The Scream by Edvard Munch
Find a chair to sit in or lie down. Be as comfortable as you can be.
Feel you body resting on mother earth, the more you surrender, the more support you feel.
You may choose to close your eyes or soften them, rest hands on heart or belly, feeling your heart beating, breath moving.
Become aware that we are all grieving, often many grief’s at one time, layered upon each other.
We grieve the loss of anything important to us.
The loss of a beloved (human or animal) who has died.
The separation from people we love and love us.
We grieve what was, what we had, we may feel nostalgic for an era gone by or long for what passed us by.
We grieve the loss of freedom, innocence, justice, and sanity.
We grieve our individual losses and community losses.
Settle into some silence and stillness to sense how our body, mind and spirit are grieving. With compassion, feel how grief manifests in your body. Notice any constriction, fatigue, pain, sensations of emptiness or fullness, warmth, cool, soft, hard, numb.
Welcome all emotion & expression (silence, sighs, moans, tears, sobbing, laughter, silence)
As you continue to rest, breath and reflect with compassion, notice any openings, releases or insights. Whatever you are feeling is true and may teach you something. Grief is not pathological, shameful or in need of fixing. We are practicing Honoring and Integrating Grief. Now feel free to Name your grief in a whisper or aloud or remain silent if you choose.
Ask yourself what emotion may be underneath grief: mad, sad, scared. I’m mad you went away, sad I’m alone, scared of unknown.
You may chose to let your body move in any way that helps you feel and relieve grief (curl up, reach out, stretch.)
Does grief feel like any element or occurrence in Mother Nature ( a powerful storm, oppressive heat, a thick fog, arctic cold)?
Journal
You may chose to write or draw any images, symbols, insights, question, thoughts or feelings.