A Guided Meditation For Grief

And now it's time for inner peace.

Peace and welcome to this week's meditation.

This week's meditation we're going to focus on grief and how grief is a process.

We all know that death is a natural part of life.

From the beginning to the end,

Life is constant change and nothing stays fixed.

And that fact gives life its vitality.

But it also causes a certain heartbreak when we face the difficult truth of impermanence.

Grief is a recognition of endings.

But it's also a birth and a beginning.

We enter into a difficult and solitary journey and we come out transformed.

While many people try to suppress grief,

Doing so can cause the grief to linger and remain unresolved.

Using this guided meditation to take you safely into your grief can help you to experience the emotion fully so that it moves through you without getting stuck in you.

Let's begin now.

Close your eyes and take a deep breath into your lungs.

Once you get to the top,

Exhale.

Our hands are going to be placed face down on our thighs or face up in a comfortable position.

I would ask that you raise your shoulders up and then allow them to drop down so that they are completely relaxed.

Slowly inhale and inflate your lungs and feel your stomach rising.

Keep inhaling until you cannot take any more air into your lungs and then just hold for a few seconds.

And then begin the slow release of air out of your mouth until every last drop of air has been exhaled from your lungs.

Now I would ask that you take some deep breaths deeply in through your nose for a count of four,

Allowing the breath to flow through your lungs and into your stomach.

Hold your breath for a count of four and then slowly exhale through your mouth for another count of four.

Continue breathing in this manner.

With each exhale,

Feel your body relaxing more deeply.

I'm going to leave you here for about a minute with the inhale for four,

Holding your breath for four,

And then slowly exhaling for four.

Now I will ask that you say one more round ofplayers' words Take a deep cleansing breath in through your nose.

When you get to the top,

Exhale fully and completely.

And then just breathe at your leisure.

Now I would ask that you allow yourself to sense your grief or any other emotion that may come up.

Notice where in your body this sensation arises.

Welcome the sensation with a sense of curiosity and with compassion for yourself.

If you should feel any judgments about your emotions,

Gently let them go with the awareness that anything you feel right now is completely natural.

Allow any and all emotions that arise with love and self-compassion.

Know that no matter how you feel,

You are safe,

Supported,

And deeply loved.

Now I would ask that you visualize the one you are grieving.

Imagine that person or being is there in front of you,

Ready to have a conversation or interact with you.

After a few moments,

You will feel the thoughts flooding back in and the bruised,

Raw emotional pain that is grief as it begins to flood back and wash over your body in waves.

We are not going to block this raw,

Painful emotion,

But instead we are going to let it flood into our body and fill us up.

We are going to wallow in this raw,

Painful feeling for a few deep breaths.

If tears come,

Allow them to flow naturally.

Let them stream down your face and feel the cathartic cleansing power of those tears.

Take a deep breath in.

Exhale.

Take another deep breath in.

Exhale.

The sense of loss and longing for that person or being who has left this world is overwhelming.

We find it inconceivable that we could ever change from this raw,

Painful emotion.

We need that person or being to be here next to us in the physical flesh,

But we know this is impossible.

We feel that emptiness and hollowness inside us that represents loss,

Bereavement,

The parting from a loved one.

Someone who was in our lives and so much a vital part of it.

The conversations,

The laughter,

The banter,

The chats,

The time spent just doing nothing.

All of these memories come flooding back in this moment.

Wipe your eyes if you have been crying and get comfortable and try to relax and remove tension.

I would now ask that you take a deep breath in from the diaphragm through your nose,

Gradually filling your lungs to the very top with fresh,

Clean air.

Let's hold that breath for a few seconds and then ever so slowly let the air escape through our mouths until there's not a drop of air left in our lungs.

And then hold the breath before slowly repeating this process.

I'm gonna leave you here for about a minute just practicing this breathing exercise.

Breathing in,

Holding the breath for a few seconds,

And then slowly allowing the air to escape.

