Welcome to this meditation on grief.
So to begin finding a comfortable seat,
Whether your preference is lying down or sitting upright,
As long as the spine is elongated and the attention is alert but relaxed.
We begin by connecting to the breath,
Noticing how it feels in the body,
Perhaps it's short and laboured,
Or longer and more relaxed,
Just noticing,
No judgement.
Finding the breath now in the body,
So perhaps the sensation of the cool air as it enters your nostrils,
And the warm air as it exits your nostrils,
Maybe the expansion and contraction of your ribcage,
Or the rise and fall of your belly,
Allowing the breath to feel nurturing,
Loving and gentle.
Seeing now if we can gently lengthen the inhales and exhales.
Just gently encouraging a deeper,
More nourishing breath.
There should be no strain.
We're just trying to signal to the nervous system that everything is okay.
Massaging the heart between the lungs,
Slowing down the breathing.
To deepen the sense of relaxation,
See if with every exhale you can drop the shoulders down the back.
Relaxing the space between the eyebrows.
Unclenching the jaw.
And slightly opening through the heart,
Sinking into oneself.
If you feel like you need to release the breath,
You can take a deep inhale,
And then sigh out the breath through the mouth,
Breathing in through the nose,
And then sighing the breath out through the mouth.
We'll do one more,
Breathing in through the nose,
And then sighing the breath out through the mouth.
We gently take our attention now to the heart space,
The center of the chest.
We just notice how the heart feels.
So perhaps there's some tension or some heaviness or lightness or openness.
Whatever the heart is feeling right now is allowed,
We're just noticing what's there.
You may pay attention to how it feels to have the heart seen by you.
If the intensity increases,
We gently carry ourselves on the breath.
You may notice some resistance or some protection.
A voice that says,
This is too painful or we can't go here.
I encourage you gently to just allow the experience of your heart to be here,
Just for this moment.
Gently nudging that armor and that protection,
Saying,
I'm here,
I'm listening.
We say to the heart again,
I'm here and I'm listening.
I'm here and I'm listening.
Again,
Using the breath to gently encourage the heart to open,
Cradling the heart with the breath,
Sending the breath to the heart,
Especially the heart.
Asking yourself now,
If you can allow the pain and the grief to be here,
Just for this moment.
If you can allow your own sorrow,
If you can hold the most tender and sensitive part of yourself.
Sitting with yourself gently and tenderly in this moment and saying,
I see you,
I know,
I'm here.
Allowing that heart to break if it needs to,
Allowing the tears to flow if they need to.
Just allowing the expression of this deep pain to be there.
It is safe for you to do so.
You're being held so gently and so lovingly by yourself,
By me,
By the people that love you and by the universe.
Saying to the heart now,
I love you and I'm listening.
I love you and I'm listening.
I love you and I'm listening.
These feelings,
Even though they're intense and they're painful,
It's such a loving opportunity to express grief,
Not only perhaps for the person that you've lost,
But love for yourself to allow this experience.
When we allow the grief,
When we allow the pain,
We give it the opportunity to pass.
While we're still resisting and suppressing and protecting,
It almost becomes more stuck.
We're saying,
I see you and I'm holding you and I'm loving you and when you're ready,
I also give you permission to go.
As we bring this meditation to a close,
If you would like to,
Taking your hand and putting it on your heart to honor and say thank you,
Acknowledging the tenderness and the sacredness of your own heart and saying,
My dear heart,
Thank you.
My dear heart,
Thank you.
My dear heart,
Thank you.
Just sitting for a moment here,
Directing gratitude to yourself,
To your heart for this practice,
For this time spent in quiet communion with yourself.
When you feel ready to end this meditation,
Dropping your chin to your chest,
Taking an inhale through the nose and sighing it all out through the mouth,
Releasing any residual tension.
And again,
Inhale through the nose,
Sighing it all out through the mouth on the exhale.
And last time,
Breathing in through the nose,
Sighing it out through the mouth.
And then blinking the eyes open,
Coming back into the room and hopefully carrying the sense of closeness and love and tenderness towards your day,
Towards yourself into the rest of your day.
Thank you.
