Grief
Amrita Ma Devi
The Ayurvedic viewpoint of grief on losing someone
Death and birth are an inevitable part of everybody’s life. We all will experience grief over losing someone at some point in our life. As far as overcoming grief and bereavement of a close or a dear one, Ayurveda wrests its focus in treating this condition holistically and spiritually. Grief in Ayurveda is termed as ‘shoka’. In the ayurvedic text of Ashtanga hridayam, it is clearly emphasized that the people who are dealing with this kind of grief should be the ones who should be taken care of the most and helped to a large extent. Ayurveda also pinpoints emoting our feelings instead of suppressing them, as having an outlet of emotions and grief would help the person both physically and mentally. If all this grief and distress is kept bottled up inside a person it will begin to affect their physical and mental health. The ‘shoka’ is also known to be one of the causative factors for depression. When it comes to a woman grieving about the loss of her unborn child, the chances of depression are even higher as there will be a derangement of hormones so they need extra care.
“Kama shoka bhaya krodha harshersyalobha sambhvan
Paraspara pratidvandavairebhireva shamam nayet “ (Charaka chikitsa 9/86)
“Kama shoka bhaya krodha harshersyalobha sambhvan
Paraspara pratidvandavairebhireva shamam nayet “ (Charaka chikitsa 9/86)
The Charaka Samhita which is a classic text of Ayurveda says that the Soka or grief has to be tackled by harsa ie, pleasure. Also, techniques like Aswasana (reassurance), Suhrit Vakya (Friendly advice and guidance), Dharma Artha Vakya (educating about the situation), and Santwana (comforting) can be used to overcome the grief.
Here are some other ways through which you can tackle grief according to Ayurveda-
● Have a proper and well-balanced diet-this is instrumental in dealing with any kind of physical and mental stress, and grieving is no different. Try to include more vata pacifying foods like coconut, dates, lemon, cucumber, ginger, etc in your daily diet.
● Include herbs like ashwagandha, Brahmi and tulsi which are mentioned to ease the grief. Having a half teaspoon of these herbs with a cup of warm water or milky tea will improve your morning and can make your day better.
● Panchakarma therapies – Specific therapies like abhyanga, Shirodhara, shirovasti, and nasya are beneficial for dealing with grief and can be done according to your doctor’s recommendation.
● Practice yoga and meditation – A stagnant body can cause our emotions to become stagnant. And we vice versa a stagnant emotion can create stagnation in the body. To break old emotional patterns from the past we are breaking the patterns in the body and breaking up crystalline deposits in the connective tissue. yoga postures are beneficial to regain one’s harmony and equilibrium. Some of the poses that you can try are balasana (child pose), parsvottanasana (pyramid pose) and, Shavasana (corpse pose). These asanas are not going to change these behaviors overnight but they assist the process that comes along with the transformation.
● Proper sleep – Sleep is very instrumental in healing both mind and the body. Going to bed early, getting up early and having a peaceful sleep for 7-8 hours is ideal. If you face trouble sleeping, rubbing a little sesame oil over the soles of your feet padabhyanga will help you relax and fall asleep sooner.
● Engage with nature and distract yourself from the disturbing thoughts- Seeing greenery and being outside in nature automatically calms our mind. Also, planting and having greenery inside your home or office brings that element of nature closer to you, helping you to relieve stress. Planting or gardening is certainly one way of keeping yourself busy with life affirming chores and helps to give your mind space from overstimulation.
As we have just explored some of the possible remedies and treatments for grieving time ,it should also be noted that each and every individual would come to peace with her personal law at their own pace. So it’s imperative to give them their own personal space to get back to normal. With love, care, and support from dear ones and friends this can do more than what medicines and treatment can do to pull a person from grief.
Reference
1) http://aamjournal.in/fulltext/70-1339062656.pdf
2) https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php?title=Chikitsa_Sthana
You can find some of these herbs in the teas in our store on the website so please take a look if you haven’t yet. These are suggestions and by no way a treatment. Seek out professional support and guidance for clarity and healing. You are not alone, Book your 30 minutes Transformation call with me here.
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