Grief Yoga encourages greater body awareness, helping to relieve tension and numbness
World Yoga Day was started several years ago by Samira Radsi, a yoga teacher living in Berlin, Germany. Samira says that the purpose for creating World Yoga Day was to harness the power of yogis all over the world to help victims of human rights violations.
Yoga practitioners all over the world run classes from 11 am -1 pm on the day, so there is essentially a 24-hour world yoga-thon!
You might be wondering what yoga has got to do with grief! Grief Yoga is a specialised form of yoga designed to help individuals process and release grief through movement, breathwork, and mindfulness.
Unlike traditional yoga, which primarily focuses on flexibility and strength, Grief Yoga incorporates emotional expression and therapeutic techniques to support healing.
The official mission of Grief Yoga is:
‘To use yoga, movement, breath and sound to release pain and suffering to reconnect back to love’
This practice helps by providing a safe space for emotional release, allowing movement, breath, and vocalisation to ease suppressed emotions and reduce the burden of grief. It also helps to lower stress levels, as mindful breathing and stretching activate the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting relaxation.
Many people experiencing grief feel disconnected from their bodies, and Grief Yoga encourages greater body awareness, helping to relieve tension and numbness.
Sessions are often conducted in groups, fostering a sense of community and shared healing, which can be especially beneficial for those who feel isolated in their grief. By encouraging movement through pain rather than remaining stuck in it, this approach offers a sense of empowerment and renewal.
It is particularly helpful for those who struggle to verbalise their grief, providing an alternative, non-verbal way to process loss. Here are 5 Yoga Poses to release pain –
1) Seated Grounded Breath
Place one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly. Inhale through the nose filling the belly and chest with air. Then gently exhale through the mouth. As you breathe deeply, observe physical and emotional pain. Consciously release it through the exhale. Continue the breathing for 1-3 minutes.
2) Releasing the Why
When we are faced with the biggest, most confusing and horrific events that could ever happen, we often ask why. Why now? Why them? Why me? From a standing position , have the arms bent, palms facing upwards, gesture the arms as you say out loud ‘why?’
Keep repeating the gesture, maybe it will be a soft whisper or an angry scream. Allow the emotion to move through you.
3) Releasing the Pain
This practice is about letting go and moving the pain out of us. In a seated position start with your hands in fist position in front of the heart. Connect to your grief, your pain, your anger, your frustration.
Inhale deeply and as you exhale extend one arm, open your fingers and use your breath and a loud vocalisation to discharge the pain and let it move through you. Use a powerful word such as NO, OUT or HA. Then bring the hand back to the heart into a fist and then repeat with the other arm. Visualise the pain moving from your heart out through your finger tips.
4) Love for Ourselves
Grief lives in our body, and our body remembers our pain. In a seated position place your hands on your body where you have pain or hold tension. Send love to the places inside that hurt, maybe starting with your heart. You can give yourself a gentle massage, or hug yourself. Soft touch and self massage is a way to nourish yourself and cultivate compassion.
5) Flowing Gratitude
We have many teachers in our life and grief is the unwanted teacher that helps us heal from loss. From a comfortable seated position bring your hands together in prayer in front of your heart.
As you inhale bring the prayer above your head, then exhale and open and sweep the arms down by your side opening up your chest. Repeat this flowing movement, each time you raise the prayer hands thinking of something in your life you are grateful for.
You can find out more about the grief yoga sessions Tara offers by clicking this link.
Comments