By Dawni Pappas
I have found 4 steps to heal grief in Nature and guided by Nature Spirits!
As we Breath, Connect, Allow and Release in Nature we can heal our feelings of grief. The beneficial rewards of going into Nature to relieve our grief are positively endless! Grief is natural and Nature can be a great healer friend.
I call upon my Nature Spirit guides and allies during times of grief.
These Spirit guides may come in the form of the elements, plants, animals, or other kinds of benevolent beings. I trust my Spirit guides and I’ve fondly named them Nature Spirit guides.
As I tune into my surroundings I ask them for the help and guidance I need to go through my healing process. They always show up to benefit my experience. I am so very grateful for their support!
Going to Nature and calling on our Nature Spirit guides, with the intention of relieving our grief, can vastly help us release all or some of it in many unexpected and pleasant ways. Grief, Nature and our Spirit guides want to reconnect us with our whole selves.
I have worked in Spirit Guided Nature Communication and Energy Healing for over 20 years.
I have had a lifetime relationship with Nature Spirit guides and have been practicing releasing my own grief in Nature for as long as I can remember. As a child, I would go to the beach, sit with a tree or go to one of my Nature forts to sort things out in my heart and mind. I wonder if you had a special place in Nature that you went to as well?
I developed a deeper healing and trusting relationship with Nature and my Spirit guides, and I have learned that it is safe to turn over my heartaches and frustrations to them. When I do I always feel better! Many times it feels like magic! This makes me want to do it again.
Now, I take people into Nature for restoration and Nature Spirit led guidance. Mostly we are sorting out many kinds of grief in Nature. Here we find healing and relief more accessible in our soothing natural settings.
So, what if we knew that Nature was listening and could help us through anything, especially our grief, because grieving is synonymous with being alive!
What we can do to start relieving grief now:
Go be in Nature and breathe! Ask your Spirit guides to be with you.
By intentionally allowing ourselves time to grieve and be in Nature we can find relief from our grief. Asking our Spirit guides to companion us through this time adds more support.
As we breathe in our natural surroundings, it takes about 60 seconds for the plants that surround us to get into our blood stream. These green beings release oxygen we need and we exhale the carbon dioxide which they need. This symbiotic relationship calms down our parasympathetic nervous system and allows us to relax.
Something like this also happens when we are around moving Water. The negative air ions help us to increase serotonin which helps manage stress, depression and grief. These negative air ions also help us to clear our minds, allowing easier communication with our Spirit guides who give us messages we need for our healing and provide us great solace.
How do you connect with your Nature Spirits or guides? One of my favorites is to sit quietly in Nature and ask them to come to me. I relax and feel for them. I get their messages through my senses. Their messages don’t always come in the same way. This keeps me aware and welcoming.
If you can’t physically go to a forest or beach, you may try being around your houseplants, or try looking at a picture or video of Nature that makes you feel good. Perhaps you can go on your balcony or into a garden? Taking a shower, bath or hot tub is another wonderful way to connect with the healing energy of Water. Imagine you are in Nature and try to bring this feeling into your whole body. Feel what it would be like for you to be physically located in that Nature scene. The feelings associated with being in Nature can positively impact our health and wellbeing, whether we are physically there or not.
The 4 steps to naturally relieve grief:
Breathe, Connect, Allow, Release
I invite you, along with your Nature Spirit guides, Allies, Angels and Healed and Whole Ancestors, to come with me on a short discovery of how Nature heals us through our times of grief.
The following are steps you may practice on your own as they reveal the healing you are ready to deal with.
One very important note here is to not push yourself to move through your grief faster than what is possible for you at this time. Appreciate yourself wherever you are on your path.
When you go, please consider wearing your comfy clothes and bringing a small blanket or sarong, a journal to write/draw in, a snack and some drinking water.
How to relieve your grief in Nature:
Feeling and Breathing is Healing.
Get into the woods, go to a park or beach and find a spot that feels good to you and lay down.
