Hello,
My name is Julian Jenkins and today we're going to do a mindfulness meditation and a little bit of a talk about releasing grief and understanding the process of grief and the uniqueness of it all.
Like all mindfulness practices,
The ability to give something space just to open up and have the wonder and gratitude of everything that we have.
The saying of we only truly appreciate something just before we have it or just after we lost it can be severely felt on the passing of a loved one.
I am recording this meditation on September 9th,
2022,
Less than 12 hours after the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.
Here in the UK there is a national mourning,
An outgrieving of pain and grief.
For somebody who was hugely influential in some people's lives,
The moral compass in others and just the Queen to others.
For times of grief it can be helpful to allow what's there just to be there and to open in a space of wonder and gratitude.
You may ask how do you allow what's there to be there when we feel very challenged by something.
And this challenge today may be grief of a loved one or the collective grief of the passage of a monarch.
All we can do sometimes is to simply wait it out,
To be with our feelings as they happen to experience them in the body and to let them flow.
Often times it means allowing yourself to cry,
To express yourself to a friend and to allow yourself to grieve.
With all the complex emotions that wants to present themselves.
Join me now just closing your eyes and taking a deep breath in.
Knowing that this moment you're in a safe and protective place.
Knowing that our people are by your side.
And sometimes when we just connect in with ourselves for the first time maybe being wrapped around with grief it's very healing sometimes just to allow yourself to be,
Allow yourself even to the point of falling apart.
To sense the humility in yourself knowing that many terrible things have happened in the past and unfortunately will happen in the future.
But understanding as you breathe in and breathe out that you have the courage to acknowledge the loss.
To know that it's a cycle of life.
To know that we are all imperfectly perfect and how we deal with this moment of grief.
There's no right way,
There's no wrong way,
There's only your way.
The ability to ride the waves of grief with mindfulness and self-compassion over and over again breath by breath.
And there is no way to know when grief will end.
But we know with caring presence it will.
It's also important to remember that what is moving through your mind is part of a vast complex physical and mental process which has many sources.
And as you know grief has its own way of unfolding no one can plan it or get rid of it.
Sooner or later it can feel appropriate to want to let go,
To release those heavy feelings.
And as time goes on sometimes the grief may be so heavy that we have to set it down for a while,
Take a walk outside,
Think about our nutrition,
Talk with a friend,
Spend some time in nature,
Play with an animal,
Something,
Anything positive that can just give you those fleeting moments of space that doesn't remind you of the sadness.
As you're breathing here the gift of being a friend to yourself will give you the energy you need to come back to your process with courage,
With vigour,
To allow you to be with your grief.
It can be possible to bring awareness to some of the positive aspects of your life which empower you to see more of your mental experience more clearly and to feel the body sensations.
Bringing some thoughts of happiness of the memories of the people that you share,
The meaningful moments.
There can though be this underlying sense of the unknown,
The uncertain,
The mystery of life in which we find ourselves right in the middle of,
Even more so at times of loss.
A sense of wonder,
A sense of gratitude,
It's important to be loving in all ways,
Small,
Medium or large.
This loving is like a balm to your heart,
It reflects,
It reflects on and receives the caring support of others.
And with all this in mind,
Just following your breath,
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
Just observe your mind and your body.
Maybe even give yourself a small distance as if you're viewing yourself as a third party,
But allowing the sensations to be however they are.
And maybe try not to be negative about anything that doesn't feel good.
And after a while,
Why not shift into gently releasing those emotions and feelings.
Giving self that space to sense and feel them,
To know that this is grief,
This is normal.
Grief is a human emotion that we feel at times of loss.
It's okay not to be okay.
If we can open to the wonder and have gratitude for the mysterious ways that our life unfolds,
As we allow our grief to unfold,
Alongside giving yourself that kind awareness.
Really opening up with the courage to sense the positivity of life.
Knowing that you can bring attention to the feeling of positiveness even when sadness is all around us,
Or when other feelings are present.
It's important in times of grief to allow what's there just to be there.
Opening up that space of love,
Of wonder,
Of gratitude.
And whoever you may be feeling the loss or grieving for,
I thank you.
Thank you for your courage to be with your grief,
With caring awareness.
This is mindfulness.
So thank you for your mindfulness,
Mindful practice at this time.
Be Love and Give Love.
Goodbye.