Let's hold that breath for a few seconds.

Breathing in.

Notice that the breathing exercise has a cleansing and relaxing effect that for a brief while is soothing and calming until the waves of emotion and pain flood back into our mind.

Again,

We are not going to fight those emotions or try to push them out of our mind.

This time,

Let's become a third party observer and observe them.

We are going to watch the pain and the emotion as it comes flooding into our bodies and minds,

And we're going to observe where does it lodge itself.

Grief and emotions when not dealt with will stay within our body.

So I would ask that you pay attention to your body in this moment.

Is the grief centered in your chest and then radiates outward?

Is it in one area?

Does the grief rack our whole body from head to toe and envelop our entire being?

Does it come in waves,

Wave upon wave upon wave?

Is it sharp like a knife to the side?

Is it dull and does it leave us feeling empty as if something has been cut out of us?

Observe the feeling and emotions and mentally note the location of the emotion.

Now,

I would ask that we rate this emotion on a scale of one to ten,

With one being a dull sense of loss that is gradually fading to a distant sad memory,

To ten being the full blown despair with there being a feeling of no hope of relief.

Having rated your grief from one to ten,

Let's try moving that emotion one notch up to the happier end of the scale.

So if you are at a ten in full blown complete despair,

I would ask that you try to move it up to a nine so it's not as debilitating.

It would be impossible to move your emotion more than one point at a time and the process of grieving is a necessary process in this life.

Just know that the feelings you have are natural.

A lot of comfort would be derived if we knew that our loved one was watching over us and was sending us love and reassurance that all is well.

Is this true for you?

Does it feel like our loved one who has passed into the next world is looking down on us and helping us,

Loving us and supporting us?

Just for a minute,

Still your mind and open your mind to any connection or communication that may come through from your loved one.

Keep your body still and your breathing deep and ask that you be held at all times in full love and protection and then consciously push your energy upwards to the universe,

Up to the stars,

Going higher and higher,

Up,

Up,

Up.

And then when you have pushed your energy as far as it will go,

Just be still and breathe deep breaths.

Do you feel any thoughts floating into your mind?

Do you feel any communications drifting in?

Quietly make a mental note of any communications.

Analyze just recording.

Now,

I would ask that you take a deep breath in.

When you get to the top,

Exhale and consciously release the pain.

Release the raw emotion,

The aching loss.

Once again,

Inhale and on your exhale,

I want you to say the word release.

Say the word as you slowly let out your breath.

Release sadness.

Release the pain.

Release grief.

Breathing in brings that healing energy,

Healing our tired and emotional bodies,

Healing the gaping wounds of our heart,

Healing the raw emotion and feeling of loss.

Now I would ask that we take this feeling of calm,

This feeling of comfort and carry this into our day so that if we feel that pain is unbearable,

We can begin our deep breathing and we will feel that relaxation and calm until the next time we meditate.

Let us be peace.

Let us be calm,

Knowing that we are only a few thoughts away from our loved ones who look over us and protect and guide us from the next world.

They pour their love down upon us as they know how hard it can be without them here with us.

They are in a place where the pain and suffering is gone,

Where there is just love and a connection with the universal loving energy that we all have access to.

Rest assured that one day you will be reunited with your loved ones.

But until then,

Know that you are being watched over and you are being protected.

We are loved and we send that love back from the very depths of our souls.

Take one last deep cleansing breath in through your nose and when you get to the top,

Hold for a few moments and then exhale fully and completely.

I want you to notice how much lighter you feel now.

Now that you've released some grief that you've been holding onto within your body,

I would ask that you start bringing the energy back into your body by wiggling your legs,

Shrugging your shoulders,

Moving your hands and your fingers,

Noticing how you feel in this exact moment.

Take one last deep breath in and then exhale fully and completely.

You can open your eyes whenever you are ready.

You can have a beautiful rest of your day or if you're listening to this in the evening,

I hope you found ease and grace and you rest well.

God Bless.