Greetings, Reader!
The 8-week Autumn Qigong Series for Grief and Letting Go begins tomorrow, October 24th, and the first class is free and open to the public. Class is held on Zoom from 8:00 - 9:15 am EDT and I'd love for you to join us!
Register here for Saturday's free class using the coupon code METAL (all caps).
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I was taking a qigong class with Stephanie Nosco this week and she said something that stopped me in my tracks: "Many of us feel depressed because we are experiencing prolonged grief from life not turning out the way we expected."
Oof.
This has been coming up in so many ways with friends and clients, particularly around body grief. I wonder if you can relate to any of these examples:
- Shame and low self-worth over not being able to work due prolonged illness.
- Missing out on family events because pain prevents long distance travel.
- Not having the energy to keep social plans, which makes you feel even more alone and isolated.
- Being in too much pain to do the things that bring you joy, like see your favorite band in concert, or take the exercise class you love.
- Worrying that your partner will get sick of you not being able to participate, or that your pain or illness is limiting their life.
- Feeling embarrassed that you haven't achieved the success or milestones you think you should have experienced by now.
- Mourning the changes in your body as you age, navigate menopause, or come to terms with a new diagnosis.
- Missing the person you were before your diagnosis and fearing that you'll never be yourself again.
This is the type of grief that often never gets acknowledged, and the weight of that loneliness adds another layer of patina to the grief.
When someone dies, we come together to celebrate their life and to grieve together. These rituals create a scaffold for our grief to unfold, and to be held in community.
But when our lives are reshaped by pain and illness, there are no memorials, and there is no closure. Grief's signature becomes woven through our lives, but it is often never named or tended, and I want to change that. I fully believe that healing happens in community, and that nothing can be healed until it can be faced.
While grief doesn't have a timeline, autumn is a natural time to work with grief because it is the season of letting go. In Chinese medicine, autumn is governed by the metal element, which relates to the preciousness of life.
The metal element aims to strike the balance between holding on and letting go. When it is balanced, we prioritize what matters most, and let everything else fall away.
When the metal element is imbalanced, we either can't let go, or we can't hold on. Both are rooted in the fear of loss.
The yang form of metal imbalance becomes overcontrolling. By holding on tightly, we try to prevent the pain of loss. However, the metal element craves the validation of an ending, and refusing to let go doesn't allow things to come to completion. Clinging to the past, or to an unrealized future, also severely limits our ability to live the life we have.
The yin form of metal imbalance lacks intimacy. Avoiding the depth of close relationships is an attempt to prevent the grief of loss, but it dulls the preciousness of life and leads us right into grieving the life that we never allowed ourselves to live.
When we shut out grief, we also shut out inspiration and wonder, dulling our ability to cherish the preciousness of life. Working with the metal element can help us let go of what we think life should look like, and open ourselves up to the gifts we already have. We can stop wishing our bodies were different, and start loving them just as they are.
The energy practices in qigong offer a gentle way to work with grief and letting go, which in essence are actually ways to let life in.
We'll be practicing forms to balance the metal element and its associated organs, the lungs and colon, to support dignity, self-worth, inspiration, courage, and whole-hearted engagement with the fullness of life.
The Autumn Series Dates: October 24th - December 21st
This series includes:
- Weekly classes on Saturday and Monday mornings
- Monthly breathwork and yin practices on Thursday evenings
- A Winter Solstice Ritual
- A community Grief Circle
- 1:1 CranioSacral Therapy or Somatic practice
- A video library of all class recordings
All classes are offered online. The grief circle and 1:1 practice can be held in person in Shelburne, VT or online.
The Benefits:
- Deeper respiration
- Enhanced circulation
- Decreased stagnation
- Stronger immunity and less pain
- Clarity and self-acceptance
- Inner strength and courage
- Release of emotional congestion and mental clutter
- Inspiration and appreciation of life
- Harmonized qi (energy)
- A process for working with grief and letting go
While you can drop-in to any class in the series, the real magic is committing to these practices for the whole season within the supportive container of a sangha, and witnessing the transformation within yourself that happens when you skillfully work with the energy of the season.
Would you like to join us?
➡️ Click Here to Enroll in the Autumn Qigong Series!
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If you are new to qigong and want to try it out, please join me as a guest in the first class.
Register here for Saturday's free class using the coupon code METAL (all caps).
In love and solidarity,
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Rachel
Doctor of Physical Therapy & Integrative Pain Specialist
Radically transform the way your nervous system relates to the world so you can stop being ruled by pain and trauma, break out of burnout and survival mode, and live the life you were meant to live.
Click here to book a free consultation with me.
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