Find a quiet place.
Sit or lie down in a position that feels supportive for you,
For your body,
For your state of being.
Let your hands rest gently,
Palms facing down for a sense of grounding,
Or palms facing up to experience a sense of openness.
If it feels safe,
Close down your eyes,
Or find a soft place to allow your gaze to rest.
Soften the muscles in your face,
Unclench your jaw,
And begin to follow your breaths in,
And your breaths out.
Let yourself arrive here,
Right here.
Notice where your body meets the surface beneath you.
Feel the support,
You are being held right here.
You don't have to hold everything on your own.
Let your attention slowly begin to scan from the crown of your head down through to the soles of your feet.
Take your time.
Where do you feel tension?
Let the breath continue to flow in and out as you observe.
If you are experiencing a sense of grief,
Where does it live today in your body?
Maybe it's in your throat.
If you feel comfortable,
You can bring your hand to the throat and swallow,
Or sigh,
Or cry out.
Maybe it's a weight behind your eyes.
If you need to squeeze your eyes,
If you need to release through tears,
Allow it.
You're safe here.
Grief is welcomed here.
If there is a hollowness in your chest,
Breathe into this space.
If it feels safe,
You can bring your hand to the chest or hover your hand around that space and simply bring your breath,
Your awareness to the space.
If the grief is showing up as a trembling in your belly,
Relax the belly fully.
If you find yourself tightening or clenching in the pelvic bowl,
Relax.
Let it show up.
There's no need to fix it.
Just notice it.
Let it be there.
And when you feel ready,
Silently say to yourself,
This is here.
Let your breath anchor you to this moment.
This is a space where humanity,
The spiritual,
The seen and unseen,
Can exist within and without.
Let the breath flow in and out.
Let your experience,
Your feelings be here.
Let the breath be the anchor.
They'll each inhale nourish you.
Allow the exhale to offer a release.
A release of expectations around how you should feel.
A release of any heaviness if it's ready to leave you.
Don't try to shape the release.
Just let the breath move in and out of your body.
You may want to say,
Breathing in,
I feel what is here.
Breathing out,
I allow the space for it to exist.
Let your emotions move at the rhythm of your breath.
Feel your entire being,
All that you have access to and all that you have the capacity to sustain.
Breathe.
You can acknowledge your grief.
You can acknowledge your feelings.
You don't need to explain it.
There is no need to justify it.
Your grief doesn't need permission to be here.
Allow it to arrive with love,
With loss,
With curiosity.
If there is anywhere that the ache of grief exists in your body,
Bring hands to parts of the body where you are feeling it and acknowledge it.
You are not the grief,
But you can be present with it.
If tears come,
Let them.
If numbness exists,
Allow it.
There is no right or wrong way to experience grief,
Uncertainty,
Confusion.
Allow it.
Be so kind and gentle with yourself.
It's okay to feel all of this.
You don't have to rush through it.
Offer yourself one phrase of compassion.
Speak to yourself as you would a loved one,
Because you are a loved one.
You are loved.
Grief in all of its forms,
Loss in all of its forms,
Deserves your awareness.
Every connection we make forms and shapes in our being,
Our minds,
Our bodies in some way.
And when it is taken away or dissolves,
It is natural to experience sadness.
Breathe.
Now imagine your grief as something you can hold.
It's not something you carry endlessly,
But you get to hold it for a moment with care.
Perhaps it's like a stone or a crystal.
A flame or a cloud passing by.
Whatever it is,
It's sacred.
It means something lived.
It means something mattered.
Hold it.
Acknowledge it.
Thank it for what it's showing you.
You can let it rest beside you.
You can return to it if you need to at any time.
And you can let it rest with love and care.
Come back to the awareness of the rise and fall of the breath.
Where does the inhales and exhales exist in your body?
Take this moment to feel the ground beneath you once again.
Begin to wiggle your fingers,
Your toes.
And when you're ready,
Slowly begin to open your eyes.
Come back into the here and now.
You don't have to brace against grief.
You can learn to float in and out of it.
You're held.
You're loved.
I encourage you to reach out to a loved one.
I encourage you to acknowledge how you're experiencing any news that is creating this sense of grief or sadness or loss in you.
Know that you are safe to be exactly who you are.
And allow yourself to be supported.
As always,
Breathe love.