Feeling the Earth under you is an essential process to connecting, allowing and releasing.
I usually bring a small blanket, sarong or just lie directly upon Mother Earth. I use my intuition and ask Nature and my Nature Spirit guides where I will find a comfortable spot, or I am directed to one before I ask.
If you can’t get to Nature, look at a picture or video of Nature and lay down. What a joy to remember that we can’t really get away from Nature, so even if you are on your couch or chair, Nature is there! Thank you Mother Earth!
After you find your sweet spot, lay down. Adjust your body until you and your Nature Spirit guides are quite comfortable.
Grief Relief Practice:
Lay down on Mother Earth
Breathe deeply and start to relax. Please ask for your Spirit guides to come to you. Take another deep breathand presence the feeling of gratitude and guidance. Exhale the presence of gratitude and guidance.
Allow your whole body to feel fully supported on the ground.
Thank you Gaia, Mother Earth.
Now, close your eyes.
Take another deep breath and exhale completely. In your next breath, breathe in to the count of 4, hold for a count of 4 and then exhale for a count of 7, or exhale completely till your tummy feels like it could be touching your spine. Do this several times.
Now breathe naturally.
Notice that you are feeling more relaxed.
Mother Earth has you and you can feel a deeper comfort by allowing yourself to be effortlessly supported at this time.
Your whole body is being so well cared for.
Lay there and breathe this in.
Allow this feeling to sink in for a while.
Now, place your hands upon the surface of the Nature you are laying on.
Feel into your hands and the connection you are having with Nature. If you are able to, put your fingers into the earth and leave them in there for a good while. If you are not able to, you may imagine yourself doing this.
Notice how this feels to you and your body.
Relax and allow your breath to send you deeper into a natural state of being.
Stay here.
Breathing and Being.
Now it’s time to invite your feelings to come up.
Allow them a place here with you.
Tears may come,body rocking or an urge to sing may happen. You may feel the beauty of all your feelings comingling as they well up and you allow them to come through you.
Ask your Nature Spirit guides to help you release your grief. Perhaps you may want to ask them to connect you with a deeper meaning to your grief, so you may release that too.
Lie there in your experience and know you are safe experiencing these feelings, which are your inherent healings.
Stay still and allow Nature and your Nature Spirit guides to heal your grief.
Feel your feelings and allow them to be released into the loving arms of Gaia, Mother Earth. You are being well supported.
Allow this release to flow naturally.
You have nowhere to go except for deeper.
Trust this process and stay here for as long as you are able to and that feels right for you.
Feelings are healings.
You will know when you are complete.
When you are ready, ask Nature and your Nature Spirit guides for a message that would help you at this time.
Pause and listen, your messages may come through any of your senses. They may come as a feeling, a sense, a song, a color, a vibration, a scent, a taste, or another way.
Notice and appreciate this connection for as long as you like.
When you are ready, sit up and welcome yourself back into this world again.
Now is your time to reflect by writing and/or drawing. It’s also a good time to drink some water and eat a little something.
Take your time…
Before you leave your sweet spot give gratitude to Gaia, Mother Earth and her Beings that have guided you here and have been with you on your personal grief relief journey.
Your next step is to ground by moving your body in some way. Please don’t get up and leave straight away. First pat your body, starting at your head and go all the way down and then back up. Then shake your limbs out and raise your face to the Sky and make a joyful sound!
These short movements bring you back into your body and the present moment. This is an important step for bringing you back to balance so you may walk, drive and communicate more clearly. Please don’t skip this important step.
If you can, find a tree to hug, or give a kiss to the Nature that has been supporting you.These offerings can be a very special and sweet way to say thank you. If you can’t make it into Nature, you might hug a pillow, stuffed animal or drink some water and say thank you.
Now, give yourself gratitude for your willingness and vulnerability to release your grief today. Allow yourself time to feel your gratitude and renewal before heading back into your day.
Feel your deeper connection with Nature.
Thank your Nature Spirit guides for all their love and support.
Take another deep breath.
Blessed Be!