Navigating Grief and Loss With an Open Heart

  • Have you lost something dear to you?
  • Do you feel you need to be a bit numb  to cope?
  • Do you want to feel grief moving through you rather than defining you?

Grief takes the wind out of our sails like nothing else. When my son passed away suddenly in July 2020, I knew I was at a fork in the road. I could either collapse into bitterness and unending suffering and lose myself completely OR I could find richness in the shadows. Guess which I chose?

I am offering a course on moving through the various physical - emotional and somatic embodiments of grief and loss. This course is based on my own experience. I have had many losses in my life and have also worked with many people navigating loss and grief. It has been my daily yoga and embodiment practices that has given me resilience and helped me stay steady in the stillness that pervades all emotion.

Human beings go numb when pain, injury and emotional distress occur. This is especially true when we experience the shock of loss. That is okay at first. But if it lasts too long we disconnect from the only place we actually experience life - our bodies. I want to help you stay in your body even if you are feeling tremendous suffering. Right now you can feel both the suffering and the vitality of life.

Why this program?

Conscious Embodiment Northampton

The more we turn away from our body, the more difficulty we have in coming to terms with the reality of what life is. We can experience grief as movement while we remain anchored in the thing that is certain: In this moment we have this experienced, living body.

Loss, grief, and sadness can be experienced more fluidly when we use embodiment skills that respect and honor our natural neurobiology, support safety in our nervous systems and support an expanded presence of heart.

It's hard to be present to our grief and loss alone. Our bodies can show us how to navigate this frenetic terrain. But we need to find avenues into our embodiment that allow us access to our grief or loss without our emotions swallowing us up.

How it will help:

Embodiment for grief can:

  • Slow down repetitive or overwhelming thinking
  • Relieve emotional storms or emotional "ickiness"
  • help distinguish between sadness and depression
  • Help your body feel healthier and more resilient during difficult times.
  • Subvert the need for overeating, taking in too much sugar, coffee or alcohol, shopping or over exercising.
  • Keep your nervous system balanced so it regulates in the face of grief
  • knowing when to meditate, when to be aerobic, when to be nourishing
  • allowing grief and gratitude to coexist

I know the level of intensity of what you are going through can force you to put your own health and well being on the back burner- you have a lot on your plate. But a little focus can go a long way. We can work together to give you ground and gently allow you to feel safe and whole again.

 

"Your course changed the trajectory of so much in my life.  I am so much better able to deal with my emotions,  I have tools to connect with my body and accept when grief feelings come up. I have been able to support others through grief with more empathy. As I prepare to close out another school year and say Farewell to my 6th graders, I feel so much joy for the healing I have experienced this year.  Thank you! "- Alyson Bull, Massachusetts

Format:

This is an 7 week do at home course that requires you set aside time for personal experiential work and then come together with a group once weekly. Each week will present a topic
It begins January 2024. The exact time of our weekly meeting will be set by those in the program.

As part of this program you will:

Participate with the home study work (a 20- 40 min weekly commitment) and show up for the class time once a week. This is a fantastic way to develop presence and ease with your own sense of grief.

This is a Pay From the Heart Program. Its usual cost would be $395 but you are invited to pay what works for you in your life. You may also pay more if your heart can and wishes to help others.

There is personal work and weekly online meetings. The program will begin and of January 2024.

You know it this program for you if:

  • You need support processing grief
  • You understand that grief is both a personal and human experience no one can escape.
  • You can be with your pain or discomfort and be a witness to others without needing to fix it.
Navigating Grief and Loss With an Open Heart Program
June 2024

I will also send out an evaluation and comment questionnaire at the course end that I would like you to respond to.

If you would like to join this group please answer the questions below and anything else you want to share.

I look forward to spending time with you.

"

"In the Lakota/Sioux tradition, a person who is grieving is considered most wakan, most holy. There's a sense that when someone is struck by the sudden lightening of loss, he or she stands on the threshold of the spirit world. The prayers of those who grieve are considered especially strong, and it is proper to ask them for their help. You might recall what it's like to be with someone who has grieved deeply. The person has no layer of protection, nothing left to defend. The mystery is looking out through that person's eyes. For the time being, he or she has accepted the reality of loss and has stopped clinging to the past or grasping at the future. In the groundless openness of sorrow, there is a wholeness of presence and a deep natural wisdom."