Coping with Waves of Grief

Sometimes large waves of grief overcome me during the oddest parts of the day, while I’m at work or walking to the subway. I don’t always have an outlet in those moments. Life doesn’t always make time for the waves that overwhelm us. This ritual of “losing it” helps me let out the immensity I feel in a raw, untethered way.

Play a high-energy song you love. Start moving your body continuously. This is about the permission to lose it. Flail, jump, punch the air. Let it all out, every inch of energy burning inside of you, wanting explode. Try making some sounds, if the tears come, let them flow.

Move until you are out of breath, until you feel like you can’t anymore, until you hit the brick wall. PUSH PAST the brick wall of exhaustion. Stop. Feel your pulse racing. Feel the breath, trying to catch up. Just be. You are here now. With this powerful body, this vessel, this breath, perhaps you can hold space for those immense waves without being crushed by them.