Welcome to a four-part meditation and breathwork series for heartbreak,
Healing,
Loss and grief in the daily practice section of the self-study portal.
In this first meditation,
We will discover the physiology of love,
Developing a keen understanding of love's impact on the body and mind,
And more specifically,
What happens to our brains,
Bodies and nervous systems when we experience heartbreak,
Grief or loss.
We will explore our own unique relationship to grief and loss within heartbreak,
And how your own body develops a key language with which you can support yourself through awareness and compassion in your journey of loss.
Now,
This loss can stem from heartbreak,
A devastating breakup,
Death,
Friendship loss,
Or any deep and meaningful loss.
It's not specific to romantic relationships here.
This love and loss,
Heartbreak,
Or death can be of platonic relationships,
Community,
Romantic,
Family or otherwise.
So,
If you've found yourself in a space of grief and loss in any capacity,
You are in the right place.
Now,
Let's go ahead and get started.
Please bring yourself to a comfortable meditation posture,
Whatever comfort and ease looks like for you today.
That might look like lying down with a bunch of pillows or blankets.
That might look like a traditional seated meditation posture you choose here.
Close your eyes down if it feels safe to do so.
Just begin to breathe.
See if you can begin to lengthen your exhales to be the same length as your inhales.
Maybe even beginning to aim for a slow count of four on your inhale,
And then a slow count of four on your exhale.
Just exploring here what it feels like to breathe deeply into all parts of your lungs.
Feeling them widen and expand on your inhale,
And then deflate and pull in towards your center on your exhale.
Riding the wave of breath in your body.
Breathing in.
Allowing any emotion to arise without labeling them.
Merely just witnessing them and being with them as they visit you.
Don't claim them.
Don't even cling to them.
Just witness them and allow them to be what they are.
It is a physiological experience.
It moves through our nervous system,
Our hormones.
When we experience love in any capacity,
The brain releases oxytocin,
Dopamine,
And serotonin.
All chemicals that create feelings of connection,
Pleasure,
And well-being.
Love activates the vagus nerve,
Slowing the heart rate down and reducing stress.
When we feel love,
Whether romantic,
Familial,
Or self-directed,
Our bodies respond in ways that promote healing and longevity.
Studies even show that love and social connection can lower blood pressure,
Reduce inflammation,
And even extend lifespan.
Research by Dr.
Helen Fisher has shown that romantic love activates the brain reward system,
So much like an addiction,
It creates an intense longing and euphoria.
Simply put,
It's an experience of brain circuits activating and neurological chemicals and hormones cascading into our brain and body.
In this meditation,
We explore love's presence in the body,
Deepening our awareness of how it shapes and sustains us,
And what happens if we suddenly become deprived of those very real physiological responses when we lose that connection.
If there is one thing you hear in this first part of the series,
I need it to be this.
It's the foundational building block of this entire series.
People in your life may help you tap into this feeling of love.
They may be a conduit to those neurological and biochemical responses,
But they don't give it to you.
Because love isn't something you're given,
It's something you are.
It's inherent in being human.
Love isn't something you're given,
It's something you are.
Begin with slow,
Deep,
Diaphragmatic breathing to activate your parasympathetic nervous system,
Signaling safety and relaxation in your body.
You will build now your first breathwork pattern.
Building on to that first breathing we did with the slow count of four for your inhale,
And slow count of four for your exhale,
We will expand on that and move into a four,
Seven,
Eight breath pattern.
We inhale for four.
We hold for seven.
We exhale for eight.
Inhale for four.
Hold for seven.
Inhale for seven.
And exhale for eight.
Keep breathing in a pattern that feels good for you.
Aiming again for a slow inhale to four.
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Hold three,
Two,
One.
Exhale,
Eight,
Seven,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Inhale for three,
Two,
One.
Hold seven,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Exhale,
Eight,
Seven,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Hold seven,
Six,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Exhale,
Eight,
Seven,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
As you breathe,
Visualize oxytocin,
The love hormone flowing through you,
Bringing warmth and ease,
Reigniting the feeling of love on a sensory level.
Picture a golden river of love coursing through your veins,
Warming your heart,
Softening your body.
Sense the areas where love has lived,
Your heart,
Your hands,
Your belly,
Like sacred chambers filled with its echoes.
Imagine love as a glowing ember within you and spreading its warmth,
Filling you with a profound sense of belonging.
Keep breathing and notice the well of love deep within you,
Not external,
Something to be given or received,
But something rather that you are made of.
The more we practice this,
The more we ignite that feeling within us,
The more we prime into the experience and neurocircuitry of love.
Beyond cognition and into the feeling,
We can observe that love ultimately arises not from someone or something external,
But from deep within us.
Repeating internally to yourself now,
Love is energy.
Love is life.
Love is within me.
See yourself standing in an open field,
Arms wide,
Feeling the infinite embrace of love from the universe itself.
Keep breathing while you feel the gentle hum of connection vibrating within yourself,
As though your entire being is an instrument attuned to the frequency of love.
Finishing off whatever round of breath you are on and let your breathing come back to its standard and normal frequency here.
Feeling again that hum of connection vibrating within yourself.
Feel your entire being attuned to the frequency of love.
I'm going to invite you into some contemplation now.
Begin to visualize someone who has loved you deeply.
Perhaps a family member,
A friend,
Or even yourself at a younger age.
Bring to your mind this time that you felt deeply love.
Don't overthink this part.
Just notice where your mind goes first.
Notice who was there,
When it was,
But most importantly,
I want you to notice the feeling of that time.
Can you sink into this feeling of being loved?
Your stomach?
Is your breath softened?
As best as you can,
See if you can recreate that feeling of being loved here in this moment.
Do you feel warmth wrapping around you?
How does your chest feel?
Let that warmth surround you.
Fill your heart.
Rest in this awareness.
Allowing it to bring peace and contentment.
Letting love's essence cradle you in this stillness.
Now,
It doesn't really matter why you were there.
None of that is really important.
What is important is that we bring that feeling of being loved into the body,
Into this moment.
Now I'm going to invite you to bring a time to mind when you loved someone.
Again,
The person or the experience is less important.
Again,
The importance here is feeling the somatic sensations of loving.
Where does your mind go first?
Notice what's going on in your body as you bring to mind this memory.
And then begin to visualize it yourself.
In the rest of your day,
Rest of your week,
Maybe even the rest of your life.
And pour love over it.
What would it be like to show up with this quality deep within you?
This quality of love that exists within you.
Without external force.
It just exists.
Filling everything around you.
Pour from that internal well within you.
And let it ooze over and drip over you like sticky honey.
There's an endless supply of it.
For it comes from within you.
I'm pausing for a moment.
I'm bringing forth a moment of gratitude for those people or that person who made you feel deeply loved.
Whether here on this physical plane or not.
Whether in your life,
Now.
Feel gratitude for the people or the person who made you feel deeply loved.
For they held the mirror for you to see that that love exists within you.
Now gratitude for yourself for giving love so freely from the well within you.
A reminder that if a bridge to love in this moment feels broken through heartbreak,
Grief,
Loss,
Or separating ways.
There is always love to access within you.
It flows through you like a river ready and abundant for you to access.
You don't need to be deprived of loving feelings or the biochemical responses to love.
Because it is here right now within you.
Available to you at any given time.
Acknowledging now your capacity to love.
To tap into this feeling that has always been deep within.
The music will continue now.
Feel free to rest here in love for as long as you like.
