Letting go of worry, finding inner peace
9Few weeks ago my grandmother passed away. She was 87 and died peacefully in her sleep. When it is my time to go, I hope I will be in a similar place – wise, capable, independent, loved.
I noticed that whenever there is death in my family, it is usually followed by a period when life seems very fragile. You go about your usual business, yet you continuously have the sense of impermanence, the sense that anybody or anything that you love can be gone in an instance. From experience I know that this feeling gradually fades away, but it is still present for me now. As a result I worry a lot more, even about the most mandate things, which, of course, is just a manifestation of existential uncertainty.
I love this quote that showed up in my Instagram feed recently: “Worrying doesn’t take away tomorrow’s troubles, it takes away today’s peace”. This is what I have to remind myself when my mind starts spinning. Below is a short yoga practice that I use to help me deal with it. It is designed to help you bring certain things into you life and let go of others. In a practice I use an example of bringing in peace and letting go of worry, but you can pick whichever ideas are relevant to you right now.
This is an integrative practice, meaning that it blends other elements of yoga tradition, not just asana. Give it a try and let me know what you think!
Letting go of worry, finding inner peace practice
Join Sequence Wiz to customize this practice to your liking. Choose your poses, enter the instructions and you are done! See it in action >
I am sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us. I enjoyed the practice.
Thank you Joyce.
Sorry about your Gramma, Olga. Just lost my Mom in February, so a lot of processing is going on. And thanks for the lovely practice.
Thank you Nan; I am sorry for your loss. I lost my mother, too, I know how hard it is. Sending you love and positive thoughts.
I am sorry to hear about your grandmother’s passing, Olga. She must have been a special woman & what a gift that she was still independent! There is a quote that I sometimes read my classes about impermanence that I love & would like to share. It’s from a book written by a former teacher of mine.
“The beauty of impermanence lightens my heart. Resting in impermanence, everything becomes special. Every thing, every experience, every moment of laughter, every flower’s scent and every tender swelling of the heart is exquisite, never to be repeated in the same way again.”
– Laura Wright, Reflective Journaling p. 143
Your grandmother inspired a lovely practice. Thank you for all that you share with us.
Thank you Joy, and what a lovely quote! I find that profound life changes definitely make one more aware of every passing moment; the challenge is not to grab on to them and just watch as they unfold 🙂
My heart is with you. I know how difficult it is to lose someone you love. My mother died three years ago and so many memories bring her presence forward. LIke your grandmother, my mother was a wise, independent, and dearly loved being. Thank you for sharing with us and for the lovely practice. May we all stay open and present to change and impermanence.
Thank you Janis. Indeed, “May we stay open”…That would be a nice addition to that chant I use in the practice.
love this sequence created in memory of a lovely woman, your grandmother.
thank you