Healing Grief

There's no one way to grieve the loss of a loved one. Grief is a personal experience. This meditation will guide you through all of your feelings with compassion and loving-kindness. Allow yourself to feel your feelings and heal your heart. You're not alone. Wishing you peace and unconditional love.

Music by Chris Collins at Indie Music Box

Transcript

Welcome,

I'm Sophia Ready.

Thank you for being here with me today.

I want you to know that you're not alone.

Grief can be a profoundly painful experience.

It is difficult to lose a loved one.

There can be a lot of different feelings going on for you right now.

You might be feeling angry and betrayed and not sure why.

Maybe you feel immense sadness knowing you won't be able to celebrate important milestones and events with your loved one.

You might feel like it's not real and wake up wondering if your loved one is really gone.

You might also feel joy as you remember a pleasant experience you had with your loved one.

Whatever comes up for you is okay.

Grieving is a very personal experience.

There is no right or wrong way to grieve.

Your relationship with your loved one was unique and you will have your own unique way of grieving for them.

Now I invite you to take a few minutes to be present with any feelings that come up.

This meditation will allow you to sit with these feelings so you can safely feel them and work through them.

If you feel overwhelmed at any point,

Please feel free to take a break by hitting the pause button.

Move around or do something soothing.

Come back to this meditation when you feel ready to do so.

It's important to allow yourself to feel your feelings so you can heal your heart.

Please remember you are not alone.

I'm here with you.

Now find a comfortable place to sit or lie down,

Or you can stand if you prefer.

Allow yourself to feel fully supported by the surface beneath you.

If you're standing,

Notice your feet make contact with the ground beneath them.

Feel your body making contact with the surface beneath it.

Notice how you're fully supported by the earth beneath you.

Bring your attention to your breathing.

Notice the rise of your body on the in-breath,

Cool air entering,

And the letting go on the out-breath,

Warm air as the air comes out.

Notice the smooth and rhythmic pace of your breathing,

Just like the ocean waves rolling in and out,

In and out.

Whatever pace that it is,

It's just the right one for you.

Allow it to soothe you.

Rest in this awareness.

You can silently repeat to yourself,

My breathing is effortless and steady,

Just like the ocean waves rolling in and out,

In and out.

Allow yourself to feel comforted.

Breathing in calm,

Breathing out stress and tension.

Breathing in peace,

Breathing out letting,

Letting,

Letting go.

Each out-breath letting go of stress and tension.

Continue to rest in this space for a few more moments.

I'd like to share one of my favorite poems with you.

The poem is Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep by Mary Elizabeth Fry.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am not there.

I do not sleep.

I am in a thousand winds that blow.

I am the softly falling snow.

I am the gentle showers of rain.

I am the fields of ripening grain.

I am in the morning hush.

I am in the graceful rush.

Gentle birds encircling flight.

I am the star shine of the night.

I am in the flowers that bloom.

I am in a quiet room.

I am in the birds that sing.

I am in each lovely thing.

Do not stand at my grave and cry.

I am not there.

I do not die.

Allowing yourself to take in a deep breath and sighing it out on the exhale.

Letting be.

Allowing your breathing to soothe your heart and comfort your soul.

If your eyes have been closed,

Take a moment to open them.

If you have a window,

You can look outside and see what's happening.

Bring your attention to an object that perhaps you haven't noticed before.

See where your gaze lands you.

Take a couple of minutes to describe to yourself what you're seeing.

How would you describe it to someone who can't see it?

Give yourself as much detail as possible.

Okay,

Good.

What are you noticing in your body right now?

With a kindness and gentle awareness,

Notice the temperature of the air against your skin.

What parts of your body feel warm?

What parts feel cool?

Are you noticing a particular area that has tightness?

Allow yourself to release any tension or tightness on your next out-breath.

With each out-breath,

Breathing out stress and tension.

With each in-breath,

Breathing in calming presence.

Allow your body to feel fully supported.

Whatever comes up for you right now is perfectly okay.

Create each thought and sensation you're having kindly.

You can repeat to yourself,

This is hard.

I miss my loved one so much.

I'm here with you and I love you.

Bring kindness to this moment to whatever you're experiencing.

Whatever you are feeling is okay.

Take a moment now to bring to mind someone who's still a part of your life and who you feel loved by.

It might be someone you haven't seen in a while.

It could be someone you speak with frequently.

Take a moment now to picture this person with you at this very moment.

Perhaps they're offering you a warm smile or a hug.

Notice what it's like to be with this person,

Accepting their love and support.

Notice what's happening in your body.

Notice what sensations you're feeling in your heart area.

Does your chest feel tight or open and relaxed?

Something with kindness,

Bringing affection,

Warmth,

And compassion to this area.

You can place your hand on your heart and the other one over that hand,

Feeling the warmth being generated in your body.

Bring yourself to feel fully supported.

When thoughts or images come up,

Allow them to be there.

Bring your attention back to the warmth.

Bring your attention back to loving presence.

Bring your attention back to the smooth and steady rhythmic breathing.

Allow yourself to feel fully supported.

Even if your loved ones are not physically with you,

They are always within your heart.

We can cherish the loving moments we have with them.

We can bring kindness and compassion to any difficult moments we've had.

We can practice forgiveness.

We can remind ourselves this is a sad time.

And always remembering how much you are loved and that you're not alone.

And I'll count from one to five as we bring this meditation to a close.

Please remember that you can take time to be with your feelings at any point in the day.

And it's important to take this sacred time to allow yourself to feel any feelings that come up and to soothe yourself in a kind and compassionate way.

You don't have to do this alone.

Starting with one,

Two,

Allow your hands and arms to rest gently by your side or on your lap.

Three,

Opening your eyes and noticing the light in the room.

Four,

Wiggling fingers and toes.

Five,

Stretching and moving around,

Taking your time.

Coming out of this meditation gently and kindly.

Wishing you peace and unconditional love.

Please take good care of yourself.

Sending much love your way.

Reviews

Helpful thanks

Beautiful!
As soon as you mentioned a poem-my mind knew the one you were going to read. It was the same one I found in my mother’s belongings last week. I lost her 3 weeks ago yesterday. Thank you for this beautiful meditation. It’s the first time I told myself it’s ok to cry out loud. Thank you!

So helpful! Thank you!

Very soothing. Thank you.

Thank you 🙏🏼💜

Thank you so much..

Immensely helpful and healing. Thank you for sharing! Namaste 💜🙏

Yesterday I lost a very dear Friend. She was another Sister, in addition to the dear Sisters I already have. The poem and meditation was (and will be) deeply comforting to me. Thank you. 🙏🏾

Thank you. Really needed to feel my feelings.

Thank you for this. My heart feels 🙏🏻❤️

Soothing after my Starlight died.

That was very helpful. Thank you for sharing yourself with me.

thank you so so much. this was just what I needed right now