Hello,
Dear beautiful soul.
Welcome to this sacred guided meditation.
A space offered with love.
A space to hold and honor grief with compassion.
Grief is one of the most natural and universal of human experiences.
It touches each one of us when we lose someone we love,
When a relationship changes or ends,
When we experience profound disappointment,
Or when life shifts in ways we simply didn't expect.
Grief is not an enemy to be conquered or a problem to be solved though.
Rather,
It is a testament to our capacity to love deeply,
To care profoundly,
And to feel the full spectrum of what it means to be human.
What we need most when we're grieving is support.
And this yoga nidra practice offers an opportunity to deeply relax and to feel completely held.
You are not alone.
Grief has always been part of the human journey.
Ancient wisdom in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali teaches about a state of sorrowless joy that resides in the heart.
It is called Vishoka Va Jyotishmuti.
This place in the heart is free from grief and suffering,
Softly illuminated by an eternal radiant light,
Undimmed by anything the world may bring.
It is here where we can rest when we experience grief.
By anchoring ourselves in the heart center,
We can soften the mind's resistance,
Knowing that grief and joy can reside together there.
Grief and joy can coexist.
Both are true,
Both are authentic,
And both are sacred.
Today we'll create a safe and sacred space for grief,
A place where all feelings are welcome.
We'll begin with gentle breath work to calm the nervous system and settle into the body.
We'll set a healing intention that honors both our grief and our innate resilience.
We'll move through a loving body scan to release where grief may be held in the physical body.
And we'll rest together in the heart center,
The eternal place within us that remains unbroken even in the midst of loss.
My deepest hope is that this practice leaves you feeling held,
More at peace with yourself,
And aware of the eternal light that shines within you.
My name is Wendy,
And it is such an honor to hold space for you today.
Welcome.
Let's begin by finding your most comfortable position.
You may lie down or settle into a chair with your spine softly supported.
Using the props available to you for your comfort,
A blanket for warmth,
A pillow for under your head,
And perhaps an eye covering to soften the light.
Gently allowing your eyes to close.
Beginning to arrive here in this present moment,
In this safe and sacred space.
Letting go of the worries and concerns of your day and settling into your perfect yoga nidra nest,
Allowing the surface beneath you to completely hold and support you.
When we are weary from heartbreak,
We can lie back and let Mother Earth hold us.
Let her ground us.
Let her remind us that we are not alone.
You are safe.
You are supported.
You are loved.
Let's begin by taking 3 grounding breaths together,
Each one connecting you more deeply to the unconditional support of the Earth beneath you.
Take a deep breath in through your nose.
Breathing in support.
Breathing in compassion.
And exhale with an audible sigh like this.
Releasing some of the weight you've been holding.
Sighing is an ancient sound of release.
Let it carry away whatever is ready to go.
Again,
Take another deep breath in,
Drawing in the Earth's steadiness,
Her patience,
Her quiet strength.
And exhale with an audible sigh again,
Allowing your body to soften,
To release,
To be held.
One more time,
Deep breath in,
Filling yourself with the knowing that you are not alone.
And exhaling with a sigh,
Letting your shoulders drop,
Your jaw soften.
Your whole body melting into this sacred space.
And now allowing your breath to return to its natural rhythm.
Noticing the soft rise and fall of your belly.
The quiet life force moving through you.
As you rest here,
I invite you to connect with your inner sanctuary,
An ever-present,
Unchanging place within you.
Like a safe harbor within.
Steady and still.
Constant even when everything around you feels uncertain.
Even when your heart feels heavy.
It might be a memory of feeling safe and loved.
It might be a place in nature that brings you peace.
Or it might simply be the quiet knowing that you are here,
Breathing,
Being held.
Take a moment to feel into this place.
This spacious place is large enough to hold all of your experiences,
Your grief,
Your vulnerability.
Feel this sanctuary surrounding you like a warm embrace.
Holding you and allowing you to feel whatever arises.
In this state of deep rest,
Your mind becomes receptive to healing.
Your heart softens.
And you have access to the deepest,
Most intimate layers of your being.
Let's now set a healing intention together.
A sankalpa.
A heartfelt seed of truth that honors both your grief and your innate strength.
