This practice is called holding space for grief.
Please close your eyes if that feels comfortable,
Otherwise you may just keep them open,
Gazing softly somewhere that's comfortable for you.
Let's begin with some deeper,
Longer breaths,
Bringing some oxygen into the body.
And now we'll scan through the body and I invite you to release any tension that you find there.
Our bodies tend to tighten up and hold emotions.
So just briefly here,
Beginning with the feet,
Allowing tension to ease.
And the legs,
Allowing tension to ease.
And through the pelvis and the waist and the lower back and abdomen,
Allowing tension to ease.
Deep breaths.
Through the upper back and the shoulders and chest and down through the arms and hands,
Letting tension ease.
Softening in the neck and the jaw and through the temples and the eyes and the forehead,
Allowing tension to ease.
I invite you during this practice to place your hand on your heart or your belly if that feels helpful as a way of studying your own presence here.
Noticing what grief feels like right now.
Checking on where it is in the body and what it feels like.
It could be a word like anger or you could describe it hardness,
Sharp,
Heavy.
If it's moving or if it wants to move,
I invite you to see if you can allow it to move through you.
And coming back to the deeper,
Longer breaths can be a way of helping this grief move through you.
Sometimes grief can change forms,
Sadness,
Longing,
Even joy or happiness.
And back through anger,
Denial,
Getting to know your grief.
These feelings can be very hard,
Very difficult.
Please give yourself permission not to force yourself to feel a certain way.
If you notice a difficult relationship with this grief,
See if there's a way that you might soften your resistance,
Even if it's just a little bit tending to this grief with care.
Now that you've made space for yourself to notice and feel some of this grief,
I invite you to feel through your body where this grief feels like it belongs on this earth.
Does it connect you to a certain part of earth,
The ground itself,
The trees,
The sky,
The rain,
The river,
Birds,
Perhaps the wind?
You might feel held by this planet and connected to this planet through this grief.
Noticing your own special relationship with life on this earth,
Even through this grief and pain,
Connection,
And maybe a shift in your own feeling inside of you.
Let's come out of this.
Ah,
I gotta go out of here.
