Warrior’s Edge Training Grounds
The training grounds are where warriors learn how to face the battles head-on. Where can you grow in your practice today?
Yoga for Grief: Acceptance | Presence, Awareness, and Continuation
The last thing you’re likely thinking about during your grief process is anything to do with joy or happiness. Depending on where you are in your journey, you may be more willing to move forward toward that sense of healing. You also may not, which is equally okay, but it’s what we’ll look at today anyway.
Our bodies store a lot more emotions than we think or give them credit for, particularly in our hips. Many people feel emotional after a deep yin practice because they’ve awakened emotions they otherwise considered dormant. Awaken all the good, bad, and ugly within you.
Yoga for Grief: Depression | Effort, Stillness, Surrender
Depression comes with many emotions. Maybe it makes you angry and snippy. Maybe you feel numb and like doing nothing, or that you’ll never be happy again. Maybe you feel everything all at once, or maybe you feel nothing at all. Maybe you’re just wondering why all of this is happening.
Today’s practice taps into the duality of depression, starting off with building heat and moving quickly, then slowing things down immediately and tapping into the emotions you may have blocked yourself from feeling.
Yoga for Grief: Bargaining | Heart Opening and Letting Go
When tragedy strikes, it’s easy to get wrapped up in thoughts of “why.” Why did this happen to us? Why did this happen to them? Why does this hurt so much?
On the journey toward acceptance, this is the stage where you spend the most time wishing things were different or hoping you can change what is happening to you. Wherever you are, the grief yoga practice is here for you.
Yoga for Grief: Anger | Release, Movement, and Emotional Processing
Often, anger is the first—or at least the most predominant—emotion we recognize during the grieving process. It’s sharp. Immediate. Loud.
The anger practice in the grief series taps into that rage on the mat and helps “lash out” the feelings you’re going through. You move through punches and kicks, incorporated into your yoga poses, to tap into the rage you’re feeling, then settle back into the experience as you return to the poses and postures.
What to do when you can’t stop thinking
“Focus on your breath,” the instructor says as they guide you through a meditation. “Go deeper inward,” they encourage, but your mind is too busy racing through a thousand other thoughts.
Then comes the quiet judgment. The narrator who tells you, “I’m bad at this,” and urges you to quit.
You are not failing at meditation because you can’t stop thinking. In fact, that expectation is the problem.
Yoga for Grief: Denial | Grounding and Reconnection
Sometimes, we simply cannot believe what has happened to us. Our body goes into a state of shock or protective mode when we witness or hear something that's too painful to process. When something comes to an "end" — whether it's a death, breakup, divorce, etc. — our brains try to imagine what life will be like now as we adapt to a new normal without the ones we love at our side. Oftentimes, denial is considered the "first stage" of grief because it comes right at the start when the information is still fresh. Although not linear, the other stages include anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
This is why Yoga for Grief is here for wherever you are on the journey.
6 tips for meditation: How to improve focus and relaxation
Meditation is a powerful tool that can help you relax, reduce stress, and improve your overall well-being.
That said, a lot of people find meditation challenging because they struggle to focus. If you're one of those people, never fear, you are far from alone. If you’d like to get into meditation and just aren’t quite sure how, here are some tips to help you get the most out of your practice.