Your intention might be something like,
I allow myself to feel and to heal.
Or I am held in love,
Even in my grief.
Or my grief is honored and my heart remains open.
Take a moment to choose what resonates most deeply with your heart.
And when you have it,
Repeat your intention three times.
Softly aloud or silently within.
And as you repeat your intention,
Feel it sinking down into your heart.
Into that eternal radiant light that lives there.
The light that grief cannot extinguish.
The light that remains,
Even in the darkness.
Your sankalpa is now held in the sorrowless space at your heart.
Trust that it will support and guide you through this journey.
Now let's move into a body scan.
Noticing where grief may be living in your physical body and offering compassion to each part.
Remember that everything in this practice is simply an invitation.
Take what feels right and simply leave the rest.
You are welcome to visit your grief as deeply as you wish or to simply rest here,
Breathing,
Held by the earth.
Let's begin.
Beginning at the crown,
At the top of your head.
Softening.
Releasing.
Making space.
Opening to receive.
Moving your awareness now to your forehead.
To your third eye.
The space between your eyebrows.
Your temples.
Grief sometimes lives here as tension.
As the mind's endless searching.
As the exhausting work of trying to make sense of things.
Breathing softly into these areas.
Letting them soften and release.
There is nothing to figure out right now.
Just rest.
Moving to your eyes.
Your eyes softening behind your closed eyelids.
Letting them rest completely.
If there have been tears,
Honor them.
Tears are prayers.
The body's wisdom.
Releasing what the heart cannot carry alone.
Your cheeks.
Your jaw.
Where we so often clench and hold without even knowing.
Let your jaw release completely.
Letting it fall slightly open if that feels comfortable.
Surrendering just a little more.
Bring your awareness now to your throat and neck.
The throat is our center of expression.
Where we speak our truth.
Where we voice our loss.
Where we may have held back words of love or words of goodbye.
Gently feel this area softening and opening.
Creating space for whatever still needs to be expressed.
In its own time.
In its own way.
And now your shoulders.
Where we carry so much.
Where grief can settle like a heavy invisible weight.
Letting your shoulders drop down away from your ears.
Releasing and surrendering that weight to the earth beneath you.
Trusting that she can hold it.
Your arms growing heavy and soft.
Your hands opening gently.
Releasing the grip.
Letting go.
Bringing your awareness now to your heart center.
The middle of your chest.
This is where grief lives most deeply.
Where love and loss intertwine.
Where the ache of missing someone or something lives.
Breathe softly into this space.
With great care.
With infinite compassion.
As if breathing directly into the ache itself.
Your heart has been working so hard.
Feeling so much.
Loving so deeply.
Take a moment to simply honor that.
Notice whatever sensations are present here.
Tightness.
Heaviness.
Aching.
Emptiness.
Or perhaps a surprising warmth.
All of it is welcome.
All of it belongs.
All of it is honored.
That grief itself cannot dim.
Shining whether you are happy or sad.
In gain or in loss.
This light holds your grief with compassion.
It does not push grief away.
It does not rush it.
It simply illuminates it.
Witnesses it.
Allows it to be exactly as it is.
Now gently invite in gratitude.
Not to bypass your grief.
But to rest alongside it.
Even here.
Even now.
There are things to be grateful for.
Your breath.
The earth holding you.
The love that lives inside this grief.
For grief is only possible because love was real.
Gratitude and grief can coexist.
They are not opposites.
They are companions.
Two expressions of the same open heart.
Feel the eternal radiant light expanding slowly through your entire chest.
Warming you.
Softening you.
Reminding you that even in loss,
You remain connected to love.
That love does not end.
Moving your awareness now down to your solar plexus.
Just below your ribcage.
Grief can settle here as anxiety.
As a nervous unsettled feeling.
As the weight of not quite knowing how to move forward.
Breathe golden light softly into this space.
Calming.
Soothing.
Steadying.
You don't have to know what comes next.
You don't have to have a plan.
You don't have to be ready.
Just this breath.
Just this moment.
Moving now to your belly.
Your soft center.
Your belly is wise.
It holds not just nourishment but all of your experiences.
Your emotions.
All that has been heavy to hold.
Give your belly full permission to soften.
