Namaste and greetings.
For today's practice,
We are simply going to hold the space to feel grief.
So we begin by anchoring to the breath.
This breath that always reminds us to be present.
Because as I always say,
I cannot re-breathe yesterday's breath.
I cannot pre-breathe tomorrow's breath.
I cannot save a breath for a rainy day.
I can only take this divine inhalation and surrender this divine exhalation.
This present moment.
Receive,
Release.
Receive,
Release.
And so without needing to micromanage your breath or force it to be a certain thing,
Simply notice.
And as we continue to breathe,
Awareness to expand,
To encompass all of the ways that grief can show up in our lives.
All of the life events that can inspire grief to show up.
We readily understand that grief can occur when a family member,
A friend,
A pet dies.
They transition.
It is easy to identify that as the reason for our grief.
The loss of a loved one.
It is far more rare for us to also understand that grief can occur even in the midst of good news.
Receiving a job promotion that causes us to move to a new city,
A new state.
The grief surfaces because what was known must be surrendered.
We grieve the loss.
We grieve the loss of neighbors that we knew and liked.
We grieve the loss of the well-traveled route to and from the grocery store,
To work,
To home.
We grieve the favorite restaurants,
The sights of the city.
We grieve that what was known,
What was appreciated,
What was enjoyed is no more.
And even though in this new city,
This new state,
There will be new neighbors and new restaurants,
New acquaintances and new sights.
We grieve what is no more.
We grieve relationships that are relationships that have come to an end.
Our friendships connection is no more.
We grieve a great many things.
We can grieve that our favorite television show has been canceled and will not be continued for another season.
It may seem trivial.
We have grown accustomed to those characters.
They are like friends.
We have grown accustomed to the story that is incomplete.
The loss.
What is no more.
We grieve.
So in this breath,
We choose not to judge what it is that we grieve.
We simply recognize that we grieve.
Not so long ago,
There was a global event that caused us to be six feet apart,
To wear masks,
To be separate,
To be isolated,
To be alone.
It caused grief.
And for many,
It still causes grief.
Even for those of us unaffected by death related to this,
There is still the disconnect,
The discomfort that has come from.
We can no longer gather in person the way we did.
We can no longer hug or commune the way we did.
Even something as simple as,
I miss seeing your face.
I've grown used to the mask,
But I miss seeing your face and I grieve.
And so in this breath,
We simply are present to the grief.
And as we are present to it,
We understand that the nice,
Neat stages or steps of grief are anything but nice and neat.
At any time,
Our grief can move from denial to bargaining,
To acceptance,
To anger,
To depression,
To anger,
Depression,
Denial.
It's a cycle and resurface yet again.
Grief is not going to move from one to two through five and be done at any moment.
A memory can trigger,
A scent can trigger,
A sound,
A song can trigger,
And we remember there is nothing.
In the same way that we can stand in a park and stare at the clouds in the sky,
And we notice a cloud formation moving by.
We may even say,
Look,
It looks like a unicorn.
Not try to grab the cloud and hold the unicorn.
We observe it the same way as the memory surfaces.
We observe it floating by.
We may cry.
We observe it floating by.
Observe it floating by.
Rather than deny our grief or suppress our grief or ignore our grief,
Simply to make someone else more comfortable,
To make ourselves choose to be present,
Feel.
There are many who cite this quote that came from a television series where one of the characters says,
But what is grief?
But what is grief?
Grief because we miss something,
Access to someone that we no longer have access to.
One of the great things that I have learned in my own processing,
Experiencing,
Is that there can be the space for both and.
Grief and gratitude.
While my mother and father have made their transitions,
And I grieve and miss them deeply,
I am grateful for the time.
I am grateful for the fun memories and the laughter.
I am grateful and I'm grateful and I grieve.
I feel joy and sadness.
We are able to be both and,
Yin yang,
Not either or,
Both and.
And in this space of being both and,
We are afforded the opportunity to heal through grief.
Never reaching a,
I am healed and this is done,
In the same way that there is no point where we say,
The moment I have breathed 4,
629 breaths,
I am able to live my life without ever breathing again.
We understand that breath is life.
We breathe,
We bathe,
We eat.
As an ongoing practice,
So too is this healing.
But what is grief?
If not love,
Persevering,
Love,
Persevering,
Love,
Continuing,
Love,
Being present,
Love,
Showing up.
Let us be grateful that there is love.
Let us feel joy because there is love.
Let us breathe because there is love.
This journey through grief,
This journey of grief,
This experience of grief,
The various things we feel from denial to anger to bargaining,
Depression and acceptance,
They are not the enemy.
They are processes.
They are ingredients that go into the meal that we are cooking.
There is flour.
There are eggs.
There is milk.
There is butter.
There is stirring.
There is sifting.
There is pouring.
There is denial.
There is anger.
There is bargaining.
There is depression.
And there is acceptance.
There is a process.
There is an inhale and an exhale.
There is a process called respiration.
There is a process called grieving.
There is a process called healing.
We give ourselves permission,
Engage the process,
Practice the presence,
To love,
Rise each day and face whatever may come,
Life-affirming faith,
Conviction,
A determination,
Love,
A determination to live our best lives,
A determination.
And as this practice comes to an end,
Understand that at any given time when we are triggered and grief surfaces,
No matter what it is,
That we are able to breathe,
Align,
Come back home to ourselves,
The truth of ourselves.
Om Tat Sat.
I am that I am.
Breathe.
Recognize the love that you are.
Breathe.
Recognize the gratitude that you are.
Breathe.
Recognize the divine being.
Amazing,
Beautiful,
Love-filled day.
