Yoga for Grief: Acceptance
“The acceptance of death gives you more of a stake in life. In living life happily, as it should be lived. Living in the moment.”
A Recap From Yoga for Grief: Acceptance
The last thing you’re likely thinking about during your grief process is anything to do with joy or happiness. Depending on where you are in your journey or whether you’ve gone through any of the other grief yoga videos, you may be more willing to start moving forward into that sense of healing. You also may not, which is equally okay, but it’s what we’ll look at today anyway.
Yin yoga can be just as challenging, if not more, than a vinyasa practice. In vinyasa, as in life, we’re so used to moving from breath to breath, posture to posture, thing to thing. We aren’t used to slowing down and just being present. We dabbled in that a little bit with our depression practice, but we’re in full force with our yin today.
Our bodies store a lot more emotions than we think or give them credit for, particularly in our hips. Many people feel emotional after a deep yin practice because they find they’ve awakened emotions they otherwise considered dormant, and can sometimes be caught off guard by that.
Awaken all the good, bad, and ugly within you.
This is grieving. It isn’t supposed to be pretty. Other people around you aren’t supposed to understand. It isn’t meant for them to understand. It’s meant for you to explore on your own. I’ve set it before but I will say it again, the more you spend time in denial of your feelings, the more angry you’re likely to get, and that won’t help anything, either. You can wonder why this is happening as much as you want, but ultimately, that won’t change a thing.
Fortunately, you’ve shown up for yourself. Maybe it was just for this practice, or maybe you’ve done all of the others in the grief series as well. Be proud of anything you’ve done to explore and connect deeper with your body, your mind, and your emotions, and remember that this journey is not linear and will take constant work.
For further breathwork off the mat, consider the Three-Part breath
The Three-Part Breath, also known as Dirgha Pranayama or the “Royal Breath,” is a very simple, easy, basic, and effective form of breathwork. It’s very frequently used as the first form of breathwork to teach new practitioners, and it’s one of the easiest ones to accomplish.
Sit or lay comfortably and exhale all of your breath. The three parts here are your abdomen, your diaphragm, and your chest. You can either slowly inhale and feel all of these parts of you fill up, or take a small inhale and breath into your abdomen, pause there, then inhale into your diaphragm, pause, and then finish your inhale at the top of your chest. This breaks the breath into the three parts, and even though there are pauses in each section, it is still all done within the same inhale. The same goes for the exhale, either nice and smooth as you deflate or breaking it up into the three parts to let it all go.
If you’re seeking a journal entry, reflect on how your grief has changed you
Wherever you are on your grief journey, you’re not the same person you were before it. It doesn’t matter if the changes you feel are life-altering or minuscule — you’re still different. Take some time to reflect on that. What were you like before this happened to you? What about it has changed for you, and how will you go about incorporating this into your life?
I know it’s hard. Trust me, I do. There’s a link to the grief retreat below, and I am always here if you need anyone to talk to as you move through your journey.
Stay safe and heal well, my friends.
Be sure to check out other Yoga for Grief videos, and if you’re interested in booking the 2024 Yoga for Grief retreat, do so before tickets sell out!