To release.
To let the earth do some of that holding for you.
Continuing your awareness down through your lower back.
Your pelvis.
Your hips.
These areas often carry the memory of grief.
Of shock.
Of life changing in an instant.
Breathe into them with great kindness.
Imagining the earth's energy rising up through the ground beneath you.
Stabilizing you.
And reminding you that you are held.
Your thighs growing heavy and soft.
Your knees.
Your calves.
Your ankles.
All releasing.
All softening.
All surrendering into the earth.
And finally your feet.
And all ten toes.
Your feet connect you to the earth.
To the ground that holds you exactly as you are.
To the ground that held you before this grief and will hold you through all that is yet to come.
Take a moment now to feel your whole body.
From the top of your head to the tips of your toes.
Completely supported.
Held in compassion.
Resting in the earth's embrace.
There is nothing to do.
Nowhere to go.
Nothing to fix or figure out.
This is the gift of deep conscious rest.
Of allowing yourself to be held.
Of trusting that you do not have to carry it all alone.
And now we move into a sacred visualization.
An inner journey honoring grief while connecting us to something larger than the loss itself.
In this deeply relaxed state we touch something within us that is wider and older than grief itself.
Allow an image of a beautiful garden to arise in your mind's eye.
Your garden of remembrance.
A place where memory and healing coexist.
Where love is never lost.
The garden is peaceful.
Bathed in soft golden light.
And you feel completely safe here.
Completely welcome.
Exactly as you are.
There is a special place to rest within this garden.
A bench.
A mossy stone.
A soft patch of grass.
Whatever feels right for you.
Settle there now.
Feeling held.
Feeling the warmth of this sacred space around you.
The air is warm and gentle.
A soft breeze moves through.
You can hear birds singing nearby.
Water flowing.
Life quietly breathing.
And now,
If you are ready and willing,
You may softly welcome your grief into this space.
In whatever form feels right to you.
It might appear as a color.
Or a texture.
A feeling.
A memory.
An image.
Or a sensation somewhere in your body.
There is no right way to do this.
Simply allow whatever wants to come,
To come.
And whatever needs to stay hidden,
To stay hidden.
There is no pressure.
You can be with it for as long as feels right.
And you can return to your inner sanctuary at any moment you like.
It is always here.
Always steady.
Always available.
As you sit with your grief in this safe and sacred garden,
Simply notice it without trying to change it.
Without trying to fix it.
Without trying to hurry it or move it along.
Be with it.
Witness it.
Acknowledge it.
Your grief is not a mistake.
There is nothing wrong with you.
Your grief is evidence of love.
It is the mark of having cared deeply.
Of having been changed by something that mattered.
You might whisper to your grief,
I see you.
I feel you.
You are welcome here.
And now,
As you sit with your grief,
Let your awareness softly expand to include the garden around you.
Notice that the garden is still beautiful.
Still alive.
Still growing.
The sun is still warm.
The birds are still singing.
The water is still flowing.
Life continues to move.
Even here.
Even now.
Loss and life coexist.
Grief and growth arise together.
Sorrow and joy share the same open heart.
In the heart of your garden,
You notice a beautiful tree,
Strong and deeply rooted,
Its branches reaching toward the sky.
This tree represents you,
Your strength,
Your resilience,
Your capacity to weather storms.
Walk toward this tree,
And when you reach it,
Place your hands on its trunk.
Feel its solid,
Steady presence beneath your palms.
This tree has weathered many seasons.
It has lost its leaves in autumn,
Endured cold winters,
And yet spring has always come again.
You are like this tree,
Rooted in the earth,
Reaching for the light,
Capable of both grief and renewal,
Of both loss and hope.
Notice that some of the tree's branches hold leaves,
And some are bare.
Both are natural.
Both are part of the same living tree.
Your grief is one of the bare branches,
And it is okay for it to be bare right now.
It does not mean the tree is dying.
It means the tree is resting.
It is trusting the season.
And in its own perfect timing,
New growth will come.
Not to replace what was lost,
But to honor it by continuing to live,
By continuing to love.
Settle beneath this tree now.
Let its canopy shelter you.
Let its roots hold you.
