Doing Grief Yoga (We Don’t Have to Call it Yoga)
We know words are powerful. Words can serve as potent weapons or as our greatest comfort. But sometimes words are not enough. In the case of grief or trauma, sometimes, there are no words to comfort or to express how we feel. As Bessel Van der Kolk wrote in Body Keeps the Score, trauma and grief often disconnect us from our physical bodies. The human body holds painful experiences, our physical and emotional traumas, our injuries and scars, at a cellular level. Traumatic experiences and significant losses dysregulate the nervous system, often resulting in challenging emotions—anxiety, anger, depression—as well as numbness or dissociation. Mindful movements as yoga, tai chi and qi gong help us gently re-connect with our physical sensations. This somatic reconnection is essential for healing from painful past learning and significant adverse events. Here are some links to learning such movements which I have personally found helpful if not essential in my own personal and professional practices:
易筋經 · Yi Jin Jing (Muscle Tendon Change Classic) Qi Gong
八段锦 · Ba Duan Jin (8 Brocade Exercise) Qi Gong
10 Min Somatic Practice to Release Grief
