Welcome yourself to this guided meditation for grief.
Closing the eyes if it feels comfortable or keeping them open and softening your gaze.
Finding yourself in a comfortable position.
Allowing the body to move and adjust to find its perfect comfortable space.
Begin to tune into the space around you.
Allow the floor to hold you and relax the way you hold yourself.
Tune into the space inside of you and notice your thoughts and emotions.
Allow each thought and each emotion to come and go as they will without trying to change them.
Allowing the sounds around you to appear and then disappear.
Let your mind sink into your breathing,
Focusing less on the external world,
Less on the thoughts and emotions as they come and go and less on the sounds in your environment.
Allowing the body to grow still.
The abdomen and the chest,
The only part of the body moving now,
Rising and falling in space.
Refine your breathing.
Allow it to become smooth and quiet.
Every inhalation brings a sense of deep and abiding presence.
Every exhale serves as a tiny anchor,
Settling you into the support beneath your body.
Allow the head to become heavy and relaxed.
The backs of the shoulders become heavy.
The hips become heavy.
Your feet become heavy.
Release any gripping through the hands.
Allow your fingers and your toes to relax.
There is nothing to grasp or grip,
Nowhere to be but here.
You are allowed to feel safe in this moment and to feel whatever it is you feel.
You are allowed to express emotion.
You are allowed to cry.
You're allowed to sigh.
With your awareness on the breath,
Allow the image of the person you have lost to come to mind.
Observe each detail of their appearance.
Recall what it was that made them stand out to you and what you especially loved about them.
Reflect on the ways they made you feel human and the ways they express their own humanity toward you,
All of the ways both perfect and imperfect.
Recall a moment of joy you had with them.
Recall a moment of sadness you had with them.
Now recall a mundane and seemingly inconsequential moment.
Dive into the unique elements of those thoughts and remembrances,
The locations of the moments,
The clothes you both wore,
Even the temperature of the air.
Maintaining a smooth and even pace of breathing.
If your breath becomes shaky,
It's okay,
Allow it.
Everything that happens in this moment is okay.
Continue reconnecting with the breath,
Letting it anchor you here in the present.
Notice how every exhale stabilizes you,
Bringing you back again and again into the feeling of being here now where you truly are on this earth and in this moment.
Allow yourself to think of this person you lost for as long as you need,
Returning awareness to the breath,
Resting the mind completely in the breath.
Notice the quality of the breath now,
If it's become rigid or ragged.
Let it regain its smooth,
Calm and quiet quality as time progresses here.
Rest,
Breathe and be here for as long as you need.
Deepen your breathing and exhale an audible sigh.
And deepening the breath and the releasing with a sigh.
When you feel ready,
Rest your palm over your heart.
Press words of kindness and love first to yourself and then to the person that you lost.
Deep breath in.
Exhale out.
Deep breath in.
Fully release.
Allow yourself to come back into this moment,
Taking as long as you need.
Losing your practice with a full deep breath in and a loving exhale out.