Feel these roots reaching deep into the earth,
Drying up nourishment,
Stability,
Quiet strength.
You are connected to this same source.
You always have been.
Feel gratitude for the love that lives inside your grief.
Feel gratitude for your courage,
For your willingness to feel fully and to stay open.
Feel gratitude for this body that carries you,
This breath that sustains you,
This earth that has held you through all of it.
And now,
Silently or softly repeat these words,
Letting each one settle into your heart,
Before moving on to the next.
Though I grieve,
Joy is still present.
Though I have lost,
I am not lost.
Though my heart is tender,
It remains whole.
I am held by the earth,
Supported by love,
Connected to all that is.
Know that you can return to this garden whenever you need to.
Your grief will be here,
Honored and held.
And so will the tree of your strength.
And so will the light in your heart.
They are always here,
Waiting for you.
Settle now into this state of spacious awareness,
This place between sleeping and waking,
Where deep healing moves through you in ways the mind cannot measure.
Your grief has been witnessed,
Honored,
Held in compassion.
You have touched your inner sanctuary,
Your eternal light,
Your unshakable strength.
Trust that healing is happening now,
At levels deeper than conscious thought,
In the subtle body,
In the quiet layers of your being,
In the heart's own knowing.
You are being held by something larger than yourself.
By the earth beneath you.
By love that has no beginning and no end.
By the unbreakable thread that connects all beings who have ever loved,
Lost,
And loved again.
You are not alone in your grief.
You are held.
You are loved.
Rest here in perfect peace until you hear my voice again.
Honoring the deep and courageous work you have done today.
Begin by noticing your breath again.
The soft rise and fall.
The quiet life force still moving through you.
Still sustaining you.
Still here.
Returning to your sankalpa now.
Your heartfelt intention.
Feel it as a seed of healing planted deep in your heart,
Already taking root.
I allow myself to feel and to heal.
I am held in love,
Even in my grief.
My grief is honored,
And my heart remains open.
Begin to deepen your breath.
Taking fuller,
More nourishing breaths.
Breathing in the spaciousness of this practice.
Begin to bring small,
Gentle movements back into your body.
Maybe starting with your fingers and your toes.
Wiggling them softly.
Reawakening.
Perhaps touching your thumbs to each finger one by one.
Gently moving your wrists and your ankles.
Slowly turning your head from side to side.
Each movement quietly integrating your experience.
Bringing you softly back to waking consciousness.
Now simply notice how you feel.
Perhaps there is a sense of spaciousness.
Of ease.
Of something having shifted,
However subtly.
And when you feel ready,
Bring both of your hands to your heart,
Feeling its steady,
Faithful beating.
Your heart has held so much,
And still beats.
Still loves.
Still carries you.
Now offer yourself gratitude and compassion.
The same care you would offer to someone you deeply love.
And when you're ready,
Slowly,
Gently,
Let your eyes begin to open.
Allow the light in gradually.
Blinking softly.
Returning.
Bring with you the feeling of being held.
The warmth of your inner light.
The knowing that your grief is honored.
And the compassion you have offered yourself today.
Carry all of this with you into the rest of your day.
Into the rest of your life.
We never truly get over grief.
We never stop missing those we have lost,
Or what we have lost.
We learn to incorporate loss into the fabric of our lives,
Though.
To make room for it.
And to let it belong.
We learn to carry our grief with grace.
To let it soften us,
Rather than harden us.
To let it open our hearts wider to even more love.
To even more life.
May you be gentle with yourself as you grieve.
May you feel the Earth's steady support beneath you always.
May you remember that eternal radiant light that lives in your heart.
May you know that though you grieve,
You are not alone.
May you honor your tears as prayers.
Your grief as love's continued presence.
And may you trust in your own capacity to remain rooted through this storm.
To rest in the bare branches when you need to.
And to bloom again in your own perfect timing.
Thank you for sharing this sacred practice with me today.
It truly is my honor to hold this space for you.
I am sending you so much love and heartfelt compassion.
Until we meet again,
Namaste.
Thank you again for being here.
For showing up for yourself today.
And for being part of this gentle healing community.
It means more than I can say.
Sending you so much love,
Light,
And the softest healing,
Dear one.
Remember,
You are not alone.
