Hips and Lungs: Moving Through Grief

I'm not crying, you're...scrap that. We're all crying. And that's ok.

Last month, I had the new and novel experience of running out of a yoga studio in tears.

It was the final morning of a three-day Mindfulness and Meditation workshop, and our truly wonderful instructor and guide had Laughter Yoga on the agenda.

One small issue: the previous evening, I’d had a significant, showstopping disagreement with a close and dear friend, the kind that leaves you reeling, wondering if you’ve just ended an important relationship because of imprudently-chosen words. I was shaken, unmoored and unsettled, but arrived in class committed to putting on a brave face. I took my place in the circle, grim but determined to join in anyway, until our instructor turned to me and said, “I feel so sorry for you. You look miserable.”

That was enough to break my resolve, and the dam I’d built up. The water came loose and I fled.

It wasn’t the touchy-feeliest of my classmates who followed me out the door and came to check on me – it was a friend who had served in the military who follow…