,

What is going on?

And that's all like solar plexus,

Sacral chakra stuff.

Yeah.

So just notice what's coming up for you there,

If anything.

I know that like all parts of our chakra system are connected.

Right?

So I'm talking about them separately as if they're like separate entities,

But of course they move and they relate to each other.

Right?

And they influence each other.

So just like our minds and our bodies are not really disconnected,

The parts of your chakra system are not really disconnected.

Yeah.

So that's the solar plexus,

Sense of power,

Sense of self.

And then we move into the heart,

Beautiful heart area.

Raise a hand there if it feels okay and breathe into it.

Maybe for the first time today,

Just acknowledging the sensation of carrying your own heart,

Which may feel broken,

Which may feel tender.

This is the center point of love.

Love for who and what you're breathing,

The love for yourself.

Right?

So it's no accident that it's very often like there's a physical feeling of opening,

Of burning,

Of breaking,

Of of heaviness.

Again,

This whole front area comes up to the shoulders too,

As well as the back area.

Right?

So if you can,

Like it doesn't have to be exactly,

You know,

Right there,

But if you kind of reach to some area close to the space between your shoulder blades.

Yeah.

Like,

Of course,

Of course this hurts.

Yeah,

Nikki.

The feeling of your heart being broken,

Well,

It's not literal,

It is literally true.

Right?

Like,

I always like to remind people that we learn who we are in relationship with others.

Right?

And I'll go more into this in my next slide about attachment and grief,

But it's just important to know that you are grieving because of your relationship with whatever you're breathing,

Whatever you're breathing,

Whoever you're breathing.

Right?

And the body is intelligent.

Right?

Like,

Even when we don't live close to the people that we're grieving,

The body knows.

Right?

The body can sense that it's not right.

Something is off.

Right?

And that's the heart.

It's all heart stuff.

It's all heart centering.

Moving yourself somewhere here.

Some sense of holding.

Moving up to the throat.

There's so much here.

Here.

Sensing for yourself,

Breathing into this area,

Again,

The front and the back of it.

This is the point of communication,

Of expression,

Right,

Of authenticity.

This is the connection between our inner world and our outer world,

This area.

And if you have,

You know,

It's really common for grieving people to feel like a one player,

To feel heavy there or to feel like you're holding some tension.

And if this is you,

I just ask you to ask yourself,

How was the last time I cried?

Like,

Really,

Not like a little tear going down the cheek,

But like a real,

You know,

Sob.

When was the last time I really told someone about my grief?

Yes,

Keisha,

Wherever you are,

I'm so glad you're here.

This is huge.

Sending so much love to you.

Yeah,

Kit,

I feel you.

Crying and also,

You know,

Just expressing your grief,

Right?

Like,

How honest are you being with the people in your life about your feelings?

Yeah,

Kit,

I feel you.

Take care of yourself as much as you can.

It's so common for grieving people to stuff it back,

To push our feelings down.

And sometimes we have to,

Right?

Like sometimes,

Depending on our families and work environments and cultures and all kinds of things,

It's actually not safe to express our pain.

But if we never do,

Then again,

We get some pain that gets kind of locked in there,

Right?

So I invite you to take a breath here,

Particularly if you're starting to feel your tears bubbling up.

So just take a breath together and really an open mouth,

Like,

Opening that face up.

Yeah,

So crucial.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

You can't be moving up to the third eye.

You might tap it a few times.

Just sensing it for yourself.

Good,

Yeah.

Yeah,

And we'll be moving through it.

So hopefully you'll feel much more open and tight after this.

So this is like the source of our intuition,

Our vision,

Our ability to see into the future,

Our ability to feel hope,

Right?

It's not uncommon for grieving people to feel like kind of,

It's almost like clouded over,

Right?

Because how am I supposed to be in this world without the person or the thing that I'm grieving,

Right?

And if your grief is super full,

If you're not,

And if your grief is super fresh,

Just know that it's going to be really hard to,

It might be really hard to break it down,

Break these things down separately.

It might just all hurt,

Right?

Again,

The chakra system is just a way of explaining it.

No need to break your body down into separate sections.

So it's common for people to have like a almost like a clouded vision kind of feeling here.

And it might be hard to make decisions,

Right?

Which also comes from the solar plexus,

But it might be hard to like do something simple,

Simple,

Right?

Like plan a trip,

Which is especially not simple in these times,

But that feeling of like,

I don't even know what's going to happen next week,

Let alone in months.

Normal,

Normal,

Normal,

Super normal.

Let it be there.

And yeah,

Just meaning that that's really common.

Any other notes?

I think so.

Let's move up to the crown.

This is where my intellectualizers tend to feel grief.

If you're thinking really hard about how to solve your grief,

Or if you find yourself getting lost in like planning,

Or thinking,

Thinking,

Thinking,

Thinking,

Why,

Why,

Why,

Why,

How,

How,

How,

How,

Whatever your mental processes are,

If that's where you tend to go in your grief,

It's not uncommon to feel pressure here.

Invitation to put your hands here right now.

Just notice what it's like to touch your crown.

This space is a connection to the divine,

Connection to spirit.

It's also where we can access all of our thought processes.

And again,

Super duper normal to have like migraines,

Headaches,

Just like a general sense of pressure here.

If you're an intellectualizer,

Meaning if you tend to think about your feelings more than feeling them,

Which again is socially rewarded in this culture very often.

We love to think about our stuff and we get a lot of praise for like solving problems.

And probably,

You know,

Like a clear beginning,

Middle,

And end for things.

And unfortunately,

Grief is not that way.

It would be really easy if it were,

Right?

But that's,

That's,

That's,

You know,

Why grief is so hard.

It's that we,

It's not a linear experience.

It's not an intellectual experience.

It's really an embodied experience.

And what I often see with my clients and with this group,

Grieving people in general is that when we drop into the body,

If you have a crack up,

If you attended,

Intellectualize,

Dropping into the body right away can be especially jarring,

Right?

Because there's been so much energy put into trying to make the grief less painful.

So if this is you,

Be really gentle with yourself,

Wherever you are in this,

Be gentle with yourself.

Sam,

You're a friendly lover.

You are so brave to be here the day after loss.

I cannot even imagine doing that.

So be very gentle with yourself,

Sending me so much love.

And yes,

As you know,

This is the work.

Yeah,

Right.

Like we get better at grief and more at grief,

But it doesn't mean it's any less painful.

So let's move into a little practice.

I'm really feeling all of you today.

It's going to send out so much love.

I'm so glad to see you all supporting each other in the chat.

Yeah,

Sending out so much love.

And as I said in the beginning,

Follow your own body here,

Follow your own guidance.

My words are just a guide.

Yeah,

You know your body best,

You know your grief best.

Even if your grief is new,

You still know what sensations you're feeling without having to put language to it.

So I'm going to invite us to start.

You can either start lying down or with your back against a wall.

Try to make your spine like as straight as you can.

I'm not going to lie down because my headphones won't reach,

But I'll be mostly guiding you.

Take your time,

Get settled in.

Just so you know,

This might run over time.

And if you have to go,

Feel free to go.

If you can stay the whole time,

That would be so cool.

So for this practice,

I'm going to be talking about the that would be so cool.

So for this playlist,

Specifically,

The idea is that each song is a different chakra.

So I'll guide you through the experience of dropping in and then tuning into this chakra system and then moving it in whatever way feels best for you,

Whatever way comes intuitively.

Oh,

Getting settled.

Lying down or sitting up against a wall.

Breathing into your room.

Just be free to start to notice if there's any movement that wants to come.

This area is especially sacred because it connects us to the connection to the underworld.

Which is often what I come here to be.

Maybe it's a gentle sway.

Maybe you're just moving your pelvis side to side,

Circling in.

In the central,

Living out any sounds.

Try not to be completely still.

Try to relax.

Take some energy now.

Great place I can.

Round out the new blade and try to warm the earth.

This song is literally called Red Chakra.

I feel better.

.

.

.

Not a HOLE.

And then up to the same thing.

Thanks for letting me down.

Nice deep circle.

I really extinction it's really hard.

All right.

All right.

All right.

And feeling this energy through you.

Inside the side.

You right for you.

Move your whole spine.

You can stay lying down can be on any position.

Like a slow into your soul and flexes area.

Well,

Even see what I want to know.

You're not you.

You through your own Every blessing,

Sacred and free.

I wanna be,

I am.

What I wanna know I understand.

All I wish I could,

I can.

What I wanna be,

I am.

What I see,

I am.

What I wanna know I understand.

I am a flower,

I am a bee,

I am a fire,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a fire,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a fire,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a flower,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a leaf,

I am a meet Many blessings for the donation,

Autumn,

I appreciate it.

We'll have to hear when you're ready,

No rush,

You know it's sometimes difficult transitioning from movement to speaking or thinking,

But if you feel called,

I'd love to share anything you notice in your own body,

Any awarenesses that came through,

Anything that felt especially intense or especially good.

Be sure to get some water.

Breathing deep into what's just circulating.

Hopefully you all can hear me.

I'm glad you liked the music.

It's called gravy chakra playlist.

Can follow me on Spotify.

I'm really interested.

I really appreciate it.

Much gratitude.

Much gratitude to all of you for showing up.

That's a big one.