Trying to Explain Grief - Part One

Grief is the response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or some living thing that has died, to which a bond or affection is formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, grief also has physical, cognitive, behavioural, social, cultural, spiritual & philosophical dimensions.

Grief is the process by which a person adjusts to the physical absence of someone with whom they continue to have a psychological or spiritual relationship.

How do we grieve?

Grief is a natural process. The painful emotions of grief arise from the intense power of the human bond. We can experience the presence of loved ones after their death.

Our loved ones live in our heart, in our treasured memories. By going through successive stages of grief, we learn to adjust to, even eventually, accept the loss and find peace and even joy in good memories and persisting feelings of love.

We also experience loss in other ways; loss of a relationship, of youth, of functional abilities, of our health, of opportunities, of our children leaving the nest...

To understand bereavement there are developed theories that explain the stages of grief and process models to help guide people as they experience and move through it.

Everyone will grieve in their own way.

The course of grief and how we are affected will be dependant on several factors, as we search for meaning in the loss and try to reconstruct a sense of purpose in our obliterated and broken world.

We may find faith and religion as our source of meaning. It may bring some comfort and answers to our questions.

At a time of extreme vulnerability, we may not be aware of our inner wisdom, our intuitive Self, the part of ourself that knows how to heal.

The temptation and illusory solution may be to search outside of ourself but innate within us, at the level of our soul, all guidance is there. It may be dormant, long forgotten, we may need help to guide us back to our Self.

And Yoga is our key; the ancient wisdom of the vastness of Yoga and how we make it relevant for today.

Intense feelings, and extreme reactions, although normal, can be frightening, debilitating and all too consuming.

We know that if these feelings persist, our health and well-being is at risk - We will suffer even more - On all levels of our being; physically, mentally and emotionally - as these parts of us are compromised, and to prevent further damage, the level of our being waiting, every-patiently for us to remember is our spiritual Self - Hidden deep within, our soul yearns to awaken.

"... you realise that all along there was something tremendous within you, and you did not know it." - Paramahansa Yogananda

End of part one - Part two coming soon