Yoga for Grief and Resilience

by Lisa Smith Fiegel

October 28, 2020

As daylight wanes in the Northern Hemisphere, modern and ancient peoples have drawn inward, often to remember and grieve. Late October/early November festivals like Samhain (Gaelic), Dia de los Muertos (Latin America) and All Saints Day (Christian church) make space to those who have died and encourage a special connection to their memories.

The approaching holidays often bring up feelings of grief and loss. This season of COVID-19 pandemic has also been a space of enormous transition and often loss. Whatever grief you are experiencing, there is a place for you in Yoga for Grief and Resilience, a 4-week series, Saturdays in November, held over Zoom, from 3:00-4:30 PM.

Grief is experienced physically as well as emotionally. Our bodies hold grief; we can invite them to release it. The postures of yoga (asanas) and breath work provide an ideal way to release emotional pain, calm our nervous system and ground us. You might say that all yoga is yoga for grief!

This course was offered last November as Yoga for Grief, but we're intentionally adding resilience this year. Increased research around adversity indicates that while trauma is often a result, so is resilience. Resilience isn't simply snapping back to what you once were, like a rubber band. Resilience is more layered, more of an ability to cope, a way to adapt, a process to rebuild. It has been said that being resilient is to bend and not break. What a fit for yoga! Some people seem to be born with resilience but it can be cultivated and strengthened through practice.

Let's explore together yoga poses, breathing and philosophy to support the journey through grief and toward resilience. They're not two separate paths, but a blended process, with bumps along the way.

The course will be a mixed level class, suitable for all yogis. We'll begin with more active poses that you can accommodate to any level, followed by ample time for restorative poses. You are not alone on this journey. Let's travel together.

For registration information, please contact Lisa Smith Fiegel at: lisasmithfiegel@gmail.com