Yoga Nidra for Releasing Grief during Deployment

 Written 12/4/2020

Today I was listening to Josh Groban's "I'll Be Home for Christmas."  He has a beautiful version of the song with heartbreaking audio from deployed military members.  All of the sudden, water works.  I have listened to this song for years, but this year, it had a greater meaning for me and my family and I felt grief.

How can we use yoga to release our grief and find some peace? In 2020, our lives have been disrupted. We have felt loss and heartache, injustice, and tremendous grief.  My family has been dealing with our first deployment on top of this and I have felt that what I do in this time matters.  I need to be alert to everything that arises and that includes my grief.  

Yoga Nidra can help us take the heaviness we feel during grief and turn it into grounding, a connection to the earth that holds us and supports us.  Yoga Nidra allows us to stay awake and aware while we move through stages of consciousness and the transitions between them.  We move through four stages- diaphragmic breathing, systematic relaxation of the body, visualization, and resting in spacious awareness.  This is in efforts to reach a place between sleeping and wakefulness.  This will feel restful and offers an entrance to the heart center.  We can think of it as waking up to life.

 When we are grieving, we need support. Yoga Nidra offers a chance to practice deep relaxation and presence while being supported.  

Yoga Sutra 1:36 describes a state of sorrowless joy that resides at the heart, a place free of grief and suffering illuminated by an eternal radiant light unaffected by conditions.  It is here we can rest when we're experiencing grief.  If we can find this inner place, we recognize that are experiencing grief, but we know that joy is also present.

Please join me for a guided Yoga practice Credits to Yoga Journal:

Yoga Nidra

Are you in preparing for a deployment or in the midst of one?  Get my Top 10 List for Surviving Deployment here! Yoga for Deployment

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