AYGMyJune2015

53

may/june 2015

yogajournal.com.au

posed by model.

photo: d

udarev m

ikhail/shutterstock.com

It wasn’t so long ago I was on the other side of the class;

teaching yoga and feeling a deep connection to Patanjali’s

Sutras. I loved yoga. I was on the other side of death then,

too, and couldn’t fathom how loss would disconnect me

from myself, or my practice. In the early days of grief,

I didn’t believe something as simple as yoga could possibly

alleviate the sting of suffering in my heart. But the hardest

times to practice are often when we need it most.

My life was sliced neatly into two timelines, divided

by a bookmark between before and after my Dad’s death.

These are the moments that come to define us; when

they happen to you, the world is clear and empty, obvious

yet complicated. The rest of your life falls away,

collapsing beneath a surreal weight.

Grief carries a tidal wave of complicated emotions

that can leave you numb and detached from your former

self. And since it demands that we re-write our story

and make amendments to the future we used to imagine,

yogic tools, like self-study and mindfulness, help ease the

effects of trauma following devastating loss.

I avoided group classes for fear of unleashing a sadness

I couldn’t contain. I needed to let go of the practice I was

accustomed to, escape busy studios, and develop a daily

sadhana ((conscious spiritual practice) handmade for me.

Since yoga is about finding balance in all aspects of life,

our practice can shift, and must be adapted to suit our

changing needs. Yoga therapy provided a path back to

my practice, one that was gently crafted with compassion

and my unique challenges in mind.

“Yoga therapy is a holistic discipline that offers a broad

range of tools useful in promoting health, supporting

healing and encouraging personal transformation,” says

Felicia Pavlovic, a yoga therapist and the co-director of

Yoga Therapy Toronto in Canada. Also known as Yoga

Chikitsa, the one-on-one therapeutic process returns to

the very root of this ancient tradition. “To make healing

effective and potent, we must understand and interact

with students individually,” she says, explaining how

heart of

the matter

one woman’s story of facing traumatic grief with the help of yoga therapy

Anna Cipollone

“ These are the moments that come

to define us... the rest of your life

falls away, collapsing beneath

a surreal weight”

yj43_52-55_essay_yoga for grief.indd 53 1/04/2015 10:30 am