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How Yoga Can Help You Deal With Heart-Breaking Grief

Aadil Palkhivala
Author:
July 31, 2016
July 31, 2016

When someone is grieving, they need comfort and help dealing with what has happened. They need a way to find peace. Yoga can help.

Far from being a simple exercise to improve flexibility, yoga is an all-encompassing way to heal and improve. This includes meditation and physical, mental, and spiritual therapy.

Here are eight ways yoga can help you cope with grief:

1. Yoga clears your mind to find connection with your lost loved one.

Clearing your mind is not the same as forgetting. It's a way of decluttering and finding a refuge of calm away from worries. It helps you focus on the essential connection with your lost loved one and cope with their passing.

2. The meditation aspect helps you focus your energy and thoughts.

You can use this to help you become the person and achieve the goals that your loved one wanted for you. You can be proud of yourself and have them be proud of you.

3. Yoga helps you deal with real-world problems.

Even when we're in mourning and trying to cope with a devastating loss, there will still be real-world problems to deal with. Bills, arrangements, your job—the list goes on—will all still be there. Yoga and meditation help us find our center and our strength, which

leaves us better prepared to handle everything else.

4. Yoga helps you be at peace spiritually.

Yogic meditation can enhance our spiritual connection with the universe. When we feel we are a part of and at peace with all things, we start to realize that death is just another part of nature and our loved ones are still a part of us and the world. We can find comfort in this knowledge and connection.

5. Yoga and meditation are great ways to regulate your body.

Grief is not only painful emotionally, it can take a physiological toll as well. You could lose your appetite or have a hard time sleeping. There can be unbearable sadness mixed with anger, fear, or a loss of emotions altogether.

With yoga, we can direct this energy in a more positive way and cope with grief in a way that keeps us healthy and focused on the blessings we've received from the time we had with our loved one.

6. It can help you cope with frustration.

During mourning, frustration is common. Yoga can help in myriad ways. You can feel productive simply from the physical improvement you get from the asana, but you can also feel your energy flowing in a positive manner. This ties in with your connection and loving memories of your loved one. They would not want to see you suffering.

7. Yoga provides a sense of community.

Yoga is healing when you practice it alone, but it's even more healing when you're practicing with others. Sharing your experience with someone else who is also grieving can give solace to everyone. You can multiply the therapeutic essence when you share it.

8. Yoga and meditation can provide you with a "soulful goodbye."

Through meditation, you can find the quiet center that transcends all of the earthly cacophony and allows you to completely and soulfully direct all of your thoughts and love and essence to your loved one and tell them goodbye. You can share the peace of all nature with them.

